Max Lucado Daily: Settling for Crumbs
Rather than worship the Creator, we worship the creation! No wonder there is no wonder. We have figured it all out. Ever wonder why people sleep in on Sunday mornings, whether in bed or in the sanctuary? They've seen it all. Why get excited? They know it all! There's nothing sacred. The holy becomes humdrum.
Can you see why Paul says in Romans 1:24 that people became full of sexual sin, using their bodies wrongly with each other? You've got to get excitement somewhere. If there's no purpose to this life, nothing sacred about this life, what's to keep us from doing whatever we want? How does God feel about such a view of life? Well, let me give you a hint. How would you feel if you saw your children settling for crumbs when you had prepared for them a feast?…Exactly!
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 38
The Altar of Burnt Offering
They[k] built the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood, three cubits[l] high; it was square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.[m] 2 They made a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar were of one piece, and they overlaid the altar with bronze. 3 They made all its utensils of bronze—its pots, shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. 4 They made a grating for the altar, a bronze network, to be under its ledge, halfway up the altar. 5 They cast bronze rings to hold the poles for the four corners of the bronze grating. 6 They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. 7 They inserted the poles into the rings so they would be on the sides of the altar for carrying it. They made it hollow, out of boards.
The Basin for Washing
8 They made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
The Courtyard
9 Next they made the courtyard. The south side was a hundred cubits[n] long and had curtains of finely twisted linen, 10 with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, and with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 11 The north side was also a hundred cubits long and had twenty posts and twenty bronze bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts.
12 The west end was fifty cubits[o] wide and had curtains, with ten posts and ten bases, with silver hooks and bands on the posts. 13 The east end, toward the sunrise, was also fifty cubits wide. 14 Curtains fifteen cubits[p] long were on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases, 15 and curtains fifteen cubits long were on the other side of the entrance to the courtyard, with three posts and three bases. 16 All the curtains around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen. 17 The bases for the posts were bronze. The hooks and bands on the posts were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver; so all the posts of the courtyard had silver bands.
18 The curtain for the entrance to the courtyard was made of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer. It was twenty cubits[q] long and, like the curtains of the courtyard, five cubits[r] high, 19 with four posts and four bronze bases. Their hooks and bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. 20 All the tent pegs of the tabernacle and of the surrounding courtyard were bronze.
The Materials Used
21 These are the amounts of the materials used for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant law, which were recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest. 22 (Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the Lord commanded Moses; 23 with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan—an engraver and designer, and an embroiderer in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen.) 24 The total amount of the gold from the wave offering used for all the work on the sanctuary was 29 talents and 730 shekels,[s] according to the sanctuary shekel.
25 The silver obtained from those of the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents[t] and 1,775 shekels,[u] according to the sanctuary shekel— 26 one beka per person, that is, half a shekel,[v] according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone who had crossed over to those counted, twenty years old or more, a total of 603,550 men. 27 The 100 talents of silver were used to cast the bases for the sanctuary and for the curtain—100 bases from the 100 talents, one talent for each base. 28 They used the 1,775 shekels to make the hooks for the posts, to overlay the tops of the posts, and to make their bands.
29 The bronze from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.[w] 30 They used it to make the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar with its bronze grating and all its utensils, 31 the bases for the surrounding courtyard and those for its entrance and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and those for the surrounding courtyard.
Exodus 38:1 Or He; also in verses 2-9
Exodus 38:1 That is, about 4 1/2 feet or about 1.4 meters
Exodus 38:1 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters long and wide
Exodus 38:9 That is, about 150 feet or about 45 meters
Exodus 38:12 That is, about 75 feet or about 23 meters
Exodus 38:14 That is, about 22 feet or about 6.8 meters
Exodus 38:18 That is, about 30 feet or about 9 meters
Exodus 38:18 That is, about 7 1/2 feet or about 2.3 meters
Exodus 38:24 The weight of the gold was a little over a ton or about 1 metric ton.
Exodus 38:25 That is, about 3 3/4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons; also in verse 27
Exodus 38:25 That is, about 44 pounds or about 20 kilograms; also in verse 28
Exodus 38:26 That is, about 1/5 ounce or about 5.7 grams
Exodus 38:29 The weight of the bronze was about 2 1/2 tons or about 2.4 metric tons.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Read: 1 Samuel 28:5-6, 15-20
5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. 6 He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.
1 Samuel 28:15-20New International Version (NIV)
15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”
“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
16 Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. 19 The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”
20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night.
A Possum’s Pose
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
[The Lord] neither faints nor is weary. —Isaiah 40:28
Possums are known for their ability to play dead. When this happens, the possum’s body wilts, its tongue flops out, and its heart rate declines. After about 15 minutes, the animal revives. Interestingly, animal experts do not believe that possums purposefully play dead to evade predators. They faint involuntarily when they become overwhelmed and anxious!
King Saul had a similar response to danger at the end of his reign. Saul “fell full length on the ground, and was dreadfully afraid . . . . And there was no strength in him” (1 Sam. 28:20). He responded this way when the prophet Samuel told him that the Philistines would attack Israel on the next day, and that the Lord was not going to help him. Because Saul’s life had been characterized by disobedience, rashness, and jealousy, God was no longer guiding him (v.16), and his efforts to defend himself and the Israelites would be futile (v.19).
We may be in a place of weakness and despair because of our rebellion or because of the difficulties of life. Although anxiety can steal our strength, God can renew it as we lean on Him (Isa. 40:31). He “neither faints nor is weary” (v.28), and He is willing to reach down and revive us when we can’t take another step.
Jesus, You mean the world to me. You
are my life and my all. I’m thankful for
the strength that You give from day to day.
I know that without You I am nothing.
The secret of peace is to give every anxious care to God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Do It Yourself (2)
. . . bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 10:5
Determinedly Discipline Other Things. This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood. Paul said, according to the Moffatt translation of this verse, “. . . I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ . . . .” So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, but has simply come into being by impulse! In our Lord’s life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father. There was never the slightest tendency to follow the impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father’s will— “the Son can do nothing of Himself . . . ” (John 5:19). Then compare this with what we do— we take “every thought” or project that comes to us by impulse and jump into action immediately, instead of imprisoning and disciplining ourselves to obey Christ.
Practical work for Christians is greatly overemphasized today, and the saints who are “bringing every thought [and project] into captivity” are criticized and told that they are not determined, and that they lack zeal for God or zeal for the souls of others. But true determination and zeal are found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that arises from our own undisciplined human nature. It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not “bringing every thought [and project] into captivity,” but are simply doing work for God that has been instigated by their own human nature, and has not been made spiritual through determined discipline.
We have a tendency to forget that a person is not only committed to Jesus Christ for salvation, but is also committed, responsible, and accountable to Jesus Christ’s view of God, the world, and of sin and the devil. This means that each person must recognize the responsibility to “be transformed by the renewing of [his] mind. . . .” (Romans 12:2).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Breathe It Yourself First - #7217
If a flight attendant ever faints during a safety briefing on a flight that I'm on, I think I could take over. I've heard about the seat belt, and the seat and the tray being in the right position. Now, there's one thing that they mention that I have never experienced, and that's fine with me-the oxygen mask. It goes something like this, "In the event of a sudden change in cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will drop down from the compartment above your head." They even have this video that shows a low-tech guy like me how to use the mask. And then they explain this, "If you're traveling with a child, please make sure you put your mask on first, and then put it on your child." That's a good idea. Make sure you can breathe, and then take care of your child.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Breathe It Yourself First."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Deuteronomy 6. I guess I'd call it flight instructions for parents. It's addressed to parents who are raising kids in a culture that is more pagan than the one they grew up in, where their kids are going to be handed what their parents had to work for. That's pretty true of the generation this was written to, and it sure is true today.
Deuteronomy 6:5, the flight instructions begin this way. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon your heart. Then impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your foreheads and hands, and write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."
But Verse 12 warns, "Be careful that you do not forget the Lord." Well, the Bible says here that your children are going to need a love relationship with the Lord if they're going to make it, where they love the Lord their God with everything they've got. That is an inner guidance system that you can plant in a child that keeps them from crashing when you're not with them. It's that internal spiritual strength that keeps them from collapsing when the external pressure on them is intense. They need this deep, real, personal relationship with the God who made them, who is the key to their purpose for living.
But you've got to breathe that spiritual oxygen before you can give it to them. That's why it says this has got to be impressed on your heart before it can be impressed on theirs. You've got to love Him first. Frankly, there's nothing like the needs of our kids' lives to expose the needs of our own lives. Look in your son's or daughter's eyes, and you're face-to-face with your own inadequacies, your needs, your pain, your failures; parts of you that you may want to deny or excuse. When we look at our kids those things stare at us in the mirror right there in the lives of our children. And their spiritual needs? Well, they're the mirror of your own. We can't lead them where we haven't been.
Maybe it's time for you to experience for yourself as a Mom or Dad this love relationship with God. First, we have to recognize why we don't have one. Because of this monster called sin, it's the self-rule of our life really. Secondly, we need to recognize how we can have that relationship. And the Bible makes it clear it's by visiting the cross where God's Son took the rap for our sin and made it possible for the sin wall between us and God to come down. And then thirdly, we need to pin all our hopes on that Savior; telling Jesus that He's in charge from this day on and then beyond that commitment.
We can't settle for a relationship that's mostly rules and rituals and religion and meetings, and beliefs. They're not going to sign up for that. The only Christianity that our kids will breathe themselves is one that is lived out before them in the real stuff of everyday life. Our children and our grandchildren need the oxygen of God's love as never before.
It's a stifling world, and they're meant to get that love from Mom and Dad. But if you've never experienced Jesus for yourself, you can have Him change your family by changing a Mom, by changing a Dad. By saying, "Jesus, I bring you all of my needs and my failures, my mistakes, my sin, my inadequacies and I lay them at your cross where you died for me. Beginning this day I'm Yours."
I'd love to help you nail down that relationship with Jesus for sure. Would you meet me at our website? It's ANewStory.com. It will be a new story for you and for your family.
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Exodus 37 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Purpose of Life
As surely as a child breathes, he will someday wonder, "What is the purpose of my life?" Some search for meaning in a career. My purpose is to be a dentist. Fine vocation but hardly a justification for existence. They opt to be a human doing rather than a human being. They work many hours, because if they don't, they have no identify. For others, who they are is what they have. They find meaning in a new car, a new house, new clothes. They are great for the economy because they're always seeking meaning in something they own. Sports, entertainment, cults, sex, you name it. Paul says in Romans 1:22, "Claiming themselves to be wise without God, they became utter fools instead." Contrast that to God's vision of life when he said, "We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us!" (Ephesians 2:10).
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 37
The Ark
Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.[e] 2 He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold molding around it. 3 He cast four gold rings for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 4 Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 5 And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it.
6 He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 7 Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 8 He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. 9 The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.
The Table
10 They[f] made the table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.[g] 11 Then they overlaid it with pure gold and made a gold molding around it. 12 They also made around it a rim a handbreadth[h] wide and put a gold molding on the rim. 13 They cast four gold rings for the table and fastened them to the four corners, where the four legs were. 14 The rings were put close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. 15 The poles for carrying the table were made of acacia wood and were overlaid with gold. 16 And they made from pure gold the articles for the table—its plates and dishes and bowls and its pitchers for the pouring out of drink offerings.
The Lampstand
17 They made the lampstand of pure gold. They hammered out its base and shaft, and made its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. 18 Six branches extended from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. 19 Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on one branch, three on the next branch and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. 20 And on the lampstand were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. 21 One bud was under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. 22 The buds and the branches were all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.
23 They made its seven lamps, as well as its wick trimmers and trays, of pure gold. 24 They made the lampstand and all its accessories from one talent[i] of pure gold.
The Altar of Incense
25 They made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was square, a cubit long and a cubit wide and two cubits high[j]—its horns of one piece with it. 26 They overlaid the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and made a gold molding around it. 27 They made two gold rings below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. 28 They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.
29 They also made the sacred anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense—the work of a perfumer.
Exodus 37:1 That is, about 3 3/4 feet long and 2 1/4 feet wide and high or about 1.1 meters long and 68 centimeters wide and high; similarly in verse 6
Exodus 37:10 Or He; also in verses 11-29
Exodus 37:10 That is, about 3 feet long, 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 1/4 feet high or about 90 centimeters long, 45 centimeters wide and 68 centimeters high
Exodus 37:12 That is, about 3 inches or about 7.5 centimeters
Exodus 37:24 That is, about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms
Exodus 37:25 That is, about 1 1/2 feet long and wide and 3 feet high or about 45 centimeters long and wide and 90 centimeters high
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, September 08, 2014
Read: Mark 4:1-20
The Parable of the Sower
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’[a]”
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Footnotes: Mark 4:12 Isaiah 6:9,10
Sow What?
By Julie Ackerman Link
He who sows righteousness will have a sure reward. —Proverbs 11:18
On the clock tower of my alma mater is an Art Deco bas-relief sculpture titled The Sower. The inscription beneath it is from Galatians 6:7, “Whatsoever a man soweth.” Michigan State University remains a leader in agricultural research, but despite many improvements in farming techniques and crop production, this fact remains: Seeds of corn will not produce a crop of beans.
Jesus used many farming metaphors to explain the kingdom of God. In the parable of the sower (Mark 4), He compared the Word of God to seeds sown in different types of soil. As the parable indicates, the sower sows indiscriminately, knowing that some seed will fall in places where it will not grow.
Like Jesus, we are to sow good seed in all places at all times. God is responsible for where it lands and how it grows. The important thing is that we sow. God does not want us to reap destruction, so He wants us to sow what is good and right (Prov. 11:18). The apostle Paul elaborated on the metaphor when he warned believers not to sow seeds of corruption. Instead, we are to sow seeds that will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:8).
The answer to the question, “Sow what?” is “Sow what you want to reap.” To reap a good harvest in your life, start sowing seeds of goodness.
Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap a destiny. —Anon.
A buried seed brings fruit; a selfless life reaps an eternal harvest.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 08, 2014
Do It Yourself (1)
. . . casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God . . . —2 Corinthians 10:5
Determinedly Demolish Some Things. Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, that the saint can only destroy through sheer neglect. But there are other things that have to be destroyed through violence, that is, through God’s divine strength imparted by His Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but only to “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord . . .” (see Exodus 14:13). But every theory or thought that raises itself up as a fortified barrier “against the knowledge of God” is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not through human effort or by compromise (see 2 Corinthians 10:4).
It is only when God has transformed our nature and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin— Jesus Christ conquered that in His redemption of us. The conflict is waged over turning our natural life into a spiritual life. This is never done easily, nor does God intend that it be so. It is accomplished only through a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense that He makes our character holy. He makes us holy in the sense that He has made us innocent before Him. And then we have to turn that innocence into holy character through the moral choices we make. These choices are continually opposed and hostile to the things of our natural life which have become so deeply entrenched— the very things that raise themselves up as fortified barriers “against the knowledge of God.” We can either turn back, making ourselves of no value to the kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things, allowing Jesus to bring another son to glory (see Hebrews 2:10).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 08, 2014
Resetting from the 'Me' Zone - #7216
Life on the road is so glamorous! Yeah, I can pack, unpack and repack my suitcase blindfolded. I have learned the survival skills of living in airports. And one of the most important things to remember, although it is hard sometimes, remember what time zone you're in. You can really get that messed up if you forget that. A lot of things are going to be wrong. I know! You miss planes, you miss meals, you miss appointments, you miss sleep. So I must faithfully reset my watch as I cross in and out of time zones or everything else is going to get messed up.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Resetting from the 'Me' Zone."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Daniel 10. I'm going to give you a little background here. Daniel is trying to understand what God's plan is, and he needs some special wisdom from the Lord. He doesn't understand what he's feeling. He's receiving a messenger from heaven, though, who tells him that he is highly esteemed by God, and then reveals what has impressed God about Daniel's praying.
Daniel 10:12 from the Word of God. The messenger said, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come in response to them." These words really leaped out at me as I read this. You set your mind to humble yourself.
Now, this business of us humbling ourselves; it's apparently pretty important to God. He keeps talking about it. 1 Peter 5:6, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time." This humbling yourself? It's not something that comes naturally. You have to set your mind. I was really hit with that "setting your mind" to humble yourself. It's like me resetting my watch. It's concentrating on a different zone from the zone we're used to living in in this selfie world.
Now, what is humility? It's not denying your created worth and saying, "I'm no good." No, that's an insult to God. Maybe it's best understood by its opposite-self-focus. That's the 'me' zone we live in most of the time. How will this help me? How can I look good? How can I get the edge? My comfort, my story, my need, my feelings, my advancement, my attention. Humility, then, is self-forgetfulness; setting your mind to forget about yourself.
In Philippians 2 we're told to "have the same attitude Jesus had." And then it says, "He humbled himself." And then it describes how He later denied His comfort in heaven, His safety, His rights, all of His interests. Ultimately, He denied himself His life. And that's why God exalted Him, and that's why He will exalt you if you humble yourself.
I'm beginning to see this business of humbling myself as pretty practical stuff. Look, each new day I have to reset my inner watch, because it keeps resetting to the 'me' zone. And I have to set it to live in the 'God and others' zone. I need to pray, and maybe you do too, "Lord, by nature I'm self-centered. I'm going to live for my stuff today unless I set my mind to humble myself. I want to do that; I want to lay aside my self-agenda today. I just want to be available for Your agenda. Help me forget about myself. Help me focus on You. Help me focus on the people around me. Help me seek to give attention, not try to get it. Help me to bring credit to You, not to me. Help me to focus on the needs of other people, not on my own. Help me to let other people tell their story before I tell mine; to prefer other people ahead of me." See, that's resetting yourself for another day of walking humbly before your God.
And in the strangely upside-down ways of God you'll find your life by giving it away. You'll be promoted by God, who could do a much better job of it than you can by promoting yourself. Take it from a veteran of crossing time zones, things are not right until you've reset for a different zone. And things won't be right for you unless you reset each morning from the 'me' zone to the 'God and others' zone. It's called humility.
As surely as a child breathes, he will someday wonder, "What is the purpose of my life?" Some search for meaning in a career. My purpose is to be a dentist. Fine vocation but hardly a justification for existence. They opt to be a human doing rather than a human being. They work many hours, because if they don't, they have no identify. For others, who they are is what they have. They find meaning in a new car, a new house, new clothes. They are great for the economy because they're always seeking meaning in something they own. Sports, entertainment, cults, sex, you name it. Paul says in Romans 1:22, "Claiming themselves to be wise without God, they became utter fools instead." Contrast that to God's vision of life when he said, "We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us!" (Ephesians 2:10).
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 37
The Ark
Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.[e] 2 He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold molding around it. 3 He cast four gold rings for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 4 Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. 5 And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it.
6 He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 7 Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 8 He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. 9 The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.
The Table
10 They[f] made the table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.[g] 11 Then they overlaid it with pure gold and made a gold molding around it. 12 They also made around it a rim a handbreadth[h] wide and put a gold molding on the rim. 13 They cast four gold rings for the table and fastened them to the four corners, where the four legs were. 14 The rings were put close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table. 15 The poles for carrying the table were made of acacia wood and were overlaid with gold. 16 And they made from pure gold the articles for the table—its plates and dishes and bowls and its pitchers for the pouring out of drink offerings.
The Lampstand
17 They made the lampstand of pure gold. They hammered out its base and shaft, and made its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. 18 Six branches extended from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. 19 Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on one branch, three on the next branch and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. 20 And on the lampstand were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. 21 One bud was under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. 22 The buds and the branches were all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.
23 They made its seven lamps, as well as its wick trimmers and trays, of pure gold. 24 They made the lampstand and all its accessories from one talent[i] of pure gold.
The Altar of Incense
25 They made the altar of incense out of acacia wood. It was square, a cubit long and a cubit wide and two cubits high[j]—its horns of one piece with it. 26 They overlaid the top and all the sides and the horns with pure gold, and made a gold molding around it. 27 They made two gold rings below the molding—two on each of the opposite sides—to hold the poles used to carry it. 28 They made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.
29 They also made the sacred anointing oil and the pure, fragrant incense—the work of a perfumer.
Exodus 37:1 That is, about 3 3/4 feet long and 2 1/4 feet wide and high or about 1.1 meters long and 68 centimeters wide and high; similarly in verse 6
Exodus 37:10 Or He; also in verses 11-29
Exodus 37:10 That is, about 3 feet long, 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 1/4 feet high or about 90 centimeters long, 45 centimeters wide and 68 centimeters high
Exodus 37:12 That is, about 3 inches or about 7.5 centimeters
Exodus 37:24 That is, about 75 pounds or about 34 kilograms
Exodus 37:25 That is, about 1 1/2 feet long and wide and 3 feet high or about 45 centimeters long and wide and 90 centimeters high
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, September 08, 2014
Read: Mark 4:1-20
The Parable of the Sower
Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’[a]”
13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Footnotes: Mark 4:12 Isaiah 6:9,10
Sow What?
By Julie Ackerman Link
He who sows righteousness will have a sure reward. —Proverbs 11:18
On the clock tower of my alma mater is an Art Deco bas-relief sculpture titled The Sower. The inscription beneath it is from Galatians 6:7, “Whatsoever a man soweth.” Michigan State University remains a leader in agricultural research, but despite many improvements in farming techniques and crop production, this fact remains: Seeds of corn will not produce a crop of beans.
Jesus used many farming metaphors to explain the kingdom of God. In the parable of the sower (Mark 4), He compared the Word of God to seeds sown in different types of soil. As the parable indicates, the sower sows indiscriminately, knowing that some seed will fall in places where it will not grow.
Like Jesus, we are to sow good seed in all places at all times. God is responsible for where it lands and how it grows. The important thing is that we sow. God does not want us to reap destruction, so He wants us to sow what is good and right (Prov. 11:18). The apostle Paul elaborated on the metaphor when he warned believers not to sow seeds of corruption. Instead, we are to sow seeds that will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:8).
The answer to the question, “Sow what?” is “Sow what you want to reap.” To reap a good harvest in your life, start sowing seeds of goodness.
Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap a destiny. —Anon.
A buried seed brings fruit; a selfless life reaps an eternal harvest.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, September 08, 2014
Do It Yourself (1)
. . . casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God . . . —2 Corinthians 10:5
Determinedly Demolish Some Things. Deliverance from sin is not the same as deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, that the saint can only destroy through sheer neglect. But there are other things that have to be destroyed through violence, that is, through God’s divine strength imparted by His Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but only to “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord . . .” (see Exodus 14:13). But every theory or thought that raises itself up as a fortified barrier “against the knowledge of God” is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not through human effort or by compromise (see 2 Corinthians 10:4).
It is only when God has transformed our nature and we have entered into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin— Jesus Christ conquered that in His redemption of us. The conflict is waged over turning our natural life into a spiritual life. This is never done easily, nor does God intend that it be so. It is accomplished only through a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense that He makes our character holy. He makes us holy in the sense that He has made us innocent before Him. And then we have to turn that innocence into holy character through the moral choices we make. These choices are continually opposed and hostile to the things of our natural life which have become so deeply entrenched— the very things that raise themselves up as fortified barriers “against the knowledge of God.” We can either turn back, making ourselves of no value to the kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things, allowing Jesus to bring another son to glory (see Hebrews 2:10).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, September 08, 2014
Resetting from the 'Me' Zone - #7216
Life on the road is so glamorous! Yeah, I can pack, unpack and repack my suitcase blindfolded. I have learned the survival skills of living in airports. And one of the most important things to remember, although it is hard sometimes, remember what time zone you're in. You can really get that messed up if you forget that. A lot of things are going to be wrong. I know! You miss planes, you miss meals, you miss appointments, you miss sleep. So I must faithfully reset my watch as I cross in and out of time zones or everything else is going to get messed up.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Resetting from the 'Me' Zone."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Daniel 10. I'm going to give you a little background here. Daniel is trying to understand what God's plan is, and he needs some special wisdom from the Lord. He doesn't understand what he's feeling. He's receiving a messenger from heaven, though, who tells him that he is highly esteemed by God, and then reveals what has impressed God about Daniel's praying.
Daniel 10:12 from the Word of God. The messenger said, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come in response to them." These words really leaped out at me as I read this. You set your mind to humble yourself.
Now, this business of us humbling ourselves; it's apparently pretty important to God. He keeps talking about it. 1 Peter 5:6, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time." This humbling yourself? It's not something that comes naturally. You have to set your mind. I was really hit with that "setting your mind" to humble yourself. It's like me resetting my watch. It's concentrating on a different zone from the zone we're used to living in in this selfie world.
Now, what is humility? It's not denying your created worth and saying, "I'm no good." No, that's an insult to God. Maybe it's best understood by its opposite-self-focus. That's the 'me' zone we live in most of the time. How will this help me? How can I look good? How can I get the edge? My comfort, my story, my need, my feelings, my advancement, my attention. Humility, then, is self-forgetfulness; setting your mind to forget about yourself.
In Philippians 2 we're told to "have the same attitude Jesus had." And then it says, "He humbled himself." And then it describes how He later denied His comfort in heaven, His safety, His rights, all of His interests. Ultimately, He denied himself His life. And that's why God exalted Him, and that's why He will exalt you if you humble yourself.
I'm beginning to see this business of humbling myself as pretty practical stuff. Look, each new day I have to reset my inner watch, because it keeps resetting to the 'me' zone. And I have to set it to live in the 'God and others' zone. I need to pray, and maybe you do too, "Lord, by nature I'm self-centered. I'm going to live for my stuff today unless I set my mind to humble myself. I want to do that; I want to lay aside my self-agenda today. I just want to be available for Your agenda. Help me forget about myself. Help me focus on You. Help me focus on the people around me. Help me seek to give attention, not try to get it. Help me to bring credit to You, not to me. Help me to focus on the needs of other people, not on my own. Help me to let other people tell their story before I tell mine; to prefer other people ahead of me." See, that's resetting yourself for another day of walking humbly before your God.
And in the strangely upside-down ways of God you'll find your life by giving it away. You'll be promoted by God, who could do a much better job of it than you can by promoting yourself. Take it from a veteran of crossing time zones, things are not right until you've reset for a different zone. And things won't be right for you unless you reset each morning from the 'me' zone to the 'God and others' zone. It's called humility.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Exodus 36, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
MaxLucado.com: Grace is God as heart surgeon!
Grace is God cracking open your chest, removing your heart, poisoned as it is with pride and pain, and replacing it with his own.
God’s dream isn’t just to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you. Grace lives because Jesus does, works because he works, and matters because he matters.
To be saved by grace is to be saved by Jesus—not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership, but by Jesus himself, who will sweep into heaven anyone who so much as gives him the nod.
Grace won’t be stage-managed. I have no tips on how to get grace. Truth is, we don’t get grace. But it can sure get us.
If you wonder whether God can do something with the mess of your life, then grace is what you need!
Let’s make certain it happens to you!
Ezekiel 36:26b- “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
From GRACE
Exodus 36
So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.”
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”
6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
The Tabernacle
8 All those who were skilled among the workers made the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by expert hands. 9 All the curtains were the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.[a] 10 They joined five of the curtains together and did the same with the other five. 11 Then they made loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and the same was done with the end curtain in the other set. 12 They also made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. 13 Then they made fifty gold clasps and used them to fasten the two sets of curtains together so that the tabernacle was a unit.
14 They made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether. 15 All eleven curtains were the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.[b] 16 They joined five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another set. 17 Then they made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. 18 They made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the tent together as a unit. 19 Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.[c]
20 They made upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. 21 Each frame was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,[d] 22 with two projections set parallel to each other. They made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. 23 They made twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle 24 and made forty silver bases to go under them—two bases for each frame, one under each projection. 25 For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, they made twenty frames 26 and forty silver bases—two under each frame. 27 They made six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, 28 and two frames were made for the corners of the tabernacle at the far end. 29 At these two corners the frames were double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both were made alike. 30 So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.
31 They also made crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, 32 five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. 33 They made the center crossbar so that it extended from end to end at the middle of the frames. 34 They overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also overlaid the crossbars with gold.
35 They made the curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. 36 They made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold. They made gold hooks for them and cast their four silver bases. 37 For the entrance to the tent they made a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer; 38 and they made five posts with hooks for them. They overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold and made their five bases of bronze.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, September 07, 2014
Read: Philippians 3:1-11
No Confidence in the Flesh
Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Footnotes:
Philippians 3:9 Or through the faithfulness of
Insight
In Philippians 3:4-6, Paul details the things that showed his significance in ancient Judaism. What he discovered, however, was that true significance can only be found in knowing Christ (vv.8-9).
More Of Him, Less Of Me
By Joe Stowell
I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. —Philippians 3:8
While I was pastoring a church early in my ministry, my daughter Libby asked me, “Dad, are we famous?” To which I replied, “No, Libby, we’re not famous.” She thought for a moment and then said rather indignantly, “Well, we would be if more people knew about us!”
Poor Libby! Only 7 years old and already struggling with what many of us struggle with throughout life: Who recognizes us, and are we getting the recognition we think we deserve?
Our desire for recognition wouldn’t be such a problem if it didn’t tend to replace Jesus as the focus of our attention. But being absorbed with ourselves crowds Him out of the picture.
Life cannot be all about us and all about Jesus at the same time. This makes Paul’s statement that he counted “everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ” (Phil. 3:8 esv) strategically important. Faced with a choice between himself and Jesus, Paul intentionally discarded the things that would draw attention to himself so he could concentrate on knowing and experiencing Jesus (vv.7-8,10).
For us, the decision is the same. Will we live to draw attention to ourselves? Or will we focus on the privilege of knowing and experiencing Jesus more intimately?
Lord, thank You for reminding me of the
value of knowing You more intimately.
Help me to keep myself out of the way as
I pursue a deeper walk with You.
Do our choices bring honor to God or to us?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 07, 2014
Fountains of Blessings
The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life —John 4:14
The picture our Lord described here is not that of a simple stream of water, but an overflowing fountain. Continue to “be filled” (Ephesians 5:18) and the sweetness of your vital relationship to Jesus will flow as generously out of you as it has been given to you. If you find that His life is not springing up as it should, you are to blame— something is obstructing the flow. Was Jesus saying to stay focused on the Source so that you may be blessed personally? No, you are to focus on the Source so that out of you “will flow rivers of living water”— irrepressible life (John 7:38).
We are to be fountains through which Jesus can flow as “rivers of living water” in blessing to everyone. Yet some of us are like the Dead Sea, always receiving but never giving, because our relationship is not right with the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive blessings from Him, He will pour out blessings through us. But whenever the blessings are not being poured out in the same measure they are received, there is a defect in our relationship with Him. Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything hindering your faith in Him? If not, then Jesus says that out of you “will flow rivers of living water.” It is not a blessing that you pass on, or an experience that you share with others, but a river that continually flows through you. Stay at the Source, closely guarding your faith in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow into the lives of others with no dryness or deadness whatsoever.
Is it excessive to say that rivers will flow out of one individual believer? Do you look at yourself and say, “But I don’t see the rivers”? Through the history of God’s work you will usually find that He has started with the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but those who have been steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.
Grace is God cracking open your chest, removing your heart, poisoned as it is with pride and pain, and replacing it with his own.
God’s dream isn’t just to get you into heaven, but to get heaven into you. Grace lives because Jesus does, works because he works, and matters because he matters.
To be saved by grace is to be saved by Jesus—not by an idea, doctrine, creed, or church membership, but by Jesus himself, who will sweep into heaven anyone who so much as gives him the nod.
Grace won’t be stage-managed. I have no tips on how to get grace. Truth is, we don’t get grace. But it can sure get us.
If you wonder whether God can do something with the mess of your life, then grace is what you need!
Let’s make certain it happens to you!
Ezekiel 36:26b- “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”
From GRACE
Exodus 36
So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the Lord has commanded.”
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.”
6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
The Tabernacle
8 All those who were skilled among the workers made the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by expert hands. 9 All the curtains were the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.[a] 10 They joined five of the curtains together and did the same with the other five. 11 Then they made loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and the same was done with the end curtain in the other set. 12 They also made fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. 13 Then they made fifty gold clasps and used them to fasten the two sets of curtains together so that the tabernacle was a unit.
14 They made curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether. 15 All eleven curtains were the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.[b] 16 They joined five of the curtains into one set and the other six into another set. 17 Then they made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set. 18 They made fifty bronze clasps to fasten the tent together as a unit. 19 Then they made for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.[c]
20 They made upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle. 21 Each frame was ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,[d] 22 with two projections set parallel to each other. They made all the frames of the tabernacle in this way. 23 They made twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle 24 and made forty silver bases to go under them—two bases for each frame, one under each projection. 25 For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, they made twenty frames 26 and forty silver bases—two under each frame. 27 They made six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle, 28 and two frames were made for the corners of the tabernacle at the far end. 29 At these two corners the frames were double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both were made alike. 30 So there were eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.
31 They also made crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle, 32 five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle. 33 They made the center crossbar so that it extended from end to end at the middle of the frames. 34 They overlaid the frames with gold and made gold rings to hold the crossbars. They also overlaid the crossbars with gold.
35 They made the curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. 36 They made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold. They made gold hooks for them and cast their four silver bases. 37 For the entrance to the tent they made a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer; 38 and they made five posts with hooks for them. They overlaid the tops of the posts and their bands with gold and made their five bases of bronze.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, September 07, 2014
Read: Philippians 3:1-11
No Confidence in the Flesh
Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Footnotes:
Philippians 3:9 Or through the faithfulness of
Insight
In Philippians 3:4-6, Paul details the things that showed his significance in ancient Judaism. What he discovered, however, was that true significance can only be found in knowing Christ (vv.8-9).
More Of Him, Less Of Me
By Joe Stowell
I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. —Philippians 3:8
While I was pastoring a church early in my ministry, my daughter Libby asked me, “Dad, are we famous?” To which I replied, “No, Libby, we’re not famous.” She thought for a moment and then said rather indignantly, “Well, we would be if more people knew about us!”
Poor Libby! Only 7 years old and already struggling with what many of us struggle with throughout life: Who recognizes us, and are we getting the recognition we think we deserve?
Our desire for recognition wouldn’t be such a problem if it didn’t tend to replace Jesus as the focus of our attention. But being absorbed with ourselves crowds Him out of the picture.
Life cannot be all about us and all about Jesus at the same time. This makes Paul’s statement that he counted “everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ” (Phil. 3:8 esv) strategically important. Faced with a choice between himself and Jesus, Paul intentionally discarded the things that would draw attention to himself so he could concentrate on knowing and experiencing Jesus (vv.7-8,10).
For us, the decision is the same. Will we live to draw attention to ourselves? Or will we focus on the privilege of knowing and experiencing Jesus more intimately?
Lord, thank You for reminding me of the
value of knowing You more intimately.
Help me to keep myself out of the way as
I pursue a deeper walk with You.
Do our choices bring honor to God or to us?
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 07, 2014
Fountains of Blessings
The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life —John 4:14
The picture our Lord described here is not that of a simple stream of water, but an overflowing fountain. Continue to “be filled” (Ephesians 5:18) and the sweetness of your vital relationship to Jesus will flow as generously out of you as it has been given to you. If you find that His life is not springing up as it should, you are to blame— something is obstructing the flow. Was Jesus saying to stay focused on the Source so that you may be blessed personally? No, you are to focus on the Source so that out of you “will flow rivers of living water”— irrepressible life (John 7:38).
We are to be fountains through which Jesus can flow as “rivers of living water” in blessing to everyone. Yet some of us are like the Dead Sea, always receiving but never giving, because our relationship is not right with the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive blessings from Him, He will pour out blessings through us. But whenever the blessings are not being poured out in the same measure they are received, there is a defect in our relationship with Him. Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything hindering your faith in Him? If not, then Jesus says that out of you “will flow rivers of living water.” It is not a blessing that you pass on, or an experience that you share with others, but a river that continually flows through you. Stay at the Source, closely guarding your faith in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow into the lives of others with no dryness or deadness whatsoever.
Is it excessive to say that rivers will flow out of one individual believer? Do you look at yourself and say, “But I don’t see the rivers”? Through the history of God’s work you will usually find that He has started with the obscure, the unknown, the ignored, but those who have been steadfastly true to Jesus Christ.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Mark 3:20-35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: We Don’t Like to Wait
We don’t like to wait. We’re the giddy-up generation. We frown at the person who takes eleven items to the ten-item express checkout. We drum our fingers while the microwave heats our coffee. “Come on, come on.” We really don’t like to wait!
Look around you. Do you realize where we sit? This planet is God’s waiting room. The young couple? Waiting to get pregnant. The guy with the briefcase? Waiting for work. Waiting on God to give or to help. Waiting on God to come. The land of waiting. And you? Are you in God’s waiting room?
You may be infertile or inactive, in limbo, in between jobs or in search of a house, spouse, health, or help. Here’s what you need to know. While you wait, God works! God never twiddles His thumbs. He never stops. Just because you’re idle, don’t assume God is. Trust Him. In the right time, you’ll get through this.
From You’ll Get Through This
Mark 3:20-35
Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family[a] heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Footnotes:
Mark 3:21 Or his associates
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 06, 2014
Read: Psalm 150
Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Footnotes:
Psalm 150:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 6
Insight
The last five songs of Israel’s hymnbook are also known as Hallelujah Psalms, because each of them (Psalms 146–150) begins and ends with the refrain “Praise the Lord” (Hebrew Hallelujah). Psalm 150 answers three important questions: Who should praise God? (vv.1,6). Why should God be praised? (v.2). How is He to be praised? (vv.3-5). The psalmist calls on “everything that has breath” to worship God (v.6)—including creatures on earth and angels in the heavens (v.1). We should praise God for what He has done (“His mighty acts” v.2) and for who He is (“His excellent greatness” v.2). We are to praise Him with our voices, with the accompaniment of all kinds of instruments, and with dancing (vv.3-6). “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (v.6) is indeed a fitting final doxology to God.
Let Me Be Singing
By David C. McCasland
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. —Psalm 150:6
When I asked a friend how his mother was getting along, he told me that dementia had robbed her of the ability to remember a great many names and events from the past. “Even so,” he added, “she can still sit down at the piano and, without sheet music, beautifully play hymns by memory.”
Plato and Aristotle wrote about the helping, healing power of music 2,500 years ago. But centuries before that, the biblical record was saturated with song.
From the first mention of Jubal, “the father of all those who play the harp and flute” (Gen. 4:21), to those who “sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the Lamb” (Rev. 15:3), the pages of the Bible resonate with music. The Psalms, often called “the Bible’s songbook,” point us to the love and faithfulness of God. They conclude with an unending call to worship, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Ps. 150:6).
Today we need God’s ministry of music in our hearts as much as any time in history. Whatever each day brings, may the evening find us singing, “To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy” (59:17).
Lord, I don’t know what will come this day or
farther into the future, but I’m grateful that You’re
by my side. Grant me a spirit of praise and
thanksgiving in whatever lies ahead.
Praise to God comes naturally when you count your blessings.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 06, 2014
The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life
He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water —John 7:38
A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe. . .” (John 6:29). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.
A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.
Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.
We don’t like to wait. We’re the giddy-up generation. We frown at the person who takes eleven items to the ten-item express checkout. We drum our fingers while the microwave heats our coffee. “Come on, come on.” We really don’t like to wait!
Look around you. Do you realize where we sit? This planet is God’s waiting room. The young couple? Waiting to get pregnant. The guy with the briefcase? Waiting for work. Waiting on God to give or to help. Waiting on God to come. The land of waiting. And you? Are you in God’s waiting room?
You may be infertile or inactive, in limbo, in between jobs or in search of a house, spouse, health, or help. Here’s what you need to know. While you wait, God works! God never twiddles His thumbs. He never stops. Just because you’re idle, don’t assume God is. Trust Him. In the right time, you’ll get through this.
From You’ll Get Through This
Mark 3:20-35
Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family[a] heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
23 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Footnotes:
Mark 3:21 Or his associates
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, September 06, 2014
Read: Psalm 150
Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Footnotes:
Psalm 150:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 6
Insight
The last five songs of Israel’s hymnbook are also known as Hallelujah Psalms, because each of them (Psalms 146–150) begins and ends with the refrain “Praise the Lord” (Hebrew Hallelujah). Psalm 150 answers three important questions: Who should praise God? (vv.1,6). Why should God be praised? (v.2). How is He to be praised? (vv.3-5). The psalmist calls on “everything that has breath” to worship God (v.6)—including creatures on earth and angels in the heavens (v.1). We should praise God for what He has done (“His mighty acts” v.2) and for who He is (“His excellent greatness” v.2). We are to praise Him with our voices, with the accompaniment of all kinds of instruments, and with dancing (vv.3-6). “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (v.6) is indeed a fitting final doxology to God.
Let Me Be Singing
By David C. McCasland
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. —Psalm 150:6
When I asked a friend how his mother was getting along, he told me that dementia had robbed her of the ability to remember a great many names and events from the past. “Even so,” he added, “she can still sit down at the piano and, without sheet music, beautifully play hymns by memory.”
Plato and Aristotle wrote about the helping, healing power of music 2,500 years ago. But centuries before that, the biblical record was saturated with song.
From the first mention of Jubal, “the father of all those who play the harp and flute” (Gen. 4:21), to those who “sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and the song of the Lamb” (Rev. 15:3), the pages of the Bible resonate with music. The Psalms, often called “the Bible’s songbook,” point us to the love and faithfulness of God. They conclude with an unending call to worship, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!” (Ps. 150:6).
Today we need God’s ministry of music in our hearts as much as any time in history. Whatever each day brings, may the evening find us singing, “To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy” (59:17).
Lord, I don’t know what will come this day or
farther into the future, but I’m grateful that You’re
by my side. Grant me a spirit of praise and
thanksgiving in whatever lies ahead.
Praise to God comes naturally when you count your blessings.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, September 06, 2014
The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life
He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water —John 7:38
A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe. . .” (John 6:29). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.
A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.
Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.
Friday, September 5, 2014
Exodus 35 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Moral Absolutes
When I was nine years old, I complimented a friend’s model airplane. He said, “I stole it!” He could tell I was stunned because he asked, “Do you think that was wrong?” When I told him I did, he answered simply, “It may be wrong for you, but it’s not wrong for me. I know the owner. He’s rich…I’m not.”
What do you say to that argument? If the majority opinion determines good and evil, what happens when the majority is wrong? A godly view of the world has something to say to my childhood thief. You may think it’s right. Society may think it’s okay. But the God who made you said, ‘You shall not steal’—and he wasn’t kidding. The hedonist’s world of no moral absolutes works fine on paper and sounds great in a college philosophy course, but in life? Paul described it best in Romans 1:21, “Their foolish minds were filled with darkness.”
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 35
Sabbath Regulations
Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: 2 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. 3 Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
Materials for the Tabernacle
4 Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: 5 From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze; 6 blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; 7 ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather[c]; acacia wood; 8 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 9 and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.
10 “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded: 11 the tabernacle with its tent and its covering, clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases; 12 the ark with its poles and the atonement cover and the curtain that shields it; 13 the table with its poles and all its articles and the bread of the Presence; 14 the lampstand that is for light with its accessories, lamps and oil for the light; 15 the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils; the bronze basin with its stand; 17 the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard; 18 the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard, and their ropes; 19 the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary—both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests.”
20 Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, 21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. 22 All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord. 23 Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or the other durable leather brought them. 24 Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it. 25 Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen. 26 And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair. 27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. 28 They also brought spices and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.
Bezalel and Oholiab
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. 34 And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. 35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.
Exodus 35:7 Possibly the hides of large aquatic mammals; also in verse 23
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 05, 2014
Read: James 4:11-17
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[a] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
James 4:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
Insight
The New Testament book of James is often compared to the Old Testament book of Proverbs. Both contain a great deal of practical instruction about daily life lived in faith. Proverbs says that if we acknowledge God, He will direct our paths (3:6). Today’s passage reminds us of the same idea. While cautioning us that our lives are fleeting (James 4:13-14), James comforts us with the knowledge that we are in God’s hands (vv.12,15). He is the one who saves, and it is by His will that we live our lives.
With Him Forever!
By Bill Crowder
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. —James 4:14
In 1859, during the turbulent years prior to America’s Civil War, Abraham Lincoln had the opportunity to speak to the Agricultural Society in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As he spoke, he shared with them the story of an ancient monarch’s search for a sentence that was “true and appropriate in all times and situations.” His wise men, faced with this heady challenge, gave him the sentence, “And this, too, shall pass away.”
This is certainly true of our present world—it is constantly in the process of deterioration. And it’s not happening just to the world; we also face the reality in our own lives that our days are numbered. James wrote, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).
Although our current life is temporary and will pass away, the God we worship and serve is eternal. He has shared that eternity with us through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. He promises us a life that will never pass away: “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).
When Christ returns, He will take us home to be with Him forever!
Awake, my soul and sing
Of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King
Through all eternity. —Bridges/Thring
For hope today, remember the end of the story— eternity with God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 05, 2014
Watching With Jesus
Stay here and watch with Me —Matthew 26:38
Watch with Me.” Jesus was saying, in effect, “Watch with no private point of view at all, but watch solely and entirely with Me.” In the early stages of our Christian life, we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. We do not watch with Him through the revealed truth of the Bible even in the circumstances of our own lives. Our Lord is trying to introduce us to identification with Himself through a particular “Gethsemane” experience of our own. But we refuse to go, saying, “No, Lord, I can’t see the meaning of this, and besides, it’s very painful.” And how can we possibly watch with Someone who is so incomprehensible? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we don’t even know why He is suffering? We don’t know how to watch with Him— we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us.
The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they “all . . . forsook Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56).
“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . .” (Acts 2:4). “They” refers to the same people, but something wonderful has happened between these two events— our Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension— and the disciples have now been invaded and “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Our Lord had said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Acts 1:8). This meant that they learned to watch with Him the rest of their lives.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 05, 2014
THE HARVEST HANG-UP - #7215
Our oldest son worked as a missionary among young people in a Native American tribe in the Southwest. His first few days there he ended up helping a Native American man weed his corn field. The tribe lives in a place where it's pretty tough to grow anything. I mean, corn is the most important crop, but it doesn't come easily because they're in a place where you can only get about 10-12 inches of rain a year.
Well, they have perfected a method called dry farming. It means a lot of back-breaking work. One key is getting the weeds out of that garden before they can steal some of the corn's precious moisture. Well, that's what my son was doing for this man. At the end of a hard, hot afternoon he said to the farmer, "How much of your corn are you actually going to be able to harvest?" And the man said, "Oh, about 10%." To which my son replied, "Oh, man, after all this work, that's too bad. What happened?" And he said, "Well, I'll tell you where I lose most of my crop." The answer was surprising.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Harvest Hang-Up."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 9, beginning at verse 36. Oh, by the way, that farmer told my son, "I could harvest it all if I only had a few more workers." Jesus knows that feeling. The Bible: "And when He saw the crowds He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.'"
Jesus said, "the harvest is plentiful." He's talking there about lost people; people without Christ. When I talk to farmers about what the word harvest means to them, you know what the first word is they'll bring up? "Ready." Yeah, it's ready. That's what harvest is. We're surrounded by lost people, then, who are ready for Jesus. The harvest is plentiful. You say, "Well, they don't seem very interested in Jesus to me."
That's only because they don't know what Jesus can do.
Relationships these days have never been more broken, more disappointing, more unfulfilling. Loneliness has never been more rampant, more incurable. It seems like the future's never been this uncertain. Families are tough. The pain is wide spread. There's fertile ground there for the love that only God can give you; the peace that only He can give you, the security, the power, the healing.
They're ready, but there's a problem. The laborers are few. Jesus can't get His people to go get them. That's the harvest hang-up! Not the harvest of lost people; that's not the problem. It's the apathy of God's people. There are not enough workers!
What a tragic reason to lose the harvest; to let people slip into a Christ-less eternity. But right now God is trying to send workers out to His harvest field – maybe you. Could it be that you've gotten so comfortable in the farmhouse that you've forgotten the urgent need of the lost people out there? A lot of us are just sitting around tables, passing around another helping of spiritual blessings while the harvest dies.
Maybe you've become preoccupied with your own pressures and problems. In the days of Haggai, the prophet, he said, "My house (God speaking) remains a ruin while each of you is busy with his own house." Could it be God's agenda, the lost people His Son died for, have gotten lost in your agenda?
Could it be you feel inadequate to tell people about Him? But God decided you were the one to be His personal representative in that circle of people. He's going to give you the words. He's going to open the doors. Harvest time will not wait for you. Your wait is over.
Time is short. This is urgent stuff! Harvest always is. You've got a limited amount of time to bring in what's ready. You have nothing more important to do than this.
My heart broke when I heard what that farmer had said, "I could harvest it all if I had a few more workers." We're not harvesting corn. No, we're harvesting ever living, never dying souls. Would you step up to the task today and say, "Lord, you can bring in a few more, because You've got one more worker."
When I was nine years old, I complimented a friend’s model airplane. He said, “I stole it!” He could tell I was stunned because he asked, “Do you think that was wrong?” When I told him I did, he answered simply, “It may be wrong for you, but it’s not wrong for me. I know the owner. He’s rich…I’m not.”
What do you say to that argument? If the majority opinion determines good and evil, what happens when the majority is wrong? A godly view of the world has something to say to my childhood thief. You may think it’s right. Society may think it’s okay. But the God who made you said, ‘You shall not steal’—and he wasn’t kidding. The hedonist’s world of no moral absolutes works fine on paper and sounds great in a college philosophy course, but in life? Paul described it best in Romans 1:21, “Their foolish minds were filled with darkness.”
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 35
Sabbath Regulations
Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: 2 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. 3 Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
Materials for the Tabernacle
4 Moses said to the whole Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: 5 From what you have, take an offering for the Lord. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of gold, silver and bronze; 6 blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; 7 ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather[c]; acacia wood; 8 olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; 9 and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.
10 “All who are skilled among you are to come and make everything the Lord has commanded: 11 the tabernacle with its tent and its covering, clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases; 12 the ark with its poles and the atonement cover and the curtain that shields it; 13 the table with its poles and all its articles and the bread of the Presence; 14 the lampstand that is for light with its accessories, lamps and oil for the light; 15 the altar of incense with its poles, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the curtain for the doorway at the entrance to the tabernacle; 16 the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils; the bronze basin with its stand; 17 the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard; 18 the tent pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard, and their ropes; 19 the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary—both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests.”
20 Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, 21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved them came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments. 22 All who were willing, men and women alike, came and brought gold jewelry of all kinds: brooches, earrings, rings and ornaments. They all presented their gold as a wave offering to the Lord. 23 Everyone who had blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen, or goat hair, ram skins dyed red or the other durable leather brought them. 24 Those presenting an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to the Lord, and everyone who had acacia wood for any part of the work brought it. 25 Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple or scarlet yarn or fine linen. 26 And all the women who were willing and had the skill spun the goat hair. 27 The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece. 28 They also brought spices and olive oil for the light and for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.
Bezalel and Oholiab
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. 34 And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. 35 He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as engravers, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them skilled workers and designers.
Exodus 35:7 Possibly the hides of large aquatic mammals; also in verse 23
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, September 05, 2014
Read: James 4:11-17
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[a] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
James 4:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
Insight
The New Testament book of James is often compared to the Old Testament book of Proverbs. Both contain a great deal of practical instruction about daily life lived in faith. Proverbs says that if we acknowledge God, He will direct our paths (3:6). Today’s passage reminds us of the same idea. While cautioning us that our lives are fleeting (James 4:13-14), James comforts us with the knowledge that we are in God’s hands (vv.12,15). He is the one who saves, and it is by His will that we live our lives.
With Him Forever!
By Bill Crowder
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. —James 4:14
In 1859, during the turbulent years prior to America’s Civil War, Abraham Lincoln had the opportunity to speak to the Agricultural Society in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As he spoke, he shared with them the story of an ancient monarch’s search for a sentence that was “true and appropriate in all times and situations.” His wise men, faced with this heady challenge, gave him the sentence, “And this, too, shall pass away.”
This is certainly true of our present world—it is constantly in the process of deterioration. And it’s not happening just to the world; we also face the reality in our own lives that our days are numbered. James wrote, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14).
Although our current life is temporary and will pass away, the God we worship and serve is eternal. He has shared that eternity with us through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. He promises us a life that will never pass away: “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).
When Christ returns, He will take us home to be with Him forever!
Awake, my soul and sing
Of Him who died for thee,
And hail Him as thy matchless King
Through all eternity. —Bridges/Thring
For hope today, remember the end of the story— eternity with God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, September 05, 2014
Watching With Jesus
Stay here and watch with Me —Matthew 26:38
Watch with Me.” Jesus was saying, in effect, “Watch with no private point of view at all, but watch solely and entirely with Me.” In the early stages of our Christian life, we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. We do not watch with Him through the revealed truth of the Bible even in the circumstances of our own lives. Our Lord is trying to introduce us to identification with Himself through a particular “Gethsemane” experience of our own. But we refuse to go, saying, “No, Lord, I can’t see the meaning of this, and besides, it’s very painful.” And how can we possibly watch with Someone who is so incomprehensible? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we don’t even know why He is suffering? We don’t know how to watch with Him— we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us.
The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they “all . . . forsook Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56).
“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . .” (Acts 2:4). “They” refers to the same people, but something wonderful has happened between these two events— our Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension— and the disciples have now been invaded and “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Our Lord had said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Acts 1:8). This meant that they learned to watch with Him the rest of their lives.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, September 05, 2014
THE HARVEST HANG-UP - #7215
Our oldest son worked as a missionary among young people in a Native American tribe in the Southwest. His first few days there he ended up helping a Native American man weed his corn field. The tribe lives in a place where it's pretty tough to grow anything. I mean, corn is the most important crop, but it doesn't come easily because they're in a place where you can only get about 10-12 inches of rain a year.
Well, they have perfected a method called dry farming. It means a lot of back-breaking work. One key is getting the weeds out of that garden before they can steal some of the corn's precious moisture. Well, that's what my son was doing for this man. At the end of a hard, hot afternoon he said to the farmer, "How much of your corn are you actually going to be able to harvest?" And the man said, "Oh, about 10%." To which my son replied, "Oh, man, after all this work, that's too bad. What happened?" And he said, "Well, I'll tell you where I lose most of my crop." The answer was surprising.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Harvest Hang-Up."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 9, beginning at verse 36. Oh, by the way, that farmer told my son, "I could harvest it all if I only had a few more workers." Jesus knows that feeling. The Bible: "And when He saw the crowds He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.'"
Jesus said, "the harvest is plentiful." He's talking there about lost people; people without Christ. When I talk to farmers about what the word harvest means to them, you know what the first word is they'll bring up? "Ready." Yeah, it's ready. That's what harvest is. We're surrounded by lost people, then, who are ready for Jesus. The harvest is plentiful. You say, "Well, they don't seem very interested in Jesus to me."
That's only because they don't know what Jesus can do.
Relationships these days have never been more broken, more disappointing, more unfulfilling. Loneliness has never been more rampant, more incurable. It seems like the future's never been this uncertain. Families are tough. The pain is wide spread. There's fertile ground there for the love that only God can give you; the peace that only He can give you, the security, the power, the healing.
They're ready, but there's a problem. The laborers are few. Jesus can't get His people to go get them. That's the harvest hang-up! Not the harvest of lost people; that's not the problem. It's the apathy of God's people. There are not enough workers!
What a tragic reason to lose the harvest; to let people slip into a Christ-less eternity. But right now God is trying to send workers out to His harvest field – maybe you. Could it be that you've gotten so comfortable in the farmhouse that you've forgotten the urgent need of the lost people out there? A lot of us are just sitting around tables, passing around another helping of spiritual blessings while the harvest dies.
Maybe you've become preoccupied with your own pressures and problems. In the days of Haggai, the prophet, he said, "My house (God speaking) remains a ruin while each of you is busy with his own house." Could it be God's agenda, the lost people His Son died for, have gotten lost in your agenda?
Could it be you feel inadequate to tell people about Him? But God decided you were the one to be His personal representative in that circle of people. He's going to give you the words. He's going to open the doors. Harvest time will not wait for you. Your wait is over.
Time is short. This is urgent stuff! Harvest always is. You've got a limited amount of time to bring in what's ready. You have nothing more important to do than this.
My heart broke when I heard what that farmer had said, "I could harvest it all if I had a few more workers." We're not harvesting corn. No, we're harvesting ever living, never dying souls. Would you step up to the task today and say, "Lord, you can bring in a few more, because You've got one more worker."
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Exodus 34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Consequences
Today's MP3
Are there any consequences for a godless pursuit of pleasure? Is there a price for living for today? The hedonist says, "Who cares? I may be bad, but so what? What I do is my business." He is more concerned about satisfying his passions than in knowing the Father. His life is so desperate for pleasure that he has no time or room for God. He believes there is no truth beyond this room. No divine factor. Is he right? Is it okay to spend our days thumbing our noses at God and living it up? Paul says, "Absolutely not!"
According to Romans 1, we lose more than stained-glass windows when we dismiss God. We lose our standard, our purpose, and our worship. The apostle says "their thinking became useless. Their foolish minds were filled with darkness. They said they were wise, but they become fools."
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 34
The New Stone Tablets
The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”
4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.[a] 14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
17 “Do not make any idols.
18 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
19 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. 20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
22 “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.[b] 23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God.
25 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning.
26 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
The Radiant Face of Moses
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Read: Proverbs 22:1-5
A good name is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
2 Rich and poor have this in common:
The Lord is the Maker of them all.
3 The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
4 Humility is the fear of the Lord;
its wages are riches and honor and life.
5 In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls,
but those who would preserve their life stay far from them.
Insight
The book of Proverbs is made up of several collections of wise sayings, with the majority coming from the pen of wise King Solomon. Solomon’s proverbs of wisdom are contained in 1:8–22:16, which are then followed by the sayings of other wise men in 22:17–24:34. More of Solomon’s wisdom, written down by Hezekiah’s men, is found in chapters 25–29. The book of wisdom closes with Agur’s wise sayings in chapter 30 and Lemuel’s words in chapter 31. All of this combines to make the book of Proverbs a comprehensive collection of the wisdom of ancient Israel.
The Barking Lion
By Poh Fang Chia
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches. —Proverbs 22:1
Visitors to a zoo were outraged when the “African lion” started barking instead of roaring. Zoo staff said they had disguised a Tibetan mastiff—a very large dog—as a lion because they could not afford the real thing. Needless to say, the zoo’s reputation was sullied and people will think twice before visiting it.
Reputation is fragile; once it’s damaged, it’s hard to restore. It is not uncommon to sacrifice a good reputation on the altar of power, prestige, or profit. This too could be our story. Scripture encourages us: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches” (Prov. 22:1). God is telling us that true value must be placed not in what we have but in who we are.
Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said, “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” As followers of Jesus, we bear His name. Because of His love for us, we strive to walk worthy of Him, reflecting His likeness in our words and deeds.
When we fail, He picks us up again by His love. By our example, others around us will be led to praise the God who has redeemed and transformed us (Matt. 5:16)—for the name of the Lord is worthy of glory, honor, and all praise.
Lord, I do want to walk worthy of Your name
because You have made me Your own. I know
I can’t live perfectly, but I want to reflect to others
a little of who You are. Please show Yourself through me.
The purest treasure mortal times afford is a spotless reputation. —Shakespeare
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 04, 2014
His!
They were Yours, You gave them to Me . . . —John 17:6
A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, “I am not my own,” is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, “Go” (Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one of the relationships our Lord mentions in this verse can compete with our relationship with Him. I may prefer to belong to my mother, or to my wife, or to myself, but if that is the case, then, Jesus said, “[You] cannot be My disciple.” This does not mean that I will not be saved, but it does mean that I cannot be entirely His.
Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8). The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary’s secret is truly being able to say, “I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me.”
Be entirely His!
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Only When the Wind is With You - #7214
I've been a New York Giants fan for quite a while, and that's been a loyalty that has taken me from the depths of a season with only three wins to the pinnacle of winning the Super Bowl and a lot of seasons in-between there. But I'm a happy camper any time they make the playoffs at the end of a season like any fan would be.
There was one playoff game I remember that had an element that added a little extra excitement; a third opponent - the wind. The Giants were playing the Minnesota Vikings and there was a 26mph wind. That kind of resistance makes it pretty tough to throw the ball or kick the ball if your team's going that direction. Well, it's a good thing both teams get two quarters going against the wind. Oh, by the way, the Giants won. I had to tell you that. Now, the commentators were evaluating this unique weather factor at halftime. One of them summed it up pretty well. He said, "You can only score when the wind is with you."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Only When the Wind is With You."
We're in our word for today from the Word of God from Psalm 127:1-2, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late toiling for food to eat." The Bible makes it very clear here and many other places that the deciding factor in success or failure is not the hours you spend, or the sweat you expend, or the number of people involved, not how early you start, not how late you work, not how well you plan. No, the deciding factor is the blessing factor.
This verse talks about two arenas that we work pretty hard on; something or someone that we want to build and something we want to protect. And it says all your efforts are a waste of time if you don't have the Lord on your side building and guarding. The Lord is the wind who decides the outcome. Jesus even described the Holy Spirit as being like a wind in John 3. You can be playing very hard, trying to make progress, but if you're going against the wind and you don't have God's blessing, you're going to get tired and you're going to get frustrated. But if you have the wind; if you have God's blessing, those very same efforts by the very same people will succeed.
Bob Pierce, the Founder of World Vision used to pray this way. I love it, "Lord, we ask not that You bless what we do, but that we do what You bless." That's going with the wind of God. So the single most important thing you can do to win is to make sure you are doing everything God's way.
Hudson Taylor, the Founder of the China Inland Mission said, "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply." So we need to be asking questions like these: Have we spent enough time in prayer and God's Word to know that this endeavor is His idea? Are we telling the truth in everything we do? Are we going the extra mile to ensure that everything is done with the highest possible integrity? Am I neglecting my family for this? Am I neglecting my time with Jesus for this? Am I neglecting the work of God for this? Are people treated right or am I putting schedules and projects ahead of people?
You can probably think of some other questions, but you get the point: You have to be doing things with the values of Christ to have the blessing of Christ. And if you don't have His blessing, you can turn off the alarm clock, knock off early and cancel the program. Before you set a goal, or make a plan, or get some help, or look for money, be sure the Lord is in it; that it's His time and you're doing it His way.
Remember, success depends on the wind of God. You can only score when the wind is with you.
Today's MP3
Are there any consequences for a godless pursuit of pleasure? Is there a price for living for today? The hedonist says, "Who cares? I may be bad, but so what? What I do is my business." He is more concerned about satisfying his passions than in knowing the Father. His life is so desperate for pleasure that he has no time or room for God. He believes there is no truth beyond this room. No divine factor. Is he right? Is it okay to spend our days thumbing our noses at God and living it up? Paul says, "Absolutely not!"
According to Romans 1, we lose more than stained-glass windows when we dismiss God. We lose our standard, our purpose, and our worship. The apostle says "their thinking became useless. Their foolish minds were filled with darkness. They said they were wise, but they become fools."
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 34
The New Stone Tablets
The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”
4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. 5 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. 9 “Lord,” he said, “if I have found favor in your eyes, then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
10 Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.[a] 14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15 “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
17 “Do not make any idols.
18 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
19 “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. 20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
21 “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
22 “Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.[b] 23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God.
25 “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Festival remain until morning.
26 “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
The Radiant Face of Moses
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Read: Proverbs 22:1-5
A good name is more desirable than great riches;
to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
2 Rich and poor have this in common:
The Lord is the Maker of them all.
3 The prudent see danger and take refuge,
but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
4 Humility is the fear of the Lord;
its wages are riches and honor and life.
5 In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls,
but those who would preserve their life stay far from them.
Insight
The book of Proverbs is made up of several collections of wise sayings, with the majority coming from the pen of wise King Solomon. Solomon’s proverbs of wisdom are contained in 1:8–22:16, which are then followed by the sayings of other wise men in 22:17–24:34. More of Solomon’s wisdom, written down by Hezekiah’s men, is found in chapters 25–29. The book of wisdom closes with Agur’s wise sayings in chapter 30 and Lemuel’s words in chapter 31. All of this combines to make the book of Proverbs a comprehensive collection of the wisdom of ancient Israel.
The Barking Lion
By Poh Fang Chia
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches. —Proverbs 22:1
Visitors to a zoo were outraged when the “African lion” started barking instead of roaring. Zoo staff said they had disguised a Tibetan mastiff—a very large dog—as a lion because they could not afford the real thing. Needless to say, the zoo’s reputation was sullied and people will think twice before visiting it.
Reputation is fragile; once it’s damaged, it’s hard to restore. It is not uncommon to sacrifice a good reputation on the altar of power, prestige, or profit. This too could be our story. Scripture encourages us: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches” (Prov. 22:1). God is telling us that true value must be placed not in what we have but in who we are.
Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said, “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” As followers of Jesus, we bear His name. Because of His love for us, we strive to walk worthy of Him, reflecting His likeness in our words and deeds.
When we fail, He picks us up again by His love. By our example, others around us will be led to praise the God who has redeemed and transformed us (Matt. 5:16)—for the name of the Lord is worthy of glory, honor, and all praise.
Lord, I do want to walk worthy of Your name
because You have made me Your own. I know
I can’t live perfectly, but I want to reflect to others
a little of who You are. Please show Yourself through me.
The purest treasure mortal times afford is a spotless reputation. —Shakespeare
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, September 04, 2014
His!
They were Yours, You gave them to Me . . . —John 17:6
A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, “I am not my own,” is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, “Go” (Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one of the relationships our Lord mentions in this verse can compete with our relationship with Him. I may prefer to belong to my mother, or to my wife, or to myself, but if that is the case, then, Jesus said, “[You] cannot be My disciple.” This does not mean that I will not be saved, but it does mean that I cannot be entirely His.
Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. “. . . you shall be witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8). The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary’s secret is truly being able to say, “I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me.”
Be entirely His!
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, September 04, 2014
Only When the Wind is With You - #7214
I've been a New York Giants fan for quite a while, and that's been a loyalty that has taken me from the depths of a season with only three wins to the pinnacle of winning the Super Bowl and a lot of seasons in-between there. But I'm a happy camper any time they make the playoffs at the end of a season like any fan would be.
There was one playoff game I remember that had an element that added a little extra excitement; a third opponent - the wind. The Giants were playing the Minnesota Vikings and there was a 26mph wind. That kind of resistance makes it pretty tough to throw the ball or kick the ball if your team's going that direction. Well, it's a good thing both teams get two quarters going against the wind. Oh, by the way, the Giants won. I had to tell you that. Now, the commentators were evaluating this unique weather factor at halftime. One of them summed it up pretty well. He said, "You can only score when the wind is with you."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Only When the Wind is With You."
We're in our word for today from the Word of God from Psalm 127:1-2, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late toiling for food to eat." The Bible makes it very clear here and many other places that the deciding factor in success or failure is not the hours you spend, or the sweat you expend, or the number of people involved, not how early you start, not how late you work, not how well you plan. No, the deciding factor is the blessing factor.
This verse talks about two arenas that we work pretty hard on; something or someone that we want to build and something we want to protect. And it says all your efforts are a waste of time if you don't have the Lord on your side building and guarding. The Lord is the wind who decides the outcome. Jesus even described the Holy Spirit as being like a wind in John 3. You can be playing very hard, trying to make progress, but if you're going against the wind and you don't have God's blessing, you're going to get tired and you're going to get frustrated. But if you have the wind; if you have God's blessing, those very same efforts by the very same people will succeed.
Bob Pierce, the Founder of World Vision used to pray this way. I love it, "Lord, we ask not that You bless what we do, but that we do what You bless." That's going with the wind of God. So the single most important thing you can do to win is to make sure you are doing everything God's way.
Hudson Taylor, the Founder of the China Inland Mission said, "God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supply." So we need to be asking questions like these: Have we spent enough time in prayer and God's Word to know that this endeavor is His idea? Are we telling the truth in everything we do? Are we going the extra mile to ensure that everything is done with the highest possible integrity? Am I neglecting my family for this? Am I neglecting my time with Jesus for this? Am I neglecting the work of God for this? Are people treated right or am I putting schedules and projects ahead of people?
You can probably think of some other questions, but you get the point: You have to be doing things with the values of Christ to have the blessing of Christ. And if you don't have His blessing, you can turn off the alarm clock, knock off early and cancel the program. Before you set a goal, or make a plan, or get some help, or look for money, be sure the Lord is in it; that it's His time and you're doing it His way.
Remember, success depends on the wind of God. You can only score when the wind is with you.
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Mark 3:14, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Holy Hostility
Many insist God loves us so much he cannot be angry at our evil. They don't understand that love is always angry at evil! Paul said in Romans 1:18, "God is against all the evil and wrong things people do."
This is a revelation to many who assume God is a harried high-school principal, too busy monitoring the planets to notice us. He is not. God says his anger is directed against any thing and any one who suppresses the knowledge of truth. God loves his children, and hates what destroys them. It simply means that he loves you and hates what you become when you turn from him.
Call it holy hostility! A righteous hatred of wrong. A divine disgust. The question isn't, "How dare a loving God be angry?" It's, "How could a loving God feel anything less?"
From In the Grip of Grace
Mark 3:1-19
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Crowds Follow Jesus
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve[a] that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Footnotes:
Mark 3:14 Some manuscripts twelve—designating them apostles—
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Read: Lamentations 3:19-33
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
Insight
For 2 years the Babylonians lay siege to Jerusalem. Conditions within the besieged city were desperate and deplorable. Starvation during the siege even led to cannibalism (2 Kings 25:1-4; Lam. 2:20; 4:10). Sadly, Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of the city and temple (Jer. 52:12-27). In five emotionally charged dirges, or funeral laments (one for each chapter of Lamentations), he described the sufferings of the people and the reasons for their suffering. But he also wrote of hope in the midst of despair (Lam. 3:21-32) and of restoration that would come (5:19-22).
Hope To Continue On
By Anne Cetas
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. —Lamentations 3:22-23
The solar-powered airplane Solar Impulse can fly day and night without fuel. Inventors Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg hope to fly it around the world in 2015. While the plane flies all day by solar power, it gathers enough energy to be able to fly all night. When the sun rises, Piccard says, “It brings the hope again that you can continue.”
The idea of sunrise bringing us hope makes me think of Lamentations 3 from our Bible reading for today: “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning” (vv.21-23). Even when God’s people were in the depths of despair while the city of Jerusalem was being invaded by the Babylonians, the prophet Jeremiah said they had reason to hope—they still had the Lord’s mercies and compassions.
Sometimes our struggles seem worse at night, but when sunrise comes it brings hope again that we can continue. “Weeping may endure for a night,” the psalmist says, “but joy comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).
Thank You, Lord, for the hope You send with each sunrise. Your mercies and compassions are new every morning!
New mercies every morning,
Grace for every day,
New hope for every trial,
And courage all the way. —McVeigh
Each new day gives us new reasons to praise the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Pouring Out the Water of Satisfaction
He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord —2 Samuel 23:16
What has been like “water from the well of Bethlehem” to you recently— love, friendship, or maybe some spiritual blessing ( 2 Samuel 23:16 )? Have you taken whatever it may be, even at the risk of damaging your own soul, simply to satisfy yourself? If you have, then you cannot pour it out “to the Lord.” You can never set apart for God something that you desire for yourself to achieve your own satisfaction. If you try to satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you. You must sacrifice it, pouring it out to God— something that your common sense says is an absurd waste.
How can I pour out “to the Lord” natural love and spiritual blessings? There is only one way— I must make a determination in my mind to do so. There are certain things other people do that could never be received by someone who does not know God, because it is humanly impossible to repay them. As soon as I realize that something is too wonderful for me, that I am not worthy to receive it, and that it is not meant for a human being at all, I must pour it out “to the Lord.” Then these very things that have come to me will be poured out as “rivers of living water” all around me (John 7:38). And until I pour these things out to God, they actually endanger those I love, as well as myself, because they will be turned into lust. Yes, we can be lustful in things that are not sordid and vile. Even love must be transformed by being poured out “to the Lord.”
If you have become bitter and sour, it is because when God gave you a blessing you hoarded it. Yet if you had poured it out to Him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything “to the Lord,” other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Where's My Book? - #7213
Back in the day when our kids were in school, you didn't really need to pay to go to a circus. You just could come to our house around 7:00 or 8:00 o'clock in the morning; any time before the school bus came. The boys were trying to find their socks and their shoes, or car keys, homework, contact lenses, glasses - mayhem. So many times they get home from school and things kind of landed wherever they landed, and they had to figure out where that was the next morning. The problem is, the next morning you can't remember where you left it, so you panic to find your stuff in those moments that you have to leave for school, because that's pretty unforgiving when school begins when the bus comes. So it was not unusual to hear in our house an old question ringing through the halls, "Mom, Dad, book?" And finding it? Well, everything depended on it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where's My Book?"
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Kings 22, and I'll begin reading with verse 8. The story takes place as young King Josiah has taken over as the ruler of Judah. And he's taken over after a period of great evil in the land. And he commissions Hilkiah, the high priest, and Shaphan, the secretary, to begin to mobilize and clean out the temple, because it was a mess; it had fallen into disrepair.
Here's what the Bible says, "Hilkiah, the high priest, said to Shaphan, the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.' He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. Then Shaphan, the secretary, went to the king." So he gets the book, and takes it into the presence of the king. Now, verse 13, Hilkiah says, "Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us."
They didn't know what was in God's book. They had lost God's Book somewhere in the shuffle. That's happened in some churches. That's happened in some of our lives. Back in the 1940s Billy Graham was an unknown student preacher. He had his Bible. He started to preach some crusades and people began to take note of him. By the late 1940's he was sort of a rising star in the preaching circuit. But he had a crisis of faith because a friend of his had gone off to seminary; a liberal seminary in the East and came back with more questions than he had answers.
Billy Graham resolved that crisis of doubt that day as he went out in the woods, laid that Bible on a stump, knelt beside that stump, and poured out his heart to God and said, "From this moment on, I will accept this as your total authority, God, as coming from you." From that time on Billy Graham's ministry was known for these three words, "The Bible says... The Bible says..." He had settled once and for all the final word, the final authority. That's what we've got to do.
When you come to Christ you base your life on these three words, "The Bible says..." But how about the rest of our life? How do you make your cultural decisions, your family decisions, your money decisions, your entertainment decisions? You see, the Bible is God's final word, and many times as you look at what we do in our private lives it's like we lost the book. It's buried again. Oh, we go visit it on Sunday. We read it occasionally. But is it the final authority no matter what our culture says, no matter what the opinion polls say, no matter what everybody at the office or at school says. Is it, "The Bible says..."?
God has spoken, and without God's Word it doesn't matter how nice the idea sounds or how charismatic the presenter of that idea is, it's just a nice idea. I can almost hear God running through our lives sometimes like our kids did back in the school days crying, "Where's My book?"
Many insist God loves us so much he cannot be angry at our evil. They don't understand that love is always angry at evil! Paul said in Romans 1:18, "God is against all the evil and wrong things people do."
This is a revelation to many who assume God is a harried high-school principal, too busy monitoring the planets to notice us. He is not. God says his anger is directed against any thing and any one who suppresses the knowledge of truth. God loves his children, and hates what destroys them. It simply means that he loves you and hates what you become when you turn from him.
Call it holy hostility! A righteous hatred of wrong. A divine disgust. The question isn't, "How dare a loving God be angry?" It's, "How could a loving God feel anything less?"
From In the Grip of Grace
Mark 3:1-19
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Crowds Follow Jesus
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard about all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him.
Jesus Appoints the Twelve
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve[a] that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Footnotes:
Mark 3:14 Some manuscripts twelve—designating them apostles—
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Read: Lamentations 3:19-33
I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
Insight
For 2 years the Babylonians lay siege to Jerusalem. Conditions within the besieged city were desperate and deplorable. Starvation during the siege even led to cannibalism (2 Kings 25:1-4; Lam. 2:20; 4:10). Sadly, Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of the city and temple (Jer. 52:12-27). In five emotionally charged dirges, or funeral laments (one for each chapter of Lamentations), he described the sufferings of the people and the reasons for their suffering. But he also wrote of hope in the midst of despair (Lam. 3:21-32) and of restoration that would come (5:19-22).
Hope To Continue On
By Anne Cetas
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. —Lamentations 3:22-23
The solar-powered airplane Solar Impulse can fly day and night without fuel. Inventors Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg hope to fly it around the world in 2015. While the plane flies all day by solar power, it gathers enough energy to be able to fly all night. When the sun rises, Piccard says, “It brings the hope again that you can continue.”
The idea of sunrise bringing us hope makes me think of Lamentations 3 from our Bible reading for today: “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning” (vv.21-23). Even when God’s people were in the depths of despair while the city of Jerusalem was being invaded by the Babylonians, the prophet Jeremiah said they had reason to hope—they still had the Lord’s mercies and compassions.
Sometimes our struggles seem worse at night, but when sunrise comes it brings hope again that we can continue. “Weeping may endure for a night,” the psalmist says, “but joy comes in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).
Thank You, Lord, for the hope You send with each sunrise. Your mercies and compassions are new every morning!
New mercies every morning,
Grace for every day,
New hope for every trial,
And courage all the way. —McVeigh
Each new day gives us new reasons to praise the Lord.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Pouring Out the Water of Satisfaction
He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord —2 Samuel 23:16
What has been like “water from the well of Bethlehem” to you recently— love, friendship, or maybe some spiritual blessing ( 2 Samuel 23:16 )? Have you taken whatever it may be, even at the risk of damaging your own soul, simply to satisfy yourself? If you have, then you cannot pour it out “to the Lord.” You can never set apart for God something that you desire for yourself to achieve your own satisfaction. If you try to satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you. You must sacrifice it, pouring it out to God— something that your common sense says is an absurd waste.
How can I pour out “to the Lord” natural love and spiritual blessings? There is only one way— I must make a determination in my mind to do so. There are certain things other people do that could never be received by someone who does not know God, because it is humanly impossible to repay them. As soon as I realize that something is too wonderful for me, that I am not worthy to receive it, and that it is not meant for a human being at all, I must pour it out “to the Lord.” Then these very things that have come to me will be poured out as “rivers of living water” all around me (John 7:38). And until I pour these things out to God, they actually endanger those I love, as well as myself, because they will be turned into lust. Yes, we can be lustful in things that are not sordid and vile. Even love must be transformed by being poured out “to the Lord.”
If you have become bitter and sour, it is because when God gave you a blessing you hoarded it. Yet if you had poured it out to Him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything “to the Lord,” other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Where's My Book? - #7213
Back in the day when our kids were in school, you didn't really need to pay to go to a circus. You just could come to our house around 7:00 or 8:00 o'clock in the morning; any time before the school bus came. The boys were trying to find their socks and their shoes, or car keys, homework, contact lenses, glasses - mayhem. So many times they get home from school and things kind of landed wherever they landed, and they had to figure out where that was the next morning. The problem is, the next morning you can't remember where you left it, so you panic to find your stuff in those moments that you have to leave for school, because that's pretty unforgiving when school begins when the bus comes. So it was not unusual to hear in our house an old question ringing through the halls, "Mom, Dad, book?" And finding it? Well, everything depended on it.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where's My Book?"
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Kings 22, and I'll begin reading with verse 8. The story takes place as young King Josiah has taken over as the ruler of Judah. And he's taken over after a period of great evil in the land. And he commissions Hilkiah, the high priest, and Shaphan, the secretary, to begin to mobilize and clean out the temple, because it was a mess; it had fallen into disrepair.
Here's what the Bible says, "Hilkiah, the high priest, said to Shaphan, the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord.' He gave it to Shaphan, who read it. Then Shaphan, the secretary, went to the king." So he gets the book, and takes it into the presence of the king. Now, verse 13, Hilkiah says, "Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us."
They didn't know what was in God's book. They had lost God's Book somewhere in the shuffle. That's happened in some churches. That's happened in some of our lives. Back in the 1940s Billy Graham was an unknown student preacher. He had his Bible. He started to preach some crusades and people began to take note of him. By the late 1940's he was sort of a rising star in the preaching circuit. But he had a crisis of faith because a friend of his had gone off to seminary; a liberal seminary in the East and came back with more questions than he had answers.
Billy Graham resolved that crisis of doubt that day as he went out in the woods, laid that Bible on a stump, knelt beside that stump, and poured out his heart to God and said, "From this moment on, I will accept this as your total authority, God, as coming from you." From that time on Billy Graham's ministry was known for these three words, "The Bible says... The Bible says..." He had settled once and for all the final word, the final authority. That's what we've got to do.
When you come to Christ you base your life on these three words, "The Bible says..." But how about the rest of our life? How do you make your cultural decisions, your family decisions, your money decisions, your entertainment decisions? You see, the Bible is God's final word, and many times as you look at what we do in our private lives it's like we lost the book. It's buried again. Oh, we go visit it on Sunday. We read it occasionally. But is it the final authority no matter what our culture says, no matter what the opinion polls say, no matter what everybody at the office or at school says. Is it, "The Bible says..."?
God has spoken, and without God's Word it doesn't matter how nice the idea sounds or how charismatic the presenter of that idea is, it's just a nice idea. I can almost hear God running through our lives sometimes like our kids did back in the school days crying, "Where's My book?"
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Exodus 33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: The Anger of God
Do not confuse the wrath of God with the wrath of man. The two have little in common. We get ticked off because we've been overlooked, neglected, or cheated. It's the anger of man. God does not get angry because He doesn't get his way. He gets angry because disobedience always results in self-destruction.
What kind of father sits by and watches his child hurt himself? What kind of God would do the same? Do we think he giggles at adultery? Or snickers at murder? Does he shake his head and say, "Humans will be humans?" God is rightfully angry. Our sins are an affront to his holiness. Habakkuk 1:13 says, his eyes are "too good to look at evil; he cannot stand to see those who do wrong." God is angry at the evil that ruins his children. He cannot be indifferent that his creation is destroyed and his holy will trodden underfoot.
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 33
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
4 When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.
The Tent of Meeting
7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Moses and the Glory of the Lord
12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Read: Luke 17:11-19
Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Footnotes:
Luke 17:12 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
Insight
As the 10 men in today’s reading went away to follow Jesus’ instructions, “they were cleansed” (v.14); that is, healed of their leprosy. Yet verse 19 says that only one man, the Samaritan, glorified God for his healing and came back to say thank you. Only he received Jesus’ word that his faith had made him well. The Greek word for “made well” is used in reference to salvation. Jesus’ miraculous power made the man well physically (v.14). But the Samaritan’s faith, demonstrated in praise and gratitude, led to his spiritual healing (v.19). All 10 were “cleansed,” but only one was “made well.”
Not Even A Nod
By Randy Kilgore
One of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God. —Luke 17:15
Traffic was bad and everyone was cranky on that hot afternoon. I noticed a car with two young men waiting to enter traffic from a fast-food restaurant driveway. I thought it was nice when the driver ahead of me let them in.
But when the “nice” driver ahead of me didn’t get a nod or even a thank you wave, he turned ugly. First he rolled down his window and shouted at the driver he had let in. Then he gunned his engine and raced forward as if to ram into his car, honking and yelling as he continued to vent his anger.
Who was “more wrong”? Did the young driver’s ingratitude justify the “nice” driver’s angry response? Was he owed a thank you?
Certainly the 10 lepers Jesus healed owed gratitude to Him. How could only one return to say thank you? I’m struck by Jesus’ response: “Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:18). If the King of Kings can get only a 1 in 10 response of thanks, how can we expect more from others? Better to do our deeds to honor God and serve others than to do them to collect gratitude. May the grace of God be seen in us even when our kind acts go unappreciated.
Lord, we like to be recognized for the things we
do. Help us to remember that we are not owed any
recognition or thanks but that we owe You a lifetime
of gratitude for the salvation You offer through Jesus.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may . . . glorify your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:16
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice
He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow . . . —John 7:38
Jesus did not say, “He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God,” but, in essence, “He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him.” Our Lord’s teaching was always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all.
When Mary of Bethany “broke the flask . . . of very costly oil . . . and poured it on [Jesus’] head,” it was an act for which no one else saw any special occasion; in fact, “. . . there were some who . . . said, ’Why was this fragrant oil wasted?’ ” (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, “. . . wherever this gospel is preached . . . what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever He sees any of us doing what Mary did— not being bound by a particular set of rules, but being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son “that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him?
“He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”— and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break “the flask” of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Last Call - #7212
Our daughter was driving through town with our four-year-old grandson in the back seat. As she passed a local senior housing facility, she said, "Honey, that's where my grandfather lived until he died." At that point, our four-year-old jumped in with a respectful correction of his Mommy's choice of words. "Until Jesus called him home," he said. There was a pause - and then our grandson added - "Someday Jesus will call me home, too."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Last Call."
Not bad for a four-year-old! OK, I'm sounding like his grandfather now. But that little guy actually has this death thing figured out better than a lot of us grownup people do, because we don't decide when it's over. God does. And the thing you want to have happen on the day you take your last breath is for Jesus to call you home to heaven. Unfortunately, not everyone's going home. And the alternative is too eternally awful to contemplate.
The Bible makes this clear in 1 John 5:11-12. It's our word for today from the Word of God, and it says that we're all in one of two groups, headed for one of two possible destinations. You are in one of these. It says, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." Notice - it doesn't say eternal life is in His religion or His rules or in living right. No, the only One who can get us to heaven is His Son. Why? Because He's the only One who died to pay for all the sin that we have; sin that makes it impossible for us to enter a holy God's heaven. The Bible then continues: "He who has the Son..." (That's the Son of God, Jesus.) "He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life."
There it is. Either you're totally forgiven or you're still carrying your sin and its penalty. Either you're headed for heaven or you're headed for hell. And Jesus indicated there will be surprises both places - people that humans would never expect who are going to be in heaven because they pinned all their hopes for spiritual rescue on Jesus. And people in hell who had tons of Christianity but somehow missed Jesus. They never grabbed Him as if He were their only hope.
The truth is that your last call could come any time. Speaking to God in Psalm 139:16, King David says, "All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."
You're not going to die until your work is done. And you can't stay one day longer than when your work is done. And God decides when that is. For a 17-year-old girl who attended a youth event I spoke at, the call actually came in a head-on collision on the way home. And because she had put her trust in Jesus that very night, when she got the call, she was called home, because "He that has the Son has life."
You can't postpone God's call. And you can't be ready for it any other way than to be sure you belong to Jesus Christ, the only One who can remove the sin that will otherwise keep you out of heaven.
You say, "But I'm a good person." Not good enough; not for a perfect God. That's why Jesus came. Why He died. Why He rose again. That's why He's knocking on the door of your heart perhaps this very day. He wants you in heaven with Him forever. But you have to choose that - by consciously and totally giving yourself to Him.
Have you ever really done that? If you're not sure you did, you probably didn't. Let this be the day you finally say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. I accept your death on the cross as being for me for my sin. You are my only hope." If you want to be sure you've begun a relationship with Jesus, and you want to get this settled today, would you go to our website? It's why it's there - ANewStory.com.
You're another day closer to the day the call will come. It just doesn't make sense to risk one more day without Jesus does it? He's calling you right now to give you to Him, so that one day, when the last call comes, He can call you home.
Do not confuse the wrath of God with the wrath of man. The two have little in common. We get ticked off because we've been overlooked, neglected, or cheated. It's the anger of man. God does not get angry because He doesn't get his way. He gets angry because disobedience always results in self-destruction.
What kind of father sits by and watches his child hurt himself? What kind of God would do the same? Do we think he giggles at adultery? Or snickers at murder? Does he shake his head and say, "Humans will be humans?" God is rightfully angry. Our sins are an affront to his holiness. Habakkuk 1:13 says, his eyes are "too good to look at evil; he cannot stand to see those who do wrong." God is angry at the evil that ruins his children. He cannot be indifferent that his creation is destroyed and his holy will trodden underfoot.
From In the Grip of Grace
Exodus 33
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 3 Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
4 When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’” 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.
The Tent of Meeting
7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Moses and the Glory of the Lord
12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Read: Luke 17:11-19
Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
Footnotes:
Luke 17:12 The Greek word traditionally translated leprosy was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
Insight
As the 10 men in today’s reading went away to follow Jesus’ instructions, “they were cleansed” (v.14); that is, healed of their leprosy. Yet verse 19 says that only one man, the Samaritan, glorified God for his healing and came back to say thank you. Only he received Jesus’ word that his faith had made him well. The Greek word for “made well” is used in reference to salvation. Jesus’ miraculous power made the man well physically (v.14). But the Samaritan’s faith, demonstrated in praise and gratitude, led to his spiritual healing (v.19). All 10 were “cleansed,” but only one was “made well.”
Not Even A Nod
By Randy Kilgore
One of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God. —Luke 17:15
Traffic was bad and everyone was cranky on that hot afternoon. I noticed a car with two young men waiting to enter traffic from a fast-food restaurant driveway. I thought it was nice when the driver ahead of me let them in.
But when the “nice” driver ahead of me didn’t get a nod or even a thank you wave, he turned ugly. First he rolled down his window and shouted at the driver he had let in. Then he gunned his engine and raced forward as if to ram into his car, honking and yelling as he continued to vent his anger.
Who was “more wrong”? Did the young driver’s ingratitude justify the “nice” driver’s angry response? Was he owed a thank you?
Certainly the 10 lepers Jesus healed owed gratitude to Him. How could only one return to say thank you? I’m struck by Jesus’ response: “Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:18). If the King of Kings can get only a 1 in 10 response of thanks, how can we expect more from others? Better to do our deeds to honor God and serve others than to do them to collect gratitude. May the grace of God be seen in us even when our kind acts go unappreciated.
Lord, we like to be recognized for the things we
do. Help us to remember that we are not owed any
recognition or thanks but that we owe You a lifetime
of gratitude for the salvation You offer through Jesus.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may . . . glorify your Father in heaven. —Matthew 5:16
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice
He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow . . . —John 7:38
Jesus did not say, “He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God,” but, in essence, “He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him.” Our Lord’s teaching was always anti-self-realization. His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all.
When Mary of Bethany “broke the flask . . . of very costly oil . . . and poured it on [Jesus’] head,” it was an act for which no one else saw any special occasion; in fact, “. . . there were some who . . . said, ’Why was this fragrant oil wasted?’ ” (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended Mary for her extravagant act of devotion, and said, “. . . wherever this gospel is preached . . . what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her” (Mark 14:9). Our Lord is filled with overflowing joy whenever He sees any of us doing what Mary did— not being bound by a particular set of rules, but being totally surrendered to Him. God poured out the life of His Son “that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him?
“He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”— and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break “the flask” of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, September 02, 2014
Last Call - #7212
Our daughter was driving through town with our four-year-old grandson in the back seat. As she passed a local senior housing facility, she said, "Honey, that's where my grandfather lived until he died." At that point, our four-year-old jumped in with a respectful correction of his Mommy's choice of words. "Until Jesus called him home," he said. There was a pause - and then our grandson added - "Someday Jesus will call me home, too."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Last Call."
Not bad for a four-year-old! OK, I'm sounding like his grandfather now. But that little guy actually has this death thing figured out better than a lot of us grownup people do, because we don't decide when it's over. God does. And the thing you want to have happen on the day you take your last breath is for Jesus to call you home to heaven. Unfortunately, not everyone's going home. And the alternative is too eternally awful to contemplate.
The Bible makes this clear in 1 John 5:11-12. It's our word for today from the Word of God, and it says that we're all in one of two groups, headed for one of two possible destinations. You are in one of these. It says, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." Notice - it doesn't say eternal life is in His religion or His rules or in living right. No, the only One who can get us to heaven is His Son. Why? Because He's the only One who died to pay for all the sin that we have; sin that makes it impossible for us to enter a holy God's heaven. The Bible then continues: "He who has the Son..." (That's the Son of God, Jesus.) "He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life."
There it is. Either you're totally forgiven or you're still carrying your sin and its penalty. Either you're headed for heaven or you're headed for hell. And Jesus indicated there will be surprises both places - people that humans would never expect who are going to be in heaven because they pinned all their hopes for spiritual rescue on Jesus. And people in hell who had tons of Christianity but somehow missed Jesus. They never grabbed Him as if He were their only hope.
The truth is that your last call could come any time. Speaking to God in Psalm 139:16, King David says, "All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be."
You're not going to die until your work is done. And you can't stay one day longer than when your work is done. And God decides when that is. For a 17-year-old girl who attended a youth event I spoke at, the call actually came in a head-on collision on the way home. And because she had put her trust in Jesus that very night, when she got the call, she was called home, because "He that has the Son has life."
You can't postpone God's call. And you can't be ready for it any other way than to be sure you belong to Jesus Christ, the only One who can remove the sin that will otherwise keep you out of heaven.
You say, "But I'm a good person." Not good enough; not for a perfect God. That's why Jesus came. Why He died. Why He rose again. That's why He's knocking on the door of your heart perhaps this very day. He wants you in heaven with Him forever. But you have to choose that - by consciously and totally giving yourself to Him.
Have you ever really done that? If you're not sure you did, you probably didn't. Let this be the day you finally say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. I accept your death on the cross as being for me for my sin. You are my only hope." If you want to be sure you've begun a relationship with Jesus, and you want to get this settled today, would you go to our website? It's why it's there - ANewStory.com.
You're another day closer to the day the call will come. It just doesn't make sense to risk one more day without Jesus does it? He's calling you right now to give you to Him, so that one day, when the last call comes, He can call you home.
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