Luke 12 Today

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Luke 12:1-59
A Warning against Hypocrisy
1Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and crushing each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—beware of their hypocrisy. 2The time is coming when everything will be revealed; all that is secret will be made public. 3Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!
4"Dear friends, don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill the body; they cannot do any more to you. 5But I'll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill people and then throw them into hell.
6"What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. 7And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.
8"And I assure you of this: If anyone acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I, the Son of Man, will openly acknowledge that person in the presence of God's angels. 9But if anyone denies me here on earth, I will deny that person before God's angels. 10Yet those who speak against the Son of Man may be forgiven, but anyone who speaks blasphemies against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.
11"And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don't worry about what to say in your defense, 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you what needs to be said even as you are standing there."
Story of the Rich Fool
13Then someone called from the crowd, "Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father's estate with me."
14Jesus replied, "Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?" 15Then he said, "Beware! Don't be greedy for what you don't have. Real life is not measured by how much we own."
16And he gave an illustration: "A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17In fact, his barns were full to overflowing. 18So he said, 'I know! I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll have room enough to store everything. 19And I'll sit back and say to myself, My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!'
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?'
21"Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God."
Teaching about Money and Possessions
22Then turning to his disciples, Jesus said, "So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or clothes to wear. 23For life consists of far more than food and clothing. 24Look at the ravens. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! 25Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not! 26And if worry can't do little things like that, what's the use of worrying over bigger things?
27"Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 28And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith! 29And don't worry about food—what to eat and drink. Don't worry whether God will provide it for you. 30These things dominate the thoughts of most people, but your Father already knows your needs. 31He will give you all you need from day to day if you make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
32"So don't be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
33"Sell what you have and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven have no holes in them. Your treasure will be safe—no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. 34Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.
Be Ready for the Lord's Coming
35"Be dressed for service and well prepared, 36as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. 37There will be special favor for those who are ready and waiting for his return. I tell you, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! 38He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. F61 But whenever he comes, there will be special favor for his servants who are ready!
39"Know this: A homeowner who knew exactly when a burglar was coming would not permit the house to be broken into. 40You must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected."
41Peter asked, "Lord, is this illustration just for us or for everyone?"
42And the Lord replied, "I'm talking to any faithful, sensible servant to whom the master gives the responsibility of managing his household and feeding his family. 43If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. 44I assure you, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. 45But if the servant thinks, 'My master won't be back for a while,' and begins oppressing the other servants, partying, and getting drunk—46well, the master will return unannounced and unexpected. He will tear the servant apart and banish him with the unfaithful. 47The servant will be severely punished, for though he knew his duty, he refused to do it.
48"But people who are not aware that they are doing wrong will be punished only lightly. Much is required from those to whom much is given, and much more is required from those to whom much more is given.
Jesus Causes Division
49"I have come to bring fire to the earth, and I wish that my task were already completed! 50There is a terrible baptism ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. 51Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to bring strife and division! 52From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or the other way around. 53There will be a division between father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law."
54Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, "When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, 'Here comes a shower.' And you are right. 55When the south wind blows, you say, 'Today will be a scorcher.' And it is. 56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but you can't interpret these present times.
57"Why can't you decide for yourselves what is right? 58If you are on the way to court and you meet your accuser, try to settle the matter before it reaches the judge, or you may be sentenced and handed over to an officer and thrown in jail. 59And if that happens, you won't be free again until you have paid the last penny."
FOOTNOTES:F61: Greek in the second or third watch.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
Why would we fear what men can do to us here, naturally speaking, when God, who is eternal and is the judge of all life, who’s judgments cannot be repented of, is who we will eternally stand before and give our life’s accounts to?
What He’s said is true, which is why it is important to believe, trust in and rely on His word as truth and change into its conformity.
If God’s word does not change and it says something like, “those who fornicate will have no part in My kingdom”, yet society or culture or bad experiences tell us to ignore His word and fornicate, we will find ourselves facing an unrelenting word of God in our eternal end, no matter how we got into eternity, the fact will be we will find ourselves there standing before a righteous judge. His righteousness won’t say, “Oh, no big deal, it was ok according to your culture, I understood your experiences have prevented you from coming to Me”….
No, His word, which is eternal, will come up and we will be asked if we obeyed it because of the love of God in our hearts that led us into truth. The judgment will not be based on earthly excuse, not a one will stand. We will give account for how much of the word of God was available to us to know.
United States- American’s have no excuse at all. Even if a person never verbally told us truth, it has been made available for the taking, whosoever will take it, can have as much as they can stand to have. There will also be another matter given account to, “Do you know My Son and did you help anyone else to come to know and love Him?” What did our lives, given to us by God, say about Jesus?
That should cause us to fear enough to quake inside, outside and all around! Fear man and what he can do? What has man done? He’s been used by an enemy power, a spirit of darkness, to place a cloak over men’s eyes and lie to others about what there is to fear. He’s been deceived. This life here is temporary, leading to another, eternal life with or without a Father- THE Father. This life is about finding that Father and helping others find Him and His great love. That’s all this life is about, really.
Do you see how far off track we’ve gotten? If that’s all it’s about, have some of us gotten on the wrong boat? So what do we do now? Ask for a lifesaver and get off the wrong boat, cry out to get on the right boat and do all you can to get the understanding it takes, not only to merely understand, but to get others off the wrong boat and onto the right one. That boat you were on is eternally sinking! The people are dying and they don’t even know why they lived.
All the while, those on the wrong boat, who missed the right boat, are wondering how their hair or outfits look and who has the biggest diamonds, or best looking mates and children, who’s got the best job and some just sit and play games or watch TV shows of idealistic reality, which is not a reality at all, the right boat just passed by and they didn’t see, hear or know it was there, neither did they care and no one was sounding an alarm in their ears. Those who thought to change boats were just so glad they’d decided to change boats, once they found out theirs was sinking, but that was because they themselves were glad they’d personally be saved. They didn’t think about saving others, the right boat might be weighted down too much if we saved them all. If we saved them all couldn’t we make the wrong boat a right boat, and repair it too?
Some refuse to change boats because they have too much invested in the wrong boat, they’d lose out on natural income. Then they didn’t want to leave the cargo behind, all the while the cargo is going down with the sinking ship and if they stay, they’ll go down with their stuff also! Dear God, don’t you know the ship is sinking? Don’t you know that your stuff is gonna be on the bottom of the ocean? Don’t you realize that if we don’t tell people they’ll be at the bottom too, drowned? Not only will they drown, but they’ll burn. Is it worth arguing with them over religion and semantics or is it worth being love so they’ll come? Do we need to change them before they get on the saver boat, make sure they look better and don’t say bad words first?
I’ve met a lot of church people who get mad when they are around unsaved people who don’t look like God….I usually try to help them get over that, a person who is in the world and about to get rescued is not supposed to look like God yet, they would probably look like a devil first! We don’t have to argue or convince them, we’ve got to get more holy ourselves so we can show them what it looks like, so they can see the difference in spirit and truth and cross over the plank to the other boat.
Merely telling someone does not “work” very well if we ourselves do not live out the word. We have to let the word we’d preach be in demonstration, even if that means we have to change ourselves by the power of the word. If we don’t love people, yet we say – Jesus loves you, we’re very deceived. Who in the world is Jesus gonna love someone through! Us, yep that’s right – we’re it, baby. Who’s He gonna use to get people from one boat to the other boat? You, me, us…and no one else. We’re it. We’re the ones who set the example. It is past time to change, quickly and then move in on the other boat, raid it of souls.
Every American Christian alive should live everyday as though it is wrong to right boat switching time. Don’t miss the boat, either by not switching or by not helping someone to switch.
Today is the day of salvation, for someone somewhere, how many will you save with your life preserver today? I’m serious, time is running out. If you don’t see that, you need to cry out to God to see. Be like blind Bartemaeus who cried out, Jesus- Son of David have mercy on me, so that I can see. I want to see! Your sight is for the salvation of many others. You’ve got to see to save somebody. If you don’t, you do not have a fear of God or a fear of hell’s fire or a fear of judgment.
Forget fearing man, just forget it – it IS that easy. Ask God for revelation. It’s a matter of eternal life or death, yours mine and others.
Be blessed today with seeing eyes, and hearing ears, and a willing heart.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 – in multiple translations….
The Amplified Bible
And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of [buildings that have laid waste for] many generations; and you shall be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Holy Bible, New International Version®
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
The New King James Version
Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
GOD'S WORD
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the foundations of past generations. You will be called the Rebuilder of Broken Walls and the Restorer of Streets Where People Live.
New Life Bible
And your cities which were destroyed long ago will be built again. You will set up the stones of the bases of the old buildings. You will be called the one who builds again the broken walls, and who makes the streets on which people live like new.