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Post by Obadiah on Jan 18, 2023 4:27:08 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 18TH
The Purpose Of MarriageFor this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Mark 10:7-8 There are a great many implications in this statement. First, you recognize that it does away with all such notions as homosexual marriages. There are no such things. These pathetic misrepresentations are but a poignant commentary upon the twisted, distorted ideas that prevail in society today. It takes a man and a woman to be married. Marriage is one man and one woman, and it always has been, from the beginning. But what our Lord makes clear is that this relationship is the highest relationship possible in life. It takes priority over all others. Closer even than the tie of blood is that of marriage, in the mind and heart of God. It is a closer relationship than with any children who follow. People are to become husbands and wives before they become fathers and mothers. This indicates a priority of relationship. A man is closer to his wife, and a wife to her husband, than they will ever be to their children. Though we may not feel that way, nevertheless, it is the truth. What, then, is the purpose in marriage? It is to become one. This is what marriages are for. Two people who are disparate, distinct, and different individuals, with different personalities, different gifts, blending their lives together so that through the process of the years they become one flesh--that is what marriage is. It is not something that happens instantaneously when you get married. The wedding service does not make you one. The first act of sex after marriage does not make you one. It begins the process, but it does not finish it. It takes the whole marriage to accomplish this. Marriage is the process of two people becoming one. Therefore man and woman are not to live together as roommates. Marriage is not going your separate ways and having your separate careers and merely sharing a house and a bed together. Nor are they to split up over every problem or difficulty that arises between them; they are to work them out. They are not to separate; they are to choose to be together, to spend the rest of their lives together, in order that they might merge their lives together. Therefore they stop being rivals and start to become partners. A successful marriage, therefore, is not one without problems; it is one where the problems are being worked out, where the husband and wife do not split but stick together, face up to their problems, discover the hardness of heart that is there, and learn how God can soften it. In other words, it is a process, not a single production. It is a pilgrimage, not a six weeks' performance. It is intended to be a public portrayal, not a private predicament. It is a lifelong contract, not a renegotiable franchise, as many presume today. Thank You for these plain and clear words that help me understand what is involved when we choose a wife or husband and what Your purpose is in it. Help me to walk in these ways. Life ApplicationHas the cultural perception of marriage corrupted our perception of God's plan for this foundational relationship? How does malpractice of marriage violate God's intention? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 19, 2023 5:05:31 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 19TH
The Plight Of The OverprivilegedIt is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Mark 10:25This is a remarkable statement that Jesus makes. In it He highlights the terrible danger of affluence. This, He says, does horrible things to the soul. Most of us, if not openly then at least secretly, are envious of rich people. We wish we had money. And yet, if we really understood what Jesus is saying, we would not feel that way. We would feel sorry for them. We think them overprivileged; Jesus says they are underprivileged. They are deprived people. There is so much they are robbed of by the things they have. So Jesus goes on to point out the terrible danger of affluence. It is impossible, He says, for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Let us not minimize His language here. Some commentators attempt to soften this by explaining that the eye of a needle referred to a tiny gate, about four feet high, located in the wall of Jerusalem, and that by squirming and wriggling a camel could conceivably get through it. I do not see much evidence to support that view. I think Jesus meant a literal needle. Try to imagine a huge, humpy camel trying to squeeze through a needle's eye. Jesus is saying to them, It's impossible. Why is it impossible? It is clear from the context that riches tend to destroy the qualities you must have in order to enter the kingdom of God. They destroy the childlikeness of life. Affluence creates a concern for secondary values. Rich people are not worried about where their next meal is coming from; they worry about what it will taste like. They are not concerned about whether they worship God rightly but whether they are in a beautiful building. Riches transfer their concern from the necessary things to secondary. Furthermore, affluence destroys teachability because it creates a false sense of power and authority. Those who have power because of their money begin to feel that they ought to be the teacher. They do not need to learn--they already know everything! This makes for arrogance, indifference, and for insensitivity to the needs of others, for isolation and a lack of concern. Finally, affluence gradually enslaves those who are attached to it. It builds an increasing dependence upon comfort, upon the good life, until people reach a point where they cannot give it up. They are owned by their possessions. Like to a habit-forming drug, they become addicted to things, addicted to comfort and ease. Therefore it destroys the responsive spirit that is ready and willing to follow truth whenever it is revealed. That is why Jesus said it is impossible--with people. But not with God. This is the note of grace. God can break that enslavement to riches. Isn't it interesting that if a rich person does come to Christ, he or she must come in exactly the same way as the poorest bum on skid row! Rich people have to acknowledge their complete and utter need and come as guilty sinners, wretched and miserable, and receive the gift of life at the hands of Jesus from the cross. There is no other way to come. Lord, let me be ready to give up my possessions and put them back into Your hands. Life ApplicationAre we alert to the possible corrosive effect of being owned by our possessions? Is our attitude one of ready willingness to give them up and back into His hands? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 20, 2023 7:01:54 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 20TH
Not So With YouJesus called them together and said, You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Mark 10:42-43aJesus sees the cross waiting for Him. James and John see thrones waiting for them. And what do the other ten see? They see James and John! They are angry and upset at them. Why? Because they got to Jesus first. Obviously they wanted the same things that James and John did and were angry only because James and John beat them to it. This is often the explanation for our anger, is it not? We are so often upset because somebody thought of it before we did. But notice how Jesus sets aside all this business of politicking and maneuvering and asking for special privileges. That is the way the world works, but it is not to be part of the kingdom of God. In the kingdom—the church, if you like—there is not to be struggling and striving for position and honor. Paul brings this out so beautifully in his development of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12, where he says that because we have gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit and a ministry opened to us by the Lord Jesus and power granted to us by the heavenly Father, we do not need to be in competition with anybody. This is what our Lord wants to set before His disciples, so He gathers them together and patiently says, Now, fellows, sit down. I want to say something to you. You've looked at the Gentiles. Have you noticed that when they exercise authority, it is always over somebody else? They measure their power by how many are under them. That is the mark of their authority. It is still true today. That is the way people do things, the way they judge their success. And although it produces all kinds of rivalry, competition, skullduggery, politicking, conniving, maneuvering, manipulating, and trying to undercut everybody else, nevertheless, you cannot blame people for that, because that is all they know. The key is in these words: Not so with you. The church is not to be set up as a hierarchy of power. There is no chain of command in the church of Jesus Christ. Jesus had already said to these disciples, You have only one Master and you are all brothers (Matthew 23:8). Every apostle is careful to remind us of the danger of lording it over one another, the problems that arise when those in positions of authority think they have the right to tell others what to do or how to act or what to think or how to behave, believing they have the right to make decisions that others must follow. This is not true in the church. Paul is careful to say to the Corinthians, Not that we lord it over your faith (2 Corinthians 1:24). That is, You can do what you want. You stand before God, responsible to Him, not to me. But he is also faithful to point out what it is they need to do and to warn them of the results that may follow if they do not want to do it. But no one is ever to be commanded to do something by another person in the church. Only the Lord commands. Thank You, Lord, that You are my Master, and You've made me a significant part of Your church. Life ApplicationHow do the leadership principles Jesus teaches equip his disciples to live counter-culturally? How does a true follower cope with political & personal power struggles? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 21, 2023 6:22:27 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 21ST
The Hindrance Of PrideTherefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:24-25What Jesus is saying is, The great hindrance to having faith in God is pride, the pride that refuses to forgive. That is like a mountain that fills up your whole life. All you can see is that big mountain looming before you, and it is blocking the life of God in your life. You have the power to have that removed if, when you stand and pray, you will forgive those who have offended you. Because the only thing that stops us from forgiving one another is pride. We feel justified in wanting others to forgive us but also in feeling that we have to exact a price for the hurt they have caused us. So, in many ways—subtle, or direct and open—we insist that we will not forgive, that our offenders have to pay for what they have done to us. Somehow, we are going to make them crawl, make them beg or plead for forgiveness. And that, Jesus says, is a great mountain that needs to be removed, for it is blocking the flow of the life of God to your faith. So when you stand and pray, life will flow from God when you are able to recognize that you, too, need forgiveness. God has forgiven you. God has offered it freely to you; give it just as freely to the one who has offended you. After many years of ministry, I can recite evidence by the yard that this is true. The one thing above all else that seems to block the flow of the life of God to an individual, to a church, or to a nation, is this unwillingness to forgive, this holding of grudges, this desire to put somebody down in order to feel good yourself, this unwillingness to set these things aside and let God heal all the hurts of life. That is why Jesus puts His finger on this one thing. Is this not amazing? The nation Israel lost its life because it would not forgive the Gentiles, the Romans, who had offended and grieved it. Instead, it gathered its robes of self-righteousness about it and looked with pride up to God and said, I thank God I am not like these other people. God says that is what ends the life of a nation. That is what ends the life of a church. And that is what ends the spiritual life of an individual, as it cuts him or her off. Father, how many times I have refused the forgiving word, the restoring act, only to be tormented by fears and anxieties and worries. Thank You for the forgiveness that is mine in Jesus Christ. Teach me to extend it to those around me. Life ApplicationWhat is the greatest obstacle to the forgiveness we all need to give and receive for healing relationships? How can we be a conduit of God's amazing grace and mercy? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 22, 2023 5:10:35 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 22ND
By What Authority?Then Jesus said to them, Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. Mark 12:17
I remember reading some time ago of a brilliant young lawyer who had been raised a pagan and had no use for Christianity. Someone had given him the New Testament, and he was reading it through. When he came to this account in Mark, he read this question with great interest, for he himself had recently been involved with just such a dilemma. When the full impact of Jesus' actions hit this man, he was utterly astonished. He dropped the Bible and said to himself, That's the most amazing wisdom! For our Lord did not try to answer the question directly. In that wonderful way He had, He called for a coin—He had to borrow one, for He had none of His own—and held it up. Whose picture is on this coin? He asked. They said, Caesar's. He said, All right, then, it must be Caesar's money. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. But God has His stamp upon you, so render to God the things that are God's. He shows us that human authority is not only limited in duration; it is limited in its scope. It deals with only a part of people. The secular government is ordained by God. The apostle Paul tells us that plainly, and Peter says the same thing: Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right (1 Peter 2:13-14). Peter acknowledges that God is behind secular government—even bad government. For the king that Peter referred to was none other than Nero, wretched moral degenerate that he was. Yet Peter says to honor the king as the supreme authority. But human government, Jesus says, has only limited control over people. It has certain powers over its citizens' bodies and minds. It can regulate our conduct to some degree and has the right to influence and regulate our attitudes and actions and what we say and how we say it. But there is one area in human life over which secular power has no control, and that is the human spirit. Secular power cannot legislate who we worship, who governs our conscience, and who constitutes the ultimate authority of life. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Certain things do properly belong to Caesar; give them to him. But other things about you belong only to God, so give those to God. The Russian author Solzhenytsin stands as an example of the wrong that is done by secular might when it tries to govern and control the worship of people. Almost single-handedly, he has defied one of the mightiest powers of earth and revealed the viciousness and the exploitation that always results when secular might seeks to invade that proscribed area of human existence, the human spirit. Jesus is saying that the ultimate issues of life belong to God, not to people, and human authority is therefore limited in its scope. Father, thank You for this One who helps me to see things rightly, who puts things in proper perspective and makes me understand who I am, and what I am, and to whom I am responsible. Life ApplicationTo what extent do we need to avow and submit to human government? What are its limitations? What is the ultimate authority to which Christ's disciples are responsible? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 23, 2023 5:04:46 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 23RD
The Attitude That MattersI tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything — all she had to live on. Mark 12:43b-44The religious performance among these scribes and Pharisees had reached such an absurd state of affairs that some of the Pharisees, before they made their contribution to the great collection box Jesus was watching here, actually summoned a trumpeter to go before them to get everybody's attention. Then the Pharisee would come up and proudly deposit a bag of gold in the treasury chest. He wanted everybody to see his ample gift. I heard about a dear man standing up in a meeting where an offering was taken who said, I want to give $100—anonymously. But in this passage Jesus said the one who really moved His heart and contributed tremendously to the kingdom of God was a little unnamed, unknown widow who had no influence, who had no outward posture of being worth anything. She came and put in two tiny coins that added up to no more than a penny; but because she loved the Lord her God with all her heart, all her soul, all her strength, and all her mind, she gave it. And Jesus said, She has done more for the kingdom of heaven than all the outward performances of all these others combined. What is that saying to us? We are so intent upon the fact that God wants some kind of activity on our part. We think that the way to serve God is to do spectacular or showy things—to win a lot of people to Christ or to give our time or work in open ways. Yet the Scriptures tell us over and over that works are just the channel. God wants performance, but only if the attitude of our heart is right. If you cannot do anything outwardly, your attitude may still be right—your attitude toward your neighbor and friends and your children and your husband and your wife and your boss and those who irritate you. If your attitude is one of love, love received from the God who loves you, then you are advancing the kingdom of God far, far more than all that is done outwardly by the greatest saints of our day and time. Is that not amazing! God says, You can serve me in the quiet of your home and by the gentle, sweet spirit that you display in the midst of pressures and problems. You have done more to advance the kingdom of God than those who get out and proclaim the word on public address systems everywhere. That is the way God sees life. That is both discouraging and encouraging. It is discouraging for those of us who have a public ministry. We are mentally jotting down in the back of our minds how impressed God ought to be with our performance. But God is looking at our heart. This is encouraging for us to remember in those private moments when our attitude changes. Nobody was watching, nobody saw what we were thinking, yet, instead of being short and caustic and sarcastic, we were sweet and patient and gentle. Jesus says the kingdom of God is advanced by that attitude. Lord, You have called me to this way of life, and You must empower it. Help me to be a loving instrument expressing Your quality of life today. Life ApplicationWhat is Jesus' view of pious religiosity? Why was it necessary for him to so severely denounce this sinful conduct in those proclaiming to know God? What's our attitude? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 24, 2023 4:26:20 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 24TH
Watch!Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back — whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: Watch! Mark 13:35-37Jesus gathers up all the intervening time between His first and second comings and divides it into four watches—one long night of the world's sin—and He says, You don't know (and, I think He implies, I don't know) whether the coming is to be early in that time or in the middle of it, or three-quarters of the way through, or clear at the end. No one knows. I don't know; you don't know. But it is like a man going on a journey (here He likens it to His own going away) who gives his servants work to do, and he expects them to do it. And he sets a doorkeeper to watch. What is he to watch for? Is he to watch for the master's return? That is the way this is usually interpreted. But that is not it, for he is to start watching as soon as the master leaves. He knows the master will not be back right away. What then is he to watch for? He is to watch so that no one can deceive him and gain entrance into the house and wreck and ruin and rob all the master has. So Jesus' word is, Be alert; don't go to sleep; watch! There are temptations and pressures that will assault you to make you think that it is all a lie, to make you give up and stop living like a Christian, stop walking in faith, stop believing the truth of God. Watch out for that. And in the meantime, do your work. Don't let anything turn you aside. Don't let anything derail you from being what God wants you to be in this day and age. This is the way you watch. We are not to be looking up into the sky all the time, waiting for His coming. That will happen when He is ready. We are to watch that we are not deceived. I have been disturbed at how many Christians seem to have fallen away. I look back across many years of ministry, and I see men whom I would have sworn were solid, tremendously committed, faithful, Bible-teaching Christians but who are now denying their faith and have turned aside. And on every side, seemingly, this increases—people falling off into immorality and iniquity, turning away from their faith, saying, in effect, they no longer believe the Lord or the Bible. It is this our Lord is warning against. Therefore, He says that we are to keep awake. Do not believe all the secular voices that tell us the world will go on forever as it is now. Don't believe the other voices that tell us there is no God, so we can live as we please, or that if God exists, He will never judge us. Don't believe the voices that whisper to us constantly and try to turn us away from our faith. With one sharp, arresting, ringing word of command, Jesus ends his message: Watch! Lord, strengthen me and help me to stay alert, that I may endure to the end, that I may be faithful unto death, that I too may join in that great day with those who are given the crown of life. Life ApplicationDo we need to wake up and smell the dangers of complacency and carelessness in our daily walk with God? Why must we be watchful, alert, and above all prayerful? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 25, 2023 5:16:13 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 25TH
Love's ExtravaganceLeave her alone, said Jesus. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. Mark 14:6Our Lord takes this beautiful incident and shows us the true value of it. He says five things about it that mark it as an extremely valuable act. First, He says, She has done a beautiful thing to me. The beauty of it lay in its very extravagance. This woman did not spare any of the costly ointment but broke the flask and poured the whole quantity out upon Him. Judas, with his practical computer mind, reckoned it up as worth three hundred denarii. A denarius was the day's wage for a laborer. Three hundred days' wages would be a tremendous sum. In the eyes of Judas, this woman wasted an enormous amount of money when she poured out the ointment upon Jesus. It was such a lavish act, and therein lay the beauty of it. Second, He said that it was a timely thing she had done. It was something that could only be done now. Any time you want to do good to the poor you can, because they are always around. And it is right to help the poor. But there are opportunities that come in our life that must be seized at the moment. Mary had sensed this and seized the moment to offer this gift, for such a time would never occur again. It was out of the sensitivity of her heart that she realized that the timing was right, and Jesus recognized this. Then, she did that which was feasible. That is, she did what she could. She could not fix Him a meal; there was no time for that. She could not make a garment for Him; there was no time for that. There was nothing else she could do to show her love but this. She did what she could. I am sure our Lord has called our attention to that because it is so practical for us. Someone said, I'm only a man, but I am a man. I can't do everything, but I can do something. And what I can do I ought to do. And what I ought to do, I'm available to do. The fourth element of this act was that it was insightful. Our Lord says, She has anointed my body beforehand for burying. Many times Jesus said to these disciples that He was going to die. Not one of them believed him--except Mary of Bethany. She understood that He was heading for burial. And since she could not be sure she would ever have the opportunity later to find His body and anoint it for burial, she did it now, as a loving act of service. What a comfort this must have been to our Lord! Of all these friends who were around Him at this time, only this one had the sensitivity of heart to understand what was happening. Finally, what she did was deserving of being remembered. It was memorable. Jesus said, The story of this beautiful act will be told in memory of her wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world. Here we are today, two thousand years later, fulfilling this very word, telling again of the act of Mary of Bethany when she anointed our Lord's head and feet. Father, help me to understand that Mary is but depicting a far greater sacrifice. May that act of love grip my heart and strengthen me all the days of my life. Life ApplicationThe Lord Jesus Christ has taught and exemplified extravagant, timely, self-giving love. What will it look like when we allow Him to love others through us? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 26, 2023 4:55:33 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 26TH
Watch And PrayThen he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Mark 14:37-38The enemy has little struggle with Peter. It is not even necessary to threaten to throw him to the lions or burn him at the stake. His resolve collapses by the simple expedient of making him too sleepy to pray. That is all; and that tremendous determination of will, that firm resolve, dissolves, and Peter is as weak as putty when the moment comes. He is weak because he lacks the strengthening of prayer. The devil only had to make him sleepy, that is all. I am sure this was a satanic attack. The sword Jehovah was wielding, which hurt and distressed the Son of God, was now affecting the disciples, and Satan was allowed to appear as a stealthy sandman, dropping sleep into their eyes. So they fell asleep instead of praying. Jesus analyzes the situation. He comes and finds them, and there is almost a touch of humor here. After He wakes them up, He says to these disciples, Peter, couldn't you watch one hour? Couldn't your resolve and fierce determination last at least that long? Then He tells us why Peter could not do it. The spirit is willing, Peter. I know your heart. I know you love me. Your spirit is perfectly willing. But Peter, you relied upon your flesh. The flesh is weak. We have all felt this, have we not? We have been asked to do something, and we say, The spirit is willing, but the flesh is ready for the weekend. The flesh is weak. Jesus says that is the nature of the flesh. That human sense of independence, the confidence we have in ourselves, is always weak in the hour of testing. It cannot stand the test. This is the analysis Jesus gives of Peter's problem. The key is prayer. If Peter, feeling sleepy and weak, had followed Jesus' example and cast himself upon the Father and told Him the problem, the father would have carried him through, and he would not have denied his Lord. It is our weakness that is our security, not our strength. That is why I am not terribly impressed when young people tell me how much they are going to do for God and how certain they are that they can carry it through. I have learned, out of sad experience in my own life as well as by the testimony of Scripture, that in the hour of testing, this self-confidence will all wash away. But I have confidence in the man or woman who says, I'm scared. I don't think I can do this, but I'm going to try because God tells me to. I'm looking to Him to strengthen me. Father, open my eyes and heart to understand that apart from You I can do nothing. You are the shepherd upon whom I can rely, to whom I can go in the hour of anguish and find the strength to do what You are calling me to do. Life ApplicationDo we presume to obediently follow Jesus in our own human pseudo-energy and inadequate resources? Why is prayer an urgent necessity for this faith journey? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by civic on Jan 26, 2023 13:44:50 GMT -8
Ray sure had some great devotions.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 27, 2023 11:17:43 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 27TH
Jesus And PeterHe began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, I don't know this man you're talking about. Mark 14:71 Mark is careful to point out the contrast between Jesus' speaking under oath in the inner courtroom and Peter's oath in the courtyard. Jesus said He was the Messiah, the Son of God, and Peter denied that he knew Jesus at all. That was a solemn and serious oath, and just then, Mark says, the rooster crowed the second time. Peter's conscience smote him. He knew what he had done, and according to the account here, he broke down and wept. The word for broke down is very strong in Greek. He literally went out and threw himself down on the ground in agony and tears of repentance, and remorse began to flow as he thought of what he had done. I think we can see why Mark has so carefully weaved this story together for us. Nothing intrigues me more in this account in the gospels than to see the careful way the writers of Scripture choose incidents that belong together and put them side by side. Mark has done that here so that we might see the contrast. Here is a band of priests who hate Jesus. Their hearts are filled with venom and anger and jealousy and bitterness against Him. And all of it comes spilling out in the spitting and buffeting that follow the verdict. Contrasted to this is a man who loves Jesus with all his heart and is determined to defend Him to the end. And yet, in the moment of crisis, he fails Jesus. He denies that he even knows Him. Why does Mark put these two situations side by side? He does it so that we might understand that both of them manifest the same thing; both show the undependability of human nature--the flesh, as the Bible calls it. These priests were men of the flesh, men who lived according to the ways of the world, men who were seeking for status and prestige and position. Jesus was a threat to their position and awakened their hatred and their anger, which they expressed in this terrible accusation and mockery and violence. That is the flesh at work. Everybody recognizes that hatred and anger and vehemence are wrong. But what Mark wants us to see is that the love of Peter was no better. It too was depending on the flesh, on human abilities and human resources, to carry him through. In the hour of crisis, it was no more effective than the hatred of the priests. Love and loyalty and faithfulness mean nothing when they rest on the shaky foundation of the determination of a human will. The most hopeful note here is the tears of Peter. The priests didn't weep. But Peter, when he denied his Lord, threw himself down and wept. Failure is never the end of the story. Peter's tears speak of another day that is yet to come when the Lord will deliver him and restore him, having learned a sobering and salutary lesson. Father, there will come times when I will be confronted with failure. I will find myself, like Peter, doing the very thing I didn't want to do, denying the Lord who bought me. Help me to understand that I must not count upon the power of the flesh to accomplish Your work. Life ApplicationWhen we are faced with the predictable failure of our human nature, do we settle for despair or futility? Where do we go from there? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 28, 2023 5:33:56 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 28TH
Jesus Or Barabbas?Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them Mark 15:15aAll the gospel writers tell us of Barabbas. He was a bloodthirsty revolutionary, hardnosed and bloody-handed; he was a murderer. The interesting thing about him is his name, which means son of the father. And in a most dramatic historic coincidence, according to some old manuscripts, there is some evidence that his name probably was Jesus Barabbas: Jesus, the son of the father. I do not see how we could read and understand that without knowing that this is again God silently guiding events behind the scene, bringing things to light that otherwise would never be known. For this crowd is confronted with choosing between Jesus, the son of the father, who rules by force and makes his living by his wits; and Jesus, the Son of the Father, who rules by love and is ready to sacrifice Himself. Why did they choose Barabbas? The answer seems to be that they were disappointed with Jesus. This was the crowd that, just a few days before, had welcomed Him into Jerusalem. The city was filled with people Jesus had healed. The eyes of the blind had been opened, the deaf made to hear, and the lame to walk. He had awakened within the people the hope, the flaming desire, that this was indeed the Messiah, come to deliver them from the yoke of Rome. All their ideas of messiahship centered around the thought that He would be the one who would set them free from the hated bondage of Rome. Now, when they saw Him standing helpless before the Roman governor, saw His apparent unwillingness or inability to make any defense or to do anything against the Romans, all their loyalty to Him collapsed. In anger and disappointment, they turned and chose Jesus, the son of the father, who lived by force—Barabbas the murderer. We too face the same decision these Jews had to make between Barabbas and Jesus. Have you ever been disappointed in Jesus, disappointed in God? Have you ever expected Him to act in a certain way because of what you understood about Him and His life and His nature—but He did not do things the way you thought they should be done? I have been angry and disappointed in God. I have been all but convinced that He did not live up to His promise, for I was sure that I knew what He was going to do, and God disappointed me. My heart was filled with rage that God would act that way, despite the fact that God has told us all, again and again, 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways,' declares the LORD. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts' (Isaiah 55:8-9). We cannot figure out God. He will be true to Himself, He will never lie, He will never deceive us; but He is more than we can handle. He is bigger than we are. And like this crowd, when we get angry with God and upset with Jesus and turn from Him, there is always another Jesus Barabbas waiting in the wings for us to follow. Lord I realize that life is confronting me all the time with decisions to choose Barabbas or Christ. Grant that I may choose the Lord Jesus, before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Life ApplicationWhat do we think of Jesus when our circumstances fail to match our expectations? Does that make us disappointed with Him? To whom then shall we turn? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 29, 2023 8:07:09 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 29TH
A Heart Wide Open
Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Mark 15:38 NKJVPerhaps one of the priests told Mark about the veil. But for sheer drama there is nothing like this in all of recorded history. This cry in the darkness of the cross, the dismissing of the spirit of Jesus, and the rending of the veil in the temple—Mark brings them all together in order that we might understand what these events mean. As Jesus' cry rang out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? there must have been many in the crowd who recognized that it was the opening words of Psalm 22. If you want to get the background and atmosphere of the cross, read that psalm through. There is no adequate explanation for the question that Jesus asked except that which Scripture itself gives, 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). Then there comes the loud cry of dismissal and the rending of the veil. Why did the veil split in two? It was God's dramatic way of saying for all time and for all people that the way into His heart is wide open. God is not planning revenge. All those who gathered around the cross in hatred and malice against Jesus—every one of them is welcome to come back. That is what the rent veil means. The penalty has been paid for the hateful, the cruel, the ignorant, the selfish, the empty-headed thrill seekers. The way is wide open, and God is waiting to restore the hopeless, the helpless, and the fearful. When I was just a young Christian, in my early twenties, I read a message by D. L. Moody that I have never forgotten. It was the great evangelist's imaginative description of what happened after Jesus rose from the dead. Moody says He gathered His disciples in Jerusalem and said to them, Men, I want you to go and find the priests who mocked me, who hurled in my teeth the taunt, 'He saved others, himself he could not save.' Explain to them that if I had saved myself; they would have been doomed men. But tell them there is a way wide open. The book of Acts says that as Peter and the other disciples preached in Jerusalem a large number of priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:7). Moody said that Jesus said to the disciples, Go find the soldiers who cast lots for my garments, for my seamless robe, and tell them that there is a far greater treasure awaiting them if they will come to me. They shall have not a seamless robe, but a spotless heart. All their guilt can be washed away; all their callous cruelty can be forgiven if they come. Find the centurion who thrust his spear into my side and tell him there is a closer way to my heart if he will come, just as a sinner needing forgiveness. In this beautiful scene of the rending of the veil at the moment of the death of Jesus, God is saying that the way to Him is open to us, despite the wrong attitudes we so frequently have had toward Him. Father, may I lay hold of that great word, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. I know of no greater wonder in all the universe than this. Life Application
If the cross of Christ is not to us the greatest wonder in the universe, it may well be we have not grasped its astounding impact and the timeless benefits of His death. Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 30, 2023 4:41:06 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 30TH
The Rumor Of HopeDon't be alarmed, he said. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you. Mark 16:6-7The words of the angel to these women contain the answer to all the skepticism of over twenty centuries. For the angel said some things to them that answer most of the claims that have ever been raised in questioning the actuality of the resurrection. The first thing the angel said was, This Jesus of Nazareth, this One who was crucified, this same One whom you seek, has indeed risen from the dead. Many of the attempts to explain this away say that the women went to the wrong tomb or that they found the wrong person. That whole question is answered here by the angel. He says to the women, This very same Jesus, the One you knew from Nazareth, the Jesus who was crucified, whom you saw on the cross with the nails in His hands and the blood running down His side, that same One is risen from the dead. Then he said to them, He is not here. That is, He is not only risen; He is not here. And in those words he makes clear that, though Jesus is risen, there is nevertheless a real tie with our humanity. He is not just a spirit. This is not a spiritual resurrection but a bodily resurrection. It was the body of Jesus that rose from the dead. There are cults today who claim that what happened was that the spirit of Jesus rose, and He now lives spiritually only. But the Bible consistently defends the proposition that it was the dead body that was put into the grave, which also rose from the dead. He is not here. He is a person yet, a human person with a human body—changed, yes—but still human. And in that human body He rose from the dead. The third thing the angel says is put in these extraordinary words that only Mark records: But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee.' That is a wonderful touch. What a gentle, tender word that is! The last time we saw Peter in this gospel account, he was standing in the courtyard of the high priest during the trial of Jesus. And a little maiden kept following him around, saying, I know you. You were with Him, weren't you? Peter kept denying it. He went out into the darkness of the night, weeping bitterly. What a tender thing it is for the angel to say to these women, Go and tell the disciples and Peter that He goes before you to Galilee. It puts him right back into the apostolic band. That says that Jesus is available to individuals—not just to the crowd at large, not just to the world in general, or the church, but to you. Put your own name in there. This accessibility to individuals has been the hallmark of Christianity ever since. Each one of us can know Him personally, intimately—not just as a figure of history nor as a coming king nor in a general sense, as we know about the president of the United States, but in that close, personal, real, conscious sense of knowing that we share in the most intimate human communion. Lord Jesus, thank You that You are, indeed, what you promised to be—a living Lord—and that You can enter my life and begin to bring me out of despair into hope, out of death into resurrection. Life ApplicationWhat is the profound impact of Jesus' actual bodily resurrection on us personally? How is it affecting our intimacy with Jesus? Do we acknowledge His life in our body? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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Post by Obadiah on Jan 31, 2023 5:07:47 GMT -8
A DAILY DEVOTION FOR JANUARY 31ST
Believe!Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. Mark 16:14The key to this passage is the word believe. That emphasis is in line with the thrust of Mark's gospel, because this gospel does not present Christianity as just a nice story, a fascinating account of events that took place in the first century. It stresses the fact that the death and resurrection of Christ is something to be believed, and it is intended to change lives. As we act on our belief, it changes us. Mark wants us to understand what a climate of persistent and stubborn unbelief prevailed among these disciples after the resurrection. They found it difficult to accept this amazing fact, that the one they had seen crucified was now risen and living among them again. The significant thing here is that Jesus expected the Eleven to believe before they saw Him. He wanted and expected them to believe the reports of the eyewitnesses who had seen Him. They were trustworthy persons and were reporting what they had actually experienced, and that should have been enough to convince these disciples that Jesus was risen from the dead. So concerned about this is the risen, living Lord, that He rebukes them for their unbelief, even as He did in the days of His flesh. He takes them to task because they refused to believe those who had seen Him. You can see the importance He attributes to this matter of believing the eyewitnesses. John's gospel tells us that a week later Jesus appeared to them when Thomas, who had not been with them when He appeared the first time, was present. Jesus invited Thomas to examine Him, to put his hand on His side and touch the nail prints in His hands and feet. Thomas did so and fell down at his feet, crying, My Lord and my God! (John 20:28b). Jesus said, Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29). Years later when Peter is writing his letters to the Christians he says to them, Though you have not seen him you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8). One thing is clear from this account in Mark: When we have adequate, trustworthy witnesses who report to us what they have seen, we are expected to respond with belief. These men saw the risen Lord. They were granted a privilege that we are not granted; but, nevertheless, our faith can rest upon a solid foundation. Even though we have not seen Him, we believe because of the eyewitness accounts here. Lord, I believe! Thank You for the good news that Jesus Christ is not dead but alive and that He lives within my heart and has the power to break the chains of sin and the bondage of evil in my life. Life ApplicationDo we think of Christianity as just a nice story? Have we looked and found there is historic, trustworthy evidence of the gospel on which to base our faith and our lives? Daily Devotion © 2006, 2023 by Ray Stedman Ministries.
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