[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR TUESDAY APRIL 26

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR TUESDAY APRIL 26

WORD OF WISDOM

Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to
begin with? 

___

DAILY DEVOTION

Where Is Your Heart?


For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Titus 2:11-14

Despite what some people teach, grace does not give a Christian the license
to live in any way he pleases. Instead it teaches the opposite-that we are
to turn away from wickedness and live according to God's Word. The key to
victorious Christian living is found in our focus. It is not enough just to
turn away from this world, but we must also love the next one. Dr. John Rice
wrote, "This world is only an anteroom of the next. This short life is
incidental compared with eternity. This world is not home to the Christian.
Here we are only sojourners, temporary dwellers in a foreign land. Our
citizenship is in Heaven. Our treasure should be in Heaven. Our thoughts
should dwell lovingly and longingly on that sweet home of the departed
saints, of our Savior and of our Heavenly Father."
The struggle against temptation and sin is real, and it will continue for as
long as we live. Yet despite the strong allure of the things of the world,
we do not have to succumb to it. Instead we can fix our hearts and minds on
what waits for us in Heaven and love the things that God loves. When we do,
we will not find sin nearly as attractive. When Jesus met with Peter after
His resurrection, He asked what Peter loved most. "So when they had dined,
Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than
these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith
unto him, Feed my lambs" (John 21:15).
The way in which we live is determined by what we love most.

___

DAILY BIBLE READING

1 Chronicles 19-21 New King James Version
The Ammonites and Syrians Defeated
19 It happened after this that Nahash the king of the people of Ammon died,
and his son reigned in his place. 2 Then David said, "I will show kindness
to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me." So
David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David's
servants came to Hanun in the land of the people of Ammon to comfort him.

3 And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun, [a]"Do you think
that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you?
Did his servants not come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out
the land?"

4 Therefore Hanun took David's servants, shaved them, and cut off their
garments [b]in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 Then
some went and told David about the men; and he sent to meet them, because
the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, "Wait at Jericho until your
beards have grown, and then return."

6 When the people of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to
David, Hanun and the people of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to
hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from [c]Mesopotamia, from Syrian
Maacah, and from [d]Zobah. 7 So they hired for themselves thirty-two
thousand chariots, with the king of Maacah and his people, who came and
encamped before Medeba. Also the people of Ammon gathered together from
their cities, and came to battle.

8 Now when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army of the mighty
men. 9 Then the people of Ammon came out and put themselves in battle array
before the gate of the city, and the kings who had come were by themselves
in the field.

10 When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he
chose some of Israel's best and put them in battle array against the
Syrians. 11 And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai
his brother, and they set themselves in battle array against the people of
Ammon. 12 Then he said, "If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you
shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I
will help you. 13 Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people
and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His
sight."

14 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against
the Syrians, and they fled before him. 15 When the people of Ammon saw that
the Syrians were fleeing, they also fled before Abishai his brother, and
entered the city. So Joab went to Jerusalem.

16 Now when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent
messengers and brought the Syrians who were beyond [e]the River, and
[f]Shophach the commander of Hadadezer's army went before them. 17 When it
was told David, he gathered all Israel, crossed over the Jordan and came
upon them, and set up in battle array against them. So when David had set up
in battle array against the Syrians, they fought with him. 18 Then the
Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed [g]seven thousand charioteers
and forty thousand [h]foot soldiers of the Syrians, and killed Shophach the
commander of the army. 19 And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they
were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his servants.
So the Syrians were not willing to help the people of Ammon anymore.

Rabbah Is Conquered
20 It happened [i]in the spring of the year, at the time kings go out to
battle, that Joab led out the armed forces and ravaged the country of the
people of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at
Jerusalem. And Joab defeated Rabbah and overthrew it. 2 Then David took
their king's crown from his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold,
and there were precious stones in it. And it was set on David's head. Also
he brought out the [j]spoil of the city in great abundance. 3 And he brought
out the people who were in it, and [k]put them to work with saws, with iron
picks, and with axes. So David did to all the cities of the people of Ammon.
Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

Philistine Giants Destroyed
4 Now it happened afterward that war broke out at [l]Gezer with the
Philistines, at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite killed [m]Sippai, who
was one of the sons of [n]the giant. And they were subdued.

5 Again there was war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of [o]Jair
killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear
was like a weaver's beam.

6 Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature,
with twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot;
and he also was born to [p]the giant. 7 So when he defied Israel, Jonathan
the son of [q]Shimea, David's brother, killed him.

8 These were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David
and by the hand of his servants.

The Census of Israel and Judah
21 Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to [r]number Israel. 2
So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, "Go, number Israel
from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know
it."

3 And Joab answered, "May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than
they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why
then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in
Israel?"

4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab
departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem. 5 Then Joab
gave the sum of the number of the people to David. All Israel had one
million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and Judah had four
hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword. 6 But he did not count
Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king's [s]word was abominable to Joab.

7 And [t]God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel. 8
So David said to God, "I have sinned greatly, because I have done this
thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have
done very foolishly."

9 Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying, 10 "Go and tell David,
saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "I offer you three things; choose one of them
for yourself, that I may do it to you." ' "

11 So Gad came to David and said to him, "Thus says the Lord: 'Choose for
yourself, 12 either [u]three years of famine, or three months to be defeated
by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for
three days the sword of the Lord-the plague in the land, with the [v]angel
of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.' Now consider
what answer I should take back to Him who sent me."

13 And David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Please let me fall into
the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall
into the hand of man."

14 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel
fell. 15 And God sent [w]an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As [x]he was
destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the
angel who was destroying, "It is enough; now restrain [y]your hand." And the
angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of [z]Ornan the Jebusite.

16 Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between
earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over
Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their
faces. 17 And David said to God, "Was it not I who commanded the people to
be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these
sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against
me and my father's house, but not against Your people that they should be
plagued."

18 Therefore, the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David
should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the
Jebusite. 19 So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the
name of the Lord. 20 Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons
who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat. 21 So
David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from
the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground. 22
Then David said to Ornan, [aa]"Grant me the place of this threshing floor,
that I may build an altar on it to the Lord. You shall grant it to me at the
full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people."

23 But Ornan said to David, "Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king
do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt
offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain
offering; I give it all."

24 Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full
price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt
offerings with that which costs me nothing." 25 So David gave Ornan six
hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26 And David built there an
altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and
called on the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of
burnt offering.

27 So the Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the
threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. 29 For the
tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had
made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon. 30
But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the
sword of the angel of the Lord.

Footnotes
1 Chronicles 19:3 Lit. In your eyes is David honoring your father because
1 Chronicles 19:4 in half
1 Chronicles 19:6 Heb. Aram Naharaim
1 Chronicles 19:6 Zoba, 2 Sam. 10:6
1 Chronicles 19:16 The Euphrates
1 Chronicles 19:16 Zoba, 2 Sam. 10:6, or Shobach, 2 Sam. 10:16
1 Chronicles 19:18 seven hundred, 2 Sam. 10:18
1 Chronicles 19:18 horsemen, 2 Sam. 10:18
1 Chronicles 20:1 Lit. at the return of the year
1 Chronicles 20:2 plunder
1 Chronicles 20:3 LXX cut them with
1 Chronicles 20:4 Gob, 2 Sam. 21:18
1 Chronicles 20:4 Saph, 2 Sam. 21:18
1 Chronicles 20:4 Or Raphah
1 Chronicles 20:5 Jaare-Oregim, 2 Sam. 21:19
1 Chronicles 20:6 Or Raphah
1 Chronicles 20:7 Shammah, 1 Sam. 16:9 or Shimeah, 2 Sam. 21:21
1 Chronicles 21:1 take a census of
1 Chronicles 21:6 command
1 Chronicles 21:7 Lit. it was evil in the eyes of God
1 Chronicles 21:12 seven, 2 Sam. 24:13
1 Chronicles 21:12 Or Angel, and so throughout the chapter
1 Chronicles 21:15 Or the Angel
1 Chronicles 21:15 Or He
1 Chronicles 21:15 Or Your
1 Chronicles 21:15 Araunah, 2 Sam. 24:16, 18-24
1 Chronicles 21:22 Lit. Give