MARK 14:54-72

MARK 14:54-72

Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself by the fire.
    The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: " We heard him say, ' I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another, noy made with hands.' " Yet even then their testimony did not agree.
    Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, " Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?" But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer.
    Again the high priest asked him, " Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed one?"
    " I am," said Jesus, " And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty one coming on the clouds of heaven."
    The high priest tore his clothes. " Why do we need any more witnesses?" he asked. " You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?"
    They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, " Prophesy!" And the guards took him and beat him.
    While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.
    " You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus," she said.
    But he denied it. " I don't know or understand what you're talking about," he said, and went out into the entryway.
    When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, " This fellow is one of them." Again he denied it.
    After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, " Surely you are one of them, for you are a Gaililean."
    He began to call curses, and he swore to them, " I don't know this man you're talking about."
    Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: " Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept.

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Abigail's Reminder

Abigail's Reminder

David and 400 of his warriors thundered through the countryside in search of Nabal, a prosperous brute who had harshly refused to lend them help. David would have murdered him if he hadn't first encountered Abigail, Nabal's wife. She had packed up enough food to feed an army and traveled out to meet the troops, hoping to head off disaster. She respectfully reminded David that guilt would haunt him if he followed through with his vengeful plan ( 1 SAM. 25:31). David realized she was right and blessed her good judgment.
    David's anger was legitimate-he had protected Nabal's shepherds in the wilderness and had been repaid evil for good. However, his anger was leading him into sin. David's first instinct was to sink his sword into Nabal, even though he knew God did not approve of murder and revenge.
    When we've been offended, it's good to compare our instincts with God's intent for human behavior. We may be inclined to strike at people verbally, isolate ourselves, or escape through any number of ways. However, choosing a gracious response will help us avoid regret, and most important it will please God. When our desire is to honor God in our relationships, He is able to make even our enemies to be at peace with us.
    Lord, thank You for holding back Your anger and having mercy on me. Help me to walk in step with Your Spirit so that my actions please You in every situation.
    We can endure life's wrongs because we know that God will make things right.

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1 SAMUEL 25:14-33

1 SAMUEL 25:14-33

One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, " David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them.
    Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him."
    Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. Then she told her servants, " Go on ahead; I'll follow you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
    As she came riding her donkey into a  mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. David had just said, " It's been useless- all my watching over this fellow's property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if  by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!"
    When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said: " Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like name-his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from blood shed and  from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.
    " Please forgive your servants presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord's battles, and no wrong doing will be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant."
    David said to Abigail, " Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands.

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MARK 13:1-20

MARK 13:1-20

 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, " Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!
    " Do you see all these great buildings?" replied Jesus. " Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down."
    As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, " Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?"
    Jesus said to them: " Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ' I am he,' and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
    " You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given to you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.
    " Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
    " When you see ' the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong-let the reader understand-then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now- and never to be equaled again.
    " If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

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Don't Quit

Don't Quit

In 1952 Florence Chadwick attempted to swim 26 miles from the coast of California to Catalina Island. After 15 hours, a heavy fog began to block her view, she became disoriented, and she gave up. To her chagrin, Chadwick learned that she had quit just 1 mile short of her destination.
    Two months later Chadwick tried a second time to swim to Catalina Island from the coast. Again a thick fog settled in, but this time she reached her destination, becoming the first woman to swim to the Catalina channel. Chadwick said she kept an image of the shoreline in her mind even when she couldn't see it.
    When the problems of life cloud our vision, we have an opportunity to learn to see our goal with the eyes of faith. The New Testament letter to the Hebrews urges us to " run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith". When we feel like quitting, this is our signal to remember not only what Jesus suffered for us but what He now helps us to endure-until the day we see Him face to face.
    Dear Father, sometimes the challenges of life seem insurmountable. Help me to fix my eyes on  You and trust You. I'm thankful You are bringing about Your good purposes in me.
    We can finish strong when we focus on Christ.

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HEBREWS 12:1-11

HEBREWS 12:1-11

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
    In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
     " My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son."
    Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined-and everyone undergoes discipline-then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

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MARK 12:28-44

MARK 12:28-44

one of the teachers of the law came and heard them debatting. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, " Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
     " The most important one,' answered Jesus, " Is this: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: ' Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
    " Well said, teacher," the man replied. " You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, " You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
     While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, " Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David?" David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:
" ' The Lord said to my Lord; " Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet." '
    David himself calls him ' Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight.
    As he taught, Jesus said, " Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely."
    Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
    Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, " Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she gave out of her poverty, put in everything-all she had to live on."

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