Daily Devotions with Greg Laurie – Tuesday,
7 January 2014 – “Contemplating the Cross”
Thank God! He gives us victory over sin
and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)
I heard about a man who tried to start
his own religion but soon found that it didn't go so well. He decided to
approach the French statesman Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-érigord and ask him
what he should do to gain converts. The statesman told him, "I recommend
that you get yourself crucified, die, and then rise again on the third
day."
Jesus' death on the cross and His
resurrection on the third day is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. It is
what sets our faith as Christians apart from the faith of all others. Yet many
view Christ's crucifixion as a rude interruption of what was an otherwise
successful ministry. But the cross was at the forefront of the mind of Jesus
Christ from the very beginning. This is where He knew He was headed, and He
spoke of it often. The Bible even tells us that before He even came to this
earth, a decision was made that He would ultimately go to the cross. Scripture
calls Him "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"
(Revelation 13:8 NLT).
It was at the cross that the righteous
demands of God were satisfied. It was at the cross that God and humanity were
reconciled once again. It was at the cross that a decisive blow was dealt
against Satan and his minions. It was at the cross that our very salvation was
purchased. Therefore, we can't talk about the cross too much — or contemplate
it too often.
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Today's Bible Reading:
Genesis A Son Promised to Abraham and
Sarah
18: The Lord appeared to Abraham[a] by
the oaks[b] of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the
day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he
ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3 He
said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a
little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the
tree. 5 Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after
that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as
you have said.” 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make
ready quickly three measures[c] of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” 7
Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the
servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf
that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the
tree while they ate.
9 They said to him, “Where is your wife
Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 Then one said, “I will surely
return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah
was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were
old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband
is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah
laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is
anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in
due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied, saying, “I did
not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”
Judgment Pronounced on Sodom
16 Then the men set out from there, and
they looked toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to set them on their way.
17 The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing
that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the
earth shall be blessed in him?[d] 19 No, for I have chosen[e] him, that he may
charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by
doing righteousness and justice; so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham
what he has promised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry
against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 21 I must go down and
see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to
me; and if not, I will know.”
22 So the men turned from there, and went
toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord.[f] 23 Then
Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the
wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then
sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it?
25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I
find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for
their sake.” 27 Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the
Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are
lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I
will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him,
“Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not
do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose
thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty
there.” 31 He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose
twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not
destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just
once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I
will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished
speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
The Depravity of Sodom
19: The two angels came to Sodom in the
evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he
rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 He said,
“Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and
wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we
will spend the night in the square.” 3 But he urged them strongly; so they turned
aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked
unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the
city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man,
surrounded the house; 5 and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to
you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.” 6 Lot went out of
the door to the men, shut the door after him, 7 and said, “I beg you, my
brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have not
known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only
do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” 9
But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien,
and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.”
Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it
down. 10 But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the
house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men
who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were
unable to find the door.
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed
12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you
anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the
city—bring them out of the place. 13 For we are about to destroy this place,
because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the
Lord has sent us to destroy it.” 14 So Lot went out and said to his
sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for
the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be
jesting.
15 When morning dawned, the angels urged
Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or
else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.” 16 But he lingered;
so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord
being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city.
17 When they had brought them outside, they[g] said, “Flee for your life; do
not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you
will be consumed.” 18 And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; 19 your servant has
found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life;
but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I
die. 20 Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let
me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved!” 21 He said
to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city
of which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until
you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar.[h] 23 The sun had risen
on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and
Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those
cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew
on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a
pillar of salt.
27 Abraham went early in the morning to
the place where he had stood before the Lord; 28 and he looked down toward
Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of
the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.
29 So it was that, when God destroyed the
cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of
the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.
The Shameful Origin of Moab and Ammon
30 Now Lot went up out of Zoar and
settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar;
so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. 31 And the firstborn said to the
younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us
after the manner of all the world. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine,
and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our
father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn
went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she
rose. 34 On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I lay last
night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in
and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.” 35 So
they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger rose, and
lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose. 36 Thus
both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. 37 The firstborn bore
a son, and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. 38
The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the
Ammonites to this day.
Footnotes:
a. Genesis 18:1 Heb him
b. Genesis 18:1 Or terebinths
c. Genesis 18:6 Heb seahs
d. Genesis 18:18 Or and all the nations
of the earth shall bless themselves by him
e. Genesis 18:19 Heb known
f. Genesis 18:22 Another ancient
tradition reads while the Lord remained standing before Abraham
g. Genesis 19:17 Gk Syr Vg: Heb he
h. Genesis 19:22 That is Little
Psalm 3: Trust in God under Adversity
A Psalm of David, when he fled from his
son Absalom.
1 O Lord, how many are my foes!
Many are rising against me;
2 many are saying to me,
“There is no help for you[a] in God.”Selah
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield around
me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
4 I cry aloud to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy hill.Selah
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I am not afraid of ten thousands of
people
who have set themselves against me all around.
7 Rise up, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
For you strike all my enemies on the
cheek;
you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 Deliverance belongs to the Lord;
may your blessing be on your people!Selah
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 3:2 Syr: Heb him
Luke Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant
7: After Jesus[a] had finished all his
sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion there
had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. 3 When
he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and
heal his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly,
saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, 5 for he loves our people,
and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” 6 And Jesus went with them, but
when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him,
“Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my
roof; 7 therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word,
and let my servant be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, with
soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’
and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” 9 When Jesus
heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he
said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 When those
who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
Jesus Raises the Widow’s Son at Nain
11 Soon afterwards[b] he went to a town
called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he
approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He
was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd
from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to
her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the
bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” 15 The dead
man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus[c] gave him to his mother. 16 Fear
seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen
among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” 17 This word about him
spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.
Messengers from John the Baptist
18 The disciples of John reported all
these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples 19 and sent them to
the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for
another?” 20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has
sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for
another?’” 21 Jesus[d] had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues,
and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. 22 And he
answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind
receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers[e] are cleansed, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. 23 And blessed is
anyone who takes no offense at me.”
24 When John’s messengers had gone,
Jesus[f] began to speak to the crowds about John:[g] “What did you go out into
the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go
out to see? Someone[h] dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine
clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. 26 What then did you go out
to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is the one
about whom it is written,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of
you,
who will prepare your way before you.’
28 I tell you, among those born of women
no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater
than he.” 29 (And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors,
acknowledged the justice of God,[i] because they had been baptized with John’s
baptism. 30 But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the
lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)
31 “To what then will I compare the
people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children
sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, and you did
not dance;
we wailed, and you did not weep.’
33 For John the Baptist has come eating
no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; 34 the Son of Man
has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a
friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by
all her children.”
A Sinful Woman Forgiven
36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus[j] to
eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the
table. 37 And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was
eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38 She
stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her
tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and
anointing them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him
saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known
who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus spoke up and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
“Teacher,” he replied, “speak.” 41 “A certain creditor had two debtors; one
owed five hundred denarii,[k] and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay,
he canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.”
And Jesus[l] said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the
woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave
me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried
them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has
not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she
has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which
were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to
whom little is forgiven, loves little.” 48 Then he said to her, “Your sins are
forgiven.” 49 But those who were at the table with him began to say among
themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 And he said to the woman,
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Footnotes:
a. Luke 7:1 Gk he
b. Luke 7:11 Other ancient authorities
read Next day
c. Luke 7:15 Gk he
d. Luke 7:21 Gk He
e. Luke 7:22 The terms leper and leprosy
can refer to several diseases
f. Luke 7:24 Gk he
g. Luke 7:24 Gk him
h. Luke 7:25 Or Why then did you go out?
To see someone
i. Luke 7:29 Or praised God
j. Luke 7:36 Gk him
k. Luke 7:41 The denarius was the usual
day’s wage for a laborer
l. Luke 7:43 Gk he
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie
P.O. Box 4000
Riverside, CA 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1(800)821-3300
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