Max Lucado Daily: There is One Name-Jesus
Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Resurrection and the Life, Alpha and Omega. Phrases that stretch the boundaries of human language in an effort to capture the un-capturable, the grandeur of God. They always fall short. Hearing them is somewhat like hearing a Salvation Army Christmas band on the street corner playing Handel's Messiah. No names do God justice!
But there is one name. Jesus. A name so typical, if He were here today, his name might be John or Bob or Jim. He was touchable, approachable, reachable. "Just call me Jesus," you can almost hear Him say. Those who walked with Him remembered Him not with a title or designation, but with a name-Jesus! It's a beautiful name and a powerful name. The day is coming when at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord!
From In the Manger
Luke 1:57-80
The Birth of John the Baptist
When it was time for Elizabeth’s baby to be born, she gave birth to a son. 58 And when her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very merciful to her, everyone rejoiced with her.
59 When the baby was eight days old, they all came for the circumcision ceremony. They wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. 60 But Elizabeth said, “No! His name is John!”
61 “What?” they exclaimed. “There is no one in all your family by that name.” 62 So they used gestures to ask the baby’s father what he wanted to name him. 63 He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s surprise he wrote, “His name is John.” 64 Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.
65 Awe fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills. 66 Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, “What will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was surely upon him in a special way.
Zechariah’s Prophecy
67 Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy:
68 “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited and redeemed his people.
69 He has sent us a mighty Savior[a]
from the royal line of his servant David,
70 just as he promised
through his holy prophets long ago.
71 Now we will be saved from our enemies
and from all who hate us.
72 He has been merciful to our ancestors
by remembering his sacred covenant—
73 the covenant he swore with an oath
to our ancestor Abraham.
74 We have been rescued from our enemies
so we can serve God without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness
for as long as we live.
76 “And you, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
77 You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
78 Because of God’s tender mercy,
the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,[b]
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace.”
80 John grew up and became strong in spirit. And he lived in the wilderness until he began his public ministry to Israel.
Footnotes:
1:69 Greek has raised up a horn of salvation for us.
1:78 Or the Morning Light from Heaven is about to visit us.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 15, 2014
Read: Deuteronomy 4:1-9
Moses Urges Israel to Obey
“And now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you.
3 “You saw for yourself what the Lord did to you at Baal-peor. There the Lord your God destroyed everyone who had worshiped Baal, the god of Peor. 4 But all of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today—every one of you.
5 “Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy. 6 Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’ 7 For what great nation has a god as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call on him? 8 And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today?
9 “But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.
Insight
In today’s passage, Moses reminded the people of Israel that—unlike the nations around them—they were the only ones privileged to have intimate fellowship with God (v.7) and the only nation given God’s law (v.8). If they faithfully obeyed His law, God would make them a great and wise people (vv.6,8-9).
Story Stewards
By Julie Ackerman Link
Take heed . . . lest you forget the things your eyes have seen . . . . And teach them to your children and your grandchildren. —Deuteronomy 4:9
Many people take great care to make sure their resources are used well after they die. They set up trusts, write wills, and establish foundations to guarantee that their assets will continue to be used for a good purpose after their life on earth is done. We call this good stewardship.
Equally important, however, is being good stewards of our life story. God commanded the Israelites not only to teach their children His laws but also to make sure they knew their family history. It was the responsibility of parents and grandparents to make sure their children knew the stories of how God had worked in their behalf (Deut. 4:1-14).
God has given each of us a unique story. His plan for our lives is individualized. Do others know what you believe and why? Do they know the story of how you came to faith and how God has worked in your life to strengthen your faith? Do they know how God has shown Himself faithful and has helped you through doubts and disappointments?
The faithfulness of God is a story that we have the privilege to pass on. Record it in some way and share it. Be a good steward of the story that God is telling through you.
How great, O God, Your acts of love!
Your saving deeds would now proclaim
That generations yet to come
May set their hope in Your great name. —D. DeHaan
A life lived for God leaves a lasting legacy.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 15, 2014
“Approved to God”
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. —2 Timothy 2:15
If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.
Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn’t know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 15, 2014
A Basketful of Earth - #7286
Ellis Island was the first piece of America that millions of immigrants ever saw – ever touched. Perhaps it was that way for somebody in your family. Ellis Island was the point of entry for all the immigrants coming through New York; a little island in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
When you visit the island you see this long, granite wall with thousands of names of immigrants who passed through there. When the boat landed, they would step off carrying all their belongs in a basket and enter this long, red brick building. The inside of that building is cavernous. It echoes on the inside. Can't you just kind of hear it and see it in your mind; this rich mixture of voices and languages?
Actually, Ellis Island was, you know, like just a waiting station. They weren't going to live on that island. Out of all those thousands who came there, not one ever set up a house on Ellis Island. They weren't going to be there for very long.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Basketful of Earth."
Which leads us to our word for today from the Word of God, in 1 Peter 1, beginning at verse 1. Peter writes to, "God's elect, strangers in the world." Now, remembering that image of believers, in verse 17 he says, "Live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." In 1 Peter 2:11 he continues, "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires."
Peter is saying, "Hey, this isn't home." It's like that old hymn, "This world is not my home. I'm just passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue." See, we're all immigrants according to the Bible. Earth is our Ellis Island. We've got maybe seventy years here; seventy years that are just the preparation for billions of years. But the quality of the billions of years is determined by how we live the seventy or whatever.
Now, here's a question. If we're just immigrants passing through earth, why are we saving up so much stuff here on our Ellis Island? In Luke 12, Jesus addresses this issue of accumulating earth stuff. He says in verse 22, "Do not worry about your life or what you will eat or about your body what you will wear." Then he says some radical stuff in verse 24, "Consider the ravens. They do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn. Yet God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than the birds?"
He's saying that for your security you don't need this big, stored-up reserve somewhere. But, of course, that's the opposite of everything we've been taught about security. But here's biblical security. "Your Father knows you have need of these things. Sell your possessions; give to the poor. Provide purses for yourself that will not wear out; a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near or no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
There's no storeroom, no pile of earth stuff. No, you send it on ahead to the place where you're going to live forever. You don't move it all into the hotel. You send it on to home. Don't accumulate it in the place that you're just visiting. We're all guilty of the sin of accumulating. We kind of keep building our earth kingdom, those earth reserves, what the earth calls security.
One day I wonder if Jesus is going to come back and say, "What are you doing holding onto all of that; tying up all of that? I had a world to reach." He calls us to live simply on this immigrant island, and to pour everything else into causes that will last forever.
Give to that for which He gave everything He had. Look, do you want a bank full in heaven, or just a basketful of earth?
Monday, December 15, 2014
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Numbers 36 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado: The Power of Gratitude
Dear Friend,
This Christmas, my favorite word is Thanks. Just the word lifts the spirit. To say "thanks" is to celebrate a gift. Something. Anything. Animals. Bald spots. Chocolate. Dictionaries and Denalyn. To say "thanks" is to cross the line from have-not to have-much, from the excluded to the recruited. "Thanks" proclaims, "I'm not disadvantaged, disabled, victimized, scandalized, forgotten, or ignored. I am blessed."
Gratitude is a dialysis of sorts. It flushes the self-pity out of our systems. Jesus was robustly thankful. He was thankful when Mary interrupted the party with perfume. When he hugged children and blessed babies and watched blind people look at their first sunsets, Jesus was thankful. When the disciples returned from their first mission trip, he rejoiced: "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth" (Luke 10:21).
So, thank you, Jesus, for modeling gratitude.
And thank you, Friend, for your encouragement, prayers, and financial support of UpWords Ministries. Your partnership in this ministry enables us to extend the reach of UpWords to countless souls around the world. Daily, millions are encouraged through the radio program, daily email devotions from MaxLucado.com, internet, special messages, and television teaching on TBN. God has graciously provided these opportunities to share his message of hope, and we consistently pray that this ministry brings him honor, glory, and a stepping stone for more souls to find the grace and peace that only he can give.
All of us at UpWords are grateful to you and look forward to 2015. Let me thank you in advance for your continued prayers and financial support.
May God's peace and joy fill your hearts this Christmas!
Gratefully, Max Lucado
Numbers 36
Women Who Inherit Property
Then the heads of the clans of Gilead—descendants of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph—came to Moses and the family leaders of Israel with a petition. 2 They said, “Sir, the Lord instructed you to divide the land by sacred lot among the people of Israel. You were told by the Lord to give the grant of land owned by our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 But if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced. 4 Then when the Year of Jubilee comes, their portion of land will be added to that of the new tribe, causing it to be lost forever to our ancestral tribe.”
5 So Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: “The claim of the men of the tribe of Joseph is legitimate. 6 This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe. 7 None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted. 8 The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property. 9 No grant of land may pass from one tribe to another; each tribe of Israel must keep its allotted portion of land.”
10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins on their father’s side. 12 They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. Thus, their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe.
13 These are the commands and regulations that the Lord gave to the people of Israel through Moses while they were camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.
35:4 Hebrew 1,000 cubits [460 meters].
35:5 Hebrew 2,000 cubits [920 meters].
35:33 Or can make atonement for murder.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Read: Isaiah 7:10-15
The Sign of Immanuel
Later, the Lord sent this message to King Ahaz: 11 “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.[a]”
12 But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? 14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin[b] will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). 15 By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt[c] and honey.
Footnotes:
7:11 Hebrew as deep as Sheol.
7:14 Or young woman.
7:15 Or curds; also in 7:22.
Insight
Scripture tells the story of God’s rescue of humanity from the curse and consequences of sin, which was accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Isaiah’s prophecy is just one of many that predict His coming and the events of His life. The first prophecy of redemption comes as soon as the need for rescue is pronounced. In Genesis 3, God delivers the devastating news of the consequences of Adam and Eve’s actions. However, He does not leave them hopeless; the promise of a redeemer is included (v.15). What the Old Testament prophets predicted about the Redeemer, the New Testament says is fulfilled in Jesus Christ (see Luke 24:44).
A Special Birth
By Dave Branon
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. —Isaiah 7:14
In the pages of Scripture, several baby-boy births stand out. Cain, the firstborn after creation. Isaac, the hope of Israel’s future. Samuel, the answer to a mother’s fervent prayer. All extremely important. All joyously expected. And all described exactly the same by the chroniclers of Scripture: In each case, we are told that the mother conceived and bore a son (Gen. 4:1; 21:2-3; 1 Sam. 1:20).
Now consider one more baby boy’s birth. The description of this arrival was much more greatly detailed: a few words were clearly not enough to tell of Jesus’ birth. In Micah, we were told where He would be born—Bethlehem (5:2). In Isaiah, that His mother would be a virgin (7:14), and that He was coming to save people from their sin (ch.53).
In the New Testament, we were given such key information as what His name would be and why (Matt. 1:21), where He was born in fulfillment of prophecy (2:6), and how both His birth mother and His adoptive father were part of God’s plan (1:16).
Jesus’ birth stands above all births. His coming changed the world and can change our lives. Let’s celebrate Him!
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth. —Wesley
Christ is the greatest gift known to man.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 14, 2014
The Great Life
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled… —John 14:27
Whenever we experience something difficult in our personal life, we are tempted to blame God. But we are the ones in the wrong, not God. Blaming God is evidence that we are refusing to let go of some disobedience somewhere in our lives. But as soon as we let go, everything becomes as clear as daylight to us. As long as we try to serve two masters, ourselves and God, there will be difficulties combined with doubt and confusion. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. Once we get to that point, there is nothing easier than living the life of a saint. We encounter difficulties when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own purposes.
God’s mark of approval, whenever you obey Him, is peace. He sends an immeasurable, deep peace; not a natural peace, “as the world gives,” but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or seek to find out why it is not coming. If you are acting on your own impulse, or out of a sense of the heroic, to be seen by others, the peace of Jesus will not exhibit itself. This shows no unity with God or confidence in Him. The spirit of simplicity, clarity, and unity is born through the Holy Spirit, not through your decisions. God counters our self-willed decisions with an appeal for simplicity and unity.
My questions arise whenever I cease to obey. When I do obey God, problems come, not between me and God, but as a means to keep my mind examining with amazement the revealed truth of God. But any problem that comes between God and myself is the result of disobedience. Any problem that comes while I obey God (and there will be many), increases my overjoyed delight, because I know that my Father knows and cares, and I can watch and anticipate how He will unravel my problems.
Dear Friend,
This Christmas, my favorite word is Thanks. Just the word lifts the spirit. To say "thanks" is to celebrate a gift. Something. Anything. Animals. Bald spots. Chocolate. Dictionaries and Denalyn. To say "thanks" is to cross the line from have-not to have-much, from the excluded to the recruited. "Thanks" proclaims, "I'm not disadvantaged, disabled, victimized, scandalized, forgotten, or ignored. I am blessed."
Gratitude is a dialysis of sorts. It flushes the self-pity out of our systems. Jesus was robustly thankful. He was thankful when Mary interrupted the party with perfume. When he hugged children and blessed babies and watched blind people look at their first sunsets, Jesus was thankful. When the disciples returned from their first mission trip, he rejoiced: "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth" (Luke 10:21).
So, thank you, Jesus, for modeling gratitude.
And thank you, Friend, for your encouragement, prayers, and financial support of UpWords Ministries. Your partnership in this ministry enables us to extend the reach of UpWords to countless souls around the world. Daily, millions are encouraged through the radio program, daily email devotions from MaxLucado.com, internet, special messages, and television teaching on TBN. God has graciously provided these opportunities to share his message of hope, and we consistently pray that this ministry brings him honor, glory, and a stepping stone for more souls to find the grace and peace that only he can give.
All of us at UpWords are grateful to you and look forward to 2015. Let me thank you in advance for your continued prayers and financial support.
May God's peace and joy fill your hearts this Christmas!
Gratefully, Max Lucado
Numbers 36
Women Who Inherit Property
Then the heads of the clans of Gilead—descendants of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph—came to Moses and the family leaders of Israel with a petition. 2 They said, “Sir, the Lord instructed you to divide the land by sacred lot among the people of Israel. You were told by the Lord to give the grant of land owned by our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 But if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced. 4 Then when the Year of Jubilee comes, their portion of land will be added to that of the new tribe, causing it to be lost forever to our ancestral tribe.”
5 So Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: “The claim of the men of the tribe of Joseph is legitimate. 6 This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe. 7 None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted. 8 The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property. 9 No grant of land may pass from one tribe to another; each tribe of Israel must keep its allotted portion of land.”
10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins on their father’s side. 12 They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. Thus, their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe.
13 These are the commands and regulations that the Lord gave to the people of Israel through Moses while they were camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.
35:4 Hebrew 1,000 cubits [460 meters].
35:5 Hebrew 2,000 cubits [920 meters].
35:33 Or can make atonement for murder.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Read: Isaiah 7:10-15
The Sign of Immanuel
Later, the Lord sent this message to King Ahaz: 11 “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.[a]”
12 But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? 14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin[b] will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). 15 By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt[c] and honey.
Footnotes:
7:11 Hebrew as deep as Sheol.
7:14 Or young woman.
7:15 Or curds; also in 7:22.
Insight
Scripture tells the story of God’s rescue of humanity from the curse and consequences of sin, which was accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Isaiah’s prophecy is just one of many that predict His coming and the events of His life. The first prophecy of redemption comes as soon as the need for rescue is pronounced. In Genesis 3, God delivers the devastating news of the consequences of Adam and Eve’s actions. However, He does not leave them hopeless; the promise of a redeemer is included (v.15). What the Old Testament prophets predicted about the Redeemer, the New Testament says is fulfilled in Jesus Christ (see Luke 24:44).
A Special Birth
By Dave Branon
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. —Isaiah 7:14
In the pages of Scripture, several baby-boy births stand out. Cain, the firstborn after creation. Isaac, the hope of Israel’s future. Samuel, the answer to a mother’s fervent prayer. All extremely important. All joyously expected. And all described exactly the same by the chroniclers of Scripture: In each case, we are told that the mother conceived and bore a son (Gen. 4:1; 21:2-3; 1 Sam. 1:20).
Now consider one more baby boy’s birth. The description of this arrival was much more greatly detailed: a few words were clearly not enough to tell of Jesus’ birth. In Micah, we were told where He would be born—Bethlehem (5:2). In Isaiah, that His mother would be a virgin (7:14), and that He was coming to save people from their sin (ch.53).
In the New Testament, we were given such key information as what His name would be and why (Matt. 1:21), where He was born in fulfillment of prophecy (2:6), and how both His birth mother and His adoptive father were part of God’s plan (1:16).
Jesus’ birth stands above all births. His coming changed the world and can change our lives. Let’s celebrate Him!
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth. —Wesley
Christ is the greatest gift known to man.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, December 14, 2014
The Great Life
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled… —John 14:27
Whenever we experience something difficult in our personal life, we are tempted to blame God. But we are the ones in the wrong, not God. Blaming God is evidence that we are refusing to let go of some disobedience somewhere in our lives. But as soon as we let go, everything becomes as clear as daylight to us. As long as we try to serve two masters, ourselves and God, there will be difficulties combined with doubt and confusion. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. Once we get to that point, there is nothing easier than living the life of a saint. We encounter difficulties when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own purposes.
God’s mark of approval, whenever you obey Him, is peace. He sends an immeasurable, deep peace; not a natural peace, “as the world gives,” but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or seek to find out why it is not coming. If you are acting on your own impulse, or out of a sense of the heroic, to be seen by others, the peace of Jesus will not exhibit itself. This shows no unity with God or confidence in Him. The spirit of simplicity, clarity, and unity is born through the Holy Spirit, not through your decisions. God counters our self-willed decisions with an appeal for simplicity and unity.
My questions arise whenever I cease to obey. When I do obey God, problems come, not between me and God, but as a means to keep my mind examining with amazement the revealed truth of God. But any problem that comes between God and myself is the result of disobedience. Any problem that comes while I obey God (and there will be many), increases my overjoyed delight, because I know that my Father knows and cares, and I can watch and anticipate how He will unravel my problems.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Numbers 35, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Grace Forgets
Do you actually believe God would make a statement like, "I will not hold their sins against them"-and then rub your nose in it whenever you ask for help?" Was He exaggerating when He said He would cast your sins as far as the east is from the west? (Psalm 103:12).
Are you really forgiven? Does He really forgive and forget? Yes, but you and I don't. You still remember. That horrid lie. That jealousy. That habit. That business trip.
Do you think God is the voice that reminds you of your past? Was God teasing when He said, "I will remember your sins no more?" You and I just need an occasional reminder of God's nature, His forgetful nature.
It's against God's nature to remember forgiven sins. He is the God of perfect grace. Grace forgets. Period.
From God Came Near
Numbers 35
Towns for the Levites
On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands around the towns. 3 Then they will have towns to live in and pasturelands for the cattle they own and all their other animals.
4 “The pasturelands around the towns that you give the Levites will extend a thousand cubits[b] from the town wall. 5 Outside the town, measure two thousand cubits[c] on the east side, two thousand on the south side, two thousand on the west and two thousand on the north, with the town in the center. They will have this area as pastureland for the towns.
Cities of Refuge
6 “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee. In addition, give them forty-two other towns. 7 In all you must give the Levites forty-eight towns, together with their pasturelands. 8 The towns you give the Levites from the land the Israelites possess are to be given in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: Take many towns from a tribe that has many, but few from one that has few.”
9 Then the Lord said to Moses: 10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, 11 select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee. 12 They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that anyone accused of murder may not die before they stand trial before the assembly. 13 These six towns you give will be your cities of refuge. 14 Give three on this side of the Jordan and three in Canaan as cities of refuge. 15 These six towns will be a place of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners residing among them, so that anyone who has killed another accidentally can flee there.
16 “‘If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. 17 Or if anyone is holding a stone and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. 18 Or if anyone is holding a wooden object and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death. 20 If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at them intentionally so that they die 21 or if out of enmity one person hits another with their fist so that the other dies, that person is to be put to death; that person is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.
22 “‘But if without enmity someone suddenly pushes another or throws something at them unintentionally 23 or, without seeing them, drops on them a stone heavy enough to kill them, and they die, then since that other person was not an enemy and no harm was intended, 24 the assembly must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. 25 The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send the accused back to the city of refuge to which they fled. The accused must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
26 “‘But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which they fled 27 and the avenger of blood finds them outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder. 28 The accused must stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may they return to their own property.
29 “‘This is to have the force of law for you throughout the generations to come, wherever you live.
30 “‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.
31 “‘Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. They are to be put to death.
32 “‘Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow them to go back and live on their own land before the death of the high priest.
33 “‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.’”
Numbers 35:4 That is, about 1,500 feet or about 450 meters
Numbers 35:5 That is, about 3,000 feet or about 900 meters
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Read: Matthew 1:18-25
The Birth of Jesus the Messiah
This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement[a] quietly.
20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus,[b] for he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,[c]
which means ‘God is with us.’”
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Footnotes:
1:19 Greek to divorce her.
1:21 Jesus means “The Lord saves.”
1:23 Isa 7:14; 8:8, 10 (Greek version).
Insight
Each of the two New Testament accounts of Jesus’ birth has a different focus. Luke focuses on Mary and the angel’s message to her, the journey to Bethlehem, and the birth of Jesus. Matthew focuses on Joseph, telling of the angelic messenger who assured Joseph of the miraculous nature of the Christ child.
Another Hero Of Christmas
By Randy Kilgore
Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. —Matthew 1:19
For most of my life, I missed the importance of Joseph in the Christmas story. But after I became a husband and father myself, I had a greater appreciation for Joseph’s tender character. Even before he knew how Mary had become pregnant, he decided that he wasn’t going to embarrass or punish her for what seemed to be infidelity (Matt. 1:19).
I marvel at his obedience and humility, as he not only did what the angel told him (v.24) but also refrained from physical intimacy with Mary until after Jesus was born (v.25). Later we learn that Joseph was willing to flee his home to protect Jesus (2:13-23).
Imagine the pressure Joseph and Mary must have felt when they learned that Jesus would be theirs to raise and nurture! Imagine the complexity and pressure of having the Son of God living with you every moment of every day; a constant call to holiness by His very presence. What a man Joseph must have been to be trusted by God for this task! What a wonderful example for us to follow, whether we’re raising our own children or those born to others who are now entrusted to us.
May God grant us the strength to be faithful like Joseph, even if we don’t fully understand God’s plan.
We know, Father, that Your wisdom is far above our
limited understanding. We thank You that we can
rely on You to carry out Your good plans
for us. You are worthy of our faithfulness.
The secret of true service is absolute faithfulness wherever God places you.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Intercessory Prayer
…men always ought to pray and not lose heart. —Luke 18:1
You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up…[with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, “It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.
As an intercessor, be careful not to seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying truth.
Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship completely open with God.
What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Numbers 34, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Too Busy to Notice
One's imagination is kindled thinking about the conversation of the innkeeper and his family. Did anyone mention the arrival of the young couple the night before? Did anyone ask about the pregnancy of the girl on the donkey? The innkeeper and his family were so busy. The day was upon them. The day's bread had to be made. The morning's chores had to be done. There was too much to do to imagine that the impossible had occurred. God had entered the world as a baby.
Meanwhile the city hummed. Merchants were unaware that God had visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he'd just sent God into the cold. Those who missed His Majesty's arrival-missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it simply because they weren't looking. Not much has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?
From In the Manger
Numbers 34
Boundaries of the Land
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your special possession, these will be the boundaries. 3 The southern portion of your country will extend from the wilderness of Zin, along the edge of Edom. The southern boundary will begin on the east at the Dead Sea.[a] 4 It will then run south past Scorpion Pass[b] in the direction of Zin. Its southernmost point will be Kadesh-barnea, from which it will go to Hazar-addar, and on to Azmon. 5 From Azmon the boundary will turn toward the Brook of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.[c]
6 “Your western boundary will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.
7 “Your northern boundary will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and run east to Mount Hor, 8 then to Lebo-hamath, and on through Zedad 9 and Ziphron to Hazar-enan. This will be your northern boundary.
10 “The eastern boundary will start at Hazar-enan and run south to Shepham, 11 then down to Riblah on the east side of Ain. From there the boundary will run down along the eastern edge of the Sea of Galilee,[d] 12 and then along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. These are the boundaries of your land.”
13 Then Moses told the Israelites, “This territory is the homeland you are to divide among yourselves by sacred lot. The Lord has commanded that the land be divided among the nine and a half remaining tribes. 14 The families of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received their grants of land 15 on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho toward the sunrise.”
Leaders to Divide the Land
16 And the Lord said to Moses, 17 “Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun are the men designated to divide the grants of land among the people. 18 Enlist one leader from each tribe to help them with the task. 19 These are the tribes and the names of the leaders:
Tribe Leader
Judah Caleb son of Jephunneh
20 Simeon Shemuel son of Ammihud
21 Benjamin Elidad son of Kislon
22 Dan Bukki son of Jogli
23 Manasseh son of Joseph Hanniel son of Ephod
24 Ephraim son of Joseph Kemuel son of Shiphtan
25 Zebulun Elizaphan son of Parnach
26 Issachar Paltiel son of Azzan
27 Asher Ahihud son of Shelomi
28 Naphtali Pedahel son of Ammihud
29 These are the men the Lord has appointed to divide the grants of land in Canaan among the Israelites.”
34:3 Hebrew Salt Sea; also in 34:12.
34:4 Or the ascent of Akrabbim.
34:5 Hebrew the sea; also in 34:6, 7.
34:11 Hebrew Sea of Kinnereth.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, December 12, 2014
Read: Psalm 91:9-16
If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
10 no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
11 For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
15 When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
16 I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”
Insight
Psalm 91 celebrates the safety and security of those who trust in God, who have made the Lord (the Most High) their refuge, fortress, and dwelling place (vv.2,9). The psalmist affirms that our God is powerful and faithful and therefore trustworthy (vv.1-8). He also testifies of God’s protection and deliverance in a dangerous and destructive world (vv.9-16). In the New Testament, Satan misquoted verses 11-12 to tempt Jesus to test God’s protection by jumping from the top of the temple (Matt. 4:6). In response, Jesus says that God’s promise is for those who love and obey Him (Ps. 91:14-15) and not for those who presume upon God’s grace (Matt. 4:7).
Snug As A Bug In A Rug!
By David H. Roper
I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. —Psalm 4:8
When I was a child, my family lived in a house my father built in the cedar breaks west of Duncanville, Texas. Our house had a small kitchen-dinette area, two bedrooms, and a great room with a large stone fireplace in which we burned 2-foot-long cedar logs. That fireplace was the center of warmth in our home.
There were five people in our family: my father and mother, my sister, my cousin, and me. Since we had only two bedrooms, I slept year-round on a porch with canvas screens that rolled down to the floor. Summers were delightful; winters were cold.
I remember dashing from the warmth of the living room onto the porch, tiptoeing across the frost-covered plank floor in my bare feet, leaping into bed and burrowing under a great mountain of blankets. Then, when hail, sleet, or snow lashed our house and the wind howled through the eaves like a pack of wolves, I snuggled down in sheltered rest. “Snug as a bug in a rug,” my mother used to say. I doubt that any child ever felt so warm and secure.
Now I know the greatest security of all: God Himself. I can “lie down in peace, and sleep” (Ps. 4:8), knowing that He is my shelter from the stinging storms of life. Enveloped in the warmth of His love, I’m snug as a bug in a rug.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms. —Hoffman
No one is more secure than those who are in God’s hands.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, December 12, 2014
Personality
…that they may be one just as We are one… —John 17:22
Personality is the unique, limitless part of our life that makes us distinct from everyone else. It is too vast for us even to comprehend. An island in the sea may be just the top of a large mountain, and our personality is like that island. We don’t know the great depths of our being, therefore we cannot measure ourselves. We start out thinking we can, but soon realize that there is really only one Being who fully understands us, and that is our Creator.
Personality is the characteristic mark of the inner, spiritual man, just as individuality is the characteristic of the outer, natural man. Our Lord can never be described in terms of individuality and independence, but only in terms of His total Person— “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Personality merges, and you only reach your true identity once you are merged with another person. When love or the Spirit of God come upon a person, he is transformed. He will then no longer insist on maintaining his individuality. Our Lord never referred to a person’s individuality or his isolated position, but spoke in terms of the total person— “…that they may be one just as We are one….” Once your rights to yourself are surrendered to God, your true personal nature begins responding to God immediately. Jesus Christ brings freedom to your total person, and even your individuality is transformed. The transformation is brought about by love— personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the overflowing result of one person in true fellowship with another.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, December 12, 2014
The Couple, the Need, the Miracle - #7285
A boy from the south side of Chicago; a girl from the Ozarks and they lived happily ever after. It's the story of my wife and me. As we approached our wedding day several years ago, (ahem!) it was a week after our college graduation. We had a lot of love, but no money to speak of.
So we prayed for a little wedding miracle. We were also heading into full-time Christian ministry, and there wasn't going to be very much income from that. So we prayed that God would use people as they brought gifts to our wedding so we'd have what we needed for housekeeping. We didn't need a lot. But we couldn't even afford the basics at that point.
We did receive several of the things that we needed, including four teakettles! Hey, don't ask me to explain how we ended up with four teakettles. What is this? Like a gospel quartet? Or maybe not. Well, as we were unwrapping the gifts, it was clear that God had answered our prayer. And it looked as if He had shopped for our wedding gifts. We got all the basics! We didn't know how we were going to get our startup needs met, but this one wedding guest made all the difference.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Couple, the Need, the Miracle."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 2, beginning at verse 1. "On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. And when the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him, 'They have no more wine.'" Verse 6, "Nearby stood six stone water jars, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water', so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.'"
They probably thought, "I don't really think he's interested in a drink of water" Well, they did it anyway. "And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine." And verse 11 says, "This is the first of His miraculous signs that Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee and revealed His glory."
Now, notice what brought Jesus to Cana that day – a marriage. Notice where He did His first miracle. At a wedding. We saw our own personal miracle at our wedding, and we've seen an awful lot since. Maybe your marriage could use a miracle right now, like Cana revisited. See, that day there was a change that no man or woman could have made. I mean who could change water into wine? But Jesus did. There was a need that no man or woman could ever meet, but Jesus did.
Maybe right now change is urgently, maybe desperately, needed in your home. Or, there's a need that needs to be met if your relationship is going to be what it needs to be. Maybe it's time for Cana again; a marriage miracle. Maybe right now there's strain, and resentment, distance, frustration, possibly bitterness, maybe even thoughts about just giving it all up. But have you brought that marriage, its brokenness, its struggles, your home; have you poured it all out to Jesus? Have you poured out your dark feelings to the Lord and cried out together for Jesus' healing in your marriage?
See, the less you feel like doing it, the more you've got to do it. And if your partner absolutely will not, don't let that stop you. This says Jesus had been invited to this wedding, to this marriage. Why don't you invite Him into your marriage? Close the door to leaving, to quitting, to giving up. Ask God to show you the hope factors that maybe you can't see because of all of the strain. But there are hope factors you can build on. You've looked at the negatives enough. Can you pray this: "Lord, we can't make it work, and I don't know how you would, but we beg you to do what we can't do in this marriage"?
Two thousand years ago in the midst of a marriage, Jesus met an impossible need with His supernatural intervention. Today the scene is set again with you and the one you promised your life to: The couple, the need, and the miracle.
One's imagination is kindled thinking about the conversation of the innkeeper and his family. Did anyone mention the arrival of the young couple the night before? Did anyone ask about the pregnancy of the girl on the donkey? The innkeeper and his family were so busy. The day was upon them. The day's bread had to be made. The morning's chores had to be done. There was too much to do to imagine that the impossible had occurred. God had entered the world as a baby.
Meanwhile the city hummed. Merchants were unaware that God had visited their planet. The innkeeper would never believe that he'd just sent God into the cold. Those who missed His Majesty's arrival-missed it not because of evil acts or malice; no, they missed it simply because they weren't looking. Not much has changed in the last two thousand years, has it?
From In the Manger
Numbers 34
Boundaries of the Land
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give these instructions to the Israelites: When you come into the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your special possession, these will be the boundaries. 3 The southern portion of your country will extend from the wilderness of Zin, along the edge of Edom. The southern boundary will begin on the east at the Dead Sea.[a] 4 It will then run south past Scorpion Pass[b] in the direction of Zin. Its southernmost point will be Kadesh-barnea, from which it will go to Hazar-addar, and on to Azmon. 5 From Azmon the boundary will turn toward the Brook of Egypt and end at the Mediterranean Sea.[c]
6 “Your western boundary will be the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.
7 “Your northern boundary will begin at the Mediterranean Sea and run east to Mount Hor, 8 then to Lebo-hamath, and on through Zedad 9 and Ziphron to Hazar-enan. This will be your northern boundary.
10 “The eastern boundary will start at Hazar-enan and run south to Shepham, 11 then down to Riblah on the east side of Ain. From there the boundary will run down along the eastern edge of the Sea of Galilee,[d] 12 and then along the Jordan River to the Dead Sea. These are the boundaries of your land.”
13 Then Moses told the Israelites, “This territory is the homeland you are to divide among yourselves by sacred lot. The Lord has commanded that the land be divided among the nine and a half remaining tribes. 14 The families of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have already received their grants of land 15 on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho toward the sunrise.”
Leaders to Divide the Land
16 And the Lord said to Moses, 17 “Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun are the men designated to divide the grants of land among the people. 18 Enlist one leader from each tribe to help them with the task. 19 These are the tribes and the names of the leaders:
Tribe Leader
Judah Caleb son of Jephunneh
20 Simeon Shemuel son of Ammihud
21 Benjamin Elidad son of Kislon
22 Dan Bukki son of Jogli
23 Manasseh son of Joseph Hanniel son of Ephod
24 Ephraim son of Joseph Kemuel son of Shiphtan
25 Zebulun Elizaphan son of Parnach
26 Issachar Paltiel son of Azzan
27 Asher Ahihud son of Shelomi
28 Naphtali Pedahel son of Ammihud
29 These are the men the Lord has appointed to divide the grants of land in Canaan among the Israelites.”
34:3 Hebrew Salt Sea; also in 34:12.
34:4 Or the ascent of Akrabbim.
34:5 Hebrew the sea; also in 34:6, 7.
34:11 Hebrew Sea of Kinnereth.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Friday, December 12, 2014
Read: Psalm 91:9-16
If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
10 no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home.
11 For he will order his angels
to protect you wherever you go.
12 They will hold you up with their hands
so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
13 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!
14 The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
I will protect those who trust in my name.
15 When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
16 I will reward them with a long life
and give them my salvation.”
Insight
Psalm 91 celebrates the safety and security of those who trust in God, who have made the Lord (the Most High) their refuge, fortress, and dwelling place (vv.2,9). The psalmist affirms that our God is powerful and faithful and therefore trustworthy (vv.1-8). He also testifies of God’s protection and deliverance in a dangerous and destructive world (vv.9-16). In the New Testament, Satan misquoted verses 11-12 to tempt Jesus to test God’s protection by jumping from the top of the temple (Matt. 4:6). In response, Jesus says that God’s promise is for those who love and obey Him (Ps. 91:14-15) and not for those who presume upon God’s grace (Matt. 4:7).
Snug As A Bug In A Rug!
By David H. Roper
I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. —Psalm 4:8
When I was a child, my family lived in a house my father built in the cedar breaks west of Duncanville, Texas. Our house had a small kitchen-dinette area, two bedrooms, and a great room with a large stone fireplace in which we burned 2-foot-long cedar logs. That fireplace was the center of warmth in our home.
There were five people in our family: my father and mother, my sister, my cousin, and me. Since we had only two bedrooms, I slept year-round on a porch with canvas screens that rolled down to the floor. Summers were delightful; winters were cold.
I remember dashing from the warmth of the living room onto the porch, tiptoeing across the frost-covered plank floor in my bare feet, leaping into bed and burrowing under a great mountain of blankets. Then, when hail, sleet, or snow lashed our house and the wind howled through the eaves like a pack of wolves, I snuggled down in sheltered rest. “Snug as a bug in a rug,” my mother used to say. I doubt that any child ever felt so warm and secure.
Now I know the greatest security of all: God Himself. I can “lie down in peace, and sleep” (Ps. 4:8), knowing that He is my shelter from the stinging storms of life. Enveloped in the warmth of His love, I’m snug as a bug in a rug.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms. —Hoffman
No one is more secure than those who are in God’s hands.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Friday, December 12, 2014
Personality
…that they may be one just as We are one… —John 17:22
Personality is the unique, limitless part of our life that makes us distinct from everyone else. It is too vast for us even to comprehend. An island in the sea may be just the top of a large mountain, and our personality is like that island. We don’t know the great depths of our being, therefore we cannot measure ourselves. We start out thinking we can, but soon realize that there is really only one Being who fully understands us, and that is our Creator.
Personality is the characteristic mark of the inner, spiritual man, just as individuality is the characteristic of the outer, natural man. Our Lord can never be described in terms of individuality and independence, but only in terms of His total Person— “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Personality merges, and you only reach your true identity once you are merged with another person. When love or the Spirit of God come upon a person, he is transformed. He will then no longer insist on maintaining his individuality. Our Lord never referred to a person’s individuality or his isolated position, but spoke in terms of the total person— “…that they may be one just as We are one….” Once your rights to yourself are surrendered to God, your true personal nature begins responding to God immediately. Jesus Christ brings freedom to your total person, and even your individuality is transformed. The transformation is brought about by love— personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the overflowing result of one person in true fellowship with another.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, December 12, 2014
The Couple, the Need, the Miracle - #7285
A boy from the south side of Chicago; a girl from the Ozarks and they lived happily ever after. It's the story of my wife and me. As we approached our wedding day several years ago, (ahem!) it was a week after our college graduation. We had a lot of love, but no money to speak of.
So we prayed for a little wedding miracle. We were also heading into full-time Christian ministry, and there wasn't going to be very much income from that. So we prayed that God would use people as they brought gifts to our wedding so we'd have what we needed for housekeeping. We didn't need a lot. But we couldn't even afford the basics at that point.
We did receive several of the things that we needed, including four teakettles! Hey, don't ask me to explain how we ended up with four teakettles. What is this? Like a gospel quartet? Or maybe not. Well, as we were unwrapping the gifts, it was clear that God had answered our prayer. And it looked as if He had shopped for our wedding gifts. We got all the basics! We didn't know how we were going to get our startup needs met, but this one wedding guest made all the difference.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Couple, the Need, the Miracle."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 2, beginning at verse 1. "On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. And when the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to Him, 'They have no more wine.'" Verse 6, "Nearby stood six stone water jars, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water', so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.'"
They probably thought, "I don't really think he's interested in a drink of water" Well, they did it anyway. "And the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine." And verse 11 says, "This is the first of His miraculous signs that Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee and revealed His glory."
Now, notice what brought Jesus to Cana that day – a marriage. Notice where He did His first miracle. At a wedding. We saw our own personal miracle at our wedding, and we've seen an awful lot since. Maybe your marriage could use a miracle right now, like Cana revisited. See, that day there was a change that no man or woman could have made. I mean who could change water into wine? But Jesus did. There was a need that no man or woman could ever meet, but Jesus did.
Maybe right now change is urgently, maybe desperately, needed in your home. Or, there's a need that needs to be met if your relationship is going to be what it needs to be. Maybe it's time for Cana again; a marriage miracle. Maybe right now there's strain, and resentment, distance, frustration, possibly bitterness, maybe even thoughts about just giving it all up. But have you brought that marriage, its brokenness, its struggles, your home; have you poured it all out to Jesus? Have you poured out your dark feelings to the Lord and cried out together for Jesus' healing in your marriage?
See, the less you feel like doing it, the more you've got to do it. And if your partner absolutely will not, don't let that stop you. This says Jesus had been invited to this wedding, to this marriage. Why don't you invite Him into your marriage? Close the door to leaving, to quitting, to giving up. Ask God to show you the hope factors that maybe you can't see because of all of the strain. But there are hope factors you can build on. You've looked at the negatives enough. Can you pray this: "Lord, we can't make it work, and I don't know how you would, but we beg you to do what we can't do in this marriage"?
Two thousand years ago in the midst of a marriage, Jesus met an impossible need with His supernatural intervention. Today the scene is set again with you and the one you promised your life to: The couple, the need, and the miracle.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Luke 1:39-56 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Linger Near the Manger
Christianity was born in one big heavenly interruption! Just ask the Bethlehem shepherds! They had no expectations of excitement. These are sheep they're watching. We count sheep to go to sleep! Shepherds treasured the predictable. This was the night shift. Any excitement was bad excitement-wolves, lions, poachers. Just because they wanted a calm night, didn't mean they would get it.
Luke 2 says, "Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord shining around them, and they became very frightened" (v 9). We always assume the worst before we look for the best. It's a good thing the shepherds lingered; otherwise, they might have missed the second message. "Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ the Lord" (v 11).
I hope you'll do what the shepherds did-linger near the manger!
From In the Manger
Luke 1:39-56
Mary Visits Elizabeth
A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
The Magnificat: Mary’s Song of Praise
46 Mary responded,
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
49 For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me.
50 He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.
51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
52 He has brought down princes from their thrones
and exalted the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with empty hands.
54 He has helped his servant Israel
and remembered to be merciful.
55 For he made this promise to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Read: Isaiah 11:1-9
A Branch from David’s Line
Out of the stump of David’s family[a] will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
4 He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
5 He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment.
6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
and a little child will lead them all.
7 The cow will graze near the bear.
The cub and the calf will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.
Footnotes:
11:1 Hebrew the stump of the line of Jesse. Jesse was King David’s father.
Insight
The future and everlasting kingdom of God will be one of peace and harmony. Many of the prophets looked forward to this day with great anticipation. In today’s passage, Isaiah describes this kingdom by picturing animals that would normally prey on each other at peace together. This will be a time of peace because the Messiah will rule (v.9).
Snake In A Box
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. —Isaiah 11:9
At a nature center, I watched my friend’s rosy-cheeked toddler pat the side of a large glass box. Inside the box, a bull snake named Billy slithered slowly, eyeing the little girl. Billy’s body was as thick as my forearm and he sported brown and yellow markings. Although I knew Billy could not escape from his container, seeing a menacing-looking creature so close to a small child made me shudder.
The Bible speaks of a time in the future when fierce animals will fail to threaten each other or human beings. “The wolf . . . shall dwell with the lamb” and “the nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole” (Isa. 11:6,8). All the inhabitants of the world will experience total harmony and peace.
The Lord will establish this safe environment when He restores the world with His wisdom, might, and knowledge. At that time, He will judge the world with righteousness and justice (11:4). And everyone will acknowledge His greatness: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” (11:9).
We live in a broken world. Unfairness and discord, fear and pain are a very real part of our daily lives. But one day God will change everything, and “the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:2). Then Jesus will rule the world in righteousness.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. —von Schlegel
Leave final justice in the hands of a just God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Individuality
Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…" —Matthew 16:24
Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.
The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24). It is your individuality that refuses to “be reconciled to your brother” (Matthew 5:24). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “…let him deny himself…”— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 11, 2014
The Top of Life's Puzzle Box - #7284
We were trying to teach some young leaders the importance of teamwork. One of the exercises I used was to have them put together a puzzle. (I thought it was a bright idea.) You tear off a page of a magazine, tear it into pieces, dump it into the middle of each small group, and see who could put their pictures together first. It didn't work too well. See, I forgot one little thing. I forgot to give them a copy of the complete picture so they could see what it should look like when it was all together. Duh! Now, I've tried to work on one of those big, many-pieces puzzles myself, and I've had the same frustration because I didn't know where the top of the puzzle box top was. It was really hard to put the pieces together when the complete picture wasn't there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Top of Life's Puzzle Box."
Now, I'm not the first person to describe life being like a puzzle. There are so many pieces; family pieces, friend pieces, children pieces, career pieces; the pieces of school, work, success, failure. The nagging questions like, "Who am I?" "Where am I going?" "What do all these pieces mean?" "What are they supposed to make?"
Well, I found the top of the box. It's in God's book, the Bible, found in Colossians 1:16, "All things were created by Him and for Him." Now, that's speaking of Jesus Christ. And there are six powerful words there; words that can finally pull all those pieces together, "Created by Him and for Him."
You can begin to put the pieces together when you put your name in that verse. I'll leave a blank. "______ was created by Jesus and for Jesus." So you want to find out how all those pieces make sense? There's going to be a terrible hole in your heart until you have Jesus, because He's the one our heart was created for. No earth thing, no earth person, no earth achievement can fill it.
You may have some great pieces in your life, or some pretty scared and fading pieces. But life is still powerless and disconnected; with often meaningless pieces in front of you. You need the whole picture, and our Creator has told us in that statement from the Bible what that is. He gave His only Son, Jesus, because that relationship that we were made by and for is missing in our lives because we've built a wall between us and our Creator by doing life our way instead of His way; pushed Him to the edge.
You know why our life seems so disconnected and confused? We're created to live for Him and we chose to live for us. We've run our own lives when our Creator was supposed to. And according to the Bible, "Your sins have separated you from your God." He's the only one who knows why you're here. He put you here. The only One who has the love you're looking for your whole life is on the other side of a wall. That wall's got a name. It's called sin. No wonder things aren't adding up. We're stuck with the pieces, but we're cut off from the whole picture.
But this statement out of the Bible "created by Him and for Him" tells us where the hope is for things to finally come together. "He forgave us all our sin" it says. He nailed our sins... my sins to His cross. It was our sin and its death penalty that has kept us from our Creator. And it was all our sins that God sent His Son to die for on that cross.
The pieces of your life finally start to fit together when you come to that cross and say, "Jesus, for me." In simple faith you say, "Lord, it's for me, and I want you and your forgiveness for me." If you've never done that; if you're ready to meet the One that you were made by and made for, I invite you to visit our website; ANewStory.com and find out there how to be sure you belong to Him.
It's like seeing the top of life's puzzle box and the pieces finally come together. You're very, very close to finding the reason you were born, and finding the person you were born for.
Christianity was born in one big heavenly interruption! Just ask the Bethlehem shepherds! They had no expectations of excitement. These are sheep they're watching. We count sheep to go to sleep! Shepherds treasured the predictable. This was the night shift. Any excitement was bad excitement-wolves, lions, poachers. Just because they wanted a calm night, didn't mean they would get it.
Luke 2 says, "Then an angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord shining around them, and they became very frightened" (v 9). We always assume the worst before we look for the best. It's a good thing the shepherds lingered; otherwise, they might have missed the second message. "Today your Savior was born in the town of David. He is Christ the Lord" (v 11).
I hope you'll do what the shepherds did-linger near the manger!
From In the Manger
Luke 1:39-56
Mary Visits Elizabeth
A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
The Magnificat: Mary’s Song of Praise
46 Mary responded,
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!
48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed.
49 For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me.
50 He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him.
51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.
52 He has brought down princes from their thrones
and exalted the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with empty hands.
54 He has helped his servant Israel
and remembered to be merciful.
55 For he made this promise to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Read: Isaiah 11:1-9
A Branch from David’s Line
Out of the stump of David’s family[a] will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
4 He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
5 He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment.
6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
and a little child will lead them all.
7 The cow will graze near the bear.
The cub and the calf will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
for as the waters fill the sea,
so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.
Footnotes:
11:1 Hebrew the stump of the line of Jesse. Jesse was King David’s father.
Insight
The future and everlasting kingdom of God will be one of peace and harmony. Many of the prophets looked forward to this day with great anticipation. In today’s passage, Isaiah describes this kingdom by picturing animals that would normally prey on each other at peace together. This will be a time of peace because the Messiah will rule (v.9).
Snake In A Box
By Jennifer Benson Schuldt
The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. —Isaiah 11:9
At a nature center, I watched my friend’s rosy-cheeked toddler pat the side of a large glass box. Inside the box, a bull snake named Billy slithered slowly, eyeing the little girl. Billy’s body was as thick as my forearm and he sported brown and yellow markings. Although I knew Billy could not escape from his container, seeing a menacing-looking creature so close to a small child made me shudder.
The Bible speaks of a time in the future when fierce animals will fail to threaten each other or human beings. “The wolf . . . shall dwell with the lamb” and “the nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole” (Isa. 11:6,8). All the inhabitants of the world will experience total harmony and peace.
The Lord will establish this safe environment when He restores the world with His wisdom, might, and knowledge. At that time, He will judge the world with righteousness and justice (11:4). And everyone will acknowledge His greatness: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord” (11:9).
We live in a broken world. Unfairness and discord, fear and pain are a very real part of our daily lives. But one day God will change everything, and “the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:2). Then Jesus will rule the world in righteousness.
Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. —von Schlegel
Leave final justice in the hands of a just God.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Individuality
Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…" —Matthew 16:24
Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.
The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24). It is your individuality that refuses to “be reconciled to your brother” (Matthew 5:24). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “…let him deny himself…”— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Thursday, December 11, 2014
The Top of Life's Puzzle Box - #7284
We were trying to teach some young leaders the importance of teamwork. One of the exercises I used was to have them put together a puzzle. (I thought it was a bright idea.) You tear off a page of a magazine, tear it into pieces, dump it into the middle of each small group, and see who could put their pictures together first. It didn't work too well. See, I forgot one little thing. I forgot to give them a copy of the complete picture so they could see what it should look like when it was all together. Duh! Now, I've tried to work on one of those big, many-pieces puzzles myself, and I've had the same frustration because I didn't know where the top of the puzzle box top was. It was really hard to put the pieces together when the complete picture wasn't there.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Top of Life's Puzzle Box."
Now, I'm not the first person to describe life being like a puzzle. There are so many pieces; family pieces, friend pieces, children pieces, career pieces; the pieces of school, work, success, failure. The nagging questions like, "Who am I?" "Where am I going?" "What do all these pieces mean?" "What are they supposed to make?"
Well, I found the top of the box. It's in God's book, the Bible, found in Colossians 1:16, "All things were created by Him and for Him." Now, that's speaking of Jesus Christ. And there are six powerful words there; words that can finally pull all those pieces together, "Created by Him and for Him."
You can begin to put the pieces together when you put your name in that verse. I'll leave a blank. "______ was created by Jesus and for Jesus." So you want to find out how all those pieces make sense? There's going to be a terrible hole in your heart until you have Jesus, because He's the one our heart was created for. No earth thing, no earth person, no earth achievement can fill it.
You may have some great pieces in your life, or some pretty scared and fading pieces. But life is still powerless and disconnected; with often meaningless pieces in front of you. You need the whole picture, and our Creator has told us in that statement from the Bible what that is. He gave His only Son, Jesus, because that relationship that we were made by and for is missing in our lives because we've built a wall between us and our Creator by doing life our way instead of His way; pushed Him to the edge.
You know why our life seems so disconnected and confused? We're created to live for Him and we chose to live for us. We've run our own lives when our Creator was supposed to. And according to the Bible, "Your sins have separated you from your God." He's the only one who knows why you're here. He put you here. The only One who has the love you're looking for your whole life is on the other side of a wall. That wall's got a name. It's called sin. No wonder things aren't adding up. We're stuck with the pieces, but we're cut off from the whole picture.
But this statement out of the Bible "created by Him and for Him" tells us where the hope is for things to finally come together. "He forgave us all our sin" it says. He nailed our sins... my sins to His cross. It was our sin and its death penalty that has kept us from our Creator. And it was all our sins that God sent His Son to die for on that cross.
The pieces of your life finally start to fit together when you come to that cross and say, "Jesus, for me." In simple faith you say, "Lord, it's for me, and I want you and your forgiveness for me." If you've never done that; if you're ready to meet the One that you were made by and made for, I invite you to visit our website; ANewStory.com and find out there how to be sure you belong to Him.
It's like seeing the top of life's puzzle box and the pieces finally come together. You're very, very close to finding the reason you were born, and finding the person you were born for.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Numbers 33 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: God Dances Amidst the Common ·
There’s one word that describes the night Jesus came—ordinary. It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an “extra” on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. But God dances amidst the common. And that night, He did a waltz! The night was ordinary no more.
The announcement went first to the shepherds. They didn’t ask God if He was sure He knew what He was doing. Theologians would have consulted their commentaries. The elite would have looked to see if anyone was watching. The successful would have first looked to their calendars. The angels went to the shepherds. Men who didn’t know enough to tell God that messiahs aren’t found sleeping in a feed trough. God comes to the common—because His most powerful tools are the simplest!
From In the Manger
Numbers 33
Remembering Israel’s Journey
This is the route the Israelites followed as they marched out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 At the Lord’s direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress. These are the stages of their march, identified by the different places where they stopped along the way.
3 They set out from the city of Rameses in early spring—on the fifteenth day of the first month[g]—on the morning after the first Passover celebration. The people of Israel left defiantly, in full view of all the Egyptians. 4 Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn sons, whom the Lord had killed the night before. The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt that night with great acts of judgment!
5 After leaving Rameses, the Israelites set up camp at Succoth.
6 Then they left Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness.
7 They left Etham and turned back toward Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon, and camped near Migdol.
8 They left Pi-hahiroth[h] and crossed the Red Sea[i] into the wilderness beyond. Then they traveled for three days into the Etham wilderness and camped at Marah.
9 They left Marah and camped at Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees.
10 They left Elim and camped beside the Red Sea.[j]
11 They left the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.[k]
12 They left the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah.
13 They left Dophkah and camped at Alush.
14 They left Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
15 They left Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.
16 They left the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.
17 They left Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.
18 They left Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.
19 They left Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.
20 They left Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.
21 They left Libnah and camped at Rissah.
22 They left Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.
23 They left Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.
24 They left Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.
25 They left Haradah and camped at Makheloth.
26 They left Makheloth and camped at Tahath.
27 They left Tahath and camped at Terah.
28 They left Terah and camped at Mithcah.
29 They left Mithcah and camped at Hashmonah.
30 They left Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.
31 They left Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.
32 They left Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad.
33 They left Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.
34 They left Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.
35 They left Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber.
36 They left Ezion-geber and camped at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
37 They left Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the border of Edom. 38 While they were at the foot of Mount Hor, Aaron the priest was directed by the Lord to go up the mountain, and there he died. This happened in midsummer, on the first day of the fifth month[l] of the fortieth year after Israel’s departure from Egypt. 39 Aaron was 123 years old when he died there on Mount Hor.
40 At that time the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard that the people of Israel were approaching his land.
41 Meanwhile, the Israelites left Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.
42 Then they left Zalmonah and camped at Punon.
43 They left Punon and camped at Oboth.
44 They left Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.
45 They left Iye-abarim[m] and camped at Dibon-gad.
46 They left Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.
47 They left Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains east of the river,[n] near Mount Nebo.
48 They left the mountains east of the river and camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. 49 Along the Jordan River they camped from Beth-jeshimoth as far as the meadows of Acacia[o] on the plains of Moab.
50 While they were camped near the Jordan River on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho, the Lord said to Moses, 51 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, 52 you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines. 53 Take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given it to you to occupy. 54 You must distribute the land among the clans by sacred lot and in proportion to their size. A larger portion of land will be allotted to each of the larger clans, and a smaller portion will be allotted to each of the smaller clans. The decision of the sacred lot is final. In this way, the portions of land will be divided among your ancestral tribes. 55 But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. 56 And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”
33:3 This day in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in late March, April, or early May.
33:8a As in many Hebrew manuscripts, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Latin Vulgate (see also 33:7); most Hebrew manuscripts read left from in front of Hahiroth.
33:8b Hebrew the sea.
33:10 Hebrew sea of reeds; also in 33:11.
33:11 The geographical name Sin is related to Sinai and should not be confused with the English word sin.
33:38 This day in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in July or August.
33:45 As in 33:44; Hebrew reads Iyim, another name for Iye-abarim.
33:47 Or the mountains of Abarim; also in 33:48.
33:49 Hebrew as far as Abel-shittim.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Read: Job 38:1-11
The Lord Challenges Job
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom
with such ignorant words?
3 Brace yourself like a man,
because I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
5 Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out the surveying line?
6 What supports its foundations,
and who laid its cornerstone
7 as the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8 “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
as it burst from the womb,
9 and as I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it in thick darkness?
10 For I locked it behind barred gates,
limiting its shores.
11 I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
Here your proud waves must stop!’
Footnotes:
38:7 Hebrew the sons of God.
Insight
The experiences of Job are among the most heartrending found anywhere in the Scriptures. The loss of his children, wealth, and health drove him to question the purposes of God and wonder why He was silent. Then, in Job 38, God finally responded. And when He did, He didn’t offer Job answers—He offered Himself. The reminders of God’s greatness and power are not to be seen as cold or heartless, but as legitimate cause to put our trust in Him, even when we suffer and don’t know why.
Wonders Of The Heart
By Mart De Haan
By You I have been upheld from birth. —Psalm 71:6
Our heart beats about 100,000 times every day, pumping blood to every cell in our bodies. This adds up to about 35 million beats a year and 2.5 billion beats in an average lifetime. Medical science tells us that every contraction is similar to the effort it would take for us to hold a tennis ball in our palm and give it a good hard squeeze.
Yet as amazing as our heart is, it is only one example of a natural world that is designed to tell us something about our Creator. This is the idea behind the story of a man named Job.
Broken by a series of mounting troubles, Job felt abandoned. When God finally spoke, He didn’t tell Job why he was suffering. Nor did the Creator tell him that someday He would suffer for Job. Instead, He drew Job’s attention to a series of natural wonders that are always whispering to us—and sometimes shouting—about a wisdom and power far greater than our own (Job 38:1-11).
So what can we learn from the complexity of this hardworking muscle, the heart? The message may be similar to the sound of waves coming to shore and stars quietly shining in the night sky. The power and wisdom of our Creator give us reason to trust Him.
Lord, we are Yours, You are our God;
We have been made so wondrously;
This human frame in every part
Your wisdom, power, and love we see. —Anon.
When we reflect on the power of God’s creation, we see the power of His care for us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
The Offering of the Natural
It is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. —Galatians 4:22
Paul was not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural can be turned into the spiritual only through sacrifice. Without this a person will lead a divided life. Why did God demand that the natural must be sacrificed? God did not demand it. It is not God’s perfect will, but His permissive will. God’s perfect will was for the natural to be changed into the spiritual through obedience. Sin is what made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed.
Abraham had to offer up Ishmael before he offered up Isaac (see Genesis 21:8-14). Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1). Sanctification means more than being freed from sin. It means the deliberate commitment of myself to the God of my salvation, and being willing to pay whatever it may cost.
If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will resist and defy the life of the Son of God in us and will produce continual turmoil. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves physically, morally, or mentally. We excuse ourselves by saying, “Well, I wasn’t taught to be disciplined when I was a child.” Then discipline yourself now! If you don’t, you will ruin your entire personal life for God.
God is not actively involved with our natural life as long as we continue to pamper and gratify it. But once we are willing to put it out in the desert and are determined to keep it under control, God will be with it. He will then provide wells and oases and fulfill all His promises for the natural (see Genesis 21:15-19).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Human Tourniquets - #7283
My wife hates snakes! Okay, let's just get that out there. Her skin crawls almost at the mention of those critters. Of course, growing up in the Ozarks didn't exactly help her learn to appreciate them. And then there were the weeks she spent as a counselor at a camp deep in the woods. Oh, man, that really didn't help.
One night she and her girls were coming back to their cabin from the chapel after dark. Suddenly one of the girls yelled, "Snake!" My wife asked, "Hey, was anyone bitten?" And they all said, "No." But they were freaking out! Well, there was one girl who said, "Well, I stepped on the end of a stick and it hit me in the ankle and it kind of hurts." Immediately my wife said, "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Let me take a look at that." And when she looked, she saw three blood marks evenly spaced.
Then my wife just said to everybody, "Be quiet." She could hear the slithering in the grass. And then it stopped, and then she heard the rattling. She cleared the area quickly. Then she ran to the kitchen, thinking there was a snake bite kit there. There was none. So, she grabbed a towel, ran back and tightly tied it as a tourniquet a few inches above the bite. The hospital was an hour away from the camp, and they said it was that tourniquet that made the difference. It stopped the poison from spreading and it saved that girl's life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Human Tourniquets."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Numbers 12, beginning with verse 1. Let me tell you, God really does not like poison circulating in His body. That's His people. It says this, "Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses. At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, 'Come out to the tent of meeting all three of you.'" This doesn't sound good. "So the three of them came out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. The anger of the Lord burned against them."
See, the Lord heard them criticizing. He heard the backstabbing. Moses didn't; God did. He heard the poison and it angered Him. And God still hears it today when you and I say it. He still feels the same way about it. God wants us to surgically remove all the stuff that produces poison between His people.
Listen to Colossians 3, beginning at verse 5. "Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must rid yourselves of all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." God says, "Get rid of all kinds of negative talk. Take out the garbage." There's way too much poison circulating through the body of Christ don't you think? I know God does.
Not enough people are there who are willing to be human tourniquets; people who will stop the poison from spreading to another person. It's okay to have frustrations with somebody as long as you take them straight to God and if necessary straight to that person. Everything else is sin and it angers God.
Right now, maybe there is inside you the beginnings of anger, some things you feel you need to confront; maybe your wounds or hurt. That's okay if you take it straight to God and then again straight to the person involved. But see, the poison starts to spread when we start to go to other people. We're criticizing. We're complaining. We're tearing down. Poison! And when there's poison on the loose, a tourniquet is desperately needed to stop it.
Will you be the one? Would you be the person where you are, where you live, where you work, where you go to church, who just simply refuses to listen to the poison talk; directing the poison-spreader to the person they should be talking to? God hates poison in His body. He loves the person who commits himself or herself to stopping the poison.
There’s one word that describes the night Jesus came—ordinary. It was an ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an “extra” on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. But God dances amidst the common. And that night, He did a waltz! The night was ordinary no more.
The announcement went first to the shepherds. They didn’t ask God if He was sure He knew what He was doing. Theologians would have consulted their commentaries. The elite would have looked to see if anyone was watching. The successful would have first looked to their calendars. The angels went to the shepherds. Men who didn’t know enough to tell God that messiahs aren’t found sleeping in a feed trough. God comes to the common—because His most powerful tools are the simplest!
From In the Manger
Numbers 33
Remembering Israel’s Journey
This is the route the Israelites followed as they marched out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 At the Lord’s direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress. These are the stages of their march, identified by the different places where they stopped along the way.
3 They set out from the city of Rameses in early spring—on the fifteenth day of the first month[g]—on the morning after the first Passover celebration. The people of Israel left defiantly, in full view of all the Egyptians. 4 Meanwhile, the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn sons, whom the Lord had killed the night before. The Lord had defeated the gods of Egypt that night with great acts of judgment!
5 After leaving Rameses, the Israelites set up camp at Succoth.
6 Then they left Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness.
7 They left Etham and turned back toward Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon, and camped near Migdol.
8 They left Pi-hahiroth[h] and crossed the Red Sea[i] into the wilderness beyond. Then they traveled for three days into the Etham wilderness and camped at Marah.
9 They left Marah and camped at Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees.
10 They left Elim and camped beside the Red Sea.[j]
11 They left the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.[k]
12 They left the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah.
13 They left Dophkah and camped at Alush.
14 They left Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
15 They left Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.
16 They left the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.
17 They left Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.
18 They left Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.
19 They left Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.
20 They left Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.
21 They left Libnah and camped at Rissah.
22 They left Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.
23 They left Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.
24 They left Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.
25 They left Haradah and camped at Makheloth.
26 They left Makheloth and camped at Tahath.
27 They left Tahath and camped at Terah.
28 They left Terah and camped at Mithcah.
29 They left Mithcah and camped at Hashmonah.
30 They left Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.
31 They left Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.
32 They left Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad.
33 They left Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.
34 They left Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.
35 They left Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber.
36 They left Ezion-geber and camped at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
37 They left Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the border of Edom. 38 While they were at the foot of Mount Hor, Aaron the priest was directed by the Lord to go up the mountain, and there he died. This happened in midsummer, on the first day of the fifth month[l] of the fortieth year after Israel’s departure from Egypt. 39 Aaron was 123 years old when he died there on Mount Hor.
40 At that time the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard that the people of Israel were approaching his land.
41 Meanwhile, the Israelites left Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.
42 Then they left Zalmonah and camped at Punon.
43 They left Punon and camped at Oboth.
44 They left Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.
45 They left Iye-abarim[m] and camped at Dibon-gad.
46 They left Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.
47 They left Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains east of the river,[n] near Mount Nebo.
48 They left the mountains east of the river and camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. 49 Along the Jordan River they camped from Beth-jeshimoth as far as the meadows of Acacia[o] on the plains of Moab.
50 While they were camped near the Jordan River on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho, the Lord said to Moses, 51 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: When you cross the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, 52 you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines. 53 Take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given it to you to occupy. 54 You must distribute the land among the clans by sacred lot and in proportion to their size. A larger portion of land will be allotted to each of the larger clans, and a smaller portion will be allotted to each of the smaller clans. The decision of the sacred lot is final. In this way, the portions of land will be divided among your ancestral tribes. 55 But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. 56 And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.”
33:3 This day in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in late March, April, or early May.
33:8a As in many Hebrew manuscripts, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Latin Vulgate (see also 33:7); most Hebrew manuscripts read left from in front of Hahiroth.
33:8b Hebrew the sea.
33:10 Hebrew sea of reeds; also in 33:11.
33:11 The geographical name Sin is related to Sinai and should not be confused with the English word sin.
33:38 This day in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in July or August.
33:45 As in 33:44; Hebrew reads Iyim, another name for Iye-abarim.
33:47 Or the mountains of Abarim; also in 33:48.
33:49 Hebrew as far as Abel-shittim.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Read: Job 38:1-11
The Lord Challenges Job
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom
with such ignorant words?
3 Brace yourself like a man,
because I have some questions for you,
and you must answer them.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you know so much.
5 Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out the surveying line?
6 What supports its foundations,
and who laid its cornerstone
7 as the morning stars sang together
and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
8 “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
as it burst from the womb,
9 and as I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it in thick darkness?
10 For I locked it behind barred gates,
limiting its shores.
11 I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
Here your proud waves must stop!’
Footnotes:
38:7 Hebrew the sons of God.
Insight
The experiences of Job are among the most heartrending found anywhere in the Scriptures. The loss of his children, wealth, and health drove him to question the purposes of God and wonder why He was silent. Then, in Job 38, God finally responded. And when He did, He didn’t offer Job answers—He offered Himself. The reminders of God’s greatness and power are not to be seen as cold or heartless, but as legitimate cause to put our trust in Him, even when we suffer and don’t know why.
Wonders Of The Heart
By Mart De Haan
By You I have been upheld from birth. —Psalm 71:6
Our heart beats about 100,000 times every day, pumping blood to every cell in our bodies. This adds up to about 35 million beats a year and 2.5 billion beats in an average lifetime. Medical science tells us that every contraction is similar to the effort it would take for us to hold a tennis ball in our palm and give it a good hard squeeze.
Yet as amazing as our heart is, it is only one example of a natural world that is designed to tell us something about our Creator. This is the idea behind the story of a man named Job.
Broken by a series of mounting troubles, Job felt abandoned. When God finally spoke, He didn’t tell Job why he was suffering. Nor did the Creator tell him that someday He would suffer for Job. Instead, He drew Job’s attention to a series of natural wonders that are always whispering to us—and sometimes shouting—about a wisdom and power far greater than our own (Job 38:1-11).
So what can we learn from the complexity of this hardworking muscle, the heart? The message may be similar to the sound of waves coming to shore and stars quietly shining in the night sky. The power and wisdom of our Creator give us reason to trust Him.
Lord, we are Yours, You are our God;
We have been made so wondrously;
This human frame in every part
Your wisdom, power, and love we see. —Anon.
When we reflect on the power of God’s creation, we see the power of His care for us.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
The Offering of the Natural
It is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. —Galatians 4:22
Paul was not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural can be turned into the spiritual only through sacrifice. Without this a person will lead a divided life. Why did God demand that the natural must be sacrificed? God did not demand it. It is not God’s perfect will, but His permissive will. God’s perfect will was for the natural to be changed into the spiritual through obedience. Sin is what made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed.
Abraham had to offer up Ishmael before he offered up Isaac (see Genesis 21:8-14). Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1). Sanctification means more than being freed from sin. It means the deliberate commitment of myself to the God of my salvation, and being willing to pay whatever it may cost.
If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will resist and defy the life of the Son of God in us and will produce continual turmoil. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves physically, morally, or mentally. We excuse ourselves by saying, “Well, I wasn’t taught to be disciplined when I was a child.” Then discipline yourself now! If you don’t, you will ruin your entire personal life for God.
God is not actively involved with our natural life as long as we continue to pamper and gratify it. But once we are willing to put it out in the desert and are determined to keep it under control, God will be with it. He will then provide wells and oases and fulfill all His promises for the natural (see Genesis 21:15-19).
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Human Tourniquets - #7283
My wife hates snakes! Okay, let's just get that out there. Her skin crawls almost at the mention of those critters. Of course, growing up in the Ozarks didn't exactly help her learn to appreciate them. And then there were the weeks she spent as a counselor at a camp deep in the woods. Oh, man, that really didn't help.
One night she and her girls were coming back to their cabin from the chapel after dark. Suddenly one of the girls yelled, "Snake!" My wife asked, "Hey, was anyone bitten?" And they all said, "No." But they were freaking out! Well, there was one girl who said, "Well, I stepped on the end of a stick and it hit me in the ankle and it kind of hurts." Immediately my wife said, "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Let me take a look at that." And when she looked, she saw three blood marks evenly spaced.
Then my wife just said to everybody, "Be quiet." She could hear the slithering in the grass. And then it stopped, and then she heard the rattling. She cleared the area quickly. Then she ran to the kitchen, thinking there was a snake bite kit there. There was none. So, she grabbed a towel, ran back and tightly tied it as a tourniquet a few inches above the bite. The hospital was an hour away from the camp, and they said it was that tourniquet that made the difference. It stopped the poison from spreading and it saved that girl's life.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Human Tourniquets."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Numbers 12, beginning with verse 1. Let me tell you, God really does not like poison circulating in His body. That's His people. It says this, "Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses. At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, 'Come out to the tent of meeting all three of you.'" This doesn't sound good. "So the three of them came out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. The anger of the Lord burned against them."
See, the Lord heard them criticizing. He heard the backstabbing. Moses didn't; God did. He heard the poison and it angered Him. And God still hears it today when you and I say it. He still feels the same way about it. God wants us to surgically remove all the stuff that produces poison between His people.
Listen to Colossians 3, beginning at verse 5. "Put to death whatever belongs to your earthly nature. You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived, but now you must rid yourselves of all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." God says, "Get rid of all kinds of negative talk. Take out the garbage." There's way too much poison circulating through the body of Christ don't you think? I know God does.
Not enough people are there who are willing to be human tourniquets; people who will stop the poison from spreading to another person. It's okay to have frustrations with somebody as long as you take them straight to God and if necessary straight to that person. Everything else is sin and it angers God.
Right now, maybe there is inside you the beginnings of anger, some things you feel you need to confront; maybe your wounds or hurt. That's okay if you take it straight to God and then again straight to the person involved. But see, the poison starts to spread when we start to go to other people. We're criticizing. We're complaining. We're tearing down. Poison! And when there's poison on the loose, a tourniquet is desperately needed to stop it.
Will you be the one? Would you be the person where you are, where you live, where you work, where you go to church, who just simply refuses to listen to the poison talk; directing the poison-spreader to the person they should be talking to? God hates poison in His body. He loves the person who commits himself or herself to stopping the poison.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Numbers 32, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Searching the Night for a Light
On the night when Jesus was born, I wonder if Joseph prayed, "Father, this all seems so bizarre. The angel you sent? Any chance you could send another?" You've stood where Joseph stood. Each of us knows what it's like to search the night for a light. Not outside a stable, but perhaps outside an emergency room or on the manicured grass of a cemetery. We've asked our questions. We have wondered why God does what he does.
If you're asking what Joseph asked, let me urge you to do what Joseph did. Obey. He didn't let his confusion disrupt his obedience. What about you? You have a choice: to obey or disobey. Because Joseph obeyed, God used him to change the world. Can He do the same with you? Will you be that kind of person? Will you serve. . .even when you don't understand?
From In the Manger
Numbers 32
The Transjordan Tribes
The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. 2 So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon— 4 the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. 5 If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
6 Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? 7 Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the Lord has given them? 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. 9 After they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. 10 The Lord’s anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: 11 ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— 12 not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ 13 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
14 “And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. 15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”
16 Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. 17 But we will arm ourselves for battle[b] and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has received their inheritance. 19 We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”
20 Then Moses said to them, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle 21 and if all of you who are armed cross over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out before him— 22 then when the land is subdued before the Lord, you may return and be free from your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the Lord.
23 “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. 24 Build cities for your women and children, and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”
25 The Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, “We your servants will do as our lord commands. 26 Our children and wives, our flocks and herds will remain here in the cities of Gilead. 27 But your servants, every man who is armed for battle, will cross over to fight before the Lord, just as our lord says.”
28 Then Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and to the family heads of the Israelite tribes. 29 He said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites, every man armed for battle, cross over the Jordan with you before the Lord, then when the land is subdued before you, you must give them the land of Gilead as their possession. 30 But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must accept their possession with you in Canaan.”
31 The Gadites and Reubenites answered, “Your servants will do what the Lord has said. 32 We will cross over before the Lord into Canaan armed, but the property we inherit will be on this side of the Jordan.”
33 Then Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the whole land with its cities and the territory around them.
34 The Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran as fortified cities, and built pens for their flocks. 37 And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh and Kiriathaim, 38 as well as Nebo and Baal Meon (these names were changed) and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt.
39 The descendants of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it and drove out the Amorites who were there. 40 So Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh, and they settled there. 41 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured their settlements and called them Havvoth Jair.[c] 42 And Nobah captured Kenath and its surrounding settlements and called it Nobah after himself.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Read: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[a] 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Footnotes:
6:4 Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
Insight
Deuteronomy 6:4-9, known as the Shema (from the Hebrew for “hear,” v.4), is the basic Jewish confession of faith. Every devout Jew was to recite the Shema twice daily as a reminder of the first and second commandments (Ex. 20:2-5). After giving the Ten Commandments (Deut. 5:6-22), Moses gave God’s people the one heart principle that undergirds the entire law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (6:5). God demands exclusive, wholehearted, and undivided allegiance and devotion. Jesus said that this is “the first and greatest commandment” (Matt. 22:36-38).
Our Life Is A Primer
By Dennis Fisher
You shall teach them diligently to your children . . . when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. —Deuteronomy 6:7
The New England Primer was published in the late 1600s. Throughout the colonies that would later become the United States, the book became a widely used resource.
This early American textbook was based largely on the Bible, and it used pictures and rhymes based on Scripture to help children learn to read. It also included prayers like this one: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
In Colonial America, this became a way that one generation was able to pass along their faith to the next generation. It fit well with what God wanted of His people, the ancient Israelites, as recorded in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach [God’s commandments] diligently to your children, and shall talk of them . . . when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
As we talk about who God is, what He has done for us, and how He desires our love and obedience, our lives can become primers to the next generation. We can be teaching tools that God will use to help people in their walk with Him.
Lord, we love You. We want to learn to love
You with all our heart, soul, and strength.
Use our lives and our words to point others to You,
who first loved us.
When we teach others, we’re not just spending time, we’re investing it.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
The Opposition of the Natural
Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. —Galatians 5:24
The natural life itself is not sinful. But we must abandon sin, having nothing to do with it in any way whatsoever. Sin belongs to hell and to the devil. I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and to God. It is not a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence, and my self-will. This is where the battle has to be fought. The things that are right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint are the very things that keep us from being God’s best. Once we come to understand that natural moral excellence opposes or counteracts surrender to God, we bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and wrong, but we do debate over what is good. It is the good that opposes the best. The higher up the scale of moral excellence a person goes, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh….” The cost to your natural life is not just one or two things, but everything. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matthew 16:24). That is, he must deny his right to himself, and he must realize who Jesus Christ is before he will bring himself to do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.
The natural life is not spiritual, and it can be made spiritual only through sacrifice. If we do not purposely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural to us. There is no high or easy road. Each of us has the means to accomplish it entirely in his own hands. It is not a question of praying, but of sacrificing, and thereby performing His will.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Unconditional Surrender - #7282
Christians that were in Russia anytime during the 1950s to about 1990 were familiar with the voice of Nick Leonovich. For decades before the Iron Curtain came down, Nick had been faithfully broadcasting the gospel in Russian to his people. When the doors began to open, and Nick would travel through Russia and meet those Russian believers finally, a lot of them would stop him and they'd say, "Hey, I know your voice! You led me to Christ." Wow!
Well, I've got to tell you, Nick wasn't always working for the Lord. That took a miracle. Nick was living as a teenager in Passaic, New Jersey, and his older brother, Alex, was pioneering Christian broadcasts in Russian for a company and ministry in Ecuador. And when he would ask Nick about his relationship with Christ, Nick kind of waved him off and said, "Hey, that's my business." It was an August day in 1945 when older brother Alex was driving to the radio station in Ecuador, and he heard the breaking news. He threw out his planned message and he spoke spontaneously from what he had just heard on the news. Nick happened to be listening on shortwave in New Jersey. He would never be the same.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I was to have A Word With You today about "Unconditional Surrender."
The news that day? The unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces. Japan had expressed earlier interest in a surrender with specific conditions. But that day in 1945, they surrendered without condition. Alex Leonovich spoke on the subject Unconditional Surrender to Jesus Christ. Nick heard it in New Jersey, and he went to his knees. He said, "Lord, I've been a Christian but on my terms. Now I want to surrender to You with no terms. I unconditionally surrender." Well, I'll tell you, the lid came off his life from that day on.
And just as God directed a man to speak about unconditional surrender over a radio almost 70 years ago, I really believe God has asked me to do that today, maybe for you. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 12:1-2. "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is; His good, pleasing and perfect will."
You notice the appeal there is made on the basis of God's mercy; after all He's done for you through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. So, we're being asked to respond to what He did for us. Then it says, "Offer yourself as a living sacrifice." A sacrifice. Well, that means that you have no further plans of your own. But you're still going to go on living, except from now on you will live surrendered to Jesus and His plan for your life.
No longer marching to the drum beat of your generation, or the culture, or your surroundings, your environment, your occupation. No, you won't be conformed to the world, because you're hearing another drummer. The result: You will be experiencing God's good, and pleasing, and perfect plan for you. The reason you're here, in other words.
See, conditional surrender, which is what most of us would like to do, hands Jesus a contract for Him to sign with your conditions. Unconditional surrender gives Jesus a blank piece of paper which you've signed, and then He fills it in. Have you ever done that? That's how you get His best. That's when He's truly your Lord.
The world was changed by an unconditional surrender. And the world will always remember that day. One man's life was changed by an unconditional surrender, and he would always remember that day. Maybe that day is today for you; the day you win the battle and you unconditionally surrender to the Savior who unconditionally surrendered His life to rescue you.
On the night when Jesus was born, I wonder if Joseph prayed, "Father, this all seems so bizarre. The angel you sent? Any chance you could send another?" You've stood where Joseph stood. Each of us knows what it's like to search the night for a light. Not outside a stable, but perhaps outside an emergency room or on the manicured grass of a cemetery. We've asked our questions. We have wondered why God does what he does.
If you're asking what Joseph asked, let me urge you to do what Joseph did. Obey. He didn't let his confusion disrupt his obedience. What about you? You have a choice: to obey or disobey. Because Joseph obeyed, God used him to change the world. Can He do the same with you? Will you be that kind of person? Will you serve. . .even when you don't understand?
From In the Manger
Numbers 32
The Transjordan Tribes
The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. 2 So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, 3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon— 4 the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. 5 If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
6 Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? 7 Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the Lord has given them? 8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. 9 After they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. 10 The Lord’s anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: 11 ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— 12 not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ 13 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
14 “And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. 15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”
16 Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. 17 But we will arm ourselves for battle[b] and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land. 18 We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has received their inheritance. 19 We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.”
20 Then Moses said to them, “If you will do this—if you will arm yourselves before the Lord for battle 21 and if all of you who are armed cross over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies out before him— 22 then when the land is subdued before the Lord, you may return and be free from your obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will be your possession before the Lord.
23 “But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. 24 Build cities for your women and children, and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”
25 The Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, “We your servants will do as our lord commands. 26 Our children and wives, our flocks and herds will remain here in the cities of Gilead. 27 But your servants, every man who is armed for battle, will cross over to fight before the Lord, just as our lord says.”
28 Then Moses gave orders about them to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and to the family heads of the Israelite tribes. 29 He said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites, every man armed for battle, cross over the Jordan with you before the Lord, then when the land is subdued before you, you must give them the land of Gilead as their possession. 30 But if they do not cross over with you armed, they must accept their possession with you in Canaan.”
31 The Gadites and Reubenites answered, “Your servants will do what the Lord has said. 32 We will cross over before the Lord into Canaan armed, but the property we inherit will be on this side of the Jordan.”
33 Then Moses gave to the Gadites, the Reubenites and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the whole land with its cities and the territory around them.
34 The Gadites built up Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, 35 Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 Beth Nimrah and Beth Haran as fortified cities, and built pens for their flocks. 37 And the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh and Kiriathaim, 38 as well as Nebo and Baal Meon (these names were changed) and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they rebuilt.
39 The descendants of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead, captured it and drove out the Amorites who were there. 40 So Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh, and they settled there. 41 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured their settlements and called them Havvoth Jair.[c] 42 And Nobah captured Kenath and its surrounding settlements and called it Nobah after himself.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Read: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.[a] 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Footnotes:
6:4 Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
Insight
Deuteronomy 6:4-9, known as the Shema (from the Hebrew for “hear,” v.4), is the basic Jewish confession of faith. Every devout Jew was to recite the Shema twice daily as a reminder of the first and second commandments (Ex. 20:2-5). After giving the Ten Commandments (Deut. 5:6-22), Moses gave God’s people the one heart principle that undergirds the entire law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (6:5). God demands exclusive, wholehearted, and undivided allegiance and devotion. Jesus said that this is “the first and greatest commandment” (Matt. 22:36-38).
Our Life Is A Primer
By Dennis Fisher
You shall teach them diligently to your children . . . when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. —Deuteronomy 6:7
The New England Primer was published in the late 1600s. Throughout the colonies that would later become the United States, the book became a widely used resource.
This early American textbook was based largely on the Bible, and it used pictures and rhymes based on Scripture to help children learn to read. It also included prayers like this one: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
In Colonial America, this became a way that one generation was able to pass along their faith to the next generation. It fit well with what God wanted of His people, the ancient Israelites, as recorded in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, “These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach [God’s commandments] diligently to your children, and shall talk of them . . . when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
As we talk about who God is, what He has done for us, and how He desires our love and obedience, our lives can become primers to the next generation. We can be teaching tools that God will use to help people in their walk with Him.
Lord, we love You. We want to learn to love
You with all our heart, soul, and strength.
Use our lives and our words to point others to You,
who first loved us.
When we teach others, we’re not just spending time, we’re investing it.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
The Opposition of the Natural
Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. —Galatians 5:24
The natural life itself is not sinful. But we must abandon sin, having nothing to do with it in any way whatsoever. Sin belongs to hell and to the devil. I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and to God. It is not a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence, and my self-will. This is where the battle has to be fought. The things that are right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint are the very things that keep us from being God’s best. Once we come to understand that natural moral excellence opposes or counteracts surrender to God, we bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and wrong, but we do debate over what is good. It is the good that opposes the best. The higher up the scale of moral excellence a person goes, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh….” The cost to your natural life is not just one or two things, but everything. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matthew 16:24). That is, he must deny his right to himself, and he must realize who Jesus Christ is before he will bring himself to do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.
The natural life is not spiritual, and it can be made spiritual only through sacrifice. If we do not purposely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural to us. There is no high or easy road. Each of us has the means to accomplish it entirely in his own hands. It is not a question of praying, but of sacrificing, and thereby performing His will.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, December 09, 2014
Unconditional Surrender - #7282
Christians that were in Russia anytime during the 1950s to about 1990 were familiar with the voice of Nick Leonovich. For decades before the Iron Curtain came down, Nick had been faithfully broadcasting the gospel in Russian to his people. When the doors began to open, and Nick would travel through Russia and meet those Russian believers finally, a lot of them would stop him and they'd say, "Hey, I know your voice! You led me to Christ." Wow!
Well, I've got to tell you, Nick wasn't always working for the Lord. That took a miracle. Nick was living as a teenager in Passaic, New Jersey, and his older brother, Alex, was pioneering Christian broadcasts in Russian for a company and ministry in Ecuador. And when he would ask Nick about his relationship with Christ, Nick kind of waved him off and said, "Hey, that's my business." It was an August day in 1945 when older brother Alex was driving to the radio station in Ecuador, and he heard the breaking news. He threw out his planned message and he spoke spontaneously from what he had just heard on the news. Nick happened to be listening on shortwave in New Jersey. He would never be the same.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I was to have A Word With You today about "Unconditional Surrender."
The news that day? The unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces. Japan had expressed earlier interest in a surrender with specific conditions. But that day in 1945, they surrendered without condition. Alex Leonovich spoke on the subject Unconditional Surrender to Jesus Christ. Nick heard it in New Jersey, and he went to his knees. He said, "Lord, I've been a Christian but on my terms. Now I want to surrender to You with no terms. I unconditionally surrender." Well, I'll tell you, the lid came off his life from that day on.
And just as God directed a man to speak about unconditional surrender over a radio almost 70 years ago, I really believe God has asked me to do that today, maybe for you. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 12:1-2. "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is; His good, pleasing and perfect will."
You notice the appeal there is made on the basis of God's mercy; after all He's done for you through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. So, we're being asked to respond to what He did for us. Then it says, "Offer yourself as a living sacrifice." A sacrifice. Well, that means that you have no further plans of your own. But you're still going to go on living, except from now on you will live surrendered to Jesus and His plan for your life.
No longer marching to the drum beat of your generation, or the culture, or your surroundings, your environment, your occupation. No, you won't be conformed to the world, because you're hearing another drummer. The result: You will be experiencing God's good, and pleasing, and perfect plan for you. The reason you're here, in other words.
See, conditional surrender, which is what most of us would like to do, hands Jesus a contract for Him to sign with your conditions. Unconditional surrender gives Jesus a blank piece of paper which you've signed, and then He fills it in. Have you ever done that? That's how you get His best. That's when He's truly your Lord.
The world was changed by an unconditional surrender. And the world will always remember that day. One man's life was changed by an unconditional surrender, and he would always remember that day. Maybe that day is today for you; the day you win the battle and you unconditionally surrender to the Savior who unconditionally surrendered His life to rescue you.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Numbers 31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals
Max Lucado Daily: Out on a Limb
After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 1:18 NKJV). Joseph was perched firmly on his branch in the tree. Predictable and solid, Joseph had no intention of leaving it. That is, until he was told to go out on a limb.
"Conceived by the Holy Spirit? Come on! Who will believe me?"
Pride told him not to do it. But God told him to do it. I have a feeling you can relate to Joseph. One foot in your will and one foot in His. His will or yours? Disrupting, isn't it? You can bet it won't be easy. Limb-climbing has never been. Ask Joseph…or better yet, ask Jesus! He knows better than anyone the cost of hanging on a tree!
From In the Manger
Numbers 31
Conquest of the Midianites
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “On behalf of the people of Israel, take revenge on the Midianites for leading them into idolatry. After that, you will die and join your ancestors.”
3 So Moses said to the people, “Choose some men, and arm them to fight the Lord’s war of revenge against Midian. 4 From each tribe of Israel, send 1,000 men into battle.” 5 So they chose 1,000 men from each tribe of Israel, a total of 12,000 men armed for battle. 6 Then Moses sent them out, 1,000 men from each tribe, and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest led them into battle. They carried along the holy objects of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the charge. 7 They attacked Midian as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. 8 All five of the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
9 Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. 11 After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, 12 they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. 13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 But Moses was furious with all the generals and captains[a] who had returned from the battle.
15 “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. 16 “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people. 17 So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. 18 Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves. 19 And all of you who have killed anyone or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp for seven days. You must purify yourselves and your captives on the third and seventh days. 20 Purify all your clothing, too, and everything made of leather, goat hair, or wood.”
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men who were in the battle, “The Lord has given Moses this legal requirement: 22 Anything made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead— 23 that is, all metals that do not burn—must be passed through fire in order to be made ceremonially pure. These metal objects must then be further purified with the water of purification. But everything that burns must be purified by the water alone. 24 On the seventh day you must wash your clothes and be purified. Then you may return to the camp.”
Division of the Plunder
25 And the Lord said to Moses, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family leaders of each tribe are to make a list of all the plunder taken in the battle, including the people and animals. 27 Then divide the plunder into two parts, and give half to the men who fought the battle and half to the rest of the people. 28 From the army’s portion, first give the Lord his share of the plunder—one of every 500 of the prisoners and of the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. 29 Give this share of the army’s half to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. 30 From the half that belongs to the people of Israel, take one of every fifty of the prisoners and of the cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and other animals. Give this share to the Levites, who are in charge of maintaining the Lord’s Tabernacle.” 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 The plunder remaining from everything the fighting men had taken totaled 675,000 sheep and goats, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000 virgin girls.
36 Half of the plunder was given to the fighting men. It totaled 337,500 sheep and goats, 37 of which 675 were the Lord’s share; 38 36,000 cattle, of which 72 were the Lord’s share; 39 30,500 donkeys, of which 61 were the Lord’s share; 40 and 16,000 virgin girls, of whom 32 were the Lord’s share. 41 Moses gave all the Lord’s share to Eleazar the priest, just as the Lord had directed him.
42 Half of the plunder belonged to the people of Israel, and Moses separated it from the half belonging to the fighting men. 43 It totaled 337,500 sheep and goats, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 virgin girls. 47 From the half-share given to the people, Moses took one of every fifty prisoners and animals and gave them to the Levites, who maintained the Lord’s Tabernacle. All this was done as the Lord had commanded Moses.
48 Then all the generals and captains came to Moses 49 and said, “We, your servants, have accounted for all the men who went out to battle under our command; not one of us is missing! 50 So we are presenting the items of gold we captured as an offering to the Lord from our share of the plunder—armbands, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. This will purify our lives before the Lord and make us right with him.[b]”
51 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from all the military commanders—all kinds of jewelry and crafted objects. 52 In all, the gold that the generals and captains presented as a gift to the Lord weighed about 420 pounds.[c] 53 All the fighting men had taken some of the plunder for themselves. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gifts from the generals and captains and brought the gold to the Tabernacle[d] as a reminder to the Lord that the people of Israel belong to him.
31:14 Hebrew the commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds; also in 31:48, 52, 54.
31:50 Or will make atonement for our lives before the Lord.
31:52 Hebrew 16,750 shekels [191 kilograms].
31:54 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 08, 2014
Read: Hebrews 10:19-25
A Call to Persevere
And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death,[b] Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Footnotes:
10:19 Greek brothers.
10:20 Greek Through his flesh.
Insight
The “Holiest” (Heb. 10:19) was a reference to the Holy of Holies in ancient Israel’s tabernacle and temple. It was viewed as the dwelling place of God among His people and could only be entered once a year, and then only by the high priest. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would take the blood of the sacrifice into the Holy of Holies to atone for the people’s sins for another year. However, the work of our High Priest, Jesus, is so complete that we now have the freedom to enter into God’s presence at any time. In fact, we can enter boldly because as a result of Christ’s sacrifice we are welcomed into the Father’s presence. This intimate relationship we have with our Father causes us to want to share His grace with others.
Johnny’s Race
By Dave Branon
Comfort each other and edify one another. —1 Thessalonians 5:11
When 19-year-old Johnny Agar finished the 5k race, he had a lot of people behind him—family members and friends who were celebrating his accomplishment.
Johnny has cerebral palsy, which makes physical activity difficult. But he and his dad, Jeff, have teamed up to compete in many races—Dad pushing and Johnny riding. But one day, Johnny wanted to finish by himself. Halfway through the race, his dad took him out of his cart, helped him to his walker, and assisted Johnny as he completed the race on his own two feet. That led to a major celebration as friends and family cheered his accomplishment. “It made it easier for me to do it with them behind me,” Johnny told a reporter. “The encouragement is what drove me.”
Isn’t that what Christ-followers are meant to do? Hebrews 10:24 reminds us, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (niv). As we model the love of our Savior (John 13:34-35), imagine the difference it could make if we all set out to encourage each other—if we always knew that behind us we had a group of friends cheering us on. If we took the words “comfort each other and edify one another” (1 Thess. 5:11) seriously, the race would be easier for all of us.
Help us, Lord, not to think that we can go through
life without others. Cure us of our independent
spirit. Use us to bless others and humble
us to accept encouragement.
A word of encouragement can make the difference between giving up or going on.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 08, 2014
The Impartial Power of God
By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. —Hebrews 10:14
We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. “…Christ Jesus…became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Once we realize that Christ has become all this for us, the limitless joy of God begins in us. And wherever the joy of God is not present, the death sentence is still in effect.
No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by saying, “But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be received as a sinner.” God’s response, through Peter, is, “… there is no other name…by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. “In Him we have redemption through His blood…” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.
God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation God uses to make unholy people holy.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 08, 2014
The Christmas Window - #7281
You remember when the word window just referred to that opening in a wall that kind of you then covered with glass? Well, NASA changed all that. A window is still an opening, but the folks at Cape Canaveral use that word to refer to that brief period of time where everything is right for the launch: the wind is okay, the weather's okay, they've checked it at the Cape, they've checked it down range, and the atmospherics are okay for communication. The conditions have been predicted for the time of return and they look good, too. But the window will pass soon. If you're going to get this thing off the ground, go when the window's open.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Christmas Window."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 2 beginning at verse 16. This might be a dimension of Christmas that we often miss; maybe with some tragic consequences. "So the shepherds hurried off and found Mary, and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in a manger. And when they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them."
Now, notice it says they had seen Him and then they spread the word. The first people to ever celebrate Christmas saw it as a time for telling. That was their first response! "Man, it's time to spread this good news!" Now, 2 Corinthians 5:20 tells you what your lifetime assignment for Jesus is, "We are Christ's ambassadors." Whatever you do for a living, or go to school for, your highest calling is that you're an ambassador for Jesus Christ. If the people in your world are ever going to hear about Him, it's going to be through you. See, He's assigned you to this particular little tribe that's around where you work, or go to school, or live. That's your territory as a "missionary."
Your environment might change. You may move, but your assignment doesn't. You are His ambassador wherever He puts you. Christmas, I think, is the best window of the year for telling about your Jesus. Hearts are softer this time of year. People are open. Christ is kind of like everywhere. You can't even go to the mall without hearing songs about Him. It's never easier to talk about Jesus than during the Christmas season.
But the Devil? Oh, he loves to see us so consumed with Christmas busyness that he keeps us distracted when the window in lost hearts is the most open. Think about it. Who is there this Christmas, in this countdown to Christmas, who is there that you need to communicate Christ to? They need to hear about Jesus. Well, it's time for telling. Maybe you could put it into a letter. This Christmas season would be the time to tell them about the One who promised peace, and brought peace to your heart.
Maybe it's time to take that person out to lunch and you pay for it. Maybe it's time to give them a Christian DVD or a CD of contemporary worship music. Share with them the songs that really mean a lot to you. Most of all, tell your Hope Story; write your Hope Story. If you do Christmas cards, put it in the cards. Look for opportunities to tell your personal Hope Story of the difference Jesus has made. Maybe you need to invite them to an event that will be for lost people and "seeker friendly." They're ready to hear Christmas music. Everybody wants to hear that.
Invite them to your home afterwards, then. Don't just go to the concert. Invite them to your home to fellowship and talk about what was sung and what was said about Jesus Christ. My wife and I have had opportunity to make great progress in communicating our Jesus to our friends by that plan alone. Just invite them to a concert and have them over afterwards and talk about what we all felt.
Jesus said that it was "harvest time." He said the harvest is plentiful. And I've asked farmers, and harvest to them means "ready". Well, I believe someone around you is ready because of this Christmas season. They desperately need your Lord, and they may be more ready now than ever before.
If you're ever going to launch an effort to take that person to heaven with you, would you do it now while the Christmas window is open?
After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit (Mt. 1:18 NKJV). Joseph was perched firmly on his branch in the tree. Predictable and solid, Joseph had no intention of leaving it. That is, until he was told to go out on a limb.
"Conceived by the Holy Spirit? Come on! Who will believe me?"
Pride told him not to do it. But God told him to do it. I have a feeling you can relate to Joseph. One foot in your will and one foot in His. His will or yours? Disrupting, isn't it? You can bet it won't be easy. Limb-climbing has never been. Ask Joseph…or better yet, ask Jesus! He knows better than anyone the cost of hanging on a tree!
From In the Manger
Numbers 31
Conquest of the Midianites
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “On behalf of the people of Israel, take revenge on the Midianites for leading them into idolatry. After that, you will die and join your ancestors.”
3 So Moses said to the people, “Choose some men, and arm them to fight the Lord’s war of revenge against Midian. 4 From each tribe of Israel, send 1,000 men into battle.” 5 So they chose 1,000 men from each tribe of Israel, a total of 12,000 men armed for battle. 6 Then Moses sent them out, 1,000 men from each tribe, and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest led them into battle. They carried along the holy objects of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the charge. 7 They attacked Midian as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. 8 All five of the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
9 Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. 11 After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, 12 they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. 13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 But Moses was furious with all the generals and captains[a] who had returned from the battle.
15 “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. 16 “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people. 17 So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. 18 Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves. 19 And all of you who have killed anyone or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp for seven days. You must purify yourselves and your captives on the third and seventh days. 20 Purify all your clothing, too, and everything made of leather, goat hair, or wood.”
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men who were in the battle, “The Lord has given Moses this legal requirement: 22 Anything made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead— 23 that is, all metals that do not burn—must be passed through fire in order to be made ceremonially pure. These metal objects must then be further purified with the water of purification. But everything that burns must be purified by the water alone. 24 On the seventh day you must wash your clothes and be purified. Then you may return to the camp.”
Division of the Plunder
25 And the Lord said to Moses, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family leaders of each tribe are to make a list of all the plunder taken in the battle, including the people and animals. 27 Then divide the plunder into two parts, and give half to the men who fought the battle and half to the rest of the people. 28 From the army’s portion, first give the Lord his share of the plunder—one of every 500 of the prisoners and of the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. 29 Give this share of the army’s half to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. 30 From the half that belongs to the people of Israel, take one of every fifty of the prisoners and of the cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and other animals. Give this share to the Levites, who are in charge of maintaining the Lord’s Tabernacle.” 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 The plunder remaining from everything the fighting men had taken totaled 675,000 sheep and goats, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000 virgin girls.
36 Half of the plunder was given to the fighting men. It totaled 337,500 sheep and goats, 37 of which 675 were the Lord’s share; 38 36,000 cattle, of which 72 were the Lord’s share; 39 30,500 donkeys, of which 61 were the Lord’s share; 40 and 16,000 virgin girls, of whom 32 were the Lord’s share. 41 Moses gave all the Lord’s share to Eleazar the priest, just as the Lord had directed him.
42 Half of the plunder belonged to the people of Israel, and Moses separated it from the half belonging to the fighting men. 43 It totaled 337,500 sheep and goats, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 virgin girls. 47 From the half-share given to the people, Moses took one of every fifty prisoners and animals and gave them to the Levites, who maintained the Lord’s Tabernacle. All this was done as the Lord had commanded Moses.
48 Then all the generals and captains came to Moses 49 and said, “We, your servants, have accounted for all the men who went out to battle under our command; not one of us is missing! 50 So we are presenting the items of gold we captured as an offering to the Lord from our share of the plunder—armbands, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. This will purify our lives before the Lord and make us right with him.[b]”
51 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from all the military commanders—all kinds of jewelry and crafted objects. 52 In all, the gold that the generals and captains presented as a gift to the Lord weighed about 420 pounds.[c] 53 All the fighting men had taken some of the plunder for themselves. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gifts from the generals and captains and brought the gold to the Tabernacle[d] as a reminder to the Lord that the people of Israel belong to him.
31:14 Hebrew the commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds; also in 31:48, 52, 54.
31:50 Or will make atonement for our lives before the Lord.
31:52 Hebrew 16,750 shekels [191 kilograms].
31:54 Hebrew the Tent of Meeting.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Monday, December 08, 2014
Read: Hebrews 10:19-25
A Call to Persevere
And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death,[b] Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Footnotes:
10:19 Greek brothers.
10:20 Greek Through his flesh.
Insight
The “Holiest” (Heb. 10:19) was a reference to the Holy of Holies in ancient Israel’s tabernacle and temple. It was viewed as the dwelling place of God among His people and could only be entered once a year, and then only by the high priest. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would take the blood of the sacrifice into the Holy of Holies to atone for the people’s sins for another year. However, the work of our High Priest, Jesus, is so complete that we now have the freedom to enter into God’s presence at any time. In fact, we can enter boldly because as a result of Christ’s sacrifice we are welcomed into the Father’s presence. This intimate relationship we have with our Father causes us to want to share His grace with others.
Johnny’s Race
By Dave Branon
Comfort each other and edify one another. —1 Thessalonians 5:11
When 19-year-old Johnny Agar finished the 5k race, he had a lot of people behind him—family members and friends who were celebrating his accomplishment.
Johnny has cerebral palsy, which makes physical activity difficult. But he and his dad, Jeff, have teamed up to compete in many races—Dad pushing and Johnny riding. But one day, Johnny wanted to finish by himself. Halfway through the race, his dad took him out of his cart, helped him to his walker, and assisted Johnny as he completed the race on his own two feet. That led to a major celebration as friends and family cheered his accomplishment. “It made it easier for me to do it with them behind me,” Johnny told a reporter. “The encouragement is what drove me.”
Isn’t that what Christ-followers are meant to do? Hebrews 10:24 reminds us, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (niv). As we model the love of our Savior (John 13:34-35), imagine the difference it could make if we all set out to encourage each other—if we always knew that behind us we had a group of friends cheering us on. If we took the words “comfort each other and edify one another” (1 Thess. 5:11) seriously, the race would be easier for all of us.
Help us, Lord, not to think that we can go through
life without others. Cure us of our independent
spirit. Use us to bless others and humble
us to accept encouragement.
A word of encouragement can make the difference between giving up or going on.
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Monday, December 08, 2014
The Impartial Power of God
By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. —Hebrews 10:14
We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. “…Christ Jesus…became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption…” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Once we realize that Christ has become all this for us, the limitless joy of God begins in us. And wherever the joy of God is not present, the death sentence is still in effect.
No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by saying, “But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be received as a sinner.” God’s response, through Peter, is, “… there is no other name…by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. “In Him we have redemption through His blood…” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.
God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation God uses to make unholy people holy.
A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Monday, December 08, 2014
The Christmas Window - #7281
You remember when the word window just referred to that opening in a wall that kind of you then covered with glass? Well, NASA changed all that. A window is still an opening, but the folks at Cape Canaveral use that word to refer to that brief period of time where everything is right for the launch: the wind is okay, the weather's okay, they've checked it at the Cape, they've checked it down range, and the atmospherics are okay for communication. The conditions have been predicted for the time of return and they look good, too. But the window will pass soon. If you're going to get this thing off the ground, go when the window's open.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Christmas Window."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 2 beginning at verse 16. This might be a dimension of Christmas that we often miss; maybe with some tragic consequences. "So the shepherds hurried off and found Mary, and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in a manger. And when they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them."
Now, notice it says they had seen Him and then they spread the word. The first people to ever celebrate Christmas saw it as a time for telling. That was their first response! "Man, it's time to spread this good news!" Now, 2 Corinthians 5:20 tells you what your lifetime assignment for Jesus is, "We are Christ's ambassadors." Whatever you do for a living, or go to school for, your highest calling is that you're an ambassador for Jesus Christ. If the people in your world are ever going to hear about Him, it's going to be through you. See, He's assigned you to this particular little tribe that's around where you work, or go to school, or live. That's your territory as a "missionary."
Your environment might change. You may move, but your assignment doesn't. You are His ambassador wherever He puts you. Christmas, I think, is the best window of the year for telling about your Jesus. Hearts are softer this time of year. People are open. Christ is kind of like everywhere. You can't even go to the mall without hearing songs about Him. It's never easier to talk about Jesus than during the Christmas season.
But the Devil? Oh, he loves to see us so consumed with Christmas busyness that he keeps us distracted when the window in lost hearts is the most open. Think about it. Who is there this Christmas, in this countdown to Christmas, who is there that you need to communicate Christ to? They need to hear about Jesus. Well, it's time for telling. Maybe you could put it into a letter. This Christmas season would be the time to tell them about the One who promised peace, and brought peace to your heart.
Maybe it's time to take that person out to lunch and you pay for it. Maybe it's time to give them a Christian DVD or a CD of contemporary worship music. Share with them the songs that really mean a lot to you. Most of all, tell your Hope Story; write your Hope Story. If you do Christmas cards, put it in the cards. Look for opportunities to tell your personal Hope Story of the difference Jesus has made. Maybe you need to invite them to an event that will be for lost people and "seeker friendly." They're ready to hear Christmas music. Everybody wants to hear that.
Invite them to your home afterwards, then. Don't just go to the concert. Invite them to your home to fellowship and talk about what was sung and what was said about Jesus Christ. My wife and I have had opportunity to make great progress in communicating our Jesus to our friends by that plan alone. Just invite them to a concert and have them over afterwards and talk about what we all felt.
Jesus said that it was "harvest time." He said the harvest is plentiful. And I've asked farmers, and harvest to them means "ready". Well, I believe someone around you is ready because of this Christmas season. They desperately need your Lord, and they may be more ready now than ever before.
If you're ever going to launch an effort to take that person to heaven with you, would you do it now while the Christmas window is open?
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