Turning Point with David Jeremiah

[Judy Harder]

Wednesday, January 23

Bitter Coffee

Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.
Deuteronomy 16:17

Recommended Reading
Deuteronomy 16:13-17 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2016:13-17&version=NKJV )

In November, 1954, Don Neal of New Castle, Indiana, returned home from the Marines, married his girlfriend, bought a house, and started working for the phone company making $47 a week. He and Mary had decided to tithe from their income; but times were hard and Don secretly kept back a few dimes each week as coffee money.

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"Some people say the Lord spoke to them," Don said. "I didn't hear an audible voice, but my heart became deeply burdened for what I was doing. I finally went to my wife and confessed my sin. I told her that regardless of what happened to us, we would be faithful to tithe from that moment, even if they turned off the lights, gas, and water. That was 57 years ago, the bills have all been paid, the utilities have stayed on, and God is faithful."

A few dimes don't seem like much, but integrity is of great value. God loves honest givers as well as cheerful ones. And His people soon learn they can never "outgive" Him.

You can't outgive God. Why not try it and see for yourself?
Greg Laurie

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Exodus 24-27

[Judy Harder]

Thursday, January 24

Investing in Gold

The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
Revelation 21:18

Recommended Reading
Revelation 21:14-21 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2021:14-21&version=NKJV )

In Carson City, Nevada, there's a 1200-square-foot house now for sale on a quiet street. Its sole occupant passed away. He was a reclusive man, having only $200 in his bank account at the time of his death. But when authorities cleared out his home, they found several boxes neatly wrapped in aluminum foil. They were filled with coins that the man had collected over the years. Gold coins. Their combined value amounted to seven million dollars.

Listen to Today's Radio Message (http://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio.aspx?tid=email_listenedevo )

Television advertisers are telling us to invest in gold. That may or may not be a good idea; but it's worth pointing out that the reclusive man in Carson City didn't take a single gold coin with him into eternity.

There's an old song that says, "I'm satisfied with just a cottage below, a little silver and a little gold." It's great to have provisions on earth, but our greatest treasure is still ahead. Don't let gold become your god, or money your master. "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).

And some day yonder we will never more wander but walk on streets that are purest gold.
Ira Stamphill

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Exodus 28-30 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2028-30&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Friday, January 25

Taste Test

As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
2 Samuel 22:31; Psalm 18:30

Recommended Reading
Psalm 34:8 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2034:8&version=NKJV )

It is now standard practice in the retail industry for a "100 percent satisfaction guarantee" to be advertised -- especially online. Many products ordered over the Internet arrive with a preprinted return label in the box so the product can be easily shipped back to the retailer with a minimum of trouble. The goal is to take the risk out of shopping for the consumer, to encourage the consumer to order a product, test it, and hopefully fall in love with it.

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Unlike consumer products, God is perfect and has no defects. There is no need for Him to issue a guarantee of satisfaction. Yet God encourages us to take Him at His Word so He can prove His faithfulness -- as He did to the Jews who returned from the exile in Persia (Malachi 3:10). Many food retailers allow customers to taste a sample of a food before buying. The psalmist David used that same language when he wrote, "Oh, taste and see that the LORD  is  good; blessed  is  the man  who  trusts in Him!" (Psalm 34:.

If you are having doubts about trusting the Lord, test Him; taste Him and see that He is good. The Christian life is stepping out in faith, believing that God is faithful (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Though men are false, God is faithful.
Matthew Henry

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Exodus 31-34

                 

[Judy Harder]

Weekend, January 26 & 27

Lessons of the 13s for 2013: Demonstrate Love in 2013 (1 Corinthians 13)

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13

Recommended Reading
Galatians 5:6 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205:6&version=NKJV )

Do you have ministry plans for 2013? Perhaps you have an assignment to teach a Sunday school class, lead a Bible study, or head up a committee in your church. Or perhaps you sing in the choir or participate in a worship team. Or maybe your ministry is one of hospitality to those in your neighborhood, or caring for the less fortunate or homeless in an inner city or urban setting.

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The apostle Paul described three kinds of ministries in 1 Corinthians 13 before issuing a qualifier for each. He wrote of using the gift of tongues, of speaking forth with the gift of prophecy, and caring for the poor through a ministry of benevolence (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). In each case, he said, those ministries count for nothing unless they are enveloped by the love of Christ. Ministries of service and leadership and caring benefit neither the giver nor the receiver if they are not carried out with  agape,  the God-kind of love -- sacrificial, uncaused, and unconditional.

Ask God to fill you with His kind of love every day in 2013 -- the kind of love that will ensure people know your service is from Christ Himself.

It is possible to be so active in the service of Christ as to forget to love Him.
P. T. Forsyth

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Exodus 35-40

[Judy Harder]

Monday, January 28

Positioning for God, Not Money

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:34

Recommended Reading
Luke 19:1-10 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2019:1-10&version=NKJV )

Jesus didn't need the media to attract an audience. Walking the crowded Jericho streets, He even attracted attention from the city's tax collector, Zacchaeus. After spying this rich man perched in a sycamore tree, Jesus called him down; and the crowd complained, "What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?" (Luke 19, The Message)

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That's what drew the crowds. Jesus did the unexpected, the unexplained. And He tackled a subject many pastors tend to ignore: money. Dr. John MacArthur points out, "Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables of Jesus deal with money. One out of ten verses in the New Testament deals with that subject. Scripture offers about five hundred verses on prayer, fewer than five hundred on faith, and over two thousand on money. The believer's attitude toward money and possessions is determinative."1

We can learn from Zacchaeus. As he drew near to Jesus, his prideful, calculating soul was convicted. When he met Jesus, his priorities changed along with his financial stewardship. We should do likewise.

I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.
John Wesley

1 John MacArthur,  The MacArthur New Testament Commentary,  Matthew 1-7 (Chicago: Moody Press, 1985), 418.

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Leviticus 1-4 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%201-4&version=NKJV )

[Judy Harder]

Tuesday, January 29

God-Centered or Me-Centered

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."
Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NIV 84)

Recommended Reading
1 Corinthians 15:55-58 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015:55-58&version=NKJV )

Wake up ... commute ... work ... commute ... sleep -- repeat. It's a schedule replayed daily around the globe. With such a predictable existence, all mankind must have the same outlook on life, right? But nothing could be further from the truth. There's great diversity in how each of us approaches life.

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King Solomon, a true achiever with no equal on earth, minced no words penning the Book of Ecclesiastes. He called the cycles of life futile. Glaring statistics show the absence of meaning and purpose in many people's lives -- with the high rates of substance abuse, promiscuity, and suicide. But Solomon's observation does not leave us despondent. It concludes with a positive challenge to uphold a Christian worldview: fear God and keep His commandments.

True, our days can be filled with frustrations, and life at times is puzzling. But for the believer, lasting happiness is discovered when we center our lives on God. That worldview gives your morning alarm purpose. It changes your commute into communion as you ready yourself to glorify God in your work. Yes, work is man's crowning achievement on earth -- when you focus on God and not on yourself.

God judges what we give by what we keep.
George Muller

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Leviticus 5-7

[Judy Harder]

Wednesday, January 30

What's the Use?

I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove ... I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold.
Ecclesiastes 2:6-8

Recommended Reading
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%202:24-26&version=NKJV )

Last fall archaeologists found an ancient water reservoir in Jerusalem dating from Solomon's age. It was discovered near the Temple Mount and was apparently constructed to provide water for ritual cleansing, drinking, sanitation, and irrigation. In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon described his vast public works projects in Jerusalem including his water pools and parks. Yet none of it satisfied him. As he climbed down the ladder into his reservoir or gazed up at his splendid temple, there must have been a feeling of accomplishment; but, oddly, not of fulfillment. He bemoaned, "What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:3)

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Solomon seemed to realize that without God, our ambitions and accumulations are empty. "Who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him?" he asked (Ecclesiastes 2:25, HCSB). Only a relationship with Christ can satisfy our hearts. Without Him we have nothing. With Him we have all things to enjoy.

Make Him the Source, the Center, and the One who encompasses every delight of your soul.
Charles Spurgeon

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Leviticus 8-10

[Judy Harder]

Thursday, January 31

Help, or Harmonic Convergence?

I will lift up my eyes to the hills -- from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2

Recommended Reading
Psalm 121 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%20Psalm%20121&version=NKJV )

What did the psalmist mean when he said he was looking to the hills for help? He certainly didn't mean that the hills themselves provided help. He wasn't like the New Age thinkers in Arizona who suggest that the red hills around Sedona emit a "harmonic convergence" that gives healing and strength to visitors. Nor was he expecting the cavalry to come charging over the hills like in a TV Western.

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Though various commentators of Psalm 121 offer different suggestions, perhaps the simplest explanation is the best. The psalmist, in facing great difficulty, looked up and saw the hills that God had made. And he said to himself: "The Creator of heaven and earth is my Lord, and if He can create all things, He can surely take care of me."

In searching for meaning and security in life, don't look to temporal pleasures or enjoyments. Instead look to the One who made the mountains rise, who spread the flowing seas abroad and built the lofty skies. Your help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth.

Mine eyes look toward the mountains, help cometh from on high, from God who never slumbers, whose care is ever nigh.
A Swedish paraphrase of Psalm 121

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Leviticus 11-13

[Judy Harder]

Friday, February 1

Square Peg, Round Hole

For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2 Corinthians 5:4 NIV

Recommended Reading
Ecclesiastes 3:11  ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%20Ecclesiastes%203:11%20&version=NKJV )

Almost every child grew up with some version of a small wooden bench with geometrical shapes cut in the top -- a circle, square, triangle, and others. There were also wooden pegs in shapes that matched the openings cut in the top of the bench. The child's task was to match each peg with the correct opening -- and pound the peg through with a small wooden mallet. The learning lesson came when the child discovered that a square peg wouldn't fit in a round hole.

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Christians often feel like a square peg in a round hole while journeying through their life on earth. Something doesn't fit; something doesn't feel right. We look around at some realities on earth -- war, poverty, discord, greed -- and it doesn't look like God. If you feel that way, you are not alone. The apostle Paul groaned and felt burdened with the same feeling. He longed to be clothed with the pure garments of heaven, casting aside the soil and stain of sin on earth.

When you have that "something's not right here" feeling, remind yourself that you are a citizen of heaven, that this world is not your home.

If contentment were here, heaven would not be heaven.
Samuel Rutherford

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Leviticus 14-15

[Judy Harder]

Weekend, February 2 & 3

Words from the Wise: David

And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him.
1 Samuel 18:14

Recommended Reading
1 Samuel 18:12-16 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2018:12-16&version=NKJV )

When was the last time you saw a young superstar, political leader, celebrity, or youthful VIP who was truly wise? There are a few of them, but most hotshots don't have the maturity to handle early fame. That's why so many NFL players get into trouble, and why so many rock superstars die young. Even Susan Boyle -- no spring chicken -- struggled with renown after becoming an overnight sensation on Britain's Got Talent. She told the Today Show that sudden fame is "a lot like a giant demolition ball."

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But God can give wisdom to both young and old, both famous and obscure. When the shepherd-boy David suddenly became famous after defeating Goliath, he behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. None of us knows when we'll be noticed by the crowds; but all of us are noticed by someone each day. If we learn God's wisdom in obscurity, we'll be able to practice it whatever comes. How can you behave a little more wisely today?

If you lack knowledge, go to school. If you lack wisdom, get on your knees.
Vance Havner

Read-Thru-the-Bible
Leviticus 16-18, Leviticus 19-21 ( http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2016-18,%20Leviticus%2019-21&version=NKJV )