1 John 4, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: An Eternal Instant

An eternal instant. An instant in time that had no time. A picture froze in mid-frame, demanding to be savored! A moment that reminds you of the treasures surrounding you. Your home.  Your peace of mind.  Your health. A moment that tenderly rebukes you for spending so much time on temporal preoccupations.  A moment that can bring a mist to the manliest of eyes and perspective to the darkest life.

It was such a moment when the Creator smiled and said, “It is good.”  It was such a moment in the “fullness of time” when a carpenter, some smelly shepherds, and an exhausted young mother stood in silent awe at the sight of the infant in the manger.

Eternal instants.  You’ve had them.  We all have them. But may you have more of them. You are, in a very special way, on holy ground.

 From God Came Near

1 John 4 

On Denying the Incarnation

4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
God’s Love and Ours

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Footnotes:

    1 John 4:6 Or spirit


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Generosity Encouraged

6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor;
    their righteousness endures forever.”[a]

10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.

12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Footnotes:

    2 Corinthians 9:9 Psalm 112:9

A Giving Competition

 December 10, 2013 — by Anne Cetas 

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! —2 Corinthians 9:15

A television commercial I enjoy at Christmastime shows two neighbors in a friendly competition with each other to see who can spread the most Christmas cheer. Each keeps an eye on the other as he decorates his house and trees with lights. Then each upgrades his own property to look better than the other’s. They then start competing over who can give the most extravagantly to other neighbors, running around cheerfully sharing gifts.

God’s people aren’t in a competition to see who can give the most, but we are called to be “ready to give, willing to share” (1 Tim. 6:18). The apostle Paul instructed the church at Corinth: “Let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).

At Christmastime, as we share gifts with others, we remember the generosity of God toward us—He gave us His Son. Ray Stedman said, “Jesus set aside His riches and entered into His creation in a state of poverty in order to enrich us all by His grace.”

No gift-giving could ever compete with the Lord’s extravagance. We thank God for the indescribable gift of Jesus! (v.15).
No gift is greater than the gift of Christ Himself.

    
My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 10, 2013

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


Those Two Life-Saving Words - #7022

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

When I fly into Washington D.C., I sort of flash back to an unforgettable scene. It's been quite a while, but I can't help but think of it as I see that same bridge. It happened in January of 1982. It was when Air Florida's flight 90 took off in Washington bound for Tampa and Fort Lauderdale. It raked the 14th Street Bridge; plunged into the freezing waters of the Potomac River. I still can recall the image of the tail section sticking up out of the river with six survivors clinging to that plane.
And there was that rescue helicopter circling overhead and lowering a lifeline to those survivors. And there was this one middle-aged man who was unidentified in the news reports. He kept pushing the lifeline away and passing it to the other five passengers. Now, five people had been rescued. When the chopper went back for that sixth man, he had slipped beneath the water. The pilot said later, "I have never seen one man with that much commitment."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Those Two Life-Saving Words."
One man who gave up his life so others wouldn't have to die; does that sound familiar? Someone did that for you. Oh yeah, The Someone. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Galatians 2:20. It says this, "The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
There are two very simple but life-saving facts there. Jesus loves you and He gave His life for you. You say, "How? Why?" Well, Romans 6:23 provides the context for that out of the Bible. It says, "The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." There's a death penalty for this series of life-choices that we've made that God calls sin. You and I have both lived outside of God's boundaries; we've broken His laws. We've hijacked the life that He was supposed to run and honestly we've run it our way.
Somebody said recently, "Oh, I don't believe a loving God would punish sin." Well, look at the cross of Jesus. He was carrying your sin and mine. Look what happened. He was assuming all the guilt, the punishment of my sin and yours, and we hear God's one and only Son crying, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Because a holy God must turn His back on whom ever is carrying my sin or yours. Jesus died so you don't have to carry that penalty any longer unless you reject Him and His offer of eternal life.
The sacrifice of that man in the Potomac is a picture of Jesus giving up His life so you can live. But it's a very incomplete picture, because Jesus was taking eternal death; all our forever suffering, all our forever separation from God, all our hell.
And those two life-saving words I mentioned. There was a young man we talked to not long ago who was involved in a cult and came back to the church he had grown up in after becoming disillusioned. And he walked in and said, "For the first time I saw that cross. Oh, I've seen the cross many times in my life, but I looked at Jesus dying on the cross and for the first time I said these words, 'For me. That was for me, wasn't it?'"
Those are the two life-saving words - for me. To walk up to the cross where Jesus was dying and say those two words as you look at Him, "For me, Jesus." That's exactly what it said, "He loved me and gave himself for me." And so you say, "Jesus, I'm taking you for me." Have you ever told Him that? Do it today. Why would you wait another day to get this settled? "I'm dropping my junk at this cross, Lord. I'm putting all my faith in You and in Your payment for my sin."
If you're ready to finally welcome into your life this One who paid such a high price for you, His life, His blood to forgive you and erase your sin from God's Book, well then tell Him you want to belong to Him. Listen, let me invite you to join me at our website. I'd love to help you get started with Jesus. Just go to ANewStory.com.
No one has ever loved you like Jesus. No one has ever given so much or paid so much for you than God's one and only Son. There's no reason for you to die. Someone died so you don't have to - Jesus.

Ezra 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Lack of Vision

"We were hoping the doctor would release him."
"I thought the job was in the bag."
Words painted gray with disappointment. What we wanted did not come.  What came, we didn't want. The result?  Shattered hope.  What kind of God would let me down like this? The foundation of our world trembles.
So tear-filled are our eyes and so limited is our perspective. It's not a lack of faith, but a lack of vision. Our petitions are limited to what we can imagine-an earthly kingdom. We roll in the mud of self-pity in the very shadow of the cross. If we would just remember the heavenly body that awaits us, we'd stop complaining that he hasn't healed this earthly one. Hope is not what you expect-it's what you would never dream!
From God Came Near

Ezra 2

he List of the Exiles Who Returned

Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to their own town, 2 in company with Zerubbabel, Joshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah):

The list of the men of the people of Israel:
3 the descendants of Parosh    2,172
4 of Shephatiah    372
5 of Arah    775
6 of Pahath-Moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab)    2,812
7 of Elam    1,254
8 of Zattu    945
9 of Zakkai    760
10 of Bani    642
11 of Bebai    623
12 of Azgad    1,222
13 of Adonikam    666
14 of Bigvai    2,056
15 of Adin    454
16 of Ater (through Hezekiah)    98
17 of Bezai    323
18 of Jorah    112
19 of Hashum    223
20 of Gibbar    95
21 the men of Bethlehem    123
22 of Netophah    56
23 of Anathoth    128
24 of Azmaveth    42
25 of Kiriath Jearim,[c] Kephirah and Beeroth    743
26 of Ramah and Geba    621
27 of Mikmash    122
28 of Bethel and Ai    223
29 of Nebo    52
30 of Magbish    156
31 of the other Elam    1,254
32 of Harim    320
33 of Lod, Hadid and Ono    725
34 of Jericho    345
35 of Senaah    3,630

36 The priests:
the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua)    973
37 of Immer    1,052
38 of Pashhur    1,247
39 of Harim    1,017

40 The Levites:
the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel (of the line of Hodaviah)    74

41 The musicians:
the descendants of Asaph    128

42 The gatekeepers of the temple:
the descendants of
Shallum, Ater, Talmon,
Akkub, Hatita and Shobai    139

43 The temple servants:
the descendants of
Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,
44 Keros, Siaha, Padon,
45 Lebanah, Hagabah, Akkub,
46 Hagab, Shalmai, Hanan,
47 Giddel, Gahar, Reaiah,
48 Rezin, Nekoda, Gazzam,
49 Uzza, Paseah, Besai,
50 Asnah, Meunim, Nephusim,
51 Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,
52 Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,
53 Barkos, Sisera, Temah,
54 Neziah and Hatipha

55 The descendants of the servants of Solomon:
the descendants of
Sotai, Hassophereth, Peruda,
56 Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,
57 Shephatiah, Hattil,
Pokereth-Hazzebaim and Ami
58 The temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon    392

59 The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel:
60 The descendants of
Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda    652

61 And from among the priests:
The descendants of
Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai (a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name).

62 These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. 63 The governor ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there was a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim.

64 The whole company numbered 42,360, 65 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 200 male and female singers. 66 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 67 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.

68 When they arrived at the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families gave freewill offerings toward the rebuilding of the house of God on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury for this work 61,000 darics[d] of gold, 5,000 minas[e] of silver and 100 priestly garments.

70 The priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers and the temple servants settled in their own towns, along with some of the other people, and the rest of the Israelites settled in their towns.

Ezra 2:25 See Septuagint (see also Neh. 7:29); Hebrew Kiriath Arim.
Ezra 2:69 That is, about 1,100 pounds or about 500 kilograms
Ezra 2:69 That is, about 3 tons or about 2.8 metric tons


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    

Read: Jonah 4

Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Compassion

4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant[a] and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
Footnotes:

    Jonah 4:6 The precise identification of this plant is uncertain; also in verses 7, 9 and 10.

The Good And The Bad

 December 9, 2013 — by Dennis Fisher 

The Lord God prepared a plant [for] shade . . . [and] a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. —Jonah 4:6-7

The story of the rebellious prophet Jonah shows us how God desires to use both blessings and trials to challenge us and change us for the better. Five times in the book of Jonah it says that the Lord prepared circumstances for him—both good and bad.

In Jonah 1:4 we read that the Lord sent a storm. It says He “sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea.” After the mariners discovered that Jonah was the reason for this storm, they threw him overboard (1:15). Then God “prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah” to save him from drowning (1:17).

Later in the book we read that “the Lord God prepared a plant” to shade Jonah (4:6). Then we see that God prepared a worm to kill the vine as well as a scorching wind and sun to beat down upon him (4:7-9). These circumstances were used to reveal Jonah’s rebellious attitude. Only after that revelation could God directly confront Jonah’s heart problem.

As we face different situations, we should remember that God is sovereign over both the blessings and the troubles that come our way. He desires to use everything to build our character (James 1:1-5). He uses both good and bad to transform us and guide us on our journey.
The Maker of the universe
Knows every need of man,
And made provision for that need
According to His plan. —Crane
The Lord gives and takes away. Blessed be the Lord.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 9, 2013

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

Crossing Paths on Sodom Road - #7021

Monday, December 9, 2013

The names we use to describe people all depend on which side we're on. For example, if there are leftists who are trying to overthrow a pro-western government, we call them guerillas or revolutionaries. If pro-western guerillas are trying to overthrow a leftist government, we call them freedom fighters. If someone comes to our side, they're defectors. If they leave our side, they're deserters. You're probably either coming or going right now.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Crossing Paths on Sodom Road."

Our word for today from the Word of God is in 2 Timothy 4:10-11 . It's the story of two deserters going two opposite directions. Paul is writing from his final prison cell, and he says this, "Demas has deserted me, because he loved this world." In verse 11 he says, "Only Luke is with me."

All right let's look at Demas. It says he deserted because he loved this world. That word love is the agapao word which means highly valued. He highly valued this present world. I call it Sodom. That's my word to describe this world system; the culture we're in. You know, got a good income, good college, good job, good times, good image. And Demas saw the lights of Sodom, and the billboards, and he heard the music, saw the brochures, and the ministry was going through tough times.

Paul was in prison, and I can't help but believe that there had been a secret pull for a long time as Demas kind of glanced over his shoulder while he's in the ministry and said, "Boy, it looks exciting over there. I wonder if I ought to try it sometime?" And so he finally decided. He traded in forever payoffs for little while payoffs. He is deserter number one.

But he meets someone on the road to Sodom-Dr. Luke. Now, Dr. Luke is a physician. He's got all of Sodom's goodies: the income, prestige, comforts, just what Demas is apparently leaving to look for. And the more Luke tasted the values of Christ's kingdom, the more he's drawn out of Sodom. By this time-the time of this writing-he's left it all, and now he is totally the personal physician of one missionary named Paul. He's left the prestige, the income, the comfort, and he apparently has no desire to go back. Dr. Luke has lived in both worlds; the one Demas is deserting, and the one he is deserting it for. He has found peace and fulfillment in serving Christ that he never found when he was serving himself.

So Demas deserts the kingdom for Sodom. Luke deserts Sodom for the kingdom, and you can almost hear Luke shouting as they cross paths, "Don't bother! There's nothing there! You may love the world. But Demas, it won't love you back." You know, you're in here somewhere. Are you Demas, sort of drifting toward the world? Or are you Luke? You're wise to the hollowness of this world, and you're moving toward serving Christ more and more?

The final verdict comes from Luke's quotation from Jesus in the gospel that Luke wrote, "What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

Ezra 1, bible reading and daily devotionals.

Max Lucado Daily: An Agonizing Race

Let us run the race that is before us and never give up. Hebrews 12:1

The Christian’s race is not a jog—it’s a demanding and grueling, sometimes agonizing race. It takes a massive effort to finish strong!

Hebrews 12:1 is all about running the race that’s before us.

Running and never giving up.

Likely you’ve noticed that many don’t finish strong! Surely you’ve observed there are many on the side of the trail? They used to be running. There was a time when they kept the pace. But then weariness set in. They didn’t think the run would be this tough.…

Jesus is the contrast, isn’t he? His best work was his final work. His strongest step was his last step. Our Master is the classic example of one who endured.
He could have quit the race… But he didn’t!

Ezra 1

Cyrus Helps the Exiles to Return

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:

2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”

5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. 6 All their neighbors assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.

7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.[a] 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.

9 This was the inventory:

gold dishes 30
silver dishes 1,000
silver pans[b] 29
10 gold bowls 30
matching silver bowls 410
other articles 1,000
11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along with the exiles when they came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: Luke 2:8-20

 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Serious Fear

December 8, 2013 — by Bill Crowder

Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. —Luke 2:10

After weeks of preparation by the children’s choir, the night had finally arrived for our annual Christmas musical in 1983. The costumed children began filing into the auditorium when suddenly we heard a ruckus at the back door. My wife and I turned to look and saw our own little Matt. Sobbing loudly and with a look of sheer terror on his face, he had a death grip on the door handle. He refused to enter the auditorium. After much negotiating, the director finally told him he didn’t have to go on stage. Instead, Matt sat with us, and soon his fears began to subside.

Although we don’t usually identify Christmas as a time of fear, there was plenty of it on the night of Christ’s birth. Luke says, “Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid” (Luke 2:9). The sight of the angelic messenger was more than the shepherds could process. But the angel reassured them: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people” (v.10).

In a world full of fear, we need to remember that Jesus came to be the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). We desperately need His peace. As we look to Him, He will ease our fears and calm our hearts.

Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings. —Wesley
God incarnate is the end of fear. —F. B. Meyer


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
December 8, 2013

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.

1 John 3, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: CONFIDENT IN HIM - October 7, 2024

Yes, life stinks. But it won’t forever. As one of my friends likes to say, “Everything will work out in the end. If it’s not working out, it’s not the end.”

In the meantime, don’t overreact. Psalm 37:7 (NLT) says, “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.” This is a toxic world. But neither do we join the Chicken Little chorus of gloom and doom: “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”

Somewhere between Pollyanna and Chicken Little, between denial and blatant panic, stands the levelheaded, clear-thinking, still-believing follower of Christ. Psalm 27:3 says, “My heart shall not fear—though war arise against me, yet I will be confident!” Confident in Him.

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

1 John 3

What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at

it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to.

2–3  But friends, that’s exactly who we are: children of God. And that’s only the beginning. Who knows how we’ll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see him—and in seeing him, become like him. All of us who look forward to his Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.

4–6  All who indulge in a sinful life are dangerously lawless, for sin is a major disruption of God’s order. Surely you know that Christ showed up in order to get rid of sin. There is no sin in him, and sin is not part of his program. No one who lives deeply in Christ makes a practice of sin. None of those who do practice sin have taken a good look at Christ. They’ve got him all backward.

7–8  So, my dear children, don’t let anyone divert you from the truth. It’s the person who acts right who is right, just as we see it lived out in our righteous Messiah. Those who make a practice of sin are straight from the Devil, the pioneer in the practice of sin. The Son of God entered the scene to abolish the Devil’s ways.

9–10  People conceived and brought into life by God don’t make a practice of sin. How could they? God’s seed is deep within them, making them who they are. It’s not in the nature of the God-begotten to practice and parade sin. Here’s how you tell the difference between God’s children and the Devil’s children: The one who won’t practice righteous ways isn’t from God, nor is the one who won’t love brother or sister. A simple test.

11  For this is the original message we heard: We should love each other.

12–13  We must not be like Cain, who joined the Evil One and then killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because he was deep in the practice of evil, while the acts of his brother were righteous. So don’t be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.

14–15  The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together.

16–17  This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.

When We Practice Real Love

18–20  My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

21–24  And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Monday, October 07, 2024

Today's Scripture

Zechariah 4:1-7

Fifth Vision: A Lampstand and Two Olive Trees

1  4 The Messenger-Angel again called me to attention. It was like being wakened out of deep sleep.

2–3  He said, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top. Seven lamps, each with seven spouts, are set on the bowl. And there are two olive trees, one on either side of the bowl.”

4  Then I asked the Messenger-Angel, “What does this mean, sir?”

5–7  The Messenger-Angel said, “Can’t you tell?”

“No, sir,” I said.

Then he said, “This is God’s Message to Zerubbabel: ‘You can’t force these things. They only come about through my Spirit,’ says God-of-the-Angel-Armies. ‘So, big mountain, who do you think you are? Next to Zerubbabel you’re nothing but a molehill. He’ll proceed to set the Cornerstone in place, accompanied by cheers: Yes! Yes! Do it!’ ”

Insight

God reminded Zerubbabel not to rely on his own strength during difficulty: “ ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground’ ” (Zechariah 4:6-7). The term translated “Lord Almighty” (“Lord of hosts” [esv]; “Lord of Heaven’s Armies” [nlt]) is Yahweh Tseva’ot. It’s the combination of the covenant name for Israel’s God, Yahweh (Lord), and tseva’ot (almighty, hosts, armies). This divine name appears around three hundred times in the Old Testament. It’s God’s “heavenly title.” He’s the “Commander-in-Chief” of the universe. When we’re faced with challenges, we should rely on the one who controls and rules over all things rather than trust in our own personal resources. Thus, with David, we can say, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord [Yahweh] our God” (Psalm 20:7). By: Arthur Jackson

Bibles in the Back Seat

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty. Zechariah 4:6

Andrew’s Volkswagen stopped, and the guards walked over. He prayed as he had many times in the past: “God, when You were on earth, You made blind eyes see. Now, please make seeing eyes blind.” The guards searched the car, saying nothing about the Bibles in the luggage. Andrew crossed the border, taking his cargo to those who couldn’t own a Bible.

Andrew van der Bijl, or Brother Andrew, relied on God’s power for the seemingly impossible task God had called him to—taking the Scriptures to countries where Christianity was illegal. “I’m an ordinary guy,” he said, emphasizing his limited education and lack of funds. “What I did, anyone can do.” Today, his organization, Open Doors International, serves persecuted believers in Jesus worldwide.    

When Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, faced the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding the temple after the Jews returned from exile, he was discouraged. But God reminded him not to rely on human power or might, but on His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). He encouraged him through a vision given to the prophet Zechariah of lamps supplied with oil from nearby olive trees (vv. 2-3). Just as the lamps could burn because of the continual supply of oil, Zerubbabel and the Israelites could do God’s task by relying on His continuous supply of power.

As we rely on God, may we trust Him and do what He calls us to do. By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

How can you rely on God’s Spirit? How might the vision of the olive trees supplying the lamps with oil encourage you?

Holy Spirit, please help me to rely on You.

For further study, read Guided by the Spirit.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Monday, October 07, 2024

Reconciliation

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Sin is a fundamental relationship. It isn’t wrongdoing; it’s wrong being. Sin is deliberate and emphatic independence from God. The Christian religion bases everything on the radical, singular nature of sin. Other religions deal with sins; the Bible alone deals with sin. The heredity of sin in humankind was the first thing Jesus Christ addressed. Because we have ignored this in our preaching, the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” The revelation of the Bible isn’t that Jesus Christ took upon himself our sins, but that he took upon himself the heredity of sin, which no human being can touch. God made his Son to “be sin” so that any sinner could “become the righteousness of God.”

The Bible reveals that our Lord bore the sin of the world by identifying himself with sin, not by sympathizing with it. He deliberately took the whole massed sin of humankind and placed it on his own shoulders; he bore that sin in his own being. By doing this, he redeemed all of humanity, rehabilitating it and putting it back where God designed it to be. Now, thanks to what Jesus Christ did on the cross, anyone can enter into union with God.

Human beings cannot redeem themselves. Redemption is God’s work, and it is work that has already been done; it’s finished and complete. How individuals experience redemption is a question of their individual choices. A distinction must always be made between the revelation of redemption, which applies equally to all, and the conscious experience of salvation in an individual’s life.

Isaiah 28-29; Philippians 3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.

He Shall Glorify Me, 494 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Monday, October 07, 2024

How to Test Spiritual Leadership - #9846

I think there's like an art to shopping for produce. You can't just grab the first apple or tomato you see. You have to learn to squeeze the lettuce. My wife taught me how to do that. You have to learn how to check for holes and dents in apples and peaches; you don't just take the first one off the pile. You have to check to see how yellow those bananas are, or how green, or how black. There are ways to tell whether a vegetable is one you should buy. Now it's much tougher to shop for a spiritual leader you can trust. But there is a way to tell.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Test Spiritual Leadership."

It's getting tougher and tougher to know which spiritual leaders you can trust. Look, we're living in a time when, sadly, a lot of Christian heroes have let us down, right? People who say spiritual things, lead spiritual causes, give spiritual counsel, and then all of a sudden something happens that exposes their hypocrisy. In a way, it kind of makes a lot of us hold back and wonder who can we trust?

Well, we're not supposed to have our eyes on man. The Bible makes that clear. And yet, God does give His people leadership; He does raise up teachers. There are authentic spiritual leaders. He does want us to be able to get His teachings and see His love coming through people, but so many have let us down. How can you tell whether a pastor is a leader from God or a person who's doing his own thing in God's name?

Well, there's one person that Jesus really held up as a model leader. It was John the Baptist. He said, "There has been no greater man born among women." Now I cannot think of a stronger endorsement than that. Jesus said John the Baptist was the real deal; a real spiritual leader. And out of the life of John, we get one test for a pastor, a Christian musician, a TV or radio personality, a youth leader, an influencer on the internet.

John 3:30 - here's John's statement. Speaking of Jesus, he said, "He must become greater; I must become less." The King James Version says, "He must increase; I must decrease." You know how to test a spiritual leader? Well, one of the tests is this: Does he leave you thinking more about him or more about Jesus? Where is the spotlight? More about his organization, his goals, his ministry, his programs, or more about Jesus? An authentic man or woman of God, like John the Baptist, puts himself or herself in the background. The leader doing his own thing is heavy on sentences that have "I," "me," or "mine" in them.

Is this the only test? No, but it's a pretty good start. If you're in leadership, measure yourself that way. Who is getting the spotlight, you the leader or the Savior? The real spiritual leaders, the ones you can trust, are the ones who put Jesus in the spotlight and make you think about Him and forget about them.

Years ago I read about a man who maybe 100 years ago had lived in the countryside in England. He traveled to London and wrote to his wife and said, "Honey, today I went to two of the great churches of London. This morning I heard Dr. Cartwright and he is a great preacher. Tonight I went to Metropolitan Tabernacle and I heard Mr. Charles Spurgeon." He said, "Mr. Spurgeon has a great Savior."

Do you want them to remember a great you or do you leave them thinking about a great Savior? Maybe you've been burned by Christians, by a Christian leader. Please, don't let them cause you to miss Jesus in the midst of it all. Jesus said, "Follow Me."

If you've never begun a relationship with Him, please don't let Christians or Christian leaders, or Christianity keep you from Christ. I hope you'll say today, "Jesus, you loved me enough to die for me. You walked out of your grave. I'm yours." You can go to our website to get the rest of the story. It's ANewStory.com.

If you see a leader who leaves you thinking about Jesus, in the crowded spiritual supermarket that you and I shop in, you'll know that's one you can buy.

Ezekiel 48, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: Unpredictable Dependence

You have to wonder—if God’s most merciful act is His refusal to answer some of our prayers! We piously ask for His will and then pout if everything doesn’t go our way.

The problem is not that God doesn’t give us what we hope for. It’s that we do not know the right thing for which to hope. Hope isn’t what you expect—it’s what you would never dream. It’s a wild, improbable tale with a pinch-me-I’m-dreaming ending. It’s Abraham adjusting his bifocals so he can see, not his grandson, but his son. It’s Moses standing at the promised land, not with Aaron or Miriam at his side, but with Elijah and the crucified Christ.

Hope is not a granted wish or a favor performed. It’s far greater than that.  It’s a zany, unpredictable dependence on a God who loves to surprise us out of our socks!

From God Came Near

Ezekiel 48

The Sanctuary of God at the Center

1  48 “These are the tribes:

“Dan: one portion, along the northern boundary, following the Hethlon road that turns off to the entrance of Hamath as far as Hazor-enon so that the territory of Damascus lies to the north alongside Hamath, the northern border stretching from east to west.

2  “Asher: one portion, bordering Dan from east to west.

3  “Naphtali: one portion, bordering Asher from east to west.

4  “Manasseh: one portion, bordering Naphtali from east to west.

5  “Ephraim: one portion, bordering Manasseh from east to west.

6  “Reuben: one portion, bordering Ephraim from east to west.

7  “Judah: one portion, bordering Reuben from east to west.

8–9  “Bordering Judah from east to west is the consecrated area that you will set aside as holy: a square approximately seven by seven miles, with the Sanctuary set at the center. The consecrated area reserved for God is to be seven miles long and a little less than three miles wide.

10–12  “This is how it will be parceled out. The priest will get the area measuring seven miles on the north and south boundaries, with a width of a little more than three miles at the east and west boundaries. The Sanctuary of God will be at the center. This is for the consecrated priests, the Zadokites who stayed true in their service to me and didn’t get off track as the Levites did when Israel wandered off the main road. This is their special gift, a gift from the land itself, most holy ground, bordering the section of the Levites.

13–14  “The Levites get a section equal in size to that of the priests, roughly seven by three miles. They are not permitted to sell or trade any of it. It’s the choice part of the land, to say nothing of being holy to God.

15–19  “What’s left of the ‘sacred square’—each side measures out at seven miles by a mile and a half—is for ordinary use: the city and its buildings with open country around it, but the city at the center. The north, south, east, and west sides of the city are each about a mile and a half in length. A strip of pasture, one hundred twenty-five yards wide, will border the city on all sides. The remainder of this portion, three miles of countryside to the east and to the west of the sacred precinct, is for farming. It will supply food for the city. Workers from all the tribes of Israel will serve as field hands to farm the land.

20  “This dedicated area, set apart for holy purposes, will be a square, seven miles by seven miles, a ‘holy square,’ which includes the part set aside for the city.

21–22  “The rest of this land, the country stretching east to the Jordan and west to the Mediterranean from the seven-mile sides of the ‘holy square,’ belongs to the prince. His land is sandwiched between the tribal portions north and south, and goes out both east and west from the ‘sacred square’ with its Temple at the center. The land set aside for the Levites on one side and the city on the other is in the middle of the territory assigned to the prince. The ‘sacred square’ is flanked east and west by the prince’s land and bordered on the north and south by the territories of Judah and Ben-jamin, respectively.

23  “And then the rest of the tribes:

“Ben-jamin: one portion, stretching from the eastern to the western boundary.

24  “Simeon: one portion, bordering Ben-jamin from east to west.

25  “Issachar: one portion, bordering Simeon from east to west.

26  “Zebulun: one portion, bordering Issachar from east to west.

27  “Gad: one portion, bordering Zebulun from east to west.

28  “The southern boundary of Gad will run south from Tamar to the waters of Meribah-kadesh, along the Brook of Egypt and then out to the Great Mediterranean Sea.

29  “This is the land that you are to divide up among the tribes of Israel as their inheritance. These are their portions.” Decree of God, the Master.

30–31  “These are the gates of the city. On the north side, which is 2,250 yards long (the gates of the city are named after the tribes of Israel), three gates: the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, the gate of Levi.

32  “On the east side, measuring 2,250 yards, three gates: the gate of Joseph, the gate of Ben-jamin, the gate of Dan.

33  “On the south side, measuring 2,250 yards, three gates: the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, the gate of Zebulun.

34  “On the west side, measuring 2,250 yards, three gates: the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, the gate of Naphtali.

35  “The four sides of the city measure to a total of nearly six miles.

“From now on the name of the city will be Yahweh-Shammah:

“God-Is-There.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Sunday, October 06, 2024

Today's Scripture

Amos 7:10-17

Amaziah, priest at the shrine at Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel:

“Amos is plotting to get rid of you; and he’s doing it as an insider, working from within Israel. His talk will destroy the country. He’s got to be silenced. Do you know what Amos is saying?

11  ‘Jeroboam will be killed.

Israel is headed for exile.’

12–13  Then Amaziah confronted Amos: “Seer, be on your way! Get out of here and go back to Judah where you came from! Hang out there. Do your preaching there. But no more preaching at Bethel! Don’t show your face here again. This is the king’s chapel. This is a royal shrine.”

14–15  But Amos stood up to Amaziah: “I never set up to be a preacher, never had plans to be a preacher. I raised cattle and I pruned trees. Then God took me off the farm and said, ‘Go preach to my people Israel.’

16–17  “So listen to God’s Word. You tell me, ‘Don’t preach to Israel. Don’t say anything against the family of Isaac.’ But here’s what God is telling you:

Your wife will become a whore in town.

Your children will get killed.

Your land will be auctioned off.

You will die homeless and friendless.

And Israel will be hauled off to exile, far from home.”

Insight

Amos (760-750 bc) and Hosea (760-722 bc) were two of the twelve minor prophets sent to minister to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during its final forty years. Denying that he’s a professional prophet, Amos says he’s merely “a shepherd” and “took care of sycamore-fig trees” (Amos 7:14). A citizen of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, Amos was sent as a missionary (vv. 12-13) to warn Israel of God’s judgment for her covenantal unfaithfulness (2:6-9:15). Amos is just a layman God used to deliver His message to His people. By: K. T. Sim

God Sees Us

The Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, “Go, prophesy.” Amos 7:15

There are fourteen billion trees in the state of Michigan, most of them quite ordinary by most standards. Yet the state hosts an annual “Big Tree Hunt,” a contest to identify those trees that are oldest and biggest, trees that can be honored as a living landmark. The contest elevates ordinary trees to another level: inside any forest could be an award-winner, just waiting to be noticed.

Unlike most people, God always notices the ordinary. He cares about the what and whom that others overlook. God sent a common man named Amos to Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam. Amos exhorted his people to turn from evil and seek justice but was ostracized and told to be quiet. “Get out, you seer!” they said with scorn. “Go back to the land of Judah . . . and do your prophesying there” (Amos 7:12). Amos responded, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel’ ” (vv. 14-15).

God knew and noticed Amos when he was just a common shepherd, tending to flocks and trees. Hundreds of years later, Jesus noticed and called out the ordinary Nathanael (John 1:48) and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:4-5) near the fig and sycamore trees. No matter how obscure we feel, He sees us, loves us, and uses us for His purposes. By:  Karen Pimpo

Reflect & Pray

Why is it sometimes difficult to believe that God sees you as an individual? How does His awareness communicate His love?

Dear God, thank You for loving me, even when I feel overlooked.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Sunday, October 06, 2024

A New Heredity

God . . . was pleased to reveal his Son in me. — Galatians 1:15–16

If Jesus Christ is going to regenerate me, what is the problem he is up against? I’ve inherited a sinful nature, a heredity I had no say in. I am not holy, nor am I likely to become holy. If all Jesus Christ can do is tell me to be holy, I’ll end in despair. But since Jesus Christ does more than tell, since he is a regenerator who can impart to me his own heredity—the heredity of holiness—I begin to see what he’s getting at when he tells me to be holy.

Redemption means that Jesus Christ can remake anyone by putting his own holy nature into them. The standards he sets for us are based on this new heredity; his teaching is directed at what he puts into me, not at what I was before I received him. The moral obligation on my part is to agree with God’s verdict on sin in the cross of Jesus Christ.

What the New Testament teaches about spiritual rebirth is that when people are struck by a sense of their need, God will begin to put the Holy Spirit into their spirit, not stopping until they have been fully remade—that is, “until Christ is formed” inside them (Galatians 4:19). The moral miracle of redemption is that God can instill in me a holiness that enables me to live a totally new life. But it isn’t until I reach the frontier of need and understand my limitations that Jesus says, “Blessed are you” (Matthew 5:11). God cannot put the holiness that was in Jesus Christ into someone who is still convinced of their own morality. I have to be consciously in need of him to receive his heredity.

Just as the disposition of sin entered humanity through one man,

so the Holy Spirit entered humanity by one man. Redemption means

that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin and receive the spotless

heredity of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 26-27; Philippians 2

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Beware of bartering the Word of God for a more suitable conception of your own. 

Disciples Indeed, 386 R

Ezekiel 47 , Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: God is!

Look around you! Rather than shocking the globe with an occasional demonstration of deity, God has opted to display his power daily. Proverbially. Pounding waves.  Prism-cast colors. Birth, death, life.  We’re surrounded by miracles. God is throwing testimonies at us like fireworks, each one exploding, “God is!  God is!”

The Psalmist marveled at such holy handiwork. “Where can I go from your Spirit?” he questioned with delight. “Where can I go from your presence? (Psalm 139:7).

We wonder, with so many miraculous testimonies around us, how we could escape God.  But somehow we do. We live in an art gallery of divine creativity, and yet are content to gaze only at the carpet.

The next time you hear a baby laugh, take note as His Majesty whispers ever so gently, “I’m here!”

 From God Came Near/page 84/85

Ezekiel 47

Trees on Both Sides of the River

1–2  47 Now he brought me back to the entrance to the Temple. I saw water pouring out from under the Temple porch to the east (the Temple faced east). The water poured from the south side of the Temple, south of the altar. He then took me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the gate complex on the east. The water was gushing from under the south front of the Temple.

3–5  He walked to the east with a measuring tape and measured off fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water waist-deep. He measured off another fifteen hundred feet. By now it was a river over my head, water to swim in, water no one could possibly walk through.

6–7  He said, “Son of man, have you had a good look?”

Then he took me back to the riverbank. While sitting on the bank, I noticed a lot of trees on both sides of the river.

8–10  He told me, “This water flows east, descends to the Arabah and then into the sea, the sea of stagnant waters. When it empties into those waters, the sea will become fresh. Wherever the river flows, life will flourish—great schools of fish—because the river is turning the salt sea into fresh water. Where the river flows, life abounds. Fishermen will stand shoulder to shoulder along the shore from En-gedi all the way north to En-eglaim, casting their nets. The sea will teem with fish of all kinds, like the fish of the Great Mediterranean.

11  “The swamps and marshes won’t become fresh. They’ll stay salty.

12  “But the river itself, on both banks, will grow fruit trees of all kinds. Their leaves won’t wither, the fruit won’t fail. Every month they’ll bear fresh fruit because the river from the Sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

Divide Up This Land

13–14  A Message from God, the Master: “These are the boundaries by which you are to divide up the inheritance of the land for the twelve tribes of Israel, with Joseph getting two parcels. It is to be divided up equally. I swore in a solemn oath to give it to your ancestors, swore that this land would be your inheritance.

15–17  “These are the boundaries of the land:

“The northern boundary runs from the Great Mediterranean Sea along the Hethlon road to where you turn off to the entrance of Hamath, Zedad, Berothah, and Sibraim, which lies between the territory of Damascus and the territory of Hamath, and on to Hazor-hatticon on the border of Hauran. The boundary runs from the Sea to Hazor-enon, with the territories of Damascus and Hamath to the north. That is the northern boundary.

18  “The eastern boundary runs between Damascus and Hauran, down along the Jordan between Gilead and the land of Israel to the Eastern Sea as far as Tamar. This is the eastern boundary.

19  “The southern boundary runs west from Tamar to the waters of Meribah-kadesh, along the Brook of Egypt, and out to the Great Mediterranean Sea. This is the southern boundary.

20  “The western boundary is formed by the Great Mediterranean Sea north to where the road turns east toward the entrance to Hamath. This is the western boundary.

21–23  “Divide up this land among the twelve tribes of Israel. Divide it up as your inheritance, and include in it the resident aliens who have made themselves at home among you and now have children. Treat them as if they were born there, just like yourselves. They also get an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the resident alien lives, there he gets his inheritance. Decree of God, the Master.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Saturday, October 05, 2024

Today's Scripture

Psalm 107:1-9

 Oh, thank God—he’s so good!

His love never runs out.

All of you set free by God, tell the world!

Tell how he freed you from oppression,

Then rounded you up from all over the place,

from the four winds, from the seven seas.

4–9  Some of you wandered for years in the desert,

looking but not finding a good place to live,

Half-starved and parched with thirst,

staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.

Then, in your desperate condition, you called out to God.

He got you out in the nick of time;

He put your feet on a wonderful road

that took you straight to a good place to live.

So thank God for his marvelous love,

for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.

He poured great draughts of water down parched throats;

the starved and hungry got plenty to eat.

Insight

The Psalms are divided into five “books,” or sections. Psalm 107 is the first song in the fifth of those books. Verse 3 provides a clue as to when it was written—likely after the Jewish people had been exiled from their homeland. It refers to them as “those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south,” an indication that they’d been scattered among the nations. The psalm recounts Israel’s checkered past as it praises God for His frequent deliverance. Repeatedly they forgot God, which led to dire circumstances. Four times we hear the refrain, “Then they cried (out) to the Lord in their trouble,” and four times we read that He delivered “them from (out of) their distress” (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28). The psalm concludes, “Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord” (v. 43). 

Discover how to get the most out of the book of Psalms. By: Tim Gustafson

God Uses Our Stories

Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2

I opened the memory box and pulled out a small, silver lapel pin, the exact size and shape of a ten-week unborn baby’s feet. Caressing the ten tiny toes, I remembered the loss of my first pregnancy and those who said I was “lucky” I wasn’t “that far along.” I grieved, knowing that my baby’s feet were as real as the heart that once beat inside my womb. I thanked God for freeing me from depression and using my story to comfort others who were grieving after losing a child. More than two decades after my miscarriage, my husband and I named the child we lost Kai, which in some languages means “rejoice.” Though I still ache from my loss, I thank God for healing my heart and using my story to help others.

The writer of Psalm 107 rejoiced in God’s established character and sang: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (v. 1). He urged “the redeemed of the Lord” to “tell their story” (v. 2), to “give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind” (v. 8). He offered hope with a promise that God alone “satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (v. 9).

No one can escape grief or affliction, even those who’ve been redeemed through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We can, however, experience God’s mercy as He uses our stories to point others to His redeeming love.

By:  Xochitl Dixon

Reflect & Pray

How has God healed your heartbreaks? How has He used someone else’s story to comfort you?

Dear Jesus, thank You for healing me and using my story to point others to Your redeeming love.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Saturday, October 05, 2024

The Disposition of Sin

Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned. — Romans 5:12

The Bible doesn’t say that God punished humanity for one man’s sin, but that the disposition of sin entered into humanity by one man. Then another man, Jesus Christ, took the sin of humankind upon himself and put it away (Hebrews 9:26)—an infinitely profounder revelation.

The disposition of sin isn’t immorality and wrongdoing; it’s the disposition of self-realization, the natural-born inclination that says, “I am my own god.” This disposition may show itself in immoral acts or in acts that appear moral, but underneath them all is a single claim—the claim to my right to myself. Our Lord faced people with all the forces of evil inside them, and he faced people who were clean-living and moral and upright. But he never paid attention to moral achievements or to moral failings. He looked for something we do not see: the disposition beneath the act.

The disposition of sin is a thing I am born with and cannot touch. Only God can touch sin, and he touches it through redemption. In the cross of Jesus Christ, God redeemed the whole of humanity from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. Being born with this heredity doesn’t condemn me. But if, when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this disposition, I refuse to let him do so, from that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the verdict”—the moment of judgment—“Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light” (John 3:19).

Isaiah 23-25; Philippians 1

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

The vital relationship which the Christian has to the Bible is not that he worships the letter, but that the Holy Spirit makes the words of the Bible spirit and life to him. 

The Psychology of Redemption, 1066 L

1 John 2, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: ETERNAL GLORY - October 4, 2024

Certain chapters in this life seem so unnecessary. Suffering. Loneliness. Disease. Holocausts. Martyrdom. Hurricanes, earthquakes, monsoons. If we assume this world exists just for pre-grave happiness, these atrocities disqualify it from doing so. But what if this earth is the womb? Might these challenges, severe as they may be, serve to prepare us, to equip us for the world to come?

The apostle Paul would think so. He wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17, “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.” Eternal glory? I’d like a large cup of that, wouldn’t you? Go ahead and request it. The barista is brewing that cup for you. And everything in this life is preparing you for the next.       

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

1 John 2

I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s.

The Only Way to Know We’re in Him

2–3  Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments.

4–6  If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.

7–8  My dear friends, I’m not writing anything new here. This is the oldest commandment in the book, and you’ve known it from day one. It’s always been implicit in the Message you’ve heard. On the other hand, perhaps it is new, freshly minted as it is in both Christ and you—the darkness on its way out and the True Light already blazing!

9–11  Anyone who claims to live in God’s light and hates a brother or sister is still in the dark. It’s the person who loves brother and sister who dwells in God’s light and doesn’t block the light from others. But whoever hates is still in the dark, stumbles around in the dark, doesn’t know which end is up, blinded by the darkness.

Loving the World

12–13  I remind you, my dear children: Your sins are forgiven in Jesus’ name. You veterans were in on the ground floor, and know the One who started all this; you newcomers have won a big victory over the Evil One.

13–14  And a second reminder, dear children: You know the Father from personal experience. You veterans know the One who started it all; and you newcomers—such vitality and strength! God’s word is so steady in you. Your fellowship with God enables you to gain a victory over the Evil One.

15–17  Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.

Antichrists Everywhere You Look

18  Children, time is just about up. You heard that Antichrist is coming. Well, they’re all over the place, antichrists everywhere you look. That’s how we know that we’re close to the end.

19  They left us, but they were never really with us. If they had been, they would have stuck it out with us, loyal to the end. In leaving, they showed their true colors, showed they never did belong.

20–21  But you belong. The Holy One anointed you, and you all know it. I haven’t been writing this to tell you something you don’t know, but to confirm the truth you do know, and to remind you that the truth doesn’t breed lies.

22–23  So who is lying here? It’s the person who denies that Jesus is the Divine Christ, that’s who. This is what makes an antichrist: denying the Father, denying the Son. No one who denies the Son has any part with the Father, but affirming the Son is an embrace of the Father as well.

24–25  Stay with what you heard from the beginning, the original message. Let it sink into your life. If what you heard from the beginning lives deeply in you, you will live deeply in both Son and Father. This is exactly what Christ promised: eternal life, real life!

26–27  I’ve written to warn you about those who are trying to deceive you. But they’re no match for what is embedded deeply within you—Christ’s anointing, no less! You don’t need any of their so-called teaching. Christ’s anointing teaches you the truth on everything you need to know about yourself and him, uncontaminated by a single lie. Live deeply in what you were taught.

Live Deeply in Christ

28  And now, children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we’ll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when he arrives.

29  Once you’re convinced that he is right and righteous, you’ll recognize that all who practice righteousness are God’s true children.

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Friday, October 04, 2024

Today's Scripture

1 Peter 2:21-25

This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Christ lived. He suffered everything that came his way so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step.

He never did one thing wrong,

Not once said anything amiss.

They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back. He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right. He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross so we could be rid of sin, free to live the right way. His wounds became your healing. You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going. Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

Insight

Writing to believers in Jesus suffering persecution and unjust treatment in a hostile and unbelieving world, Peter encouraged them to live godly and exemplary lives (1 Peter 2:12). He instructed them to submit to governments, respect everyone—including the king and even cruel masters—love fellow believers, reverently fear God, persevere in doing good, and patiently endure unfair treatment, which pleases God (vv. 13-20). They were to follow Christ’s example in enduring such suffering and unjust treatments (v. 21). His unjust suffering is at the heart of God’s salvation plan of substitutionary (or vicarious) atonement. The sinless Savior “ ‘himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross” (v. 24), “the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring [us] to God” (3:18). Jesus’ suffering served God’s purpose. We’re like sheep who’ve lost our way but because of His suffering, we “have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of [our] souls” (2:25). By: K. T. Sim

A Christlike Response

When they hurled their insults at [Jesus], he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:23

George was working on a construction job in the heat of the Carolina summer sun when someone living nearby walked into the yard where he was working. Clearly angry, the neighbor began to curse and criticize everything about the project and how it was being done. George received the verbal blows without response until the angry neighbor stopped yelling. Then he gently responded, “You’ve had a really hard day, haven’t you?” Suddenly, the angry neighbor’s face softened, his head dipped, and he said, “I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you.” George’s kindness had defused the neighbor’s wrath.  

There are times when we want to strike back. To give abuse for abuse and insult for insult. What George modeled instead was a kindness seen most perfectly in the way Jesus bore the consequences of our sins: “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23). 

All of us will face moments when we’re misunderstood, misrepresented, or attacked. We may want to respond in kind, but the heart of Jesus calls us to be kind, to pursue peace and display understanding. As He enables us today, perhaps God could use us to bless someone enduring a hard day. By:  Bill Crowder

Reflect & Pray

What makes it so easy to strike back at others for their unkind words? How can you be more intentional about showing kindness to those who are unkind to you?

Caring Father, please help me to find in You the strength, grace, and wisdom to display the heart of Jesus.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Friday, October 04, 2024

Put to the Test

. . . called to be his holy people. — 1 Corinthians 1:2

Thank God for the sight of all you haven’t yet become. God has called you to be one of his holy people, you’ve had the vision of what he wants, but you aren’t there yet by any means.

God calls his children to the mountaintop and gives them a vision. Then he sends them down into the valley of everyday life, the valley where the vision will be put to the test. It’s in the valley that most of us turn back, because it’s there that we must prove whether or not we’ll be the chosen ones. We aren’t quite prepared for the blows that must come if we’re going to be turned into the shape of the vision. Are we willing to be hammered into shape by God’s hand? The hammering always comes in commonplace ways, through the circumstances and people we encounter in our daily lives.

There are times when we know God’s purpose for us, times when he’s given us a vision and we see it clearly. Whether this vision will be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to bask in the memory of the vision, we’ll be of no use in the ordinary stuff of human life. We have to learn to live in reliance on what we saw in the vision—not in ecstasies and conscious contemplation of God, but living our ordinary lives in light of the vision. We must do this until the vision becomes a reality. Every bit of the training God is putting us through is leading us to this goal. Learn to thank God for making his demands known.

The little “I am” always sulks when God says, “Do.” Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in the face of the great “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:14). God must dominate our lives. Isn’t it startling to realize that he knows where we live? That he knows the burrows we crawl into? He’ll hunt us up like a lightning flash. No human being knows human beings as God does.

Isaiah 20-22; Ephesians 6

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us.

Disciples Indeed

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Friday, October 04, 2024

Guarding Your Heart - #9845

The area around New York City is dotted with some scenic, protected bodies of water. They are reservoirs that supply the water for the millions of people that are in that area. Now, having lived in the New York City area for a number of years, we often took a weekend drive as a family and, well, we enjoyed looking at them. They're very, very scenic. You know?

But maybe I've seen too many articles and news reports on terrorism, but I got to thinking one day what a target those reservoirs might be. I mean, if a terrorist or some mentally deranged person wanted to destroy a lot of people, I figure all he would have to do is poison the water from which we all drink. Actually a strategy like that is already in the works.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Guarding Your Heart."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 4, and I'm going to read verse 23. It starts this way, "Above all else..." Okay, that's like God clearing His throat. I mean, this is important! When God says, "This is above everything else" pay attention! "Above all else guard your heart." That's the "above all else" - guard your heart. "For it is," the Bible says, "the wellspring (or maybe we could say reservoir) of life." See, God's saying, "I want you to protect what you let into your thoughts and into your heart, because today's thoughts produce tomorrow's actions.

Now, how could the devil plant his ideas in your mind so he could gradually darken your view of love, your view of marriage, your view of the future? How could he put his ideas in there about sex, about the value of human life, and just kind of a slowly growing darkness? How could he do that? Well, obviously he's not going to walk right up to you and say, "Hi, I'm the devil and I'd like to plant a few of my ideas in your brain." He's a little more subtle than that and we're a little smarter than that.

No, he's going to do it the same way that a terrorist might get his poison into your body: poison the source; poison the water from which we all drink. Well, mentally, what's the water we all drink from? Well, television, movies, what we read, our music, what we watch on the Internet, magazines. The problem is this: Many believers, who would never drink the devil's poisonous ideas directly, routinely allow those ideas to sneak in through their entertainment, music, or website, or movies, or their videos.

See, the devil's cleverly disguised and attractively packaged ideas that are woven all through our media. For example, if you watch enough couples involved in premarital or extramarital sex, it starts to feel slightly more normal, a little more acceptable. You're not even aware your guard's coming down because you didn't guard your heart. You let it sneak in, "Hey, that was just entertainment, right, sown in the words of a song, or sown in something portrayed on a TV show, or a movie.

But it is still the outright breaking of God's moral law. Let's go back to Proverbs 4:23, "Guard your heart." Just say those words with me, "Guard your heart." That means I shouldn't be, I can't be watching or listening to a portrayal of something God is against. Stand back and maybe you'll see how you have kind of dozed off mentally and spiritually. The guard went to sleep! The guard needs to wake up and say, "Hey, no! You can't come into this mind; you can't come into this heart."

Put a guard in front of the reservoir. There's a lot of poison in the mental water around us. Why do we drink it so freely?

Ezekiel 46, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: EVERY PERSON MATTERS TO GOD - October 3, 2024

Life is so much easier if we can just put labels on people. Pigeonholing permits us to wash our hands and leave. “Oh I know him—he’s an alcoholic.” “She’s a liberal Democrat.” “He’s divorced.” Categorizing others creates distance and gives us a convenient exit strategy for avoiding involvement.

But Jesus took an entirely different approach. He was all about including people. Jesus touched lepers and loved foreigners. His Facebook page included the likes of Matthew the IRS agent and some floozy he met at Simon’s house. You see, Jesus set aside the privileges of deity. He took on the status of a slave. He became a human.

Jesus sends this message: No playground displays of superiority. Don’t call any person common. Don’t call any person unfit. Every person matters to God!

Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear

Ezekiel 46

 “ ‘Message from God, the Master: The gate of the inside courtyard on the east is to be shut on the six working days, but open on the Sabbath. It is also to be open on the New Moon. The prince will enter through the entrance area of the gate complex and stand at the gateposts as the priests present his burnt offerings and peace offerings while he worships there on the porch. He will then leave, but the gate won’t be shut until evening. On Sabbaths and New Moons, the people are to worship before God at the outside entrance to that gate complex.

4–5  “ ‘The prince supplies for God the burnt offering for the Sabbath—six unblemished lambs and an unblemished ram. The grain offering to go with the ram is about five and a half gallons plus a gallon of oil, and a handful of grain for each lamb.

6–7  “ ‘At the New Moon he is to supply a bull calf, six lambs, and a ram, all without blemish. He will also supply five and a half gallons of grain offering and a gallon of oil for both ram and bull, and a handful of grain offering for each lamb.

8  “ ‘When the prince enters, he will go through the entrance vestibule of the gate complex and leave the same way.

9–10  “ ‘But when the people of the land come to worship God at the commanded feasts, those who enter through the north gate will exit from the south gate, and those who enter though the south gate will exit from the north gate. You don’t exit the gate through which you enter, but through the opposite gate. The prince is to be there, mingling with them, going in and out with them.

11  “ ‘At the festivals and the commanded feasts, the appropriate grain offering is five and a half gallons, with a gallon of oil for the bull and ram and a handful of grain for each lamb.

12  “ ‘When the prince brings a freewill offering to God, whether a burnt offering or a peace offering, the east gate is to be opened for him. He offers his burnt or peace offering the same as he does on the Sabbath. Then he leaves, and after he is out, the gate is shut.

13–15  “ ‘Every morning you are to bring a yearling lamb unblemished for a burnt offering to God. Also, every morning bring a grain offering of about a gallon of grain with a quart or so of oil to moisten it. Presenting this grain offering to God is standard procedure. The lamb, the grain offering, and the oil for the burnt offering are a regular daily ritual.

16–18  “ ‘A Message from God, the Master: If the prince deeds a gift from his inheritance to one of his sons, it stays in the family. But if he deeds a gift from his inheritance to a servant, the servant keeps it only until the year of liberation (the Jubilee year). After that, it comes back to the prince. His inheritance is only for his sons. It stays in the family. The prince must not take the inheritance from any of the people, dispossessing them of their land. He can give his sons only what he himself owns. None of my people are to be run off their land.’ ”

19–20  Then the man brought me through the north gate into the holy chambers assigned to the priests and showed me a back room to the west. He said, “This is the kitchen where the priests will cook the guilt offering and sin offering and bake the grain offering so that they won’t have to do it in the outside courtyard and endanger the unprepared people out there with The Holy.”

21–23  He proceeded to take me to the outside courtyard and around to each of its four corners. In each corner I observed another court. In each of the four corners of the outside courtyard were smaller courts sixty by forty-five feet, each the same size. On the inside walls of the courts was a stone shelf, and beneath the shelves, hearths for cooking.

24  He said, “These are the kitchens where those who serve in the Temple will cook the sacrifices of the people.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Thursday, October 03, 2024

Today's Scripture

Numbers 13:27-14:9

Then they told the story of their trip:

27–29  “We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan.”

30  Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.”

31–33  But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.”

1–3  14 The whole community was in an uproar, wailing all night long. All the People of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The entire community was in on it: “Why didn’t we die in Egypt? Or in this wilderness? Why has God brought us to this country to kill us? Our wives and children are about to become plunder. Why don’t we just head back to Egypt? And right now!”

4  Soon they were all saying it to one another: “Let’s pick a new leader; let’s head back to Egypt.”

5  Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in front of the entire community, gathered in emergency session.

6–9  Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, members of the scouting party, ripped their clothes and addressed the assembled People of Israel: “The land we walked through and scouted out is a very good land—very good indeed. If God is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land that flows, as they say, with milk and honey. And he’ll give it to us. Just don’t rebel against God! And don’t be afraid of those people. Why, we’ll have them for lunch! They have no protection and God is on our side. Don’t be afraid of them!”

Insight

The word picture used to describe the land promised to God’s covenant people is one that “[flows] with milk and honey” (Numbers 13:27; 14:8). This attention-grabbing phrase that depicts richness and abundance first appears in Exodus 3:8, where it describes the land God has allotted to His people: “a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” The word flowing is as significant to the phase as the other words. The same Hebrew word (zuv) is translated “gushed out” in Psalm 78:20 and 105:41. Such visual images of what God has promised helps to strengthen our faith. By: Arthur Jackson

Saying Yes by Faith

The Lord is with us. Numbers 14:9

When asked if I’d accept a new responsibility at work, I wanted to say no. I thought of the challenges and felt inadequate to handle them. But as I prayed and sought guidance from the Bible and other believers, I realized God was calling me to say yes. Through the Scriptures, I was also reassured of His help. So, I accepted the task, but still with some dread.

I see myself in the Israelites and the ten spies who recoiled from occupying Canaan (Numbers 13:27-29, 31-33; 14:1-4). They too saw the difficulties, wondering how they could defeat the powerful people in the land and subdue their fortified cities. “We seemed like grasshoppers,” the spies said (13:33), and the Israelites grumbled, “Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword?” (14:3).

Only Caleb and Joshua remembered that God had already promised He’d give Canaan to His people (Genesis 17:8; Numbers 13:2). They drew confidence from His promise, seeing the difficulties ahead in the light of God’s presence and help. They’d face the difficulties with His power, protection, and resources, not their own (Numbers 14:6-9).       

The task God gave me wasn’t easy—but He helped me through it. While we won’t always be spared difficulties in His assignments, we can—like Caleb and Joshua—face them knowing, “The Lord is with us” (v. 9). By:  Karen Huang

Reflect & Pray

When have you felt inadequate to do a task you knew God was asking you to do? How do Caleb and Joshua’s examples help?

Dear God, please help me to follow You wholeheartedly.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

Thursday, October 03, 2024

The Sphere of Service

He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” — Mark 9:29

After the disciples had tried and failed to cast out an impure spirit, they went to Jesus in confusion, asking, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” (Mark 9:28). Jesus replied that it was only through prayer—only through concentration and more concentration on him, only through a personal relationship with him—that such a spirit could be driven out. The disciples had tried to do God’s work by drawing on their own ideas rather than by concentrating on God’s power.

If you approach things as the disciples did, you will remain as powerless as they were. You may be eager to work for God, but if you work for him without knowing him, you’ll end up working against him. Sometimes you are faced with a difficult situation and you pray about it, yet nothing happens—not on the outside. But if you are concentrating on Jesus, if you have a personal relationship with him, you know that emancipation will be given. The focus of your service must be to make sure that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself. If there is, you can only overcome it by facing it and going straight through it into his presence, not by ignoring it in irritation. Face the issue with the Lord, and eventually that very thing, along with everything that’s happened in connection with it, will glorify him.

The one purpose for which we are in this world is concentration on God. Get the noisy cries of religion out of your ears, the cries that say, “Do this and don’t do that.” Never! Jesus says, “Be this and that, and I will do through you.”

Isaiah 17-19; Ephesians 5:17-33

WISDOM FROM OSWALD

We never enter into the Kingdom of God by having our head questions answered, but only by commitment.

The Highest Good—Thy Great Redemption, 565 R

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Thursday, October 03, 2024

How Much God Thinks You're Worth - #9844

It's always moving when it comes to Memorial Day and you have all these families of veterans and people who were lost in a war or a battle and all these very poignant stories on television and in the news. You know, Memorial Day and days like it, they're different when you're a veteran or the loved one of someone who died for America's freedom. Because every day is Memorial Day. Because freedom's price for you has a name, a face, an empty chair at the table.

During the Memorial Day observances one Memorial Day, I heard some veterans and some families asking a haunting question. It's embodied in a statement that came from one combat veteran, a former Navy Seal, and a current TV commentator. It really touched me. He said: "It's important for veterans who fought to believe the sacrifice was worth it." The question especially arises when the ground that people bled and died to take is then later lost to the enemy.

"Was the sacrifice worth it?" Whatever the battle, whatever the war, that's what the warrior wants to know.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Much God Thinks You're Worth."

As I sat in church recently, a sobering thought hit me. It's one I haven't been able to shake. Does Jesus look at me and ask that question, "Was the sacrifice worth it?"

He didn't risk His life. He gave His life. He came here knowing that He alone could pay the price for the sin of the world - for my sin. "The righteous for the unrighteous." That's the way the Bible says it. Nothing could break His heart more than to see the ground He died to liberate in our lives being lost to the enemy. Like us continuing to hang onto the junk that He bled to deliver us from.

In our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Peter 2:24 it says, "He personally carried our sins in His own body on the cross, so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right." Does He ever say to us, "Do you know I died so you wouldn't have to do that thing that you're doing now"?

Sin is so much more than breaking rules. It's really about breaking Jesus' heart. Like when His blood-bought child fills their heart with pornographic fantasies. Or uses their body - the "temple of the Holy Spirit," the Bible calls it, for the very sexual sins He died for. "You are not your own," the Bible says, "you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

It's got to wound Him again when we wound others that He died for with our runaway mouth. Or we just keep lying. Or we abandon our marriage vows. Or succumb to pride, bitterness, unforgiveness, or so many other dark impulses unworthy of His life's sacrifice. The Bible says, "Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ" (Philippians 1:27).

I guess the most hurtful way we can dishonor the blood-sacrifice of Jesus is to think that there's some other way we can get rid of our sin or get into heaven. Like being good, or being religious. Listen, if there was any other way my spiritual death penalty could have been paid, Jesus would never have endured the agony of the cross. Why would He do that if there was another way?

Our faith in anything else to make our peace with God says, "Jesus, what You did on the cross was not enough. I'm going to do something." To honor the unspeakable blood sacrifice of God's only Son is to abandon any other hope but Him. And then to drop the junk that killed Him. Have you ever done that?

Have you ever had your Jesus moment when you've put the life He died for, paid for with His blood, in His hands? If you've never done that, maybe He's talking to you today about this being your day. If you want to do that, tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." And please, go to our website and let me meet you there and help you know how to begin this relationship. It's ANewStory.com.

He looks at me. He looks at you, and then He looks at the nail prints in His hands and perhaps He asks: "Was the sacrifice worth it?"