Max Lucado: Jesus is the Gift
Little Carol with the pigtails, freckles, and shiny back shoes. Don’t let her sweet description fool you. She broke my heart! On the day of the great gift exchange in my fourth-grade class, I ripped the wrapping paper off the box to find—stationery. Stationery! Brown envelopes and folded note cards with a picture of a cowboy lassoing a horse. What ten-year-old boy uses stationery? There’s a term for this kind of gift: obligatory!
I know we shouldn’t complain, but don’t you detect a lack of originality? And when a person gives a genuine gift, don’t you cherish the presence of a gift just for you? Have you ever received such a gift? Yes, you have. You’ve been given a perfect personal gift. One just for you. God says to anyone who’ll listen: ”There has been born for you…a Savior…. ” Jesus is the gift!
“There has been born for you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11”
From GRACE
Zechariah 10
The Lord Will Care for Judah
Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms.
He gives showers of rain to all people,
and plants of the field to everyone.
2 The idols speak deceitfully,
diviners see visions that lie;
they tell dreams that are false,
they give comfort in vain.
Therefore the people wander like sheep
oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
3 “My anger burns against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;
for the Lord Almighty will care
for his flock, the people of Judah,
and make them like a proud horse in battle.
4 From Judah will come the cornerstone,
from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
from him every ruler.
5 Together they[d] will be like warriors in battle
trampling their enemy into the mud of the streets.
They will fight because the Lord is with them,
and they will put the enemy horsemen to shame.
6 “I will strengthen Judah
and save the tribes of Joseph.
I will restore them
because I have compassion on them.
They will be as though
I had not rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God
and I will answer them.
7 The Ephraimites will become like warriors,
and their hearts will be glad as with wine.
Their children will see it and be joyful;
their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.
8 I will signal for them
and gather them in.
Surely I will redeem them;
they will be as numerous as before.
9 Though I scatter them among the peoples,
yet in distant lands they will remember me.
They and their children will survive,
and they will return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon,
and there will not be room enough for them.
11 They will pass through the sea of trouble;
the surging sea will be subdued
and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.
Assyria’s pride will be brought down
and Egypt’s scepter will pass away.
12 I will strengthen them in the Lord
and in his name they will live securely,”
declares the Lord.
Zechariah 10:5 Or ruler, all of them together. / 5 They
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Colossians 1:21-23
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[a] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Footnotes:
Colossians 1:21 Or minds, as shown by
The Presentation
December 28, 2013 — by Joe Stowell
He has reconciled . . . to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. —Colossians 1:21-22
My wife, Martie, is a great cook. After a long day I often look forward to the smell of spicy aromas that promise a tasty feast. Not only does she know how to prepare a meal, but she is also a master at the presentation. The colors of the food on the plate, beautifully arranged in a harmony of meat, white puffy rice, and vegetables welcome me to pull up my chair and enjoy her handiwork. But the food was not so attractive before she got her hands on it. The meat was raw and squishy, the rice was hard and brittle, and the vegetables needed to be scrubbed and trimmed.
It reminds me of the gracious work Jesus has done for me. I am well aware of my frailty and propensity to sin. I know that in and of myself I am not presentable to God. Yet when I’m saved, Jesus makes me a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). He takes me just as I am and makes me just as I should be—“holy, and blameless, and above reproach” (Col. 1:22). He presents me to our Father as a thing of beauty worthy to be in His presence.
May His transforming work on our behalf stimulate us to live up to the presentation and to be humbly grateful to Christ for His finishing work in our lives!
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me—
All His wonderful passion and purity!
O Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. —Orsborn
Jesus takes us as we are and makes us what we should be.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 28, 2013
Continuous Conversion
. . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 18:3
These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must “put on the new man . . .” (Ephesians 4:24). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule— God must rule in us.
To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, “I won’t submit.” We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Friday, December 27, 2013
Zechariah 9, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Divine Warnings
Warnings. Red lights in life that signal us of impending danger. They exist in all parts of life. Sirens scream as a marriage starts to sour; alarms blare when a faith weakens.
We usually know when trouble is just around the corner. Christians who've fallen away felt the fire waning long before it went out. Unwanted pregnancies or explosions of anger are usually the result of a history of ignoring warnings about an impending fire.
Are your senses numb? Are your eyes trained to turn and roll when they should pause and observe? One-night stands. Dust-covered Bibles. Careless choice of companions. Denial of Christ.
Proverbs 19:27 says, "Cease listening to [My] instruction and you will stray from the words of knowledge."
Divine warnings. Inspired by God; tested by time. Heed them and safety is yours to enjoy!
From God Came Near
Zechariah 9
Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
A prophecy:
The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrak
and will come to rest on Damascus—
for the eyes of all people and all the tribes of Israel
are on the Lord—[a]
2 and on Hamath too, which borders on it,
and on Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful.
3 Tyre has built herself a stronghold;
she has heaped up silver like dust,
and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4 But the Lord will take away her possessions
and destroy her power on the sea,
and she will be consumed by fire.
5 Ashkelon will see it and fear;
Gaza will writhe in agony,
and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.
Gaza will lose her king
and Ashkelon will be deserted.
6 A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,
and I will put an end to the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will take the blood from their mouths,
the forbidden food from between their teeth.
Those who are left will belong to our God
and become a clan in Judah,
and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.
8 But I will encamp at my temple
to guard it against marauding forces.
Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,
for now I am keeping watch.
The Coming of Zion’s King
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River[b] to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
13 I will bend Judah as I bend my bow
and fill it with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece,
and make you like a warrior’s sword.
The Lord Will Appear
14 Then the Lord will appear over them;
his arrow will flash like lightning.
The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet;
he will march in the storms of the south,
15 and the Lord Almighty will shield them.
They will destroy
and overcome with slingstones.
They will drink and roar as with wine;
they will be full like a bowl
used for sprinkling[c] the corners of the altar.
16 The Lord their God will save his people on that day
as a shepherd saves his flock.
They will sparkle in his land
like jewels in a crown.
17 How attractive and beautiful they will be!
Grain will make the young men thrive,
and new wine the young women.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Jeremiah 29:4-14
29:4-14
New International Version (NIV)
4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Footnotes:
Jeremiah 29:14 Or will restore your fortunes
The Challenge Of Confinement
December 27, 2013 — by David C. McCasland
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. —2 Peter 3:18
At the age of 86, Ken Deal concluded more than 3 decades of volunteer jail and prison ministry with a final Sunday sermon. His message to the inmates was about serving the Lord while incarcerated. Many of the examples he used came from prisoners, some serving life sentences. In a place everyone wants to leave, he encouraged them to grow and to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.
After the people of Judah were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar and deported to Babylon because of their disobedience to God, the prophet Jeremiah sent them this message from the Lord: “Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands . . . that you may be increased there, and not diminished” (Jer. 29:5-6).
We may face some limiting circumstance today. Whether it is the result of our failure, or through no fault of our own, we can “go” through it or seek God’s strength to “grow” through it. The challenge of every confinement is to increase rather than decrease; to grow and not diminish. The Lord’s goal is to give us “a future and a hope” (v.11).
I know, Lord, that You can use the circumstances
I am in for my good. Change me, and grow
me in my knowledge of You and intimacy
with You. Give me Your strength.
A limited situation may afford the soul a chance to grow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 27, 2013
Where the Battle is Won or Lost
’If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord . . . —Jeremiah 4:1
Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.
I should never say, “I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test.” Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.
In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Back From the Edge - #7035
Friday, December 27, 2013
I guess there's a daredevil inside of most little boys. They like to push the limits of safety and sanity. If you've got a boy or ever raised one, you know that. I'm not sure that part of the boy ever grows up, even when that boy becomes a man. I know that whenever we would hike to the top of a mountain, I would tend to head toward the edge of the cliff. That's where you get the best view, right?
And you know what? Even now I'll walk as close as I can to the edge, and you can hear the increasingly urgent counsel of my wife, who is saying, "Ron, you have children and grandchildren; you have one life. Don't go so close to the edge." Where we lived in New Jersey, near New York City, there are these beautiful palisades; sheer cliffs along the Hudson River. You can look across at New York City from there. And it was kind of fun to step to the edge and look down into the river. I stopped doing that. It got to the point where too many people had fallen over that edge.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Back From the Edge."
1 Samuel 15 is the story of Saul disobeying God's orders to him. Saul is the King of Israel; he has been told to destroy totally the corrupted culture of the Amalekites. It's like a poison, a cancer in the land. Sometimes God will destroy a sin-saturated culture directly as He did in Sodom. Sometimes He will do it though His people. Here He is giving Saul orders to do that through his army: "Leave nothing; take nothing." Listen to what happened.
Chapter 15, verse 9, it says, "Saul and the army spared the king, and the best of the sheep and the cattle, the fat calves and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely." Okay, they are obviously disobeying God's orders. Verse 19 says, "Why did you not obey the Lord?" This is Samuel coming to him. "'Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the sight of the Lord?' 'But I did obey the Lord' Saul said." Well folks, not true.
Verse 22, Samuel says, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king." Here's Saul's line of thinking, "How close can I get to the edge of disobeying without crossing the line?" Instead of complete obedience, he flirted with sin and punishment by obeying as little as he could get away with. He was wrong, and he paid the price of God's blessing.
Now, we do this all the time. When there's any question about where God's boundary is, we run to the edges of sin, take the most liberal position we can, and in the process we often wander into sin and we lose God's blessing.
Teenagers say, "How far can I go physically?" And they're unsure where the moral line is. They try to do everything physically that they can and then say, "Well, I'm still a virgin." You can't be in danger of doing too little physically, only too much. "Well, I really didn't lie." You intended to deceive didn't you? That's a lie. "Well, the Bible doesn't forbid drinking." It sure does discourage it if you want God's best. "Well, divorce..." Now we'll come up with the most liberal interpretation we can find; that's what we go for, and we cross God's boundaries in the process.
I would rather risk over-obeying the Lord than under-obeying Him. I'd rather be too far inside God's line than to risk crossing it. I'd rather err on the side of caution than carelessness. There's something in us that likes to go as close to the edge as possible. But my friend, too many have fallen over that edge.
God's blessing is too precious to risk by living on the edge of sin.
Warnings. Red lights in life that signal us of impending danger. They exist in all parts of life. Sirens scream as a marriage starts to sour; alarms blare when a faith weakens.
We usually know when trouble is just around the corner. Christians who've fallen away felt the fire waning long before it went out. Unwanted pregnancies or explosions of anger are usually the result of a history of ignoring warnings about an impending fire.
Are your senses numb? Are your eyes trained to turn and roll when they should pause and observe? One-night stands. Dust-covered Bibles. Careless choice of companions. Denial of Christ.
Proverbs 19:27 says, "Cease listening to [My] instruction and you will stray from the words of knowledge."
Divine warnings. Inspired by God; tested by time. Heed them and safety is yours to enjoy!
From God Came Near
Zechariah 9
Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
A prophecy:
The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrak
and will come to rest on Damascus—
for the eyes of all people and all the tribes of Israel
are on the Lord—[a]
2 and on Hamath too, which borders on it,
and on Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful.
3 Tyre has built herself a stronghold;
she has heaped up silver like dust,
and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4 But the Lord will take away her possessions
and destroy her power on the sea,
and she will be consumed by fire.
5 Ashkelon will see it and fear;
Gaza will writhe in agony,
and Ekron too, for her hope will wither.
Gaza will lose her king
and Ashkelon will be deserted.
6 A mongrel people will occupy Ashdod,
and I will put an end to the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will take the blood from their mouths,
the forbidden food from between their teeth.
Those who are left will belong to our God
and become a clan in Judah,
and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.
8 But I will encamp at my temple
to guard it against marauding forces.
Never again will an oppressor overrun my people,
for now I am keeping watch.
The Coming of Zion’s King
9 Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River[b] to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
13 I will bend Judah as I bend my bow
and fill it with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece,
and make you like a warrior’s sword.
The Lord Will Appear
14 Then the Lord will appear over them;
his arrow will flash like lightning.
The Sovereign Lord will sound the trumpet;
he will march in the storms of the south,
15 and the Lord Almighty will shield them.
They will destroy
and overcome with slingstones.
They will drink and roar as with wine;
they will be full like a bowl
used for sprinkling[c] the corners of the altar.
16 The Lord their God will save his people on that day
as a shepherd saves his flock.
They will sparkle in his land
like jewels in a crown.
17 How attractive and beautiful they will be!
Grain will make the young men thrive,
and new wine the young women.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Jeremiah 29:4-14
29:4-14
New International Version (NIV)
4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Footnotes:
Jeremiah 29:14 Or will restore your fortunes
The Challenge Of Confinement
December 27, 2013 — by David C. McCasland
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. —2 Peter 3:18
At the age of 86, Ken Deal concluded more than 3 decades of volunteer jail and prison ministry with a final Sunday sermon. His message to the inmates was about serving the Lord while incarcerated. Many of the examples he used came from prisoners, some serving life sentences. In a place everyone wants to leave, he encouraged them to grow and to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.
After the people of Judah were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar and deported to Babylon because of their disobedience to God, the prophet Jeremiah sent them this message from the Lord: “Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands . . . that you may be increased there, and not diminished” (Jer. 29:5-6).
We may face some limiting circumstance today. Whether it is the result of our failure, or through no fault of our own, we can “go” through it or seek God’s strength to “grow” through it. The challenge of every confinement is to increase rather than decrease; to grow and not diminish. The Lord’s goal is to give us “a future and a hope” (v.11).
I know, Lord, that You can use the circumstances
I am in for my good. Change me, and grow
me in my knowledge of You and intimacy
with You. Give me Your strength.
A limited situation may afford the soul a chance to grow.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 27, 2013
Where the Battle is Won or Lost
’If you will return, O Israel,’ says the Lord . . . —Jeremiah 4:1
Our battles are first won or lost in the secret places of our will in God’s presence, never in full view of the world. The Spirit of God seizes me and I am compelled to get alone with God and fight the battle before Him. Until I do this, I will lose every time. The battle may take one minute or one year, but that will depend on me, not God. However long it takes, I must wrestle with it alone before God, and I must resolve to go through the hell of renunciation or rejection before Him. Nothing has any power over someone who has fought the battle before God and won there.
I should never say, “I will wait until I get into difficult circumstances and then I’ll put God to the test.” Trying to do that will not work. I must first get the issue settled between God and myself in the secret places of my soul, where no one else can interfere. Then I can go ahead, knowing with certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity, disaster, and defeat before the world are as sure as the laws of God. The reason the battle is lost is that I fight it first in the external world. Get alone with God, do battle before Him, and settle the matter once and for all.
In dealing with other people, our stance should always be to drive them toward making a decision of their will. That is how surrendering to God begins. Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point— a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go toward a more and more slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Back From the Edge - #7035
Friday, December 27, 2013
I guess there's a daredevil inside of most little boys. They like to push the limits of safety and sanity. If you've got a boy or ever raised one, you know that. I'm not sure that part of the boy ever grows up, even when that boy becomes a man. I know that whenever we would hike to the top of a mountain, I would tend to head toward the edge of the cliff. That's where you get the best view, right?
And you know what? Even now I'll walk as close as I can to the edge, and you can hear the increasingly urgent counsel of my wife, who is saying, "Ron, you have children and grandchildren; you have one life. Don't go so close to the edge." Where we lived in New Jersey, near New York City, there are these beautiful palisades; sheer cliffs along the Hudson River. You can look across at New York City from there. And it was kind of fun to step to the edge and look down into the river. I stopped doing that. It got to the point where too many people had fallen over that edge.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Back From the Edge."
1 Samuel 15 is the story of Saul disobeying God's orders to him. Saul is the King of Israel; he has been told to destroy totally the corrupted culture of the Amalekites. It's like a poison, a cancer in the land. Sometimes God will destroy a sin-saturated culture directly as He did in Sodom. Sometimes He will do it though His people. Here He is giving Saul orders to do that through his army: "Leave nothing; take nothing." Listen to what happened.
Chapter 15, verse 9, it says, "Saul and the army spared the king, and the best of the sheep and the cattle, the fat calves and lambs-everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely." Okay, they are obviously disobeying God's orders. Verse 19 says, "Why did you not obey the Lord?" This is Samuel coming to him. "'Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the sight of the Lord?' 'But I did obey the Lord' Saul said." Well folks, not true.
Verse 22, Samuel says, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king." Here's Saul's line of thinking, "How close can I get to the edge of disobeying without crossing the line?" Instead of complete obedience, he flirted with sin and punishment by obeying as little as he could get away with. He was wrong, and he paid the price of God's blessing.
Now, we do this all the time. When there's any question about where God's boundary is, we run to the edges of sin, take the most liberal position we can, and in the process we often wander into sin and we lose God's blessing.
Teenagers say, "How far can I go physically?" And they're unsure where the moral line is. They try to do everything physically that they can and then say, "Well, I'm still a virgin." You can't be in danger of doing too little physically, only too much. "Well, I really didn't lie." You intended to deceive didn't you? That's a lie. "Well, the Bible doesn't forbid drinking." It sure does discourage it if you want God's best. "Well, divorce..." Now we'll come up with the most liberal interpretation we can find; that's what we go for, and we cross God's boundaries in the process.
I would rather risk over-obeying the Lord than under-obeying Him. I'd rather be too far inside God's line than to risk crossing it. I'd rather err on the side of caution than carelessness. There's something in us that likes to go as close to the edge as possible. But my friend, too many have fallen over that edge.
God's blessing is too precious to risk by living on the edge of sin.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Jude 1 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Blind Ambition
Success at all cost. Becoming a legend in one’s own time. Climbing the ladder. King of the mountain. Top of the heap. We call it blind ambition!
We make heroes out of people who are ambitious. We hold them up as models for our kids. And rightly so, for this world would be in bad shape without people who dream of touching the heavens. Ambition is a gift in the soul which creates disenchantment with the ordinary.
But left unchecked it becomes an insatiable addiction to power and prestige. The husband who feeds his career with twelve-hour days, the social-conscious mother who never misses a chance to serve on a committee. “It’s all for a good cause,” she fools herself.
Blind ambition. Distorted values. God won’t tolerate it. Blind ambition is a giant step away from God and a step closer to catastrophe!
From God Came Near
Jude 1
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for[a] Jesus Christ:
2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c] at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”[d] 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”[e] 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
A Call to Persevere
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.[f]
Doxology
24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Footnotes:
Jude 1:1 Or by; or in
Jude 1:4 Or individuals who were marked out for condemnation
Jude 1:5 Some early manuscripts Jesus
Jude 1:9 Jude is alluding to the Jewish Testament of Moses (approximately the first century a.d.).
Jude 1:15 From the Jewish First Book of Enoch (approximately the first century b.c.)
Jude 1:23 The Greek manuscripts of these verses vary at several points.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Job 2:3-13
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish[a] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Footnotes:
Job 2:10 The Hebrew word rendered foolish denotes moral deficiency.
December 26, 2013 — by Julie Ackerman Link
They sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. —Job 2:13
After 20 children and 6 staff members were murdered in a Connecticut school, the entire nation was stunned that such a horrific thing could happen. Everyone focused on the tragedy and the questions surrounding it: What kind of person would do such a thing, and why? How can we prevent it from happening again? How can we help the survivors? Amid the chaos, an unlikely group moved in and made a difference.
From Chicago came dogs— specially trained golden retrievers that offered nothing except affection. Dogs don’t speak; they simply offer their presence. Children traumatized by the violence opened up to them, expressing fears and emotions they had not spoken to any adult. Tim Hetzner of Lutheran Church Charities said, “The biggest part of their training is just learning to be quiet.”
As we learn from the book of Job, people in grief do not always need words. Sometimes they need someone to sit silently with them, to listen when they need to speak, and to hug them when their sorrow turns to sobs.
God may not intervene to change circumstances and He may not explain suffering, but He comforts us through the presence of other believers (Col. 4:8).
He’s with us in the valley,
Amid the darkest night
He tells us in our sorrow;
Faith will give way to sight. —D. DeHaan
Listening may be the most loving and Christlike thing you do today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 26, 2013
“Walk in the Light”
If we walk in the light as He is in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin —1 John 1:7
To mistake freedom from sin only on the conscious level of our lives for complete deliverance from sin by the atonement through the Cross of Christ is a great error. No one fully knows what sin is until he is born again. Sin is what Jesus Christ faced at Calvary. The evidence that I have been delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me. For a person to really know what sin is requires the full work and deep touch of the atonement of Jesus Christ, that is, the imparting of His absolute perfection.
The Holy Spirit applies or administers the work of the atonement to us in the deep unconscious realm as well as in the conscious realm. And it is not until we truly perceive the unrivaled power of the Spirit in us that we understand the meaning of 1 John 1:7 , which says, “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” This verse does not refer only to conscious sin, but also to the tremendously profound understanding of sin which only the Holy Spirit in me can accomplish.
I must “walk in the light as He is in the light . . .”— not in the light of my own conscience, but in God’s light. If I will walk there, with nothing held back or hidden, then this amazing truth is revealed to me: “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses [me] from all sin” so that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke in me. On the conscious level it produces a keen, sorrowful knowledge of what sin really is. The love of God working in me causes me to hate, with the Holy Spirit’s hatred for sin, anything that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To “walk in the light” means that everything that is of the darkness actually drives me closer to the center of the light.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thick Ice - #7034
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Let me give you a little weather preference test; as if we get to vote. Why don't you rank these one, two, three from the best to the worst: rain, snow, ice. I just gave you my ranking. Rain is no problem. I grew up in the Midwest; and I lived in the Northeast and so I can handle snow. Even when you have to walk or drive, there's at least like something to dig into. But ice? Oh, man, ice storms can leave some very nice things behind. Every branch, limb, and home is glistening with this beautiful coating of ice. But it is a pain if you've got to go anywhere. Reminds me of an old song, "Freeze a Jolly Good Fellow."
Well, anyway, we had some major league ice storms this past winter, and I went out one morning and I found my car entombed with this thick, hard armor of ice. I could have just tried to chip it away. In fact I started to do that. But I would have either damaged the car or damaged its' owner. So I decided to work smart. I let the car run for a while, and I warmed it up from the inside. You know what happened. A few minutes later that ice came off pretty easily.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Thick Ice."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts chapter 16. It's kind of about ice around a heart. See, the ice around a car is hard to penetrate, but the ice around a person is even harder. Maybe you can think of a person that you're concerned for right now who's pretty hard. Maybe some person who's got an affect on your future or your security, and there's ice around them.
Well, almost everyone has at least one impossible person in their world; one person whose ice you just can't seem to get through. Let's look at God's way of getting through the ice. For example, in Acts 16:14 , the missionary Paul comes upon a woman named Lydia, a prominent merchant in her town, and it says, "The Lord opened her heart to respond."
Back in the Old Testament Saul didn't want to be the first king of Israel until it says in 1 Samuel 10:9 , "The Lord changed his heart." Proverbs 21:21 it says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He directs it like a water course wherever He pleases." See, God is in the heart changing business; the heart warming business.
Think about the person in your world who's hard to reach. It might be a defiant or a wandering child, or an unresponsive mate. Maybe you've got a hard-to-talk-to boss, or employee, or a coworker, or fellow student, or a person who will be making the decisions that could greatly affect your church or your ministry; maybe someone who seems as if he or she won't ever give Jesus a chance. Well, God's method of melting the ice is the same as mine for de-icing my car. Warm that person up from the inside, change their heart, soften their heart, turn their heart your direction.
Malachi 4:6 says, "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers." So often we try all kinds of things to convince people, and nag them, and politic with them, and lobby them. But recently I've been learning the power of a simple but powerful prayer, "Lord, change his heart; change her heart. Warm them on the inside. Turn their heart your direction, my direction. Move them to be open to what You want."
Many of us have made getting through human ice a lot harder by under-praying in this area. Why don't you focus your praying on the hearts of key people? Ask God to remove the blinders, to give you favor, to neutralize prejudices, to create openness. We would probably have a lot less conflict and a lot more success if we'd spend more time talking to God about a person than we do talking to the person or about the person.
And remember, God is a heart warmer, a heart softener, a heart changer. Pray as if He is. It works with a frozen car or a frozen person. When they've been warmed on the inside it's a lot easier to get through that ice. And believe me, no one can thaw out a heart like God can.
Success at all cost. Becoming a legend in one’s own time. Climbing the ladder. King of the mountain. Top of the heap. We call it blind ambition!
We make heroes out of people who are ambitious. We hold them up as models for our kids. And rightly so, for this world would be in bad shape without people who dream of touching the heavens. Ambition is a gift in the soul which creates disenchantment with the ordinary.
But left unchecked it becomes an insatiable addiction to power and prestige. The husband who feeds his career with twelve-hour days, the social-conscious mother who never misses a chance to serve on a committee. “It’s all for a good cause,” she fools herself.
Blind ambition. Distorted values. God won’t tolerate it. Blind ambition is a giant step away from God and a step closer to catastrophe!
From God Came Near
Jude 1
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James,
To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for[a] Jesus Christ:
2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
The Sin and Doom of Ungodly People
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c] at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
8 In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. 9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”[d] 10 Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them.
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
12 These people are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm—shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted—twice dead. 13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”[e] 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
A Call to Persevere
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
22 Be merciful to those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.[f]
Doxology
24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Footnotes:
Jude 1:1 Or by; or in
Jude 1:4 Or individuals who were marked out for condemnation
Jude 1:5 Some early manuscripts Jesus
Jude 1:9 Jude is alluding to the Jewish Testament of Moses (approximately the first century a.d.).
Jude 1:15 From the Jewish First Book of Enoch (approximately the first century b.c.)
Jude 1:23 The Greek manuscripts of these verses vary at several points.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Job 2:3-13
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish[a] woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
11 When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12 When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Footnotes:
Job 2:10 The Hebrew word rendered foolish denotes moral deficiency.
December 26, 2013 — by Julie Ackerman Link
They sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. —Job 2:13
After 20 children and 6 staff members were murdered in a Connecticut school, the entire nation was stunned that such a horrific thing could happen. Everyone focused on the tragedy and the questions surrounding it: What kind of person would do such a thing, and why? How can we prevent it from happening again? How can we help the survivors? Amid the chaos, an unlikely group moved in and made a difference.
From Chicago came dogs— specially trained golden retrievers that offered nothing except affection. Dogs don’t speak; they simply offer their presence. Children traumatized by the violence opened up to them, expressing fears and emotions they had not spoken to any adult. Tim Hetzner of Lutheran Church Charities said, “The biggest part of their training is just learning to be quiet.”
As we learn from the book of Job, people in grief do not always need words. Sometimes they need someone to sit silently with them, to listen when they need to speak, and to hug them when their sorrow turns to sobs.
God may not intervene to change circumstances and He may not explain suffering, but He comforts us through the presence of other believers (Col. 4:8).
He’s with us in the valley,
Amid the darkest night
He tells us in our sorrow;
Faith will give way to sight. —D. DeHaan
Listening may be the most loving and Christlike thing you do today.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 26, 2013
“Walk in the Light”
If we walk in the light as He is in the light . . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin —1 John 1:7
To mistake freedom from sin only on the conscious level of our lives for complete deliverance from sin by the atonement through the Cross of Christ is a great error. No one fully knows what sin is until he is born again. Sin is what Jesus Christ faced at Calvary. The evidence that I have been delivered from sin is that I know the real nature of sin in me. For a person to really know what sin is requires the full work and deep touch of the atonement of Jesus Christ, that is, the imparting of His absolute perfection.
The Holy Spirit applies or administers the work of the atonement to us in the deep unconscious realm as well as in the conscious realm. And it is not until we truly perceive the unrivaled power of the Spirit in us that we understand the meaning of 1 John 1:7 , which says, “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” This verse does not refer only to conscious sin, but also to the tremendously profound understanding of sin which only the Holy Spirit in me can accomplish.
I must “walk in the light as He is in the light . . .”— not in the light of my own conscience, but in God’s light. If I will walk there, with nothing held back or hidden, then this amazing truth is revealed to me: “. . . the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses [me] from all sin” so that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke in me. On the conscious level it produces a keen, sorrowful knowledge of what sin really is. The love of God working in me causes me to hate, with the Holy Spirit’s hatred for sin, anything that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To “walk in the light” means that everything that is of the darkness actually drives me closer to the center of the light.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thick Ice - #7034
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Let me give you a little weather preference test; as if we get to vote. Why don't you rank these one, two, three from the best to the worst: rain, snow, ice. I just gave you my ranking. Rain is no problem. I grew up in the Midwest; and I lived in the Northeast and so I can handle snow. Even when you have to walk or drive, there's at least like something to dig into. But ice? Oh, man, ice storms can leave some very nice things behind. Every branch, limb, and home is glistening with this beautiful coating of ice. But it is a pain if you've got to go anywhere. Reminds me of an old song, "Freeze a Jolly Good Fellow."
Well, anyway, we had some major league ice storms this past winter, and I went out one morning and I found my car entombed with this thick, hard armor of ice. I could have just tried to chip it away. In fact I started to do that. But I would have either damaged the car or damaged its' owner. So I decided to work smart. I let the car run for a while, and I warmed it up from the inside. You know what happened. A few minutes later that ice came off pretty easily.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Thick Ice."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts chapter 16. It's kind of about ice around a heart. See, the ice around a car is hard to penetrate, but the ice around a person is even harder. Maybe you can think of a person that you're concerned for right now who's pretty hard. Maybe some person who's got an affect on your future or your security, and there's ice around them.
Well, almost everyone has at least one impossible person in their world; one person whose ice you just can't seem to get through. Let's look at God's way of getting through the ice. For example, in Acts 16:14 , the missionary Paul comes upon a woman named Lydia, a prominent merchant in her town, and it says, "The Lord opened her heart to respond."
Back in the Old Testament Saul didn't want to be the first king of Israel until it says in 1 Samuel 10:9 , "The Lord changed his heart." Proverbs 21:21 it says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He directs it like a water course wherever He pleases." See, God is in the heart changing business; the heart warming business.
Think about the person in your world who's hard to reach. It might be a defiant or a wandering child, or an unresponsive mate. Maybe you've got a hard-to-talk-to boss, or employee, or a coworker, or fellow student, or a person who will be making the decisions that could greatly affect your church or your ministry; maybe someone who seems as if he or she won't ever give Jesus a chance. Well, God's method of melting the ice is the same as mine for de-icing my car. Warm that person up from the inside, change their heart, soften their heart, turn their heart your direction.
Malachi 4:6 says, "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers." So often we try all kinds of things to convince people, and nag them, and politic with them, and lobby them. But recently I've been learning the power of a simple but powerful prayer, "Lord, change his heart; change her heart. Warm them on the inside. Turn their heart your direction, my direction. Move them to be open to what You want."
Many of us have made getting through human ice a lot harder by under-praying in this area. Why don't you focus your praying on the hearts of key people? Ask God to remove the blinders, to give you favor, to neutralize prejudices, to create openness. We would probably have a lot less conflict and a lot more success if we'd spend more time talking to God about a person than we do talking to the person or about the person.
And remember, God is a heart warmer, a heart softener, a heart changer. Pray as if He is. It works with a frozen car or a frozen person. When they've been warmed on the inside it's a lot easier to get through that ice. And believe me, no one can thaw out a heart like God can.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Zechariah 8, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Sent a Savior
Every Christmas I read this reminder that came in the mail several years ago. If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior! Christmas cards. These punctuated promises. Phrases filled with the reason we do it all anyway. He became like us, so we could become like him. Angels still sing and the star still beckons.
Isaiah 9:6 proclaims, “God has given a son to us. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God. Prince of Peace.”
Ah, the wonder of it all is that He loves each one of us like there was only one of us to love!
From Grace for the Moment
Zechariah 8
The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem
The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.
2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”
3 This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”
4 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. 5 The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
6 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the Lord Almighty.
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. 8 I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”
9 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Now hear these words, ‘Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.’ This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. 10 Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No one could go about their business safely because of their enemies, since I had turned everyone against their neighbor. 11 But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty.
12 “The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. 13 Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse[k] among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing.[l] Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”
14 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, 15 “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. 16 These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; 17 do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.
18 The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.
19 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”
20 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, 21 and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ 22 And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.”
23 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’”
Zechariah 8:13 That is, your name has been used in cursing (see Jer. 29:22); or, you have been regarded as under a curse.
Zechariah 8:13 Or and your name will be used in blessings (see Gen. 48:20); or and you will be seen as blessed
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 1:1-7
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[a] joy complete.
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.
Footnotes:
1 John 1:4 Some manuscripts your
1 John 1:7 Or every
Christingle
December 25, 2013 — by Bill Crowder
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. —John 1:9
In the Czech Republic and other places, the Christmas celebration includes “Christingles.” A Christingle is an orange, representing the world, with a candle placed in the top of it to symbolize Christ the light of the world. A red ribbon encircles the orange, symbolizing the blood of Jesus. Four toothpicks with dried fruits are placed through the ribbon into the sides of the orange, representing the fruits of the earth.
This simple visual aid vividly represents the purpose behind Christ’s coming—to bring light into the darkness and to redeem a broken world by shedding His blood.
In John’s account of Christ’s life, the disciple describes Jesus as the Light of the world. He wrote of Christ: “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9). Not only did Christ the Light come to penetrate our world’s darkness, but He is also “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (v.29).
Think of it! The baby of Bethlehem became the living, risen Christ who has rescued us from our sin. And so John instructs us to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). May all who have experienced His rescue find in Jesus the peace of walking in His light.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in Thee tonight. —Brooks
The newborn Christ-child became the Light of the world and the Lamb of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 25, 2013
His Birth and Our New Birth
’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ’God with us’ —Matthew 1:23
His Birth in History. “. . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent— the appearance of God in human form.
His Birth in Me. “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you . . .” (Galatians 4:19). Just as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that “Christ is formed” in me. And once “Christ is formed” in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is made so profoundly possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Missing at the Party - #7033
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Billy was just about to celebrate his tenth birthday. It was the day of his birthday party, and Mom had made sure that all of his little friends were invited over. She came in the family van, drove up to the school and picked everybody up; went on home and all the kids stormed into the house with all their presents, and laid them on the table that had been set aside just for that. Then they went ahead and they played some great games, they played a little kick ball in the back yard, and they came in and they sat down for the goodies. The dining room was all decorated, and they sat around the table and in came the cake with ten candles on it. Sure enough!
Everybody began to sing "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Billy..." And then they noticed one very important ingredient in the party was missing. In all the excitement someone had forgotten to pick up Billy at school. The poor kid was still there and nobody noticed. He was missing at his own party! Well, there is a tremendous birthday party going on right now all across our country - a birthday party for Jesus. A lot of music, a lot of gifts, a lot of decorations, a lot of noise, but is He missing at the party?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Missing at the Party."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Luke chapter 2 and verse 11. We'd better be in the Christmas Story today, right? We'll get there in just a minute. But I have to ask the question after thinking about Billy not being at his own birthday party. Are we so caught up in the celebration like those kids were at the birthday party that we are missing Christ Himself?
I mean there are some special family observances, and that's a great thing; we love ours. And it's a time for acts of reaching out, showing God's love, demonstrating His love. Even yet it's a day to do something for somebody who is really in need. It's a season to be touching people who are more open to listening to Jesus than ever before. At more than any other time of the year, they're soft toward Him.
But more importantly it's time to consider how much room we have made for Jesus ourselves. Luke 2:11 , "Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." Do you know that in the angel's announcement of this first Christmas He uses the phrase "to you" four times. "To you the Savior is born." "To you the Savior is born." Not to Mary, not to Joseph. This baby is for you, and Christmas is a time for you to decide finally what you're going to do with this Savior. Not to just go to His meetings, do all the Christian things, hang out in a religion that's all about Jesus, or to just passively believe in Him, but to commit yourself to the Savior who is for you.
Actually, there are five things you can do with this Jesus who came that Christmas. One is you can out-and-out reject Him and say, "I don't want Him. I'm not interested. I don't want you." Secondly, you can just postpone Him and say, "Jesus, I'll get around to You. I think one day I'll open my heart to You, but I've got some living I want to do first. Except the Bible says, "Man does not know what a day will bring forth. Don't boast about tomorrow." We can't count on tomorrow.
Well, you can postpone Him. Or you can ignore Him and just say, "You know what? I'm not against Him. I'm not going to reject Him. I just am kind of busy right now. Fourthly, you can agree with Him. "Yeah, I agree with everything about Jesus coming for, dying for our sins." Or you could totally give yourself to Him. Those first four reactions all end up at the same place; in a Christ-less eternity called hell. Only totally giving yourself to this Jesus takes you to heaven.
See, loving you is why Christ was born. And loving Him is why you were born; the reason you were put here. So, it's time to make room for Him this Christmas. The old hymn says, "Room for business, room for pleasure, but for Christ the crucified not a place that He can enter in the heart for which He died."
This Christmas I'd love to help you find your way home. Would you visit me; join me at ANewStory.com and make this Christmas your first Christmas with Christ in your heart.
Every Christmas I read this reminder that came in the mail several years ago. If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior! Christmas cards. These punctuated promises. Phrases filled with the reason we do it all anyway. He became like us, so we could become like him. Angels still sing and the star still beckons.
Isaiah 9:6 proclaims, “God has given a son to us. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, Powerful God. Prince of Peace.”
Ah, the wonder of it all is that He loves each one of us like there was only one of us to love!
From Grace for the Moment
Zechariah 8
The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem
The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.
2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”
3 This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”
4 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. 5 The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
6 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the Lord Almighty.
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. 8 I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”
9 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Now hear these words, ‘Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.’ This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. 10 Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No one could go about their business safely because of their enemies, since I had turned everyone against their neighbor. 11 But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty.
12 “The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. 13 Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse[k] among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing.[l] Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”
14 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, 15 “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. 16 These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; 17 do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord.
18 The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.
19 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.”
20 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, 21 and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the Lord and seek the Lord Almighty. I myself am going.’ 22 And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord Almighty and to entreat him.”
23 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’”
Zechariah 8:13 That is, your name has been used in cursing (see Jer. 29:22); or, you have been regarded as under a curse.
Zechariah 8:13 Or and your name will be used in blessings (see Gen. 48:20); or and you will be seen as blessed
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 John 1:1-7
The Incarnation of the Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our[a] joy complete.
Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.
Footnotes:
1 John 1:4 Some manuscripts your
1 John 1:7 Or every
Christingle
December 25, 2013 — by Bill Crowder
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. —John 1:9
In the Czech Republic and other places, the Christmas celebration includes “Christingles.” A Christingle is an orange, representing the world, with a candle placed in the top of it to symbolize Christ the light of the world. A red ribbon encircles the orange, symbolizing the blood of Jesus. Four toothpicks with dried fruits are placed through the ribbon into the sides of the orange, representing the fruits of the earth.
This simple visual aid vividly represents the purpose behind Christ’s coming—to bring light into the darkness and to redeem a broken world by shedding His blood.In John’s account of Christ’s life, the disciple describes Jesus as the Light of the world. He wrote of Christ: “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9). Not only did Christ the Light come to penetrate our world’s darkness, but He is also “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (v.29).
Think of it! The baby of Bethlehem became the living, risen Christ who has rescued us from our sin. And so John instructs us to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7). May all who have experienced His rescue find in Jesus the peace of walking in His light.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in Thee tonight. —Brooks
The newborn Christ-child became the Light of the world and the Lamb of God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 25, 2013
His Birth and Our New Birth
’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ’God with us’ —Matthew 1:23
His Birth in History. “. . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being the human race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an advent— the appearance of God in human form.
His Birth in Me. “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you . . .” (Galatians 4:19). Just as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God that “Christ is formed” in me. And once “Christ is formed” in me, His nature immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is made so profoundly possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by Jesus Christ.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Missing at the Party - #7033
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Billy was just about to celebrate his tenth birthday. It was the day of his birthday party, and Mom had made sure that all of his little friends were invited over. She came in the family van, drove up to the school and picked everybody up; went on home and all the kids stormed into the house with all their presents, and laid them on the table that had been set aside just for that. Then they went ahead and they played some great games, they played a little kick ball in the back yard, and they came in and they sat down for the goodies. The dining room was all decorated, and they sat around the table and in came the cake with ten candles on it. Sure enough!
Everybody began to sing "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Billy..." And then they noticed one very important ingredient in the party was missing. In all the excitement someone had forgotten to pick up Billy at school. The poor kid was still there and nobody noticed. He was missing at his own party! Well, there is a tremendous birthday party going on right now all across our country - a birthday party for Jesus. A lot of music, a lot of gifts, a lot of decorations, a lot of noise, but is He missing at the party?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Missing at the Party."
Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Luke chapter 2 and verse 11. We'd better be in the Christmas Story today, right? We'll get there in just a minute. But I have to ask the question after thinking about Billy not being at his own birthday party. Are we so caught up in the celebration like those kids were at the birthday party that we are missing Christ Himself?
I mean there are some special family observances, and that's a great thing; we love ours. And it's a time for acts of reaching out, showing God's love, demonstrating His love. Even yet it's a day to do something for somebody who is really in need. It's a season to be touching people who are more open to listening to Jesus than ever before. At more than any other time of the year, they're soft toward Him.
But more importantly it's time to consider how much room we have made for Jesus ourselves. Luke 2:11 , "Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." Do you know that in the angel's announcement of this first Christmas He uses the phrase "to you" four times. "To you the Savior is born." "To you the Savior is born." Not to Mary, not to Joseph. This baby is for you, and Christmas is a time for you to decide finally what you're going to do with this Savior. Not to just go to His meetings, do all the Christian things, hang out in a religion that's all about Jesus, or to just passively believe in Him, but to commit yourself to the Savior who is for you.
Actually, there are five things you can do with this Jesus who came that Christmas. One is you can out-and-out reject Him and say, "I don't want Him. I'm not interested. I don't want you." Secondly, you can just postpone Him and say, "Jesus, I'll get around to You. I think one day I'll open my heart to You, but I've got some living I want to do first. Except the Bible says, "Man does not know what a day will bring forth. Don't boast about tomorrow." We can't count on tomorrow.
Well, you can postpone Him. Or you can ignore Him and just say, "You know what? I'm not against Him. I'm not going to reject Him. I just am kind of busy right now. Fourthly, you can agree with Him. "Yeah, I agree with everything about Jesus coming for, dying for our sins." Or you could totally give yourself to Him. Those first four reactions all end up at the same place; in a Christ-less eternity called hell. Only totally giving yourself to this Jesus takes you to heaven.
See, loving you is why Christ was born. And loving Him is why you were born; the reason you were put here. So, it's time to make room for Him this Christmas. The old hymn says, "Room for business, room for pleasure, but for Christ the crucified not a place that He can enter in the heart for which He died."
This Christmas I'd love to help you find your way home. Would you visit me; join me at ANewStory.com and make this Christmas your first Christmas with Christ in your heart.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Zechariah 7, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Ordinary No More
It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. Then the black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an angel!
The night was ordinary no more. The angel came in the night because it's when lights are best seen and when they are most needed. It all happened in a most remarkable moment-a moment like no other. God became a man. Divinity arrived. Heaven opened and placed her most precious one in a human womb. God had come near!
In the mystery of Christmas, we find its majesty. The mystery of how God became flesh, why he chose to come at all, and how much he must love his people!
"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men" (Luke 2:13).
From Christmas Stories
Zechariah 7
Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting
7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord 3 by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”
8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.
13 “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. 14 ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 2:1-14
The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Footnotes:
Luke 2:2 Or This census took place before
One Silent Night
December 24, 2013 — by Cindy Hess Kasper
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. —Luke 2:10
Simon had emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States. His wife, Kay, and all three of their children had been born in the US. Then Jenny married Roberto from Panama. Bill married Vania from Portugal. And Lucas married Bora from South Korea.
On Christmas Eve, as the family gathered for a celebration, they began singing “Silent Night” in their native tongues—a sweet sound indeed for the Lord of the earth to hear as they celebrated the birth of His Son.
Two thousand years ago, the silence of a quiet night ended abruptly when an angel told the shepherds a baby had been born: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people” (Luke 2:10). Then a multitude of angels began praising God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (v.14). Christ the Lord, the Savior of the world, was born!
God’s gracious gift, His Son, which was announced on that long-ago silent night, is still available to everyone—“every tribe and nation” (Titus 2:11-14; Rev. 5:9-10). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Silent night! holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia—
Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born! —Mohr
Heaven’s choir came down to sing when heaven’s King came down to save.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 24, 2013
The Hidden Life
. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God —Colossians 3:3
The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that “is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7).
When we think of being delivered from sin, being “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), and “walk[ing] in the light,” we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, “Oh, I could never live up there!” However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. “You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip” (Psalm 18:36).
When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:27), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. “My peace I give to you . . .” (John 14:27)— a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. “. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God,” and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Everything But Jesus - #7032
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
It was our grandson's two-year Christmas, and he was so much fun to watch. One day during the season, his mother unpacked the family Nativity Set for her and her boy to set up, and he loved it. They put up the manger, and Mary and Joseph, and the angels, and the shepherds. They put out everyone except the one figure they couldn't find. They couldn't find baby Jesus. Well, our grandson was pretty concerned about this missing person, so Mommy told him Daddy would look for baby Jesus when he got home from the office. A lot of hours passed. Our grandson heard Daddy coming up the back steps. He ran to the door and greeted his father with an impassioned two-word question, "Where's Jesus?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Everything But Jesus."
That question from the heart of a two-year-old might be the question God is asking some of us as He looks at our lives this Christmas season, "Where's Jesus?" It's possible to be like our grandson was that day. Spiritually, you have everything except Jesus.
The danger of that deadly deficit is what God addresses in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 13:5. The sobering truth is that these words were, and are, written to church folks; the folks involved in a lot of Christian things - maybe like you. Here's God's challenge: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?"
Apparently, you can be into Jesus, but not have Jesus in you! God says here that the deciding factor as to whether or not you belong to Him is whether or not "Christ Jesus is in you." Now He's in you only if there's been a time when you personally have flung open the door of your heart and welcomed Him in as your personal Savior from your personal sin. If you don't know you've done that, you probably haven't. It's like getting married. You know if you've made the commitment or not.
But you can miss the fact that you've missed Jesus when you've got everything else. You've got a Christian vocabulary, Christian beliefs, a Christian image, Christian fellowship, maybe a Christian environment or a Christian family. But it could be that there's never been, though, that deciding transaction with Christ; that deeply personal moment when you talk to Him and give yourself to Him with all the faith you've got. So as God looks at all you've got spiritually, is He asking, "Where's Jesus?"
If you've consciously begun your relationship with Jesus Christ, He is in your life right now. He's clearly said, if you open the door, "I will come in." It is settled. But if you've never really given yourself to Jesus, I know it's hard to admit it to yourself, but it's deadly not to. And be grateful. God has given you another opportunity; He has given you this opportunity this Christmas season to take the step that will finally, really bring Jesus into your life, because some day will be your last opportunity.
Would you tell Him right now you want to know Him for real; not just know about Him? You want to know him for real beginning this very day; not just to have some beliefs about Him, but to belong to Him. It's time for you to tell Him that's what you want; to admit to Him you realize there's never been a time you've really given yourself to Him. But this is the day you open your heart to the man who died for you; who came to this earth to die to pay for your sin. He's alive because of Resurrection Day that first Easter, and He's available to you. He came that first Christmas, and now He's come where you are to come into your life. Are you ready to tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours?"
I would love to help you get started with Him. It would be a great joy of my life to help you do that. Would you join me at ANewStory.com? That's our website, ANewStory.com and let's get this settled.
Today, please make sure that Jesus is in your heart.
It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. Then the black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an angel!
The night was ordinary no more. The angel came in the night because it's when lights are best seen and when they are most needed. It all happened in a most remarkable moment-a moment like no other. God became a man. Divinity arrived. Heaven opened and placed her most precious one in a human womb. God had come near!
In the mystery of Christmas, we find its majesty. The mystery of how God became flesh, why he chose to come at all, and how much he must love his people!
"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men" (Luke 2:13).
From Christmas Stories
Zechariah 7
Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting
7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreat the Lord 3 by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothills were settled?’”
8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.
13 “‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. 14 ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Luke 2:1-14
The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Footnotes:
Luke 2:2 Or This census took place before
One Silent Night
December 24, 2013 — by Cindy Hess Kasper
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. —Luke 2:10
Simon had emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States. His wife, Kay, and all three of their children had been born in the US. Then Jenny married Roberto from Panama. Bill married Vania from Portugal. And Lucas married Bora from South Korea.
On Christmas Eve, as the family gathered for a celebration, they began singing “Silent Night” in their native tongues—a sweet sound indeed for the Lord of the earth to hear as they celebrated the birth of His Son.
Two thousand years ago, the silence of a quiet night ended abruptly when an angel told the shepherds a baby had been born: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people” (Luke 2:10). Then a multitude of angels began praising God, saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (v.14). Christ the Lord, the Savior of the world, was born!
God’s gracious gift, His Son, which was announced on that long-ago silent night, is still available to everyone—“every tribe and nation” (Titus 2:11-14; Rev. 5:9-10). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Silent night! holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia—
Christ the Savior is born! Christ the Savior is born! —Mohr
Heaven’s choir came down to sing when heaven’s King came down to save.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 24, 2013
The Hidden Life
. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God —Colossians 3:3
The Spirit of God testifies to and confirms the simple, but almighty, security of the life that “is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul continually brought this out in his New Testament letters. We talk as if living a sanctified life were the most uncertain and insecure thing we could do. Yet it is the most secure thing possible, because it has Almighty God in and behind it. The most dangerous and unsure thing is to try to live without God. For one who is born again, it is easier to live in a right-standing relationship with God than it is to go wrong, provided we heed God’s warnings and “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7).
When we think of being delivered from sin, being “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), and “walk[ing] in the light,” we picture the peak of a great mountain. We see it as very high and wonderful, but we say, “Oh, I could never live up there!” However, when we do get there through God’s grace, we find it is not a mountain peak at all, but a plateau with plenty of room to live and to grow. “You enlarged my path under me, so my feet did not slip” (Psalm 18:36).
When you really see Jesus, I defy you to doubt Him. If you see Him when He says, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:27), I defy you to worry. It is virtually impossible to doubt when He is there. Every time you are in personal contact with Jesus, His words are real to you. “My peace I give to you . . .” (John 14:27)— a peace which brings an unconstrained confidence and covers you completely, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. “. . . your life is hidden with Christ in God,” and the peace of Jesus Christ that cannot be disturbed has been imparted to you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Everything But Jesus - #7032
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
It was our grandson's two-year Christmas, and he was so much fun to watch. One day during the season, his mother unpacked the family Nativity Set for her and her boy to set up, and he loved it. They put up the manger, and Mary and Joseph, and the angels, and the shepherds. They put out everyone except the one figure they couldn't find. They couldn't find baby Jesus. Well, our grandson was pretty concerned about this missing person, so Mommy told him Daddy would look for baby Jesus when he got home from the office. A lot of hours passed. Our grandson heard Daddy coming up the back steps. He ran to the door and greeted his father with an impassioned two-word question, "Where's Jesus?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Everything But Jesus."
That question from the heart of a two-year-old might be the question God is asking some of us as He looks at our lives this Christmas season, "Where's Jesus?" It's possible to be like our grandson was that day. Spiritually, you have everything except Jesus.
The danger of that deadly deficit is what God addresses in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 13:5. The sobering truth is that these words were, and are, written to church folks; the folks involved in a lot of Christian things - maybe like you. Here's God's challenge: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?"
Apparently, you can be into Jesus, but not have Jesus in you! God says here that the deciding factor as to whether or not you belong to Him is whether or not "Christ Jesus is in you." Now He's in you only if there's been a time when you personally have flung open the door of your heart and welcomed Him in as your personal Savior from your personal sin. If you don't know you've done that, you probably haven't. It's like getting married. You know if you've made the commitment or not.
But you can miss the fact that you've missed Jesus when you've got everything else. You've got a Christian vocabulary, Christian beliefs, a Christian image, Christian fellowship, maybe a Christian environment or a Christian family. But it could be that there's never been, though, that deciding transaction with Christ; that deeply personal moment when you talk to Him and give yourself to Him with all the faith you've got. So as God looks at all you've got spiritually, is He asking, "Where's Jesus?"
If you've consciously begun your relationship with Jesus Christ, He is in your life right now. He's clearly said, if you open the door, "I will come in." It is settled. But if you've never really given yourself to Jesus, I know it's hard to admit it to yourself, but it's deadly not to. And be grateful. God has given you another opportunity; He has given you this opportunity this Christmas season to take the step that will finally, really bring Jesus into your life, because some day will be your last opportunity.
Would you tell Him right now you want to know Him for real; not just know about Him? You want to know him for real beginning this very day; not just to have some beliefs about Him, but to belong to Him. It's time for you to tell Him that's what you want; to admit to Him you realize there's never been a time you've really given yourself to Him. But this is the day you open your heart to the man who died for you; who came to this earth to die to pay for your sin. He's alive because of Resurrection Day that first Easter, and He's available to you. He came that first Christmas, and now He's come where you are to come into your life. Are you ready to tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours?"
I would love to help you get started with Him. It would be a great joy of my life to help you do that. Would you join me at ANewStory.com? That's our website, ANewStory.com and let's get this settled.
Today, please make sure that Jesus is in your heart.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Zechariah 6, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Touch the World
Where will God go to touch the world? What a great thought… and an even better question! It's that time of year when we hear about the virgin birth. And yet it's more, much more, than a Christmas story. It's a story of how close Christ will come to you!
The first stop on his itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world? Look deep within Mary for an answer. Better still-look deep within yourself. "Christ in you, the hope of glory!" (Colossians 1:27).
Christ grew in Mary until he had to come out. Christ will grow in you until the same occurs. He will come out in your speech, in your actions, in your decisions. Every place you live will be a Bethlehem. And every day you live will be a Christmas.
Deliver Christ into the world!
From Grace for the Moment
Zechariah 6
Four Chariots
I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black, 3 the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. 4 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits[d] of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. 6 The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west,[e] and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”
7 When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.
8 Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit[f] rest in the land of the north.”
A Crown for Joshua
9 The word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak.[g] 12 Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he[h] will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ 14 The crown will be given to Heldai,[i] Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen[j] son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. 15 Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d] (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Footnotes:
Matthew 1:18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this
Matthew 1:19 Or was a righteous man and
Matthew 1:21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.
Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14
God With Us
December 23, 2013 — by Joe Stowell
Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, “God with us.” —Matthew 1:23
His presence in the room was obvious. Everyone else was dressed rather formally. He had on a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a weathered baseball cap. I couldn’t help but notice him as I addressed students that day in a seminary chapel in Bucharest, Romania. I have no idea why he didn’t conform to the norms of seminary attire, but I do remember his name.
At the close of the meeting he came up to introduce himself. When I asked him his name, he answered, “Immanuel.” I was surprised by his answer and asked if he knew what that meant; he unashamedly replied, “Yes—‘God with us!’”
I’ve often thought about that young man and how he stood out in the crowd. Just as Jesus came to bring the presence of God into our world—“Immanuel . . . God with us” (Matt. 1:23)—so too we are called to bring His presence into our world. Jesus made that clear when He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).
This Christmas, we can give the gift of God’s likeness through us. When our lives reflect the God who lives in us, we can be different from the world, and that difference can bless others with the transforming presence of His love and grace.
The gift of God’s presence through you is your gift to the world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 23, 2013
Sharing in the Atonement
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
The gospel of Jesus Christ always forces a decision of our will. Have I accepted God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ? Do I have even the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death— to be completely dead to all interest in sin, worldliness, and self? Do I long to be so closely identified with Jesus that I am of no value for anything except Him and His purposes? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can commit myself under the banner of His Cross, and that means death to sin. You must get alone with Jesus and either decide to tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you, or that at any cost you want to be identified with His death. When you act in confident faith in what our Lord did on the cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place immediately. And you will come to know through a higher knowledge that your old life was “crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). The proof that your old life is dead, having been “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you now enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.
Every once in a while our Lord gives us a glimpse of what we would be like if it were not for Him. This is a confirmation of what He said— “. . . without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). That is why the underlying foundation of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the joy of our first introduction into God’s kingdom as His purpose for getting us there. Yet God’s purpose in getting us into His kingdom is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Clouds Over Christmas - #7031
Monday, December 23, 2013
I just dropped off a Christmas poinsettia at a friend's house - she was getting home from the hospital today. Her husband died of cancer last week while she was laid up with back surgery. For her, I guess the words "Merry Christmas" will sound kind of hollow.
Of course, she's not alone this Christmas. In many families each Christmas, there's someone missing around the table. In just a few weeks, my wife and I have had ten friends die. There are clouds over Christmas for us, especially for the families of those who are gone.
Grief and sadness, mixed with "joy to the world" and "happy holidays" - it's a bittersweet cup at best.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "Clouds Over Christmas."
Still, there is, as was announced that first Christmas, "good news of great joy" - even for those who are walking through "the valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23:4) as the Bible says. Maybe, especially for them.
Not long before Jesus was born, God sent this prophecy written in our Word for today from the Word of God, Luke 1:78-79, "The rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living...in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Some 700 years before, the prophet Isaiah said, as He prophesied Messiah's birth, "On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned" (Isaiah 9:6; 9:1).
It is for those very people in the "land of the shadow" that Jesus came that first Christmas, because we all take our turn there. When the days run out for someone we love or for us. Everyone has a last Christmas, and few of us know which one that will be.
But that's why Christmas is such good news. Because Jesus came to illuminate those clouds and shine the light of heaven on the darkest corridor of all. He walked out of His grave to prove there is life beyond the funeral. Not some religious speculation; living proof. His Light has illuminated the mysterious darkness called death and shown us a heaven beyond.
But it took Him carrying His cross into that darkness and absorbing all the hell for all my sin. Jesus died so all of us God-disobeyers could, as He said, "cross over from death to life" (John 5:24). Death is an abyss of total darkness if we have to face it with our sins unforgiven, because "the wages of sin (the Bible says) is death" (Romans 3:23) - forever death. That's eternal separation from a totally holy God.
But here's the hallelujah part: "God sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9). Death penalty paid. Death's power shattered. Now all death can do for those who belong to
Jesus is send them home. Because of Jesus, death can't end a relationship between Jesus-followers; it can only interrupt it. There's a reunion coming!
So, in the words of the immortal 23rd Psalm, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." Darkness has lost. The Light has won. So we can say, "Merry Christmas!"
There's a wonderful peace - a peace like no other - in knowing that you are ready for eternity, whenever and however it comes. It is a peace you can experience this Christmas season and from now on.
If you'd like to know more about belonging to Jesus, I wish you'd join me at our website and let me show you there how you can be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. You can receive there the greatest gift anyone could ever imagine. The Bible says, "The gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23).
Where will God go to touch the world? What a great thought… and an even better question! It's that time of year when we hear about the virgin birth. And yet it's more, much more, than a Christmas story. It's a story of how close Christ will come to you!
The first stop on his itinerary was a womb. Where will God go to touch the world? Look deep within Mary for an answer. Better still-look deep within yourself. "Christ in you, the hope of glory!" (Colossians 1:27).
Christ grew in Mary until he had to come out. Christ will grow in you until the same occurs. He will come out in your speech, in your actions, in your decisions. Every place you live will be a Bethlehem. And every day you live will be a Christmas.
Deliver Christ into the world!
From Grace for the Moment
Zechariah 6
Four Chariots
I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black, 3 the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. 4 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits[d] of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. 6 The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west,[e] and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”
7 When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.
8 Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit[f] rest in the land of the north.”
A Crown for Joshua
9 The word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak.[g] 12 Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he[h] will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ 14 The crown will be given to Heldai,[i] Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen[j] son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord. 15 Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d] (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Footnotes:
Matthew 1:18 Or The origin of Jesus the Messiah was like this
Matthew 1:19 Or was a righteous man and
Matthew 1:21 Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, which means the Lord saves.
Matthew 1:23 Isaiah 7:14
God With Us
December 23, 2013 — by Joe Stowell
Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, “God with us.” —Matthew 1:23
His presence in the room was obvious. Everyone else was dressed rather formally. He had on a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and a weathered baseball cap. I couldn’t help but notice him as I addressed students that day in a seminary chapel in Bucharest, Romania. I have no idea why he didn’t conform to the norms of seminary attire, but I do remember his name.
At the close of the meeting he came up to introduce himself. When I asked him his name, he answered, “Immanuel.” I was surprised by his answer and asked if he knew what that meant; he unashamedly replied, “Yes—‘God with us!’”
I’ve often thought about that young man and how he stood out in the crowd. Just as Jesus came to bring the presence of God into our world—“Immanuel . . . God with us” (Matt. 1:23)—so too we are called to bring His presence into our world. Jesus made that clear when He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).
This Christmas, we can give the gift of God’s likeness through us. When our lives reflect the God who lives in us, we can be different from the world, and that difference can bless others with the transforming presence of His love and grace.
The gift of God’s presence through you is your gift to the world.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 23, 2013
Sharing in the Atonement
God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14
The gospel of Jesus Christ always forces a decision of our will. Have I accepted God’s verdict on sin as judged on the Cross of Christ? Do I have even the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death— to be completely dead to all interest in sin, worldliness, and self? Do I long to be so closely identified with Jesus that I am of no value for anything except Him and His purposes? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can commit myself under the banner of His Cross, and that means death to sin. You must get alone with Jesus and either decide to tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you, or that at any cost you want to be identified with His death. When you act in confident faith in what our Lord did on the cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place immediately. And you will come to know through a higher knowledge that your old life was “crucified with Him” (Romans 6:6). The proof that your old life is dead, having been “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you now enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.
Every once in a while our Lord gives us a glimpse of what we would be like if it were not for Him. This is a confirmation of what He said— “. . . without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). That is why the underlying foundation of Christianity is personal, passionate devotion to the Lord Jesus. We mistake the joy of our first introduction into God’s kingdom as His purpose for getting us there. Yet God’s purpose in getting us into His kingdom is that we may realize all that identification with Jesus Christ means.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Clouds Over Christmas - #7031
Monday, December 23, 2013
I just dropped off a Christmas poinsettia at a friend's house - she was getting home from the hospital today. Her husband died of cancer last week while she was laid up with back surgery. For her, I guess the words "Merry Christmas" will sound kind of hollow.
Of course, she's not alone this Christmas. In many families each Christmas, there's someone missing around the table. In just a few weeks, my wife and I have had ten friends die. There are clouds over Christmas for us, especially for the families of those who are gone.
Grief and sadness, mixed with "joy to the world" and "happy holidays" - it's a bittersweet cup at best.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "Clouds Over Christmas."
Still, there is, as was announced that first Christmas, "good news of great joy" - even for those who are walking through "the valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23:4) as the Bible says. Maybe, especially for them.
Not long before Jesus was born, God sent this prophecy written in our Word for today from the Word of God, Luke 1:78-79, "The rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living...in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Some 700 years before, the prophet Isaiah said, as He prophesied Messiah's birth, "On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned" (Isaiah 9:6; 9:1).
It is for those very people in the "land of the shadow" that Jesus came that first Christmas, because we all take our turn there. When the days run out for someone we love or for us. Everyone has a last Christmas, and few of us know which one that will be.
But that's why Christmas is such good news. Because Jesus came to illuminate those clouds and shine the light of heaven on the darkest corridor of all. He walked out of His grave to prove there is life beyond the funeral. Not some religious speculation; living proof. His Light has illuminated the mysterious darkness called death and shown us a heaven beyond.
But it took Him carrying His cross into that darkness and absorbing all the hell for all my sin. Jesus died so all of us God-disobeyers could, as He said, "cross over from death to life" (John 5:24). Death is an abyss of total darkness if we have to face it with our sins unforgiven, because "the wages of sin (the Bible says) is death" (Romans 3:23) - forever death. That's eternal separation from a totally holy God.
But here's the hallelujah part: "God sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9). Death penalty paid. Death's power shattered. Now all death can do for those who belong to
Jesus is send them home. Because of Jesus, death can't end a relationship between Jesus-followers; it can only interrupt it. There's a reunion coming!
So, in the words of the immortal 23rd Psalm, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." Darkness has lost. The Light has won. So we can say, "Merry Christmas!"
There's a wonderful peace - a peace like no other - in knowing that you are ready for eternity, whenever and however it comes. It is a peace you can experience this Christmas season and from now on.
If you'd like to know more about belonging to Jesus, I wish you'd join me at our website and let me show you there how you can be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. You can receive there the greatest gift anyone could ever imagine. The Bible says, "The gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23).
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Zechariah 5, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: His Kingdom Will Never End
His kingdom will never end. Luke 1:33
In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, is the teenage girl in the smelly stable.
As Mary looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty—she can’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God.
So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel. “His kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:33)
He looks like anything but a king. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby.
Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.
God came near!
Zechariah 5
The Flying Scroll
5 I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.
2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.[a]”
3 And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. 4 The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’”
The Woman in a Basket
5 Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.”
6 I asked, “What is it?”
He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity[b] of the people throughout the land.”
7 Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! 8 He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.
9 Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.
10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me.
11 He replied, “To the country of Babylonia[c] to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Chronicles 16:7-13
That day David first appointed Asaph and his associates to give praise to the Lord in this manner:
8 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
12 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
13 you his servants, the descendants of Israel,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
Christmas Wonder
December 22, 2013 — by Randy Kilgore
Remember His marvelous works which He has done. —1 Chronicles 16:12
After my first semester in seminary, my family was given airline tickets to fly home for Christmas. The night before our flight, we realized we had less than $20 for the trip. Parking, transportation, and other incidentals were certain to cost more than $20. Heartsick, we resolved to pray about it. Though our children were small (6 and 2), we included them in the prayer time.
As we were praying, we heard footsteps in the hallway of the apartment building, and then “whisk”—the sound of an envelope sliding under the door. Inside the envelope was an anonymous gift of $50.
The wonder reflected on our 6-year-old daughter’s face matched the wonder in our own hearts. Here was a mighty God writing His name on a little girl’s heart by hearing and answering our prayer in the same instant. And so we, like the psalmist David, could “talk of all His wondrous works!” (1 Chron. 16:9).
So it was that first Christmas night, when a mighty, all-knowing, all-powerful God wrote His name on the heart of humanity, stunning us with the generosity of forgiveness and the joy of unconditional love. The birth of Christ is the answer to our most fervent prayers for love and forgiveness. Can you feel the wonder?
Lord, restore to me the wonder of Christmas,
felt most keenly when I first met Jesus;
for I long to tell the story with all the
joy it brought me that day.
A wonder-filled life is ours when we know the Christ of Christmas.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 22, 2013
The Drawing of the Father
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him . . . —John 6:44
When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.
In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.
Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.
His kingdom will never end. Luke 1:33
In Bethlehem, the human being who best understood who God was and what he was doing, is the teenage girl in the smelly stable.
As Mary looks into the face of the baby. Her son. Her Lord. His Majesty—she can’t take her eyes off him. Somehow Mary knows she is holding God.
So this is he. She remembers the words of the angel. “His kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:33)
He looks like anything but a king. His cry, though strong and healthy, is still the helpless and piercing cry of a baby.
Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure and sweat. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a carpenter.
God came near!
Zechariah 5
The Flying Scroll
5 I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.
2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.[a]”
3 And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. 4 The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’”
The Woman in a Basket
5 Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.”
6 I asked, “What is it?”
He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity[b] of the people throughout the land.”
7 Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! 8 He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.
9 Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.
10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me.
11 He replied, “To the country of Babylonia[c] to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: 1 Chronicles 16:7-13
That day David first appointed Asaph and his associates to give praise to the Lord in this manner:
8 Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
make known among the nations what he has done.
9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;
tell of all his wonderful acts.
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
11 Look to the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
12 Remember the wonders he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
13 you his servants, the descendants of Israel,
his chosen ones, the children of Jacob.
Christmas Wonder
December 22, 2013 — by Randy Kilgore
Remember His marvelous works which He has done. —1 Chronicles 16:12
After my first semester in seminary, my family was given airline tickets to fly home for Christmas. The night before our flight, we realized we had less than $20 for the trip. Parking, transportation, and other incidentals were certain to cost more than $20. Heartsick, we resolved to pray about it. Though our children were small (6 and 2), we included them in the prayer time.
As we were praying, we heard footsteps in the hallway of the apartment building, and then “whisk”—the sound of an envelope sliding under the door. Inside the envelope was an anonymous gift of $50.
The wonder reflected on our 6-year-old daughter’s face matched the wonder in our own hearts. Here was a mighty God writing His name on a little girl’s heart by hearing and answering our prayer in the same instant. And so we, like the psalmist David, could “talk of all His wondrous works!” (1 Chron. 16:9).
So it was that first Christmas night, when a mighty, all-knowing, all-powerful God wrote His name on the heart of humanity, stunning us with the generosity of forgiveness and the joy of unconditional love. The birth of Christ is the answer to our most fervent prayers for love and forgiveness. Can you feel the wonder?
Lord, restore to me the wonder of Christmas,
felt most keenly when I first met Jesus;
for I long to tell the story with all the
joy it brought me that day.
A wonder-filled life is ours when we know the Christ of Christmas.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 22, 2013
The Drawing of the Father
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him . . . —John 6:44
When God begins to draw me to Himself, the problem of my will comes in immediately. Will I react positively to the truth that God has revealed? Will I come to Him? To discuss or deliberate over spiritual matters when God calls is inappropriate and disrespectful to Him. When God speaks, never discuss it with anyone as if to decide what your response may be (see Galatians 1:15-16). Belief is not the result of an intellectual act, but the result of an act of my will whereby I deliberately commit myself. But will I commit, placing myself completely and absolutely on God, and be willing to act solely on what He says? If I will, I will find that I am grounded on reality as certain as God’s throne.
In preaching the gospel, always focus on the matter of the will. Belief must come from the will to believe. There must be a surrender of the will, not a surrender to a persuasive or powerful argument. I must deliberately step out, placing my faith in God and in His truth. And I must place no confidence in my own works, but only in God. Trusting in my own mental understanding becomes a hindrance to complete trust in God. I must be willing to ignore and leave my feelings behind. I must will to believe. But this can never be accomplished without my forceful, determined effort to separate myself from my old ways of looking at things. I must surrender myself completely to God.
Everyone has been created with the ability to reach out beyond his own grasp. But it is God who draws me, and my relationship to Him in the first place is an inner, personal one, not an intellectual one. I come into the relationship through the miracle of God and through my own will to believe. Then I begin to get an intelligent appreciation and understanding of the wonder of the transformation in my life.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
3 John 1,bible reading and devotionals.
Max Lucado Daily: No Room
Some of the saddest words on earth are: “We don’t have room for you.”
Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” (Luke 2:7)
And when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in our world.”
Even today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he’s welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” (John 14:2)
What a delightful promise he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts….And he makes room for us in his house!
From Grace for the Moment
3 John 1
New International Version (NIV)
1 The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters,[a] even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
13 I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
Footnotes:
3 John 1:5 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 9:1-7
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
Footnotes:
Isaiah 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-21 is numbered 9:1-20.
Light And Shadow
December 21, 2013 — by David C. McCasland
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. —Isaiah 9:2
Art historian Seymour Slive described the great Dutch artist Rembrandt (1606–1669) as the master of light and shadow, a compelling storyteller on canvas. Rembrandt’s painting The Adoration of the Shepherds portrays the darkened stable in Bethlehem where two shepherds kneel beside the manger while other people stand farther away. One man holds a lantern, but the brightest light shines not from his lantern but from the Christ-child, illuminating those who have gathered close to Him.
Seven centuries before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah used an image of light and shadow to foretell the coming of a Savior for Israel: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. . . . For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given” (Isa. 9:2,6).
Each person may see a different story in Rembrandt’s painting, but perhaps each of us is represented somewhere in that stable. Are we kneeling in worship, standing back in hesitation, or hiding from the light that has penetrated our darkness?
Christmas invites us to step out of the shadows of darkness and to allow the light of Christ to shine into our hearts.
Observing God’s love from afar
Is only a passing delight;
But when we experience Christ’s presence,
Our darkness is turned into light. —Hess
Faith in Christ is not a leap into the dark; it’s a step into the Light.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 21, 2013
Experience or God’s Revealed Truth?
We have received . . . the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God —1 Corinthians 2:12
My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.
If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience— I am sure of Him!”
Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.
Some of the saddest words on earth are: “We don’t have room for you.”
Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you.” (Luke 2:7)
And when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in our world.”
Even today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he’s welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms.” (John 14:2)
What a delightful promise he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts….And he makes room for us in his house!
From Grace for the Moment
3 John 1
New International Version (NIV)
1 The elder,
To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.
2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters,[a] even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.
9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.
11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
13 I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.
Footnotes:
3 John 1:5 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Isaiah 9:1-7
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
Footnotes:
Isaiah 9:1 In Hebrew texts 9:1 is numbered 8:23, and 9:2-21 is numbered 9:1-20.
Light And Shadow
December 21, 2013 — by David C. McCasland
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. —Isaiah 9:2
Art historian Seymour Slive described the great Dutch artist Rembrandt (1606–1669) as the master of light and shadow, a compelling storyteller on canvas. Rembrandt’s painting The Adoration of the Shepherds portrays the darkened stable in Bethlehem where two shepherds kneel beside the manger while other people stand farther away. One man holds a lantern, but the brightest light shines not from his lantern but from the Christ-child, illuminating those who have gathered close to Him.
Seven centuries before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah used an image of light and shadow to foretell the coming of a Savior for Israel: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. . . . For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given” (Isa. 9:2,6).
Each person may see a different story in Rembrandt’s painting, but perhaps each of us is represented somewhere in that stable. Are we kneeling in worship, standing back in hesitation, or hiding from the light that has penetrated our darkness?
Christmas invites us to step out of the shadows of darkness and to allow the light of Christ to shine into our hearts.
Observing God’s love from afar
Is only a passing delight;
But when we experience Christ’s presence,
Our darkness is turned into light. —Hess
Faith in Christ is not a leap into the dark; it’s a step into the Light.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 21, 2013
Experience or God’s Revealed Truth?
We have received . . . the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God —1 Corinthians 2:12
My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.
If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience— I am sure of Him!”
Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Zechariah 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: No Room
Some of the saddest words on earth are “We don’t have room for you.” Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you” (Luke 2:7).
And when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in our world.”
Even today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he’s welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise, “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2).
What a delightful promise he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts….And he makes room for us in his house!
From Grace for the Moment
Zechariah 4
The Gold Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees
Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”
4 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I replied.
6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
7 “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
10 “Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone[f] in the hand of Zerubbabel?”
11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”
12 Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”
13 He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I said.
14 So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to[g] serve the Lord of all the earth.”
Zechariah 4:10 Or the plumb line
Zechariah 4:14 Or two who bring oil and
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 18:1-10
An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends
and against all sound judgment starts quarrels.
2 Fools find no pleasure in understanding
but delight in airing their own opinions.
3 When wickedness comes, so does contempt,
and with shame comes reproach.
4 The words of the mouth are deep waters,
but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.
5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked
and so deprive the innocent of justice.
6 The lips of fools bring them strife,
and their mouths invite a beating.
7 The mouths of fools are their undoing,
and their lips are a snare to their very lives.
8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to the inmost parts.
9 One who is slack in his work
is brother to one who destroys.
10 The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
Taking Refuge
December 20, 2013 — by Dennis Fisher
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. —Proverbs 18:10
In the medieval world, farmers would care for their crops until an enemy appeared on the horizon. Then they would flee with their families to their fortified city for protection from the marauders.
The city of Carcassonne has been a refuge for generations. Built in the 5th century bc, this stone fortress has provided protection for Romans, Gauls, Visigoths, Franks, and French. Its sprawling size and majestic watchtowers and battlements gave confidence to those hiding inside its protective walls.
As believers, we can take refuge in the presence of the living God. The book of Proverbs tells us: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10). “The name of the Lord” refers to God’s character—abounding with faithfulness, power, and mercy. The term safe means “set on high out of danger.”
We all face threats at times that make us want to run for cover. Some seek security in material wealth or relationships. But the Christ-follower has a more secure refuge. Because of who God is and what He can do for us, our best protection ultimately rests in Him. If you are facing a threat today, go to the Lord, who is a strong tower. You will find refuge in His care.
In the times of greatest struggle,
When the angry billows roll,
I can always find my Savior,
Christ, the Refuge of my soul. —Woodruff
In good times and bad, God is our safe resting place.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 20, 2013
The Right Kind of Help
And I, if I am lifted up . . . will draw all peoples to Myself —John 12:32
Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.
When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.
But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified— to lift Him up all the time (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). Every belief that is not firmly rooted in the Cross of Christ will lead people astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is trusting in the reality of redemption, his words will be compelling to others. What is extremely important is for the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ to be strong and growing. His usefulness to God depends on that, and that alone.
The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Manger and a Messed Up World - #7030
Friday, December 20, 2013
I love all the "joy to the world"; all the Christmas electricity in the air. But just down from the manger last Christmas was a flag at half-staff for 26 Connecticut funerals; for all those little children gunned down so brutally just eleven days before Christmas. Look, we live in a violent time, an angry time, conflicted, confusing time. But it's still Christmas; the "most wonderful time of the year."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Manger And A Messed Up World."
The dueling joy and sadness of Christmas 2012 is not new. It was there in Christmas 1864 when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" in some of the darkest days of the Civil War that sundered a nation and bathed it in blood. Longfellow knew the Christmas angels had announced that Jesus' birth would bring "peace on earth." But the battlefield news sang another song. So he wrote, "And in despair I bowed my head: 'There is no peace on earth,' I said; for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men.'"
You know, with so much sadness in the news, with the Middle East always seeming to be a boiling cauldron, with anger and polarization paralyzing our nation and its leaders, what ever happened to that peace on earth? I've concluded you can't understand the peace promise of Christmas without the angelic announcement that precedes it. "For to you is born this day...a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).
See, the coming of Jesus isn't just history or theology, it's profoundly personal. This Savior is born "to you." And when you've asked Him to "Savior" you, He brings into your heart an inner peace that only He can give. Peace in your soul on an earth like this. It turns out there really is no ultimate contradiction between the joy of Christmas and our brokenhearted grieving, because the God-invasion of this planet, birthed in a Bethlehem stable, has added a profound new dimension to this thing called "life."
Jesus added the word that changes everything-eternal. The end of life here is not the end after all. Our word for today from the Word of God, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him has eternal life." But it took a Savior to make life everlasting. Because human sin - our personal rebellion against God's rule over our life - has placed each of us, and all of us, under a penalty of eternal death with no way to reach a holy God, no hope for a heaven that would be beyond the hurt of earth.
It was with good reason that the heavens exploded with celebration the night that the Son of God became a man, because only God could come here and live without sin. But only a man could take our place and die for our sin - the God-Man; that baby in the manger. And He could bring us the peace that can finally calm the storm in the human soul. Peace with God.
In the words of an Army chaplain on the front lines in Afghanistan: "It's the peace that means the long war between the heart and its Maker is over. It's a peace treaty offered in Bethlehem and signed in blood on Calvary." A peace that floods into a human heart when the Savior of the world becomes "to you a Savior."
On the day you go to that manger, and then when you go to that cross and say "For me." In the Bible's words, when you stake your life and your eternity on the fact that "He loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20), because this peace with God is unloseable and it anchors your soul no matter how violent the storm; it's an anchor that holds. Glory to God in the highest! Merry Christmas!
Christmas - the time we celebrate Christ coming into our world. What a time to have Him come into your life! Born in Bethlehem then, born in you this Christmas. I hope you'll spend a few moments at our website - ANewStory.com and find out how you can get started today with this amazing, personal Savior.
Some of the saddest words on earth are “We don’t have room for you.” Jesus knew the sound of those words. He was still in Mary’s womb when the innkeeper said, “We don’t have room for you” (Luke 2:7).
And when he was hung on the cross, wasn’t the message one of utter rejection? “We don’t have room for you in our world.”
Even today Jesus is given the same treatment. He goes from heart to heart, asking if he might enter. Every so often, he’s welcomed. Someone throws open the door of his or her heart and invites him to stay. And to that person Jesus gives this great promise, “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (John 14:2).
What a delightful promise he makes us! We make room for him in our hearts….And he makes room for us in his house!
From Grace for the Moment
Zechariah 4
The Gold Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees
Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”
4 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I replied.
6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
7 “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
10 “Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone[f] in the hand of Zerubbabel?”
11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”
12 Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”
13 He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I said.
14 So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to[g] serve the Lord of all the earth.”
Zechariah 4:10 Or the plumb line
Zechariah 4:14 Or two who bring oil and
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Read: Proverbs 18:1-10
An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends
and against all sound judgment starts quarrels.
2 Fools find no pleasure in understanding
but delight in airing their own opinions.
3 When wickedness comes, so does contempt,
and with shame comes reproach.
4 The words of the mouth are deep waters,
but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.
5 It is not good to be partial to the wicked
and so deprive the innocent of justice.
6 The lips of fools bring them strife,
and their mouths invite a beating.
7 The mouths of fools are their undoing,
and their lips are a snare to their very lives.
8 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
they go down to the inmost parts.
9 One who is slack in his work
is brother to one who destroys.
10 The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
Taking Refuge
December 20, 2013 — by Dennis Fisher
The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. —Proverbs 18:10
In the medieval world, farmers would care for their crops until an enemy appeared on the horizon. Then they would flee with their families to their fortified city for protection from the marauders.
The city of Carcassonne has been a refuge for generations. Built in the 5th century bc, this stone fortress has provided protection for Romans, Gauls, Visigoths, Franks, and French. Its sprawling size and majestic watchtowers and battlements gave confidence to those hiding inside its protective walls.
As believers, we can take refuge in the presence of the living God. The book of Proverbs tells us: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Prov. 18:10). “The name of the Lord” refers to God’s character—abounding with faithfulness, power, and mercy. The term safe means “set on high out of danger.”
We all face threats at times that make us want to run for cover. Some seek security in material wealth or relationships. But the Christ-follower has a more secure refuge. Because of who God is and what He can do for us, our best protection ultimately rests in Him. If you are facing a threat today, go to the Lord, who is a strong tower. You will find refuge in His care.
In the times of greatest struggle,
When the angry billows roll,
I can always find my Savior,
Christ, the Refuge of my soul. —Woodruff
In good times and bad, God is our safe resting place.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 20, 2013
The Right Kind of Help
And I, if I am lifted up . . . will draw all peoples to Myself —John 12:32
Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.
When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.
But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified— to lift Him up all the time (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). Every belief that is not firmly rooted in the Cross of Christ will lead people astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is trusting in the reality of redemption, his words will be compelling to others. What is extremely important is for the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ to be strong and growing. His usefulness to God depends on that, and that alone.
The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
A Manger and a Messed Up World - #7030
Friday, December 20, 2013
I love all the "joy to the world"; all the Christmas electricity in the air. But just down from the manger last Christmas was a flag at half-staff for 26 Connecticut funerals; for all those little children gunned down so brutally just eleven days before Christmas. Look, we live in a violent time, an angry time, conflicted, confusing time. But it's still Christmas; the "most wonderful time of the year."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Manger And A Messed Up World."
The dueling joy and sadness of Christmas 2012 is not new. It was there in Christmas 1864 when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" in some of the darkest days of the Civil War that sundered a nation and bathed it in blood. Longfellow knew the Christmas angels had announced that Jesus' birth would bring "peace on earth." But the battlefield news sang another song. So he wrote, "And in despair I bowed my head: 'There is no peace on earth,' I said; for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men.'"
You know, with so much sadness in the news, with the Middle East always seeming to be a boiling cauldron, with anger and polarization paralyzing our nation and its leaders, what ever happened to that peace on earth? I've concluded you can't understand the peace promise of Christmas without the angelic announcement that precedes it. "For to you is born this day...a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11).
See, the coming of Jesus isn't just history or theology, it's profoundly personal. This Savior is born "to you." And when you've asked Him to "Savior" you, He brings into your heart an inner peace that only He can give. Peace in your soul on an earth like this. It turns out there really is no ultimate contradiction between the joy of Christmas and our brokenhearted grieving, because the God-invasion of this planet, birthed in a Bethlehem stable, has added a profound new dimension to this thing called "life."
Jesus added the word that changes everything-eternal. The end of life here is not the end after all. Our word for today from the Word of God, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him has eternal life." But it took a Savior to make life everlasting. Because human sin - our personal rebellion against God's rule over our life - has placed each of us, and all of us, under a penalty of eternal death with no way to reach a holy God, no hope for a heaven that would be beyond the hurt of earth.
It was with good reason that the heavens exploded with celebration the night that the Son of God became a man, because only God could come here and live without sin. But only a man could take our place and die for our sin - the God-Man; that baby in the manger. And He could bring us the peace that can finally calm the storm in the human soul. Peace with God.
In the words of an Army chaplain on the front lines in Afghanistan: "It's the peace that means the long war between the heart and its Maker is over. It's a peace treaty offered in Bethlehem and signed in blood on Calvary." A peace that floods into a human heart when the Savior of the world becomes "to you a Savior."
On the day you go to that manger, and then when you go to that cross and say "For me." In the Bible's words, when you stake your life and your eternity on the fact that "He loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20), because this peace with God is unloseable and it anchors your soul no matter how violent the storm; it's an anchor that holds. Glory to God in the highest! Merry Christmas!
Christmas - the time we celebrate Christ coming into our world. What a time to have Him come into your life! Born in Bethlehem then, born in you this Christmas. I hope you'll spend a few moments at our website - ANewStory.com and find out how you can get started today with this amazing, personal Savior.
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