August 26, 2010

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Devotions: Ps 18; Job 8:1-22; Acts 10:17-33; Jn 7:14-36

Lord, You are my Strength, the Rock of my salvation! You have delivered me from death by Your might and kindness. You scatter my enemies and light my way. With My god I can see in the dark, I can drush a troop and leap over the barriers in my way. God enables me to scale the heights and walk securely on the crags. Lord, You gird me with strength and deliver me from harm. YHWH lives, and blessed is my Rock. All praise to YHWH!

Bildad the Shuhite spoke to Job: 'How long will you contend so? God never perverts justice; your children must have sinned for God to wipe them out. God rewards virtue and punishes sin. They perish who forget God. But God does not reject and blameless man. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. Your enemies will be ashamed and the tents of the wicked will vanish.

Peter was perplexed by his vision on the housetop in Joppa—but immdiately, the three men sent by Cornelius arrived at the gate and called out, inquiring whether Simon Peter was lodging there. The Spirit said to Peter, 'Behold, three men are looking for you. Get up and go down and accompany them without hesitation. I have sent them.' Peter did as God said, and they announced, 'Cornelius, a centurion, an upright God-fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you and to hear whatever you have to say.' Peter invited them in and they were his guests. The next day, they rose early and set out for Caesarea; some Christians from Joppa accompanied Peter. The following day, they entered Caesarea, and Cornelius greeted them, falling facedown before Peter, who lifted the centurion to his feet, saying, 'Stand up. I'm just a man, like you.' As they talked, Cornelius led his guests into the house, and many relatives and friends were gathered, waiting. Peter said to them all, 'You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or visit anyone from another nation; but God has shown me that I should call no one common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Why did you send for me?' Cornelius answered him: 'Four days ago, about this time, I was keeping the ninth hour in prayer in my house. And behold, a man stood before me in shining apparel, saying, "Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Therefore, send to Joppa and ask for Simon Peter; he is lodging with Simon the tanner, whose house is at the seaside." So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now, therefore, we are all here in God's sight, to hear whatevere you have been commanded by the Lord.'

About the middle of the Feast of Booths, Jesus went up into the temple and begain to teach. The Jews marveled at this, saying 'How is it that this man has such learning, when he has never studied?' Jesus answered them: 'My teaching is not Mine, but His Who sent Me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether this teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. Whoever speaks on his own authority seeks to glorify himself; but whoever seeks the glory of Him Who sent him is true, and in such a teacher there is no falsehood. Didn't Moses give you Torah? Yet none of you keeps that law. Why do you seek to kill Me?' The people answered, 'You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?' Jesus answered them, 'I did one deed and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision--actually it was from the patriarchs, not Moses--and to this day your circumcise a man upon the Sabbath. Now, if a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the Mosaic law is not broken, are you angry with Me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Don't judge by appearances; rather, judge with right judgment.' Some of the Jerusalem people said, 'Isn't this the man they are seeking to kill? Yet here he is, speaking openly, and the authorities say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man comes from, and we believe that when the Messiah comes, no one will know His origin.' Jesus replied, 'You know Me and where I come from, do you? I haven't come on My own; He Who sent Me is true, and you definitely don't know Him! I know Him, for I come from Him and He sent Me.' So the Jews sought to arrest Jesus, but they failed, because His hour had not yet come. At the same time, many people believed in Jesus, for they said, 'When the Messiah appears, will He do more signs than this man has done?' The Pharisees overheard all this, and they and the chief priests sent officers to arrest Jesus. Jesus said, 'I will be with you a little longer, then I go to Him Who sent Me. You will seek Me and you will not find Me; where I Am, you cannot come.' The Jews discussed this together: 'Where does this guy intend to go that we can't find him? Does he plan to go among the Diaspora and teach the Greeks? What can he mean by saying "Where I am you cannot come"?'