Thursday, May 15, 2014

Slow Healing Process by Bill Crowder (Our Daily Bread)

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. . . . There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. —Revelation 21:4 (Our Daily Bread)

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Revelation 21:1-8

New International Version (NIV)

A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”^[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’^[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

⁵He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
⁶He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

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Slow Healing Process

By Bill Crowder

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

Just 4 weeks after our son Mark joined the US Army, he injured his knee seriously in a training exercise. As a result, he was released from the military. So, at age 19, he had to use a cane to get around for a while; and because of the severity of the injury he endured 2 years of recovery, rest, and rehab. Finally, Mark was able to set aside the knee braces he had worn since the accident. Although he still experiences residual pain, the long, slow healing process has brought him back to full use of his leg.

Physical healing is often much slower than we anticipate. This is true of spiritual healing as well. The consequences of unwise choices or the actions of hurtful people can create burdens or wounds that endure for a lifetime. But for the child of God, there is hope. Although full restoration is not always experienced in this life, the promise of healing is sure. The apostle John wrote, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

In our seasons of pain, it is comforting to know that eventually, in His awesome presence, we will be whole forever.

Father, I thank You that in all of our pains and
struggles we can find comfort in You. Help us to
bring all our hurts to You—both spiritual and
physical—and to trust that You will make us whole.

When we come to Christ in our brokenness, He makes us whole.

Bible Reading

Looking Good by Julie Ackerman Link (Our Daily Bread)

First cleanse the inside. —Matthew 23:26 (Our Daily Bread)

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Matthew 23:23-31

New International Version (NIV)

²³“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. ²⁴You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
²⁵“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
²⁷“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. ²⁸In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
²⁹“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. ³⁰And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

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Looking Good

By Julie Ackerman Link

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08#

Your hair is really healthy,” said my hairdresser after giving me a haircut. “I hope it’s because you use our products.” “No. I’m sorry,” I said. “I just use whatever product is cheap and smells good.” But then I added, “I also try to eat well. I think that makes a big difference.”

When I think about the things we do to make ourselves look good, I’m reminded of some of the things we do to make ourselves look good spiritually. Jesus addressed this issue with the religious leaders in Jerusalem (Matt. 23). They followed an elaborate set of religious rules that went well beyond the ones God had given them. They worked hard to look good to their peers, to prove that they were better than others. But their hard work didn’t impress God. Jesus said to them, “You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside [you] are full of extortion and self-indulgence” (v.25). What the Pharisees did to make themselves look good to others actually revealed that they were not good at all.

Every culture values different religious behaviors and traditions, but God’s values transcend cultures. And what He values isn’t measured by what others see. God values a clean heart and pure motives. Spiritual health is expressed from the inside out.

You know me, Lord, for who I am. My motives
and heart are open before You. Cleanse me
from the inside out. And help me to live as
Jesus did—with pure and true motives.

We might look good on the outside without really being good on the inside.

Bible Reading

New Birth by Alyson Kieda (Our Daily Bread)

You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. —Psalm 139:13 (Our Daily Bread)

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Psalm 139:7-16

New International Version (NIV)

⁷Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
¹²even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

¹³For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

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New Birth

By Alyson Kieda

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

What is there about babies that makes us smile? Many people will stop everything at the sight or sound of a baby and will flock to gaze at the little one. I noticed this when I visited my dad at a nursing home. Though most of the residents were wheelchair-bound and suffered from dementia, the visit of a family with a baby almost unfailingly brought a spark of joy to their eyes that—tentatively at first but then undoubtedly—became a smile. It was amazing to watch.

Perhaps babies bring a smile because of the wonder of a new life—so precious, tiny, and full of promise. Seeing a baby can remind us of our awesome God and the great love He has for us. He loved us so much that He gave us life and formed us in our mother’s womb. “You formed my inward parts,” the psalmist says, “You covered me in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 139:13).

Not only does He give us physical life but He also offers us spiritual rebirth through Jesus (John 3:3-8). God promises believers new bodies and life eternal when Jesus returns (1 Cor. 15:50-52).

Physical life and spiritual rebirth—gifts to celebrate from our Father’s hand.

In His own image God created man,
He formed his body from the dust of earth;
But more than that, to all who are in Christ
He gives eternal life by second birth. —Hess

I will praise You . . . ; marvelous are Your works. —Psalm 139:14

Bible Reading

Words To Live By by: David C. McCasland (Our Daily Bread)

Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments . . . that you should act according to them. —Deuteronomy 4:5 (Our Daily Bread)

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Deuteronomy 4:1-9

New International Version (NIV)

Obedience Commanded

4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. ²Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

³You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, ⁴but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.
⁵See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” ⁷What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? ⁸And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
⁹Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

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Words To Live By

By David C. McCasland

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

For many years I’ve maintained a file folder labeled “Speaking.” It has become thick with articles, quotations, and illustrations that might be useful. Recently I went through it to discard things that are out of date. I found it difficult to throw away many of the items, not because I haven’t used them in a talk but because I haven’t put them into practice. I closed the folder thinking, “These aren’t words to talk about; these are words to live by.”

After 40 years in the desert, Moses addressed the people poised to enter the Promised Land: “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you” (Deut. 4:1). Moses’ repeated theme (vv.1,2,5,6,9) is that God’s commandments are to be kept. He said it well, “Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments . . . that you should act according to them” (v.5).

It is so easy to talk about doing more than we actually do and to speak about truth we’re not living by. We can become bloated with words, yet starved for reality, forgetting that all of God’s commands flow from His heart of love for us.

Help us, Lord, not to be just hearers of the Word;
help us to be doers as well. Teach us to be honest
with ourselves about who we really are. We want
to walk in Your ways and to guide others to You.

The strength of our actions should match the strength of our words.

Bible Reading

Promises Still Kept by Randy Kilgore (Our Daily Bread)

When the sun went down . . . there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. —Genesis 15:17 (Our Daily Bread)

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Genesis 15:5-21

New International Version (NIV)

⁵He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring^[a] be.”
⁶Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
⁷He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
⁸But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”
⁹So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
¹⁰Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi^[b] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

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Promises Still Kept

By Randy Kilgore

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

In the ancient Near East a treaty between a superior (a lord or king) and an inferior (his subjects) was called a suzerain treaty. The ratification ceremony required animals to be sacrificed and cut in half. The animal parts were then arranged in two rows on the ground, forming an aisle between them. As the suzerain walked between the halves, he was publicly declaring he would keep the covenant and would become like the slain animals if he failed to keep his word.

When Abram asked God how he could be sure His promises would come to pass, God used the culturally significant symbolism of the suzerain treaty to affirm His promises (Gen. 15). When the burning torch passed through the pieces of the sacrifice, Abram understood that God was declaring it was His job to keep the covenant.

God’s covenant with Abram and His assurance of its completion extends to followers of Christ. That is why Paul repeatedly refers to believers as sons of Abraham in his New Testament writings (Rom. 4:11-18; Gal. 3:29). Once we accept Jesus Christ as Savior, God becomes the keeper in our covenant of faith (see John 10:28-29).

Because God is the keeper of our salvation, with renewed confidence in Him we trust Him with our lives.

He will never fail us, He will not forsake;
His eternal covenant He will never break.
Onward then, and fear not, children of the day;
For His Word shall never, never pass away. —Havergal

Our salvation is secure because God does the holding.

Bible Reading

Talking About Jesus by Dave Branon (Our Daily Bread)

I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. —1 Corinthians 2:2 (Our Daily Bread)

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2 Corinthians 4:1-6

New International Version (NIV)

Present Weakness and Resurrection Life

4 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. ²Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”^[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

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Talking About Jesus

By Dave Branon

from: http://odb.org/?tz=08

Former major league baseball player Tony Graffanino tells of an ongoing ministry effort in a European country. Each year his organization holds a week-long baseball camp. During this week they also offer a daily Bible study. In past years, the leader tried to find reasoned ways to convince the campers that God exists so they would place their faith in Him. After about 13 years, they had seen only 3 people decide to follow Jesus.

Then they changed their approach, says Graffanino. Instead of “trying to present facts, or winning arguments for a debate,” they simply talked about “the amazing life and teachings of Jesus.” As a result, more campers came to listen, and more chose to follow Him.

The apostle Paul said that when we tell others about the gospel of Jesus Christ, we should set “forth the truth plainly. . . . We do not preach ourselves,” he said, “but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:2,5 niv). This was Paul’s standard for evangelism: “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2).

We should be knowledgeable about the Bible and about the reasons for our belief, and sometimes we need to explain those reasons. But the most compelling and effective story we can tell puts Christ in the center.

Father God, please use me in the lives of others.

Remind me to talk about who Jesus is and His life
and teachings. And not to be dragged into debates,
but to share Jesus’ amazing life.

The risen Christ is the reason for our witness.

Bible Reading

My Kind of People by David H. Roper (Our Daily Bread)

Such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. —1 Corinthians 6:11 (Our Daily Bread)

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1 Corinthians 6:9-11

New International Version (NIV)

⁹Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men^[a] ¹⁰nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

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My Kind Of People

By David H. Roper

from: http://odb.org/

Years ago in a worship service, pastor Ray Stedman stepped to the pulpit and read the text for the day: “Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that” (1 Cor. 6:9-11 nlt).

Then he looked up, a bemused smile on his face, and said, “I’m curious: How many of you have one or more of these sins in your background? If so, will you stand?”

There was a young man there who had never been in a church before. He had recently been saved at a Billy Graham crusade and came with fear and trembling to church that Sunday, not knowing what he would find. He later told me that when he heard the pastor’s question, he looked around to see if anyone would stand. At first no one did, but then most of the congregation was on their feet. He said to himself, “These are my kind of people!”

We can all find ourselves in Paul’s list in 1 Corinthians. But when we confess our sin and accept the gift of eternal life paid for by the death of Jesus, we become a new creation saved by grace (Rom. 6:23; 2 Cor. 5:17).

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.

Bible Reading

The Pointer

Thursday, May 15, 2014