DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 16
WORD OF WISDOM
I have finally realized what is wrong with my brain. On the left side
nothing is right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
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DAILY DEVOTION
Immanuel
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Matthew 28:18-20
God has always been omnipresent-present in all places at the same time. But
when Jesus came to Earth, He was not only present; He took on human flesh
and experienced life as we experience it. And although Jesus returned to
Heaven when His work was complete, He sent the Holy Spirit to live within
those who receive Christ as their Savior. The Holy Spirit is the "earnest"
or "down payment" of God's promise to bring us to Heaven, and we have the
assurance that He will never leave us. This promised presence of the Holy
Spirit is something that believers today experience which Old Testament
saints did not. This very real presence of God is a continuing, ongoing, and
necessary gift as we live and work for God. Thus, the presence of God did
not depart when Christ ascended. Instead He left His promise to always be
with us.
Charles Spurgeon said, "Immanuel-God with us is eternity's sonnet, Heaven's
hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus
of the angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky.
How could anyone preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer,
how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand
at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor if
that one word were taken away? Immanuel-God with us."
The world tells us that we are alone. The devil tempts us to think, like
Elijah, that there aren't any faithful people left. Yet God is always with
us. He is there to give us strength and guidance and power as we work for
Him in the world. That will never change. Jesus may no longer be physically
present in the world, but His Spirit is always with us.
God's presence is just as surely with us today as it was with the disciples
when Jesus was here on Earth.
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DAILY BIBLE READING
Saul/Paul
Acts 13:1-52 Easy-to-Read Version
Barnabas and Saul Given a Special Work
1 In the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers. They were
Barnabas, Simeon (also called Niger), Lucius (from the city of Cyrene),
Manaen (who had grown up with King Herod[a]), and Saul. 2 These men were all
serving the Lord and fasting when the Holy Spirit said to them, "Appoint
Barnabas and Saul to do a special work for me. They are the ones I have
chosen to do it."
3 So the church fasted and prayed. They laid their hands on Barnabas and
Saul and sent them out.
Barnabas and Saul in Cyprus
4 Barnabas and Saul were sent out by the Holy Spirit. They went to the city
of Seleucia. Then they sailed from there to the island of Cyprus. 5 When
Barnabas and Saul came to the city of Salamis, they told the message of God
in the Jewish synagogues. John Mark was with them to help.
6 They went across the whole island to the city of Paphos. There they met a
Jewish man named Barjesus who did magic. He was a false prophet. 7 He always
stayed close to Sergius Paulus, who was the governor and a very smart man.
He invited Barnabas and Saul to come visit him, because he wanted to hear
the message of God. 8 But the magician Elymas (as Barjesus was called in
Greek) spoke against them, trying to stop the governor from believing in
Jesus. 9 But Saul (also known as Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, looked
hard at Elymas 10 and said, "You son of the devil, full of lies and all
kinds of evil tricks! You are an enemy of everything that is right. Will you
never stop trying to change the Lord's truths into lies? 11 Now the Lord
will touch you and you will be blind. For a time you will not be able to see
anything-not even the light from the sun."
Then everything became dark for Elymas. He walked around lost. He was trying
to find someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the governor saw this, he
believed. He was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
Paul and Barnabas Go to Antioch in Pisidia
13 Paul and the people with him sailed away from Paphos. They came to Perga,
a city in Pamphylia. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14
They continued their trip from Perga and went to Antioch, a city near
Pisidia.
On the Sabbath day they went into the Jewish synagogue and sat down. 15 The
Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets were read. Then the leaders of
the synagogue sent a message to Paul and Barnabas: "Brothers, if you have
something to say that will help the people here, please speak."
16 Paul stood up, raised his hand to get their attention, and said, "People
of Israel and all you others who worship the true God, please listen to me!
17 The God of Israel chose our ancestors. And during the time our people
lived in Egypt as foreigners, he made them great. Then he brought them out
of that country with great power. 18 And he was patient with them for 40
years in the desert. 19 God destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan
and gave their land to his people. 20 All this happened in about 450 years.
"After this, God gave our people judges until the time of Samuel the
prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king. God gave them Saul, the son of
Kish. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. He was king for 40 years. 22
After God took Saul away, God made David their king. This is what God said
about David: 'David, the son of Jesse, is the kind of person who does what
pleases me. He will do everything I want him to do.'
23 "As he promised, God has brought one of David's descendants to Israel to
be their Savior. That descendant is Jesus. 24 Before he came, John told all
the people of Israel what they should do. He told them to be baptized to
show they wanted to change their lives. 25 When John was finishing his work,
he said, 'Who do you think I am? I am not the Messiah.[b] He is coming
later, and I am not worthy to be the slave who unties his sandals.'
26 "My brothers, sons in the family of Abraham, and you other people who
also worship the true God, listen! The news about this salvation has been
sent to us. 27 The Jews living in Jerusalem and their leaders did not
realize that Jesus was the Savior. The words the prophets wrote about him
were read every Sabbath day, but they did not understand. They condemned
Jesus. When they did this, they made the words of the prophets come true. 28
They could not find any real reason why Jesus should die, but they asked
Pilate to kill him.
29 "These Jews did all the bad things that the Scriptures said would happen
to Jesus. Then they took Jesus down from the cross and put him in a tomb. 30
But God raised him up from death! 31 After this, for many days, those who
had gone with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem saw him. They are now his
witnesses to our people.
32 "We tell you the Good News about the promise God made to our ancestors.
33 We are their descendants, and God has made this promise come true for us.
God did this by raising Jesus from death. We also read about this in Psalm
2:
'You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.'
34 God raised Jesus from death. Jesus will never go back to the grave and
become dust. So God said,
'I will give you the true and holy promises
that I made to David.'
35 But in another Psalm it says,
'You will not let your Holy One rot in the grave.'
36 "David did God's will during the time he lived. Then he died and was
buried like all his ancestors. And his body did rot in the grave! 37 But the
one God raised from death did not rot in the grave. 38-39 Brothers,
understand what we are telling you. You can have forgiveness of your sins
through this Jesus. The Law of Moses could not free you from your sins. But
you can be made right with God if you believe in Jesus. 40 So be careful!
Don't let what the prophets said happen to you:
41 'Listen, you people who doubt!
You can wonder, but then go away and die;
because during your time,
I will do something that you will not believe.
You will not believe it,
even if someone explains it to you!'"
42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people asked them to
come again on the next Sabbath day and tell them more about these things. 43
After the meeting, many of the people followed Paul and Barnabas, including
many Jews and people who had changed their religion to be like Jews and
worship the true God. Paul and Barnabas encouraged them to continue trusting
in God's grace.
44 On the next Sabbath day, almost all the people in the city came together
to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jews there saw all these people,
they became very jealous. Shouting insults, they argued against everything
Paul said. 46 But Paul and Barnabas spoke very boldly. They said, "We had to
tell God's message to you Jews first, but you refuse to listen. You have
made it clear that you are not worthy of having eternal life. So we will now
go to those who are not Jews. 47 This is what the Lord told us to do:
'I have made you a light for the other nations,
to show people all over the world the way to be saved.'"
48 When the non-Jewish people heard Paul say this, they were happy. They
gave honor to the message of the Lord, and many of them believed it. These
were the ones chosen to have eternal life.
49 And so the message of the Lord was being told throughout the whole
country. 50 But the Jews there caused some of the important religious women
and the leaders of the city to be angry and turn against Paul and Barnabas
and throw them out of town. 51 So Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their
feet.[c] Then they went to the city of Iconium. 52 But the Lord's followers
in Antioch were happy and filled with the Holy Spirit.
Footnotes
Acts 13:1 King Herod Literally, "Herod the tetrarch." See " Herod Agrippa I"
in the Word List.
Acts 13:25 the Messiah Literally, "I" (that is, "he" or "the one"), meaning
the chosen one sent by God. Compare Jn. 1:20. See " Messiah" in the Word
List.
Acts 13:51 shook the dust off their feet A warning. It showed they were
finished talking to these people.
