The Harvest Ministry Daily Devotion by Greg Laurie from The Harvest Church of Riverside, California, United States for Tuesday, May 19, 2015 "Restoration, Not Condemnation"
Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.[Galatians 6:1]
The way some people behave, you would think that the Bible says, "If another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should first gloat about it and make sure that you condemn him or her for it. Then proceed to tell as many people as possible."
The Bible doesn't say that, of course. Here is what it does say: "Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself" (Galatians 6:1).
The idea is to lift up those who are overtaken by sin, not condemn them. The idea is to restore—not destroy—them. Notice this verse says, "You who are godly." A truly godly man or woman will seek to restore such a person. James 5:19–20 tells us, "My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins."
One day, God forbid, it could be you. We should never lower our guard or rest on our laurels spiritually. No matter how long you have known the Lord, don't think that you are above falling, because you could fall. Any believer could. That is why we want to always be moving forward, walking with God and progressing spiritually. We never want to coast along in neutral.
And if you know someone who has fallen into sin, then your goal should be to restore, not to destroy. Your goal should be to help him or her, because the next time it could be you.
Share this today:
No matter how long you have known the Lord, don't think that you are above falling, because you could fall. Any believer could.
Today's Bible Reading
1 Kings 4:1 King Shlomo was king over all Isra’el, 2 and these were his high officials:
‘Azaryah the son of Tzadok, the cohen;
3 Elichoref and Achiyah the sons of Shisha, secretaries;
Y’hoshafat the son of Achilud, secretary of state;
4 B’nayah the son of Y’hoyada, commander of the army;
Tzadok and Evyatar, cohanim;
5 ‘Azaryah the son of Natan, chief administrator;
Zavud the son of Natan, the king’s trusted counselor;
6 Achishar, in charge of the palace;
Adoniram the son of ‘Avda, in charge of forced labor.
7 Shlomo had twelve officers over all Isra’el who were in charge of providing food and supplies for the king and his household; each one was in charge of provisions for one month out of the year. 8 They were:
the son of Hur, in the hills of Efrayim;
9 the son of Deker, in Makatz, Sha‘albim, Beit-Shemesh and Eilon-Beit-Hanan;
10 the son of Hesed, in Arubot; he also had charge of Sokhoh and all the territory of Hefer;
11 the son of Avinadav, in all the area of Dor; he had Tafat the daughter of Shlomo as his wife;
12 Ba‘ana the son of Achilud, in Ta‘anakh, Megiddo, and all Beit-Sh’an by Tzartan below Yizre‘el, from Beit-Sh’an to Avel-M’cholah, as far as beyond Yokme‘am;
13 the son of Gever, in Ramot-Gil‘ad; he was in charge of the villages of Ya’ir the son of M’nasheh in Gil‘ad and in charge of the region of Argov in Bashan, sixty large cities with walls and bronze bars;
14 Achinadav the son of ‘Iddo, in Machanayim;
15 Achima‘atz, in Naftali; he also took Basmat the daughter of Shlomo as his wife;
16 Ba‘ana the son of Hushai, in Asher and in Alot;
17 Y’hoshafat the son of Paruach, in Yissakhar;
18 Shim‘i the son of Ela, in Binyamin; and
19 Gever the son of Uri, in the land of Gil‘ad, the country of Sichon king of the Emori and ‘Og king of Bashan.
Over all these, there was one administrator in the land.
20 Y’hudah and Isra’el were as numerous as sand grains on the seashore; they ate, drank and enjoyed themselves.
5:1 (4:21) Shlomo ruled over all the kingdoms from the [Euphrates] River through the land of the P’lishtim to the border of Egypt; they paid tribute and served Shlomo as long as he lived. 2 (4:22) Shlomo’s provisions for one day consisted of 150 bushels of fine flour, 310 bushels of meal, 3 (4:23) ten fattened oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen and one hundred sheep, in addition to deer, gazelles, roebucks and fattened poultry. 4 (4:24) For he ruled all the area this side of the [Euphrates] River, from Tifsach to ‘Azah. He was over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace all around him, on every side. 5 (4:25) From Dan to Be’er-Sheva, Y’hudah and Isra’el lived securely, every man under his vine and fig tree, throughout the lifetime of Shlomo. 6 (4:26) Shlomo also had 40,000 stalls for the horses used with his chariots and 12,000 horsemen.
7 (4:27) Those officers [named above] supplied food and other materials for King Shlomo and for everyone for whom Shlomo provided. Each was responsible for his month’s supplies; they saw to it that nothing was lacking. 8 (4:28) They also made sure there was barley and straw where it was needed for the horses and draft animals; each filled his quota.
9 (4:29) God gave Shlomo exceptional wisdom and understanding, as well as a heart as vast as the sandy beach by the sea. 10 (4:30) Shlomo’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of the people from the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 11 (4:31) For he was wiser than everyone — wiser than Eitan the Ezrachi and wiser than Heiman, Kalkol and Darda the sons of Machol; so that his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 12 (4:32) He composed 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. 13 (4:33) He could discuss trees, from the cedar in the L’vanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall; he could discuss wild animals, poultry, reptiles and fish. 14 (4:34) People from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Shlomo, including kings from all over the earth who had heard of his wisdom.
15 (1) Hiram king of Tzor sent his servants to Shlomo, because he had heard that they had anointed him king in his father’s place, and Hiram had always loved David. 16 (2) Shlomo returned this message to Hiram: 17 (3) “You know that David my father wasn’t able to build a house for the name of Adonai his God, because of the wars that beset him from every side, until Adonai put his enemies under the soles of my feet. 18 (4) But now Adonai my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor calamity. 19 (5) So now I intend to build a house for the name of Adonai my God, in keeping with what Adonai said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, will be the one to build the house for my name.’ 20 (6) Therefore, order your people to cut down cedar trees from the L’vanon for me. My servants will be with your servants. I will pay your servants according to everything you say; for you know that we have no one among us as skilled in felling trees as the Tzidonim.”
21 (7) When Hiram heard Shlomo’s message, he was very happy and said, “Blessed be Adonai today, who has given David a wise son to rule this great people.” 22 (8) Then Hiram sent Shlomo this message: “I have heard the message you sent me, and I will do everything you want concerning cedar logs and cypress logs. 23 (9) My servants will bring them down from the L’vanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to whatever place you tell me and will have them broken up there, and you will receive them. You will compensate me by providing food for my household.”
24 (10) So Hiram gave Shlomo all the cedar logs and cypress logs he wanted; 25 (11) and Shlomo gave Hiram 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and a thousand gallons of oil from pressed olives — this is what Shlomo gave Hiram each year. 26 (12) Adonai gave Shlomo wisdom, as he had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Shlomo — the two of them formed an alliance together.
27 (13) King Shlomo conscripted 30,000 men from all Isra’el for forced labor. 28 (14) He sent them to the L’vanon in monthly relays of 10,000; they would stay a month in the L’vanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor.
29 (15) Shlomo had 70,000 men to carry loads and another 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, 30 (16) besides Shlomo’s 3,300 supervisors who were in charge of the people doing the work. 31 (17) The king gave orders; and they quarried large stones, expensive stones, to lay the foundation of the house with cut stone. 32 (18) Shlomo’s and Hiram’s builders, along with the men from G’val, worked the stones and prepared the timber and stones for building the house.
2 Chronicles 2:1 (2) Shlomo enlisted 70,000 men who carried loads, another 80,000 men who were stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 supervising them. 2 (3) Then Shlomo sent this message to Huram the king of Tzor: “[Deal with me] as you dealt with David my father when you sent him cedar logs, so that he could build himself a palace to live in. 3 (4) Here, I am about to build a house for the name of Adonai my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before Him incense made of sweet spices; the house will also be for the continuing showbread and for the burnt offerings presented every morning and evening, on the shabbats, at every Rosh-Hodesh, and at the designated times of Adonai our God. This is a perpetual regulation for Isra’el. 4 (5) The house I will build will be great, because our God is greater than all gods. 5 (6) But who is equal to building him a house? Why, heaven itself, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain him; so who am I to build him a house, except to offer sacrifices before him?
6 (7) “Now, therefore, send me a man skilled at working with gold, silver, bronze and iron; dealing with purple, crimson, and blue dyed materials; and capable of doing all kinds of engraving. He will be with the skilled craftsmen I have with me in Y’hudah and Yerushalayim, whom David my father provided. 7 (8) Also send me cedar, cypress and sandalwood logs from the L’vanon; for I know that your servants are skilled in cutting timber in the L’vanon. I will have my servants work together with your servants 8 (9) to prepare me an abundant supply of timber, for the house I am about to build must be magnificent and wonderful. 9 (10) I will give your servants, the woodcutters who cut the timber, 100,000 bushels of cracked wheat, 100,000 bushels of barley, 100,000 gallons of wine, and 100,000 gallons of olive oil.”
10 (11) Huram the king of Tzor wrote this answer and sent it to Shlomo: “Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you king over them.” 11 (12) Huram continued, “Blessed be Adonai, the God of Isra’el, who made heaven and earth, who has given David the king a wise, knowledgeable son with common sense to build a house for Adonai and a royal palace for himself. 12 (13) Now I am sending a man of skill and understanding, my master craftsman Huram, 13 (14) the son of a woman who was one of the daughters of Dan, while his father was a man from Tzor. He is skilled in working gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and timber, as well as purple and blue dyed materials, fine linen and crimson material; he can do any kind of engraving; and he can make all the equipment necessary to accomplish any task assigned to him, with the help of your craftsmen and those of my lord David your father. 14 (15) Therefore let my lord send his servants the wheat, barley, oil and wine he has spoken of; 15 (16) and we will cut wood from the L’vanon, as much as you need; we will float it to you as rafts by sea to Yafo, and you will take it up to Yerushalayim.”
16 (17) Shlomo took a census of all the foreigners in the land of Isra’el, following the pattern of the census of David his father; they were found to number 153,600. 17 (18) He appointed 70,000 of them to carry loads, 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills and 3,600 as supervisors to assign the people their work.
Psalm 101:(0) A psalm of David:
(1) I am singing of grace and justice;
I am singing to you, Adonai.
2 I will follow the path of integrity;
when will you come to me?
I will run my life with a sincere heart
inside my own house.
3 I will not allow before my eyes
any shameful thing.
I hate those who act crookedly;
what they do does not attract me.
4 Deviousness will depart from me;
I will not tolerate evil.
5 If someone slanders another in secret,
I will cut him off.
Haughty eyes and proud hearts
I cannot abide.
6 I look to the faithful of the land,
so that they can be my companions;
those who live lives of integrity
can be servants of mine.
7 No deceitful person can live in my house;
no liar can be my advisor.
8 Every morning I will destroy
all the wicked of the land,
cutting off all evildoers
from the city of Adonai.
2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the Lord’s message may spread rapidly and receive honor, just as it did with you; 2 and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has trust. 3 But the Lord is worthy of trust; he will make you firm and guard you from the Evil One. 4 Yes, united with the Lord we are confident about you, that you are doing the things we are telling you to do, and that you will keep on doing them. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and the perseverance which the Messiah gives.
6 Now, in the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah we command you, brothers, to stay away from any brother who is leading a life of idleness, a life not in keeping with the tradition you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you must imitate us, that we were not idle when we were among you. 8 We did not accept anyone’s food without paying; on the contrary, we labored and toiled, day and night, working so as not to be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not that we hadn’t the right to be supported, but so that we could make ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: if someone won’t work, he shouldn’t eat! 11 We hear that some of you are leading a life of idleness — not busy working, just busybodies! 12 We command such people — and in union with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah we urge them — to settle down, get to work, and earn their own living. 13 And you brothers who are doing what is good, don’t slack off! 14 Furthermore, if anyone does not obey what we are saying in this letter, take note of him and have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed. 15 But don’t consider him an enemy; on the contrary, confront him as a brother and try to help him change.
16 Now may the Lord of shalom himself give you shalom always in all ways. The Lord be with all of you.
17 The greeting in my own handwriting: From Sha’ul. This is the mark of genuineness in every letter, this is what my handwriting looks like.
18 The grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you all.
Harvest Ministries with Greg LaurieP.O. Box 4000
Riverside, California 92514-4000 United States
Phone: 1-800-821-3300
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