Max Lucado - 3:16: August 31, 2010

Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me….  Truly I say to you, the extend that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.
     Matthew 25:34-36, 40 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 30, 2010

The downturns of life can create such a sad state of affairs that we wonder if God still wants us….  [In the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31),] Lazarus [winds up needing] nothing.  The…rich man needs everything.  He loses the lap of luxury and Lazarus discovers the lap of Abraham….

You may be [a Lazarus].  Not begging for bread, but struggling to buy some.  Not sleeping on streets, but on the floor, perhaps?  In your car sometimes?  On a couch often?  Does God have a place for people in your place?...  God takes you however he finds you.  No need to clean up or climb up.  Just look up.  God’s “whoever” policy has a “however” benefit.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 29, 2010

We live…chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
            2 Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 28, 2010

There is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people.  He is the man Christ Jesus.  He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.
            1 Timothy 2:5-6 NLT

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 27, 2010

The grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.
            Titus 2:11 NLT

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 26, 2010

Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
            Revelation 22:17

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 25, 2010

Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.
            John 11:26

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 24, 2010

Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
            John 6:37

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 23, 2010

Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.
            John 4:14

Max Lucado – 3: 16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 22, 2010

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.
            Mark 3:35

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 21, 2010

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
            Matthew 10:39

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 20, 2010

Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.
            Matthew 10:32

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 19, 2010

The word sledgehammers racial fences and dynamites social classes.  It bypasses gender borders and surpasses ancient traditions.  Whoever makes it clear; God exports his grace world-wide.  For those who attempt to restrict it, Jesus has a word: Whoever.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 18, 2010

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.”  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
            John 6:44-45 NKJV

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 17, 2010

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.  The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.  So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
            John 8:34-36 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 16, 2010

[When Cleopatra’s Needle was erected in Britain, a Scripture verse was included in the time capsule beneath it.]  Picture a rummager of some future London digging through rocks and rubble.  She finds and reads the verse.  Except for one word, she might dismiss it as an old myth.  Whoever.  Whoever unfurls 3:16 as a banner for the ages.  Whoever unrolls the welcome mat of heaven to humanity.  Whoever invites the world to God.  Jesus could have so easily narrowed the scope, changing whoever into whatever.  “Whatever Jew believes” or “Whatever woman follows me.”  But he used no qualifier.  The pronoun is wonderfully indefinite.  After all, who isn’t a whoever?

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 15, 2010

Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.
            Acts 10:43 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 14, 2010

He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.  And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.
            Acts 5:31-32 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 13, 2010

Bertram Campbell…spent three years and four months in prison for a forgery he did not commit.  When the real criminal finally confessed, the governor declared Campbell, not just pardoned, but innocent.  God does for us exactly the same.  “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).


Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 12, 2010

Jesus took our disease upon himself.  Though diseased, we who accept his offer are pronounced healthy.  More than pardoned, we are declared innocent.  We enter heaven, not with healed hearts, but with his heart.  It is as if we have never sinned.  Read slowly the announcement of Paul: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 11, 2010

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
            Romans 6:5-6

Max Lucado - 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 10, 2010

Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.
            Luke 24:46-47 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 9, 2010

Before [a Chinese woman’s] baptism, a pastor asked a question to ensure she understood the meaning of the cross.  “Did Jesus have any sin?” he inquired.  “Oh, yes,” she replied.  Troubled, he repeated the question.  “He had sin,” she answered positively.  The leader set out to correct her, but she interrupted.  “He had mine.”

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 9, 2010

Before [a Chinese woman’s] baptism, a pastor asked a question to ensure she understood the meaning of the cross.  “Did Jesus have any sin?” he inquired.  “Oh, yes,” she replied.  Troubled, he repeated the question.  “He had sin,” she answered positively.  The leader set out to correct her, but she interrupted.  “He had mine.”

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 8, 2010

He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”
            Luke 22:19-20

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 7, 2010

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
            John 15:9-11

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 6, 2010

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.  I must bring them also.  They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
            John 10:14-16

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 5, 2010

[We draw] hope from a five-letter Greek word.  Hyper means “in place of” or “on behalf of.”  New Testament writers repeatedly turned to this preposition to describe the work of Christ: “Christ died for [hyper] our sins…”  (1 Corinthians 15:3).

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 4, 2010

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
            1 Peter 1:20-21

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 3, 2010

You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.
            2 Corinthians 8:9 NASB

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 2, 2010

It was the random rhythms that concerned the cardiologist….  He did his best to assure me…”When it comes to cardiac concerns, you’ve got the best kind.”  Forgive my anemic enthusiasm.  But isn’t that like telling the about-to-leap paratrooper: “Your parachute has a defect, but it’s not the worst type”?

I prefer the treatment of another heart doctor.  He saw my condition and made this eye-popping offer: “Let’s exchange hearts.  Mine is sturdy; yours is frail.  Mine is pure, yours diseased.  Take mine and enjoy its vigor.  Give me yours.  I’ll endure its irregularity.”  Where do you find such a physician?  You can reach him at this number – 3:16.

Max Lucado – 3:16

Max Lucado - 3:16: August 1, 2010

When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God.  God brought you alive – right along with Christ!
            Colossians 2:13 The Message

Max Lucado – 3:16