Epilogue: You Finished!

Congratulations - you have read the entire Bible - in one year. By now, daily reading should be a habit. Continue for the rest of the life. Read your chronological Bible again or buy another daily reading Bible and do it again. Or just print out a reading plan and read from your study Bible.

Know Jesus by experiencing Him daily in Bible reading and prayer.

If you finished your Bible, please let me know by sending me an email - pastorfrank@calvarychurch-wh.org. Or perhaps, you just followed the blog. Let me know that, too.

May God bless you.

December 31 Revelation 19-22 Final Call to Holiness

The righteous will share eternity with Christ - those who receive Jesus as Savior and begin to live a life of holiness - Revelation 19:8 "Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)"

However, the unholy will be separated from Christ for all eternity in a place called the Lake of Fire. Being saved (receiving Christ as Savior) must make a difference in the way we live. If it doesn't, we really aren't saved! The unrighteous (those not really saved) will be excluded from eternity with Christ, no matter what religious experience someone claims.An unchanged life proves that you are unsaved.

• Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
• Revelation 22:14-15 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Repentance from sin is an essential aspect of salvation. Anyone who claims a saving experience, yet never had any inclination to depart from iniquity and does't, never had a real saving experience.

We are encouraged many times to become holy. We should heed the warnings. 

• 2 Peter 1:10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.
• Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

December 30 Revelation 14:1-19:5 Luxuries That Lead Astray

It appears that some great city called Mystery Babylon (or perhaps the world's economic system) will be destroyed in an hour by God. It will be the idol of materialism that will be destroyed that has led many astray.

Wealth and the chase for more and more has led and continues to lead many away from God. It has replaced God in people's minds and has negated their need for God.

As we get ready for a new year, it is a good time to reflect and determine how much hold do money and goods have over us. Does money or what it buys get in the way of God and serving Him? Today is a good day to ask for conviction and then to repent of any hedonistic ways.

December 29 Revelation 8:7-13:18 Darkness Denied

Revelation brings the existence of evil and evil beings into clear focus. We all tend to focus on the here and now and visible. However, there are evil forces all around us - seeking to destroy us. One third of all created angels have rebelled against God and are opposed to Him and His people.

We need to be aware of the forces of darkness. However, we have misconceptions about what we do believe. We think evil ones are only trying to get us to commit murder, sexual immorality, steal pensions, etc. Yes, they are, but most attacks are much more subtle. They are also wanting us to spend more time pursuing our careers, seeking bigger houses and more toys, spend excessive amounts of time on video games, etc. - just not focus on God and the things of God.

We need to be aware of the nature of the attacks - anything keeping us from Christ and obeying His commands.

December 28 Revelation 4:1-8:6 Creator/Redeemer Worthiness

Revelation 4/5 are some of my favorite chapters in the Bible because they recount why God is worthy.

These chapters are set in the throne room of God. There is constant worship of the special angels and 24 elders (note Elders - you should be the lead worshipers!). God the Father is worthy of worship because He is the Creator of all things. This is a huge theme by the psalmists.

Jesus is worthy because He is the redeemer of man. Jesus is seen as the Lamb by John, but will be seen as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah by those who oppose Him - not a wise move by the opposition.

These two chapters comprise a synopsis of how and why we should worship the Godhead - 3 in 1. If you ever want to remember who God is - return to these chapters.

December 27 Revelation 1-3 No Lukewarm Christians

Revelation (there is only one so no need to be saying, "Revelations") is the revelation of Jesus to John. It is the only book of the Bible that explicitly promises a blessing to its readers and to those who heed its words.

Chapter 1 is a very powerful description of the Trinity and Jesus' rulership over all the earth, especially the churches.

No Such Thing as Lukewarm Christians

The church at Laodicea is described as being full of lukewarm people, not necessarily Christians. They are described as blind to their spiritual condition -  "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." Jesus says that He is about to spit them out of His mouth - certainly doesn't sound like a Christian as described in the rest of the New Testament.

Look, if you are living in willful disobedience to the commands of Christ for your life, it doesn't matter what religious experience(s) you are hanging your life upon - saying a prayer, baptism, church attendance, etc. - you are kidding yourself as much as the Laodiceans! You are not saved if you are knowingly and continuously disregarding His commands.

Listen to Jesus:
"I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent."

Get saved and obey!

December 26 I, II, III John - Commending Hospitality

Our homes are ultimately gifts from God. Opening our homes to others is a great virtue, especially to gospel workers.

3 John 7-8 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.

John commends Gaius for opening his home to gospel workers. By showing hospitality to gospel workers, we "work together for the truth."

But on the other hand, we must be discerning about those we help.

2 John 7, 9-11 Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist...Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

We must do not to help anyone who leads people away from the truth. If we do, we share in their wicked work.

December 25 Hebrews 10:19-13:25 Living for THE Day, Not Today

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Too many people are living for sinful pleasures Today. As v. 3:13 warns, they are hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Sin never completely delivers on its promises. It takes our hearts and minds off of THE Day - the day when we will all stand before Jesus for Judgment.

Hebrews reminds us to live in anticipation of THE Day that is approaching, not for Today. Let us continue to meet together to encourage each other to remember this.

Merry Christmas. Remember, it is because Jesus came as a man (to die for our sins) that we can look forward to THE Day with anticipation, hope, and joy.

December 24 Hebrews 6:13-10:18 Great Explanation of the New Covenant

I think that the creator of our one year chronological Bible did a great job of choosing the beginning and end of today's reading. It allowed us to follow the author of Hebrews' argument for the logic and superiority of the New Covenant inaugurated by Christ.

Jesus is now our High priest forever - in heaven - the sacrifice for our sins (past, present, and future) made one-time for all. Our consciences are now clear.

What will follow in tomorrow's reading is our correct response to this great news.

December 23 Hebrews 1:1-6:12 Jesus Cried to the Father!

Hebrews 5:7 "During the days of Jesus' life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death."

I was reminded through the verse above that Jesus was indeed a man just like you and me. He cried out and cried with tears over the prospect of being swallowed up by death (not dying on the cross, but what came after). We often forget the humanity of our Savior, Jesus.

At this time of Christmas, it is a good time to remember that Jesus took on the form of a human. In our form, He took on all of the frailties that we have, including temptation. Let us never forget the man, Christ Jesus.

December 22 II Peter 1-3 Theology in Salutation

Peter opens his letter with this salutation:

2 Peter 1:1 "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours."

Peter gives some powerful theology - our faith is based on the righteousness of Jesus, not ours. Pretty simple, but powerful.

December 21 I Peter 1-5 Beat Your Defensiveness

This letter is sent to encourage those under some sort of Christian persecution to continue to grow in the faith and walk with Jesus. We, in the US, know quite little about real persecution like our brothers and sisters in various parts of the world.

One thing we do know about is how to protect our turf. We all a good measure of pride in who we are - in ourselves. We are to take pride in Christ - as part of the body of Christ. However, we all have a measure of pride in ourselves. When someone chips away at our pride by making small what we are or what we do - or even points out a real shortcoming in what we say or do - we can become defensive.

Defensiveness comes from caring far too much about the judgment of others. We want to be people pleasers to various degrees. We get unhappy when people are not pleased with us. So, we get defensive and defend ourselves, sometimes by going on the offensiveness and counterattacking.

Peter points us to One Who had insults thrown at Him and reminds us how He reacted:

1 Peter 2:23 When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead, He entrusted Himself to Him Who judges justly.

There is only one judge who matters. We should judge our own selves by His standards. Let's stay focused on pleasing Him. If we don't please people by their standards, let's not be so concerned. However, let's treat people as God would have us treat them.

December 20 James; Jude - Sins of Omission

When we think of sins, we normally think of things we do, but shouldn't - lying, cheating, stealing, etc. These are sins of commission. But we usually forget about sins of omissions - NOT doing what we ought.

 James addresses the need to do good when we ought:
James 4:13-17 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

We normally don't do what we ought, because we get busy doing other things - not necessarily bad things - usually morally neutral things. The things we ought to do usually pop up when we are busy. Helping someone change a tire or working with them to draw up a budget or sitting with them when they are distraught over something or needing a ride to/from chemotherapy or the like are examples of the things we ought.

James is saying that when we firm up plans that are so inflexible that they prevent us from doing the good we ought, we are misunderstanding the shortness and tentativeness of our very existence. James is urging us to never bypass opportunities to do good.

December 18 II Timothy 1-4 Longing for the Lord

2 Timothy 4:8 "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

Do you long for His coming? Wanting Christ to return will cause us all to hold onto what we have here much more loosely - and that is a good thing. We need to see our time on earth as a business trip - that will be judged for its success. Just as your boss wants to see a return from his costs to send you out on business, so does Jesus.

December 18 Titus 1-3 Be More Heavenly Minded

Gospel messages are sometimes criticized because they are all about getting to heaven. Critics say that we are selling fire insurance and not talking enough about the life change that should occur here on earth. But the truth is that the importance of the wont of the after-life is made up front is usually forgotten by most Christians. This is a problem.

Titus 1:1-2 "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness-- a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life."

Paul isn't shy about telling us that our faith and knowledge is based on our eternal hope. Our longing for the reuniting with Christ for all time is to be an essential part of our life. We are to live our lives as aliens and strangers here longing to go to our real home - the new heavens and new earth.

You have heard the saying, "Don't be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good." This is unbiblical! Actually, it is anti-Biblical. The truth is that if we are heavenly minded, we will maximize our earthly good. Heed Paul's words:

• Colossians 3:1-2 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

December 17 I Timothy 1-6 Stay Focused on the Mission

In the HBO series, Band of Brothers, a story was told of a detachment of solders in WWII. It showed them in boot camp and subsequent training in the US as a bunch of self-centered Americans from very diverse backgrounds and communities. They had a lot of infighting and young male testosterone-induced jealousies and jostling for position.

However, something happened when they were sent to Europe to join the fighting on the Continent shortly after the Normandy Invasion through the Battle of the Bulge and finally the end of the war. They were always assigned at a front in heavy fighting from the time they arrived. The intensity of the mission wove them into a band of brothers. They learned to care deeply for each other. They watched each other's back and even risked their lives for each other. Their diversity of backgrounds no longer mattered - they became one.

Focus on the mission changed them. So, what can us American Christians learn from them. Well, it is to get out of training and into the fight. We need to engage the world as Christ commands us - we need to get out of our church buildings and take the fight to where the enemy lives - in the world. Our unity comes when we are actively involved in the mission of the church.

I Timothy begins with a purpose statement and ends with a summary:

• 1 Timothy 1:3-4 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work-- which is by faith.
• 1 Timothy 6:18-20 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge,

A church engaged in only training its people will eventually devolve into a church speculating about what God wants - "godless chatter." A church actually doing God's total work unifies around the mission. A church actively involved and engaged in taking ground for Christ has no time or energy for divisive controversies that divide too many American churches. A church on mission becomes a band of brothers and sisters in Christ. 

We need to stay focused on the mission - not the programs and events and buildings and property and administration - all those are essential - but never to become an end in themselves.

December 16 Philippians 1-4 Genuine Interest in Others

In Chapter 2, Paul commends Timothy, who took a genuine interest in the welfare of the Philippians. Paul goes on to say that it is related to looking out for the interests of Christ.

It is pretty simple. When we look out for the interests of Christ - do what pleases Him - we will supernaturally look out for our Christian brothers first, and others, too. We begin to live an others-centered life - self-forgetting.

We do so when we get comfort from Christ's love. The Christ Hymn right before in Chapter 2 speaks of all that Jesus has done for us. As we understand Christ's love for us, we respond in love - live to please Him - by serving others.

Now, go for it!

December 15 Ephesians - Don't Underestimate Work of Demons

Admittedly, I come from a strain of Christianity that tends to underestimate the work of the Holy Spirit. I have tried to correct this misgiving in my preaching, teaching, and personal ministries. But I must confess, like most other non-charismatics, that I still underestimate the power and influence the work of demons in our lives.

Paul does a good job in Chapter 6 to raise our awareness. He says that much of our struggle is against the powers of unseen darkness. I find myself praying for protection against the Evil One much more than I used to do. Demons are out there and surround us even though we can't see them. Like the Holy Spirit and the wind, they are unseen, but the effects of their evil ministry are quite evident.

So, please be aware of the presence of pure evil around you that seeks to influence the people around you and you yourself. Also, be aware that evil spirit beings do possess people, just as they did in Biblical times. There is nothing in Scripture that leads us to believe otherwise.

Evil spirits are very powerful, but no match for God:

• James 4:7-8 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. 

December 14 Colossians, Philemon - Called to Be Disciplemakers

Philemon 6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Too often I hear people separating evangelism and discipleship as though they are separable, with evangelism as some lesser activity of faith that comes after one becomes mature to some level. Paul destroys the notion of separation in Philemon 6 (only contains one chapter). Paul indicates that sharing our faith with others (evangelism) gives us a fuller understanding of our own faith. The deduction from that is that a lack of sharing our faith inhibits our own personal growth in Christ.

When we evangelize, we are confronted with questions, objections, persecution, etc. that extend our head learning, but also our experience with Christ. Some of these can not be learned any other way. Evangelism also affects our prayer life - we know only God can change minds - this improves our dependence on God.

Paul was the evangelist's evangelist, yet even he asked for prayer - Colossians 4:3-4 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.

If Paul knew how much he needed prayer, may we know likewise.

December 13 Acts 27-28 Negativity Creates Interest

When Paul got to Romes, he called for the Jews. They said that many were speaking against the Christians, so they wanted to hear for themselves - then some believed. Negative "publicity" created interest to hear!

What I have found recently is the offering of the gospel in opposition to what major religions teach. I have asked Catholics, "Do you know what the main difference is between what Rome teaches and what Protestants believe?" They really don't know, so they ask me to continue. I do the same with Jews. No one has gotten angry with me, but all listen intently (but do they hear?). Inadvertently, they give me permission to preach the gospel to them.

Don't let opposing views deter you. God can allow you an open door to use opposition for an opportunity to give the gosepl.

December 12 Acts 24-26 Opening Eyes

Paul described the ministry that Jesus gave him as opening eyes so the people could see light instead of darkness. So is ours!

Darkness is really nothing at all. There is no such scientific substance called darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. Jesus is the Light of the World. Without Jesus, people have nothingness. Oh, they may have a nice job, big bank account, a fine family, good friends, but without Christ in their life, it is all nothingness. In materialistic Land of Plenty America, this is a tough sell. Therefore, it requires God to open eyes to see this.

Pray!!!!!

There is no argument that will convince anyone about Jesus unless God opens their eyes to the truth.

December 11 Acts 21-23 Paul's Courageous Witness

I revel at the courageous witness of Paul. He wasn't afraid to preach Christ crucified even to an angry mob. In the same way, we should not cower about telling about Jesus. I hear too many times about "offending" someone or "scaring" someone away. In view of the new testament, those warnings are mostly from the devil. We must be bold - just like the faithful people we read about in the Bible. We shouldn't long to be like them, we should just be like them. Christ hung on a cross naked for us, does evangelizing even compare?

December 10 Acts 20:3-21:16 Emotional Love Among the Leadership

I have been struck lately about the emotional love (non-romantic) between Paul and the leaders of the various churches. When Paul was leaving the elders from Ephesus for good, they wept, grieved, embraced, and kissed.

Too many times, church leadership is assembled as a "board." The basis of the relationship is administration - around a table. One aspect of leading a church is administrative, but it should not be the total relationship of those in leadership.

Scripture gives us a picture of a group of men who genuinely enjoyed being around each other and who cared, in an emotional way, about each other.

As we begin our church's new governance structure with Biblical elders and deacons, I hope we can build a true love for each other. If we honestly care about each other, we will be able to better love the people that the Holy Spirit has gathered us to serve.

December 9 Romans 12-16 Don't Get Hung Up Over Disputable Matters

Romans 14:1-15:13 is about not dividing over "disputable matters." Systematic theological study of the Bible can catalog beliefs into three categories. They are:

1. Dogma: basics of the Christian faith that bind us together as one faith - inerrancy of the Bible, Christ alone, faith alone, etc.
2. Doctrine: those items of the faith that Christians committed to the truth of Scripture (dogma) see differently - who is baptized and when, when baptism in the Spirit occurs, end times, etc.
3. Opinion or disputable matters: those applications of Scripture that are directly addressed in the Bible - abstaining completely from alcohol, trick or treating, etc.

It takes a mature Christian to be able to live with these distinctions and to appropriately put beliefs in the right category. If someone has a strong belief about a disputable matter, then it is sin for them to transgress that belief; but it is not sin for another who doesn't hold to that belief. We shouldn't try to make the other person transgress their belief system. Paul urges us to not divide over disputable matters.

Checkup on One Year Bible Readers

Hi, if you have faithfully read your Bible this year and are on track to complete the Bible at the end of the month, can you please let me know. Also, please let me know if you have consistently read this daily blog for any or all of this year. You can comment to this post or just send me an email to me at pastorfrank@calvarychurch-wh.org.

Thanks for letting me know.

Frank Termine
Pastor - Calvary Church
West Hartford, CT, USA

December 8 Romans 9-11 Macro View of Redemptive History

Chapters 1-8 provided a micro view of salvation - how an individual gets saved. Chapters 9-11 give us a macro view of redemptive history - from Abraham and the Jewish people to Christ and the predominance of Gentiles culminating sometime in the future with the Jews being grafted back into the olive tree of salvation.

vv. 10:1-4 are important for all of us to remember as we are confronted with religious pluralism. Religious pluralism wants us to affirm, as equally valid, all religions. Religious pluralism values zealousness for a god(s) as the key. Paul doesn't value zealousness alone. Zealousness needs to be combined with knowledge about Christ.

These verses also speak against earning salvation by self-righteousness. All religions except one require some amount of meritorious actions (also called works or self-righteous acts) to earn a right standing with God. The one religion that does not recognize one's works as meritorious (salvation earning) is Biblical Christianity. Isaiah calls them all filthy menstrual rags before God. Biblical Christianity is by faith - always was, always will be.

December 7 Romans 3:21-8:39 Transformed by Christ

The 1st 3 chapters of Romans tells us that we are all sinners; vv. 3:21 to the end of Ch. 4 tells us that we can justified (declared not guilty in the sense of the punishment of sin) by faith alone - apart from works; Chapter 5 segues from justification to sanctification (process of transformation from a wicked sinner to the likeness of Christ through increasing obedience in thought, word, and deed.

Although there is an internal fight going on inside us between our sinful physical nature and the indwelling Holy Spirit, "there is no condemnation in Christ." He loves us unconditionally. If He died for us while we were enemies, He certainly will not forsake us after we become His.

Chapter 6 is important. To go on sinning is dissonant in thought for a Christian. When we received Christ as savior, we died to sin - how can we continue in our old lifestyle. Part of receiving Christ as Savior is hating sin - not just the penalty of sin - but the sin itself. If you prayed a prayer merely to save yourself from hell - with no thought of hating your sin - you probably aren't really saved.

Loving God and hating sin are consonant thoughts - they go together like peanut butter and jelly - they are in harmony with each other.

December 6 Romans 1:1-3:20 We Are All Condemned Sinners

Romans is basically a missionary support letter from Paul to the Roman Church. Paul is asking their support for his planned trip to Spain. it is not certain that he ever got to Spain. By this time, the Romans had probably heard of Paul - good and bad - about his gospel message. So, Paul takes 11 chapters to explain in his words the thrust of his gospel message - along the way he interacts with all of the objections he has heard along the way.

Paul begins with his total commitment to the gospel - "it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." It leads to "the obedience that comes from faith."

Paul takes vv. 1:18 to 3:20 to prove all men are condemned sinners before God - those that are aware of God's written law and those who don't have God's law. He argues that those who don't have the written law all have some set of right and wrong, but their consciences confirm that they don't keep even their own concepts of right/wrong.

He ends by saying that the law (God's or yours) does not save anyone - it convicts all as law breaking sinners. This would be a downer letter if it ended here. But it doesn't - see you tomorrow for some good news.

December 4-5 II Corinthians: Dependence on God

I am struck by Paul's dependence on God displayed in this letter.

v. 1:9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.

People mistakenly say, "God will never give us more than we can handle." This is not true. God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle, but sometimes our trials are overwhelming - on purpose  - to drive us to depend on God. Many of us are control freaks - we like to order our world and never have any hardship or risk. We are all about comfort and security - we rely on our own control and planning - not on God.

We are to depend on God for everything. When we trust God - He allows us to take risks for Him - and we don't crumble when we realize things are out of our control. We rely on His strength.

vv. 12:7-10 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

If you are going through some trials, are you making it worse by trying to control the uncontrollable? You are not sovereign - God is. He may be letting you go through your trials to show you who you really trust in - who you really depend on - YOU! My advice to you is simple:

1. Know things are out of your control
2. Trust/rely in God's strength.
3. Know God loves you - and the people around you.
4. Be faithful to His Word - OBEY!
• Forgive
• Love
• Be humble

Or you can keep doing what you are doing - and how is it working for you?

December 3 I Corinthians 15-16; Acts 19 Stand Firm Because of the Resurrection

Chapter 15 is all about the resurrection of Jesus assuring our resurrection. With this knowledge, we can stand firm and ALWAYS give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. The resurrection of Jesus is God offering us His first fruits assuring us more fruit (our resurrection). The resurrection is critical to our salvation.

Knowing we will live forever with imperishable bodies should cause us to respond - to offer our earthly bodies in God's service.

December 2 I Corinthians 11:17-14:40 Love in the Church

Chapter 13 is usually referred to as the "Love Chapter." It is often read at weddings and most people associate it with marriage. But the context is the Bible is far different. Paul's Love Chapter lies within the a discussion of the use of spiritual gifts in the church.

Chapter 13 tells us that we are to love others in the church - all others. All of the attributes of love must be present as we interact with others in our local church. We can not have a passing acquaintance kind of relationship with others in the church - we are to actively love them in observable fashion.

This is how Christ has loved us - this is how we are to love his people:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

Now, go and become an active involved member of your church and love the other members like above. You can do so as you reflect on how much God loves you and how much He has done for you.

December 1 Acts 5-11 Being Unmarried is Preferred

Coming down the home stretch - you are in the last month of completely reading the Bible in a year. Praise God for your diligence.

In Chapter 7, Paul urges single people to stay single if they can remain celibate. Too many times, culture teaches us that being married is the preferred - Biblically, it is not. Now hear is the caveat: Singleness is preferred so that a person can focus on serving the Lord. Paul's assumption is that all of the time that one would spend taking care of his/her family would be invested in serving God and His people, instead.

I see single people in the US many times spending even less time than married people on God and His people. Instead, too many young people waste their time with their unbelieving friends on activities that have no eternal value - that time is literally an eternal wasted of time.

If you are single - align yourself with other married and single people - serve God and His people together. If you can spend the rest of your life celibate, you will meet others in the same life. If you are unable to be celibate, you will meet other committed single Christians - and find a suitable partner. If their aren't enough single people in your church align your church's singles with one or more area churches.

November 30 I Corinthians 1-4 Against People Pleasing

A common problem for all of us - to varying degrees - is living to people please rather than to please Christ. We are all apt to do some things in our life to garner the affirmation of men over the praise of Christ. I Corinthians 4:1-5 speaks powerfully to this tendency.

We are simply called to live to please Christ and to forget about trying to please men. In the end, it is only Christ's judgment that will bear any significance.

People pleasing is a tiring goal - it is never satisfied. Give it up - and do what Christ would have you do in EVERY situation.

November 29 II Thessalonians 1-3; Acts 18-19 Burning Our "Scrolls"

In Acts 19:17-20, sorcerers got saved and burned their scrolls that were used by them as sorcerers. The open market value of these scrolls was great. now, they probably could have sold those scrolls to unbelieving sorcerers, but they destroyed them instead - so as to stop the evil themselves and not to have others continue evil.

When we become disciples of Christ, we have to burn our "scrolls," too. We have got to go through our home and office and destroy all things that we used in the commission of anything evil. But we shouldn't stop there. We should also get rid of anything that keeps us to commit sins of omission. If golf clubs keep us from church on Sunday, we should sell them! If an Xbox keeps us from teaching our children the Scriptures, then we should get rid of it. But we shouldn't stop with physical things, only. We must remove everything from our life that is sin - perhaps stop going to bars if that causes us to get drunk and do whatever.

The text tells us that the people who burned the scrolls held Jesus' name in high honor and openly confessed their sins - we too often hide our sins - and that gives them power - bringing them into the light causes us to stop sinning.

In v. 20 - "In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power."

November 28 I Thessalonians 1-5 How To Disciple People

1 Thessalonians 2:5-12 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed-- God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

Our church is a couple of weeks away from having our 1st elders. I have always thought that the verses above depict a beautiful picture of spiritual shepherds leading and caring for their spiritual flock. Too many times, Elders see their position as a "board" position similar to a corporate board. Although there is an "overseer" or managerial aspect of eldering, it is not the complete picture. Shepherding people is an essential aspect of being an Elder Council and not just being an Elder Board.

Let's look at some of the aspects of Paul's, Timothy's, and Silas' shepherding:

1. "not looking for praise from men": Our church is really Christ's church. Elders are undershepherds that should be committed to pleasing God, not doing popular things. Sometimes people want to move the church toward being a club that is comfortable and they lose the urgency of being disciplemakers. Elders need to keep the flock focused.
2. "gentle among you": Gentleness should never be confused with weakness. Gentleness is strength applied humbly. Elders must never lord their titles/authority over people. Elders need to be instruments of the Holy Spirit to move people along as disciples as shepherds (lead out in front), not sheepdogs "(those that drive from behind).
3. We loved you so much...delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us": Elders must be willing to mix with people in many phases of their life - not just at church. Private people make terrible elders excluding themselves from the everyday struggles of their flock and depriving their flock of seeing how they navigate life. Elders must consider the people of their church as "dear." Elders must love their people and be delighted to share their lives.
4. "how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you": Very simply, Elders must be committed to living a solid, Christian life - that is visible to all!
5. "dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God": Elders must see themselves as fathers to each of the people in the flock. Fathering requires different parenting skills at different time and a father must be willing to be implement the right skills at the right time. Fathers and Elders have to treat each of their children/congregants individually. Sometimes and Elder needs to encourage the willing, other times he must be willing to comfort the hurting, and sometimes he needs to courageously urge the unwilling/ignorant/rebellious.

Shepherding is an investment of an Elder's whole self; then again, so is effective discipling. An effective discipler shares their whole life with those that they are mentoring.

May God make Calvary Church's Elders and all of its people willing and able to share their lives making disciples who make disciples that love God, love others, and share Christ.

November 27 Acts 15-18 Making Trouble on a Daily Basis

"Lord, give me what I need to be as courageous, bold, and fruitful as the early church." This should be all of our prayer.

Please dwell on the implications of Acts 16:5 - "So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers." For this to happen, all of the believers had to be sharing their faith continuously and God was giving them great fruitfulness.

Now combine this witnessing with the impression of outsiders stated in Acts 17:6 - "These men who have caused trouble all over the world." The world sees evangelizing as causing trouble. people don't like trouble - they work to oppose it and stop it. We must be courageous and not be worried about causing "trouble."

Pray:  "Lord, give me what I need to be as courageous, bold, and fruitful as the early church."

November 26 Galatians 1-6 Works Righteousness Alienates from Christ

Galatians 5:2-4 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

Faith in Christ alone saves. Faith in Christ plus anything is a false gospel - this is the argument Paul presents in this letter. Faith alone in Christ (Protestant gospel) is a different gospel from the faith plus works gospel of Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witnesses. These false gospels are actually more insidious that the false messages of Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. because they combine some truths about God and Christ with their false gospel. Too, too many Biblical Christians are soft on this important distinction.

Paul clearly says that those "trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ." Hear clearly what Paul is saying:

1. He says "trying" to be justified by law. The law can justify a person - IF one could keep it perfectly - as Jesus did - but NOBODY can. 
2. When we try to justify ourselves before God by keeping the Law (or any set of rules), we are declaring that what Jesus did on the cross was insufficient. In fact, we are saying that it wasn't even necessary. In that case, we have fallen away from - rejected - the grace of Christ.

The gospel is one. Anything different "is no gospel at all."

November 25 Acts 13-15 Adding Works Makes A False Gospel

Acts 15:1 Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." Adding works to the requirements of salvation makes a false gospel. Although the Jerusalem Council was focused on the circumcision and the many, many laws of Moses, they established a precedent for all works. What they teach us is that this is false: "Unless you  ___________, according to the custom taught by ________, you cannot be saved." Some churches teach you must be baptized to be saved - FALSE! The Catholic Church teaches you must be baptized and do certain things according to the traditions of the Catholic Church - FALSE! What Christ did on the cross is sufficient - TRUE!

All false religions (including false gospel churches) preach this formula:

• Faith + Works = Salvation
• Works must be added to faith to be saved
• Works merit salvation - they are meritorious

True Biblical Christians preach this formula:

• Faith = Salvation + Works
• Faith alone in Christ's finished work on the cross is all that is needed for salvation
• Works are a grateful response to the work of Christ applied to our lives. 
• Works are NOT meritorious. 
• Works do not get you saved, they do not keep you saved, they do not make you more saved.
• Works are evidence that you are saved. Again, they are not meritorious.

Am I arguing details? No.

If you preach works are required to earn salvation, then you are saying that what Christ did on the cross is insufficient. In the final analysis, your motivation for doing the works is selfish - you are trying to save yourself. The grace of Christ is no longer sufficient.

Paul will later write about a gospel that includes works:

• Galatians 1:6-9 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

Paul wasn't wishy washy - we shouldn't be either.

FYI What an individual Catholic believes may be very different from what Rome teaches. What an individual Protestant believes may be different from what his church teaches.

November 24 Acts 9-12 The Lord's Hand

Acts 11:21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

This verse caught my attention tonight. What a great time for the disciples - to have the 'Lord's hand" with them. I am in awe of this statement. I am jealous of these believers - I want the Lord's hand to be with me - with our whole church. But I wonder, if the Lord's hand is with us and we are missing the blessing. I want to be bold - to determine if the Lord's hand is with me - with us. I would love to be a part of the church who "a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord."

It is also interesting to note the people believed AND turned to the Lord. I think there might be a difference between believing and turning to the Lord. It seems like both are necessary to be a Christian - believing - and turning toward Christ, so as to follow Him. Would it make any sense to believe and not follow Christ? Would anyone really call that person a disciple (follower) of Jesus. Of course not.

November 23 Acts 8-9 The Holy Spirit Leads

The books of Luke and Acts were written by Luke. In the Book of Acts, Luke continually highlights the work of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the book, the Holy Spirit is leading and empowering the believers to do great ministry in the midst of persecution.

Today, we either tend to minimize - sometimes to forget - the ministry of the Holy Spirit OR we overemphasize His ministry. The ministry of the Holy Spirit to exalt Jesus, not to draw attention to Himself - certainly not to exalt certain believers.

In the early church, it was evident that the disciples were very aware of the ministry of the Holy Spirit and were seeking and sensitive to His leading and empowering. In our day, we should do the same. God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The Holy Spirit is still building the Church of Christ today.

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was like the wind (John 3) - you can't see wind, but you can see its effects. Likewise, the Holy Spirit isn't visible, but you can see His works - if you are sensitive to them and on the lookout for them. As we follow the Holy Spirit, each of our ministries will become more and more powerful.

November 22 Acts 6-7 Full of God's Grace and Power

Stephen was described as, "a man full of God's grace and power." A Christian might ask, "how do I get those?" Stephen didn't get them at Jerusalem Seminary! He did know the OT from his synagogue attendance and he sat under the teaching of the Apostles. But most of all, he must have understood and connected with the personage of Jesus Christ - as God and man. He grew to understand the grace of God - creator and redeemer - His great love for us in dying on the cross, so that we might have eternal life. Jesus became the center of his life - the One Who mattered most to him.

By knowing God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit - knowing their grace and power - and living in awe of them - Stephen was made a man full of grace and and power. Stephan became a man that we all can be.

November 21 Acts 3:1-6:7 Don't Need a Seminary Degree

The Jewish leaders were surprised that "unschooled, ordinary men" could know so much and be persuasive. They put a lot of faith in formal education for religious leadership. So do we!

A degree doesn't make one fit for full-time ministry and not having a degree shouldn't disqualify anyone. What is important are knowledge of the Scriptures and the anointing of the Holy Spirit. People can learn the Scriptures informally on their own and with the help of other knowledgeable Christians. I am willing to help anyone do this - as are many other pastors (with and without seminary degrees) and mature Christians. No one can help with the anointing of the Holy Spirit - He anoints Who He anoints. However, we all should be able to discern who He has anointed.

Look for knowledgeable, anointed people for full-time ministers - with or without seminary degrees. Remember, the early church leaders did a pretty good job - much better than most seminary-educated ministers today.

November 20 Acts 1-2 Repentance is What is Missing

"Repent and be baptized" is what Peter told the people to do. Repent basically means to turn, to from, or to change your mind. In the Biblically sense, it means to be sorry for our sins and to want to change our course and not continue to sin. Peter used the word to describe the purpose of salvation - to turn from our lifestyle of sin in rebellion to God and to receive Christ as Lord (director of our life in the future and God) and Savior (forgiver of the penalty of our sin through sacrificial atonement - paying the penalty in our place).

The church in general acts too much like the rest of the world because people want the forgiveness of their sins, but have never changed their mind or turned from (repented) their sin. When they "said the prayer," they wanted the "fire insurance" (free gift of heaven), but never really wanted to turn from their present life of sin to godly living.

Repentance is not an additional requirement of salvation, it is the overarching want for salvation.

November 19 Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24: John 20-21; Acts 1 Life After Death

Quite simply, the resurrection of Jesus proves there is life after death. It also proves that all Jesus said is true. The Jewish leaders have tried to suppress the truth, but how has that worked for them! Scared disciples were changed into courageous heroes of the faith. The truth of the resurrection is the only thing that makes sense out of all of the facts that we have.

Believe in Jesus as Savior - nothing else makes sense.

November 15 John 15-17 Living on the Vine

John 13-17 is sacred ground in the sacred Bible. When we read this section of Scripture, we should want to take off our shoes as we are in truly sacred territory between Jesus and His closest disciples. We see the tenderness between God and His people - and the harsh realities of kingdom living here on earth. 

Jesus said that those who hate Him, hate God the Father Himself. Those who reject Jesus, reject the One true and living God of the Bible. Those that reject Jesus as the God-man, bristle at this truth - yet it is still truth no matter how mad it makes someone.

In this world, we must stay on the vine to bear kingdom fruit. Jesus says that no connection means no fruit. I take this to mean a personal connection to God and to God's people (church). 

Jesus also makes it clear that a strong connection the God of the Bible and His people will make unbelievers hate us. That's bad news for people pleasers.

We all have a fundamental decision in our life - to be recommitted to everyday - to live to produce fruit for the kingdom - to please God - OR - live to please others - to live fruitless lives.

November 14 Matthew 26; Luke 22; John 13-14 Knowing Your Security in Christ

In a great show of Jesus' humility, He got down and washed the feet of the Apostles - normally the job of the very lowest slave in the household. What in Jesus' nature allowed Him the strength of humility (It takes strength to be humble, none to be proud)? We are told in John 13:3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so He got up from the meal...

Jesus was secure in His place in the Kingdom of God - whether he did the job of the lowest slave or not, He was from God, returning to God, with all power under the Father. Nothing was going to change Who He was. He could humble Himself and serve - in strength!

We, who have received Christ as Savior, are co-heirs with Christ. Nothing will change that. We can be humble servants, too! We often think that we can't become servants as people will think less of us - that isn't always true, but we shouldn't care - because God will never think less of us. In fact, if we serve, we will be pleasing Him. Until we truly believe this truth deep in our hearts, our willingness to serve humbly will be compromised.

Know who you are in Christ. Life then becomes so much simpler - as a servant.

November 13 Matthew 26; Luke 21-22; John 12 One True God

John 12:48 There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.

There are many people who say they believe in God, but not Jesus. There are others who only believe certain things about Jesus, not that He is Savior. There are others that say all roads lead to God - as long as one acknowledges a god or even gods, that will lead him to salvation. In John 12:48, Jesus says that they are all wrong!

To deny who Jesus says He is, is to deny the One Who sent Jesus. All the people described above are acknowledging, even worshiping, a false god that does not exist. People don't want to accept the plain and simple logic - gods with different characteristics, natures, and expectations from humans can't be the same god. If they are and people just messed up their understanding, then people still aren't doing what the true god wants. If that's ok, then the god really doesn't expect anything from humans. What I just described is not the God of the Bible. If you profess to believe in the God of the Bible, then logically, you must reject all of those suppositions described above.

November 12 Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21 Stay Busy for God

Many people are preoccupied (like I used to be) with end times prophecy - trying to understand exactly how every detail will unfold and trying to discern how close we are to its coming. But the more you try to get into the detail, the hazier it becomes. There are many good, but conflicting, interpretations of the details.

But there are a few things that we all agree on - Jesus will return in bodily form, there will be a final judgment with some heading to eternal life with Christ and others to eternal death with Satan apart from God. Since we don't know when this occurs, we must listen carefully to Jesus' exhortations - to continue doing God's work - because Jesus may come sooner than we expect - but be faithful - because His coming may be a long way off.

When it comes to end times prophecy - be ready for Jesus' return - or your death for that matter as it may come before Jesus' return - by faithfully carrying out the will of the Lord - like He might come back in a couple of days or in a thousand years. Whatever you do, do NOT put off your faithfulness one minute.Don't let Jesus' return - or your death - catch you unprepared.

November 11 Matthew 21-23; Mark 11-12; Luke 20 Character > Reputation

Reputation is who people THINK we are, character is who we really are when no one is watching. Jesus condemned the hypocrisy of the Pharisees - "Outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

Jesus wants us to change from the inside-out. If our character changes - so we think and feel as Christ does - our words and actions will follow. We are not to put up better filters, but are to go to the root of our son and to ask ourselves, "Why did I just do that (or say it or even think it)" We must get to the heart of the matter - literally.

Things like anger management classes are not based on Christian theology. We are not to "manage" our unrighteous anger, we are called to be changed in our beliefs to not even experience unrighteous anger.

Christ cares about our character - reputation built on poor character - not at all!

November 10 mark 11; Luke 19; John 12 Jesus Means It

We tend to water down some of Jesus strong, but plain messages. Suppose for one day, we all assume that Jesus means exactly what He says:

John 12:25-26 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves Me.

Have you lost your life to follow Christ (full-time!)? Are you truly following Christ? Are you serving Christ?

The rewards are eternal! Literally.

What do we have here so good that following Christ isn't better?

November 9 Matthew 19-20, 26; Mark 10, 14; Luke 18-19; John 11-12 Judgment of Gain

In Luke 19:11-27, Jesus tells a story (Parable of Ten Minas) that His hearers would have related to. This is very similar of what really happened with one of the Herods going to Caesar. Those who grew the kingdom for the king were handsomely rewarded for their efforts. Those that did nothing were punished - thy lost their life.

God has given all people natural abilities and provided them with blessings here on earth - to varying degrees. He expects everyone of us to "invest" our own personal assets to grow God's kingdom here on earth. For those that do, the rewards will be to rule with Christ in the Millennium (most likely). For those that don't will be rebuke and great loss.

With whatever God has given you, what are you spending it on? Can you expect a reward or loss?

November 8 John 11 How True, How True

John told us that Caiaphas actually prophesied when he said it was better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish. he unknowingly was prophesying about the substitutionary atonement of Jesus - He died to pay the penalty for us for our sin - in our place.

Jesus performed an undeniable miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. But instead of believing Jesus was the Christ - the things of this world drove them to want to kill Jesus - to protect their place with the Romans. Their own agenda kept them from believing in Jesus.

Many times we think we have to provide just the right argument to convince someone to receive Christ as Savior. The truth is that people understand the salvation plan - they even agree with it as truth - but they don't want to trust in Jesus because of its implications - they would have to give up something - a favorite sin, a different lifestyle, new friends, etc. - the cost of discipleship is just too high.

Consider asking a rejector of Christ, "Suppose you did become a Christian, what do you think would have to change in your life?" You may get a very revealing answer. The answer may be the real issue - not wanting to part with it.

November 7 Luke 13-18, Matthew 20 Costly Discipleship

People too often describe themselves as 'believers" and less often as "disciples." Too often we spend our efforts to make people believers and spend little or no time making them disciples. But Jesus called us to "make disciples." Jesus wants followers, not mere assenters to a set of truths.

In Luke 14:25-33, large crowds were following Jesus. A word study in Luke will reveal that these people were differentiated from disciples - in other words, Luke's "crowds" were mostly unbelievers - but at least seekers drawn to some aspect of Jesus' ministry.

Jesus turns to the crowds and encourages them to consider the cost of discipleship. He encourages them to make sure that they can finish what they have started. Jesus makes sure that they understand the high cost of real discipleship - "Any of you that does not give up EVERYTHING he has cannot be my disciple."

Do you really think that Jesus was using hyperbole (overstatement merely for the effect of emotion) to get their attention - but He really didn't mean it? I don't think so - He meant it. To give up EVERYTHING means to put up all we are and have to at the disposal of Christ - our time, money, possessions, and abilities/spiritual gifts for building the kingdom of God.

Are you a disciple? Is EVERYTHING at the king's disposal? Remember, "Any of you that does not give up EVERYTHING he has cannot be my disciple."

November 6 Luke 9-11, 17 John 10 Jesus Did Claim Divinity

Detractors to the Bible claim that Jesus never claimed to be God. Oh yes He did. The Jewish leaders definitely knew He did in John 10. They wanted to stone Him. And Jesus did not back down.

Many want to make Christians as poor readers of the gospels - that we have made Jesus into something He never claimed to be. Jesus claimed to be in yesterday's reading, "I am" (John 8:59).

The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus as God - as do many today. Who do you say Jesus is? The answer to this question will affect your eternal destiny.

November 5 John 8-10 Do What Pleases him

In John 8:30, Jesus says that He only does what pleases the Father. I believe that this requires two things - doing what pleases God and doing it to please Him (motivation). If I want to live my life to please God, then I have to really learn about God and what pleases Him. This will take a lifetime of study and moment by moment contemplation.

I also need to be motivated to please Him. Not only must I strive to do the right things, I must want to do them for the right reason. I must ask God to help me love Him totally. If I love God way above loving myself, I will put his agenda foremost in my mind.

I believe these two items are circular - as I learn more about God, I will want to please Him. And as my motivation changes to please Him, I will want to learn about Him more. So get on this "merry-go-round" and live to please God.

November 4 John 7 Checking Out Jesus

Jesus says something very profound in our reading today - John 7:17 "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own."

Wow! Jesus almost says that a test of whether one really wants to live for God, he must check out Jesus' teachings to see if they are true. Jesus will not be dismissed summarily. Jesus says very explicitly that ignoring Him is not an option for sincere God seekers. In fact, it is a test of a sincere God-seeker.

So, how does one check out Jesus' teachings. First of all, by comparing them to the rest of Scripture - especially that which preceded Him. Is Jesus consistent and does His teachings make the Old Testament clearer.

Also, is Jesus' theology coherent - does it hand together?

Jesus seems to say that a good way to bring people to know Him as savior is to study Him. Interesting to me because most people use Paul to evangelize people. Maybe we need to reconsider our methods.

November 3 Matthew 16-18, Mark 8-9, Luke 9 Forgiveness

I was interviewed today by an University of Hartford student for for one of her class projects. She asked me a question that I had never fielded before, "What one word from the Bible sticks out for you." While there are many words like grace, mercy, love, etc., the one that immediately popped into my head was - forgiveness.

I am convinced that to have a fruitful, blessed life on earth, we have to be forgiven and forgiving. When we receive Christ as Savior, we begin to understand how much sin we have in our lives and how great a cost God the Father and Jesus Christ paid to forgive our sin. We begin to understand how much we are forgiven and how great its cost. Being forgiven, helps us to forgive others - to overlook minor offenses and to forgive others for more major ones. We keep short accounts and we quickly resolve conflicts in love and truth. We value relationships as much as Christ does.

Saints, Matthew 18:15 through the end of Chapter 18 is a critical piece of Scripture to know and live. The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant is a chilling reminder about the cost of unforgiveness. Value you all of your relationships as does Jesus - and forgive - as you were forgiven.

November 2 Matthew 15-16, Mark 7-8 Yeast of the Pharisees Today

Jesus talked about the yeast of the Pharisees. A pinch (very small amount) of yeast will cause bread to rise. The analogy is a good one that most people miss.

Jesus and the Pharisees both believed wholeheartedly in the Old Testament. They totally agreed on the books and what was taught. However, they did have some differences in theology that put them at odds. The crux of their disagreement was over the question, "What must I do to be saved?" Jesus taught faith alone; the Pharisees taught faith plus works (as they defined them). The Pharisees were leading people to hell.

So what about today. Protestants who are Biblical Christians share the Bible with Roman Catholicism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons. Biblical Christians teach faith alone saves. The others all teach faith plus works saves. The works that save are different among each of them. But like Pharisees, Roman Catholicism holds their church tradition equal to the Bible; Mormons hold the Book of Mormon equal.

The bottom line is this - faith plus works gospel messages are false - even if they are based on the Bible. The essential yeast that Jesus is talking about is the addition of works to the salvation equation.

Are there people who take on the name Roman Catholic, but reject the addition of works to faith for salvation? Yes. Are they saved? Most likely? Are they immersing themselves in a lot of error by continuing to be part of Roman Catholicism? Most definitely!

Is there any yeast in your loaf? Jesus told us to "Beware."

November 1 Mark 6-7, John 6 The Father's Enablement to Believe

Ten months down and two months to go and you have read the entire Bible. Congratulations and finish well - even through the holidays.

Jesus said, "The work of God is this: believe in the One He has sent." Then Jesus went on to say, "No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him...no one can come to Me unless the Father has enabled him."

Do not let your framework of understanding the Bible (dispensationalism, Calvinism, Arminianism, etc.) affect the way you read this text of the Bible (or any Biblical text for that matter). Instead, let the text inform (or reform) your framework. Don't explain away the plain meaning of the text to have it fit into your framework.

This text is clear - God the Father is the initiator in any relationship between God and man. If God does not draw you, you will never believe. Now, go find in the text the answer for your next natural question - "Does God draw all?"

Well, here is a starter "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots." What do you think Jesus means?

October 31 Matthew 9-11, Mark 6 Just Tell Them About Jesus

I have been to many evangelistic training sessions and have given many myself. I am convinced through the Scriptures and through my own experiences, that so-called proven methods aren't decisive in a person coming to Christ. Jesus never had a one-size fits all method. Jesus just spoke the truth he knew and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. The Apostles did the same and so should we.

I think what is really important is to just do it! Today's reading has to do with the warnings of persecution and rejection - but the admonition to share Christ anyways! To be acknowledged in heaven, we must acknowledge Christ before men. We are to love no one over Christ.

Jesus calls us to a devoted life for Him. He knows no other kind of disciple. Be a true disciple of Christ - not a bar-code Christian - the kind that requires a special sensor to detect. Shine your light before all men.

October 30 Matthew 8, Luke 9, Mark 4-6 Entertained/Amazed or Become a Follower?

Will you be entertained, amazed, interested in Jesus or will you become one of the believers in Him who follows Him (becomes a disciple)? Our readings begin with a bunch of people who delay becoming disciples because of the cares of this world. None of their excuses are bad - they are just wrong! The time to follow Jesus is now - not when it is convenient or expedient.

Many people were pressing in and making contact with Jesus, but it was only the woman with the blood flow that was healed by His contact. The others were curious, but she was in great need and believed Jesus could help her. See the vast difference.

Jesus has never advocated lukewarm belief and discipleship. He has always asked for our wholehearted commitment. That's why there are so few really saved people and many, many pretenders and those entertained, amazed, and interested.

October 29 Matthew 13, Mark 4 Yielding 100 Times

Since being a Christian, going to seminary, and being a pastor, I have been in, read, and listening to many debates about the meaning of the four soils in the Parable of the Sower - namely how many of the four are saved. What I have not heard debated is how one can yield 100 times versus 60 or 30. I don't know about you, but if I have my choice I would like to be a Christian who delivers the maximum yield for Christ. Perhaps, this is just a desire from my carnal side to achieve, perform, or be successful. I hope it is more that I want to please my god who has blessed me in so many ways. When coming to the Parable of the Sower, let's focus on being a fruitful soil as possible.

But why is it that so many so-called Christians are satisfied with being minimally fruitful for the kingdom. One reason is that they are a lot of people inhabiting churches who profess salvation, but really aren't. I think there are others who have one foot in the world and one foot (or maybe a toe or two) in the Kingdom.

Saints, think about what you must do to become 100 fold fruitful for the kingdom - don't be satisfied with 30 or even 60. Christ is worth it.

October 25 Luke 5-6, John 5, Matthew 12 Evangelical Universalism

I have been confronted with a somewhat new resurgence of what some call "Evangelical Universalism." There is a very small stream of evangelical Christians who believe all will be saved. They believe that after death, the love of Jesus will be made manifest to all unbelievers who will be overtaken and become after death believers.

It is my opinion, that to believe this, one has to cast aside some pretty clear passages and some strong verses like one in today's reading - John 5:28-29 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out-- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

Revelation 20:10-15 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

I don't want to impugn the motives of Evangelical Universalists, but i do think their view of Scripture is wrong. More importantly, their error can lead their adherents to lose their missionary zeal. Ideas have consequences!

October 24 Luke 4-5 The Demons Know Who Jesus Is

In Mark 1:34, we learn that Jesus "would not let the demons speak because they knew Who He was." That the demons knew exactly Who Jesus was is stated several times in the Gospels. We are told in James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-- and shudder."

Why is it that the demons are such believers in God and Jesus Christ and that so many humans have disbelief and such erroneous beliefs in God that they don't worship the one true and living God? The demons fear God (they "shudder"), yet most men are moved to less than a twinge - at least until their deathbed - then they fear meeting their Maker!

I think the problem is that we have set ourselves up as a god. So we reject the truth about God. people aren't as interesting in truth as they are in control. People bend truth to give themselves control.

If people truly seek truth, they will find it - God promises us so. Demons will never have a right relationship with God - perhaps because they personally knew god and rejected Him - Jesus' death was not for them to be reconciled to God - but it was for us. See k truth - you will find God - the one in the Bible - there is no other - the demons know that - you can, too!

October 23 John 1-4 What Sustains You?

Jesus said in John 4, "My food...is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to finish His work." Food is what is needed to sustain our life here on earth. In addition, food is a great joy to me - I like to eat food. Food is also around which I gather with people. I suspect that Jesus meant a little bit of all those things - doing the will of God sustained Jesus, gave Him joy, and allowed Him to be around people. Doing the will of God should sustain us, it should give us joy, and afford us the opportunity to be around people.

Have you ever thought about what sustains you - gets you up out of bed in the morning - makes your heart pump? Is it doing the will of God? Anything else that takes the place of doing God's will is really a false idol. Your false idol doesn't have to be something bad like drugs or criminal activity, it could be something morally neutral like a career, sports, a person, etc. But morally neutral things that take the place of doing God's will are false idols - any good thing that becomes an ultimate thing. Satan doesn't have to get you to do evil things to feel good - as long as he can keep you from doing God's will.

Christianity is about aligning our will with God's. How are you doing?

October 22 Matthew 3-4, Luke 3, John 1 What Must I Do To Repent?

John the Baptist was preaching about the coming Messiah and the need for repentance. When the people specifically asked John what they should o, John answered them uniquely. To the crowds, John said to share what they had with those less fortunate. To the tax collectors, he said to collect only what they were required - in other words, don't extort money for themselves. To the soldiers, don't use their position to extort money from people through intimidation.

These are probably all people who gather weekly for synagogue gathered worship and who knew God's word pretty well. John told them to live what they know to be God's Word.

If you asked John, "What must I do to repent," I wonder what his answer would be? What do you think you must do to repent - to turn away fro a sin(s) in your life AND turn toward Jesus? I bet you know!

October 21 Matthew 2, Luke 2 What To Do With Harmonized Accounts

Our One Year Bible is compiled as a harmonized account. In other words, where two or more books speak about an episode in the Biblical narrative, all of the writers' writings are added together to give a "complete" account of what happened. This is called a harmonized account.

Throughout the Synoptic Gospels (Syn - one + optic - eye or through one eye), there is a great deal of overlap - that's why they are called the Synoptic Gospels. Over 90% of the content of the Gospel of John is not contained in the other gospels. Having said these things, each of the gospel writers were writing to convey slightly different things to their individual audiences. For example, Matthew was trying to convince Jews that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah as spoken about throughout the OT. This why that Matthew has many OT references and allusions.

Although Matthew, mark, and Luke are very similar, they are also different. They chose to include certain material and leave out other material that another writer chose to include.

The point that I am making is that a harmonized account of Jesus' life, like what we are reading gives us a fuller picture of Jesus' life than any one of the gospels, yet it may dilute a point that a particular gospel writer was trying to make about an episode in Jesus' life.

When I preached through the Book of Matthew, I read all of the other gospels that had material about the same event in Matthew so I could get a fuller picture. However, I normally only used the information from Matthew to preach the passage. I did so because I wanted to make Matthew's point(s) alone  and not Mark, Luke's, or John's. I seldom brought in any of the details that those writers had that Matthew excluded. I forced myself to stay true to the text that I was preaching.

Don't think that each writer didn't necessarily have all the facts or wasn't detailed enough. They were not history writers, they were theologians and evangelists giving their audience enough info to see the point they needed to hear.

October 20 Luke 1-2 Believing God

These are familiar accounts of the births of John the Baptist and Jesus. One of the things that the text spoke to me today was the juxtaposition in the text of the disbelief of Zechariah versus the belief of Mary. There is no doubt that Luke is intentionally showing us the contrast, but why?

It is interesting that a pious, learned, mature man would doubt the words of an angel of God in the Holy Place of the Temple. Gabriel probably felt like saying, "I came all the way here to see if you would fall for my scam!"

Yet, a 13 year old girl would believe that she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit - and then praise God.

Too many times, we put God into a box of our own making and think that He must act in such and such a way. This is really a form of idolatry - making a god out of our own fancy. Zechariah must have had some construct of the coming of Elijah and the birth of a son to him "in the spirit of Elijah" just didn't fit in. Sometimes, our study and "speculation" gets in the way of letting God be God.

We need to know the Scripture well and hold them fast. We should do our best to interpret them and hold our interpretations with a good sense of humility - we could be wrong! Too many church splits occur between factions who are positive about their particular interpretations of Scripture. There are clear and important dogmas of the faith that we should be willing to go to the mat for - like what must I do to be saved. But there are many other doctrines, that we must hold a bit lightly - like the end times. A mature godly believer knows which are which. Other closed minded know-it-alls which make every one of their interpretations of the Bible - dogma - do much harm to the cause of Christ.

October 19 Matthew 1, Luke 3 The Blood of Jesus

The genealogies of Jesus are quite revealing. Jesus has the blood line of some notable people - good and bad. So, in other words, Jesus is one of us - at least from His human perspective. He was born with every one of our proclivities to be tempted into sin just like all of His ancestors all the way to Adam. He also had every one of our frailties, every one of our emotions, etc. - Jesus is one of us.

We should be able to relate to Jesus - and He certainly to us. What a magnificent plan of God. His thoughts are not our thoughts - in this case in how best to relate Himself and His desires for us to the human race.

October 18 Mark 1, Luke 1, John 1 Finally - The New Testament

After nearly 10 months of reading the Bible, we have reached the New Testament. And the New Testament begins by revealing Jesus - the God man - the Christ - the long awaited Messiah. But John tells us that those who long awaited Him did not receive Him. And the Jews today persist in their unbelief.

In John 1:18, we learn that God revealed Himself through Jesus. All that we heard from God and learned through His law and prophets still fell short of what we learn about God through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. As we read the Gospels, let us learn about God by listening to the words of Jesus but also by watching Him - what He does, where He goes, when He goes, who He interacts with, etc. God is revealed by every aspect of Jesus - let's play close attention - and receive Him as our own Lord and Savior.

October 17 Context for the Birth of Jesus

The readings over the last three days are important. Although they are not Biblical, they are historical in nature (extra-Biblical) and provide a very needed context for the world in which Jesus was born into.

I always encourage people to thoroughly study the context for all Biblical study. Reading a chapter of the Bible is always good, but understanding its context (in the book), context (in the whole of the Bible), and context (in the history, culture, etc.) is best. Context helps us read the text as its 1st hearers heard or read it. Then we can understand the teaching as they did. From there, we can take the intended principle and apply it to our daily lives.

It is sometimes said that you can't go from the Bible directly to Hartford (or where ever you live) - you must 1st go through Jerusalem. What this means is that you will be misled at times if you don't understand the context and 1st hear things as the 1st hearers heard it.

For example, let's consider Paul's teachings to the Corinthians about the Lord's Supper in I Corinthian 11. Some of the wealthy people were getting drunk and eating while the poor were going hungry during the Lord's Supper. Paul told them that they were being punished for this. Upon a cursory reading, we might say that we aren't doing this, so I guess we (in our church) are ok - we aren't drunk and we don't serve food to some and not others. But I Corinthians is all about the disunity of the Corinthian church throughout the book in many ways. Then, in Chapter 11, Paul begins his teaching on the Lord's Supper with 1 Corinthians 11:17-19 "In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval."

Paul, is telling the people that they can't participate in the Lord's Supper if they are in disunity. Although the passage is talking about drunkenness and eating/not eating as THEIR disunity, we have to apply the warning against disunity in our context. Factions, unresolved conflicts, favoritism, cliques, racism, etc. in the church are all forms of disunity. A church that "celebrates" the Lord's Supper like this is doing so in an "unworthy manner." Context helps us get to our application.

October 16 The Apocrypha is Not Scripture

Although the Roman Catholic Church still accepts the much of the Apocrypha in their version of the Bible, Protestants have rejected those books as Scripture for centuries. The main reasons are that Jesus never quoted from any of them, the Jews have never accepted them as Scripture, and they contain historical errors and inconsistencies with the rest of Scripture.

The Apocrypha should be placed in a category of sort of like religious writings today. The writings of today contain historical information about our contemporary culture, thoughts about current religiosity, and other moralisms, all of which might contain error - and depending on the writer, more error than other writings. No conservative theologian would think of putting today's writings alongside Scripture - although some people use today's books or some writers as "gospel" and set the Bible to the side.

Having said all this, the Apocrypha do provide some interesting reading to understand Jewish thinking (realizing some is incorrect) during the time between the Old and New Testaments. Some history is also provided. So, as long as one knows the Apocrypha is not Scripture, its reading might have benefit.

October 15 End of the Old Testament

We must remember that God's revelation of Himself to mankind was progressive - as time went on, man was given more that the successive generation. So, when we teach the Old testament, we must remember what the original readers had in terms of previous revelation. Abraham, Moses, and the prophets did not have the entire Bible - they didn't even all have the amount of the Bible.

Salvation has always been by having faith, but the required content of that faith has changed over time. Adam and Eve needed to have faith in a future unnamed descendant of Eve that would crush the head of Satan, whereas we have to believe in Jesus Christ (who we know a lot about) for died for the forgiveness of our sins.

The new Testament really helps us better understand the Old Testament, so please remember that those living in OT times, did not have the NT. Therefore, their understanding was less complete than ours.

October 14 I Chronicles 4-9 Old Testament Ends

After nearly nine and a half months of daily readings, we have completed the Old Testament. Congratulations. I think that most people never read the OT in its entirety.

God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He was not an angry god of wrath in the OT and now a loving God of grace. The OT is filled with His mercy and grace, exhibited by His faithfulness to His unfaithful people Israel.

In the OT, God presented Himself through different genres of literature - narrative, poetry, proverbs, etc.

October 13 I Chronicles 1-3 The Lists

The lists of the Bible serve sacred purposes which are not always evident to us thousands of years later. The Prayer of Jabez, a popular book about 10 years ago arose from one of the historical footnotes in this particular list. I don't have a particular item of devotion today. So, I'll proceed to daily prayer.

October 12 Nehemiah 12-13 The Word is Powerful

Too many times preachers focus on topical sermons - taking a Christian topic and teaching on it, sprinkling the sermon with varying amounts of Scripture to support the teaching. Although topical preaching is required from time to time, I believe that the power to change lives lies with God's Word, not the preacher's eloquence or content.

The focal point of preaching should be the word of God. It is God's word that ultimately changes lives. In Nehemiah 13:1-3, the people were exposed to God's word and became committed. While I wish this were always the case, many times it is.

Find a church that is committed to expository preaching - take a passage of Scripture and teach from that. Choose a church who bases their teaching on God's word, not the preacher's eloquence. The preacher must always be good at his craft, but should recede into the background behind the Word of God.

October 11 Nehemiah 8-10 Repentance and Recommitment

Today, we read about a great day of repentance (sorrow for sins and a wont to not sin anymore). We also get a great summary of the history of Israel - God's great faithfulness and patience and the Israelites great unfaithfulness. So after exile, living under a foreign government in near slavery, and after the hearing of God's word, the people are cut to the heart, understand their situation clearly, and repent.

Today is a great day to reflect on our own life - to see God's faithfulness and to consider how faithful we were in response. Do we need to confess? Do we need to repent? Do we need a re-commitment?

October 10 Nehemiah 7; 11:20-36; 12:1-26 The Lists

Let's be honest - the lists of the Bible serve a holy purpose(s) - but don't always make for edifying reading. Nonetheless, I always find pearls embedded in the lists that cause me to think and reflect.

Nehemiah 7:2 talks about Hananiah and describes him as "a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do." Wouldn't it be nice to just be mentioned in the Bible like this - written about for centuries so that you or I could be known for our integrity and our holy honoring God by fearing Him more than other people.

Well, we don't have the opportunity to be known this way before countless generations. However, those around us can know us this way. Wouldn't it be nice to have person after person come up to the podium at our funeral attesting to our integrity and fear of God.

More importantly, we can be known for these qualities before God - and being recognized for these qualities before God is eternally and infinitely more important.

So, let's do it! Let's live our lives in the fear of God - easy to do if we constantly stop to think about God - if we take the time to get to know Him - if we read His word. If we truly fear God, we will be men and women of integrity - we will be moved by the Holy Spirit to do so.

October 9 Nehemiah 4-6 Prayer and Personal Responsibility

Nehemiah teaches us about several things, but two of them are the importance of prayer and the necessity of assuming active personal responsibility. In v. 4:9, the text says, "But we prayed to our God and posted a guard..." By praying to God, the people showed their total dependence of God for their protection. By posting a guard, they assumed active personal responsibility for protecting themselves. Protecting themselves (defensively) against those who would stop the work of God is completely moral and consistent with God's will.

We are to be totally dependent on God AND to act decisively to bring about God's will in a moral way consistent with His law. We are never to do anything immoral to achieve God's will.

We are to pray to God for a job AND to work hard to find one! We are to pray to God to grow our churches in numbers AND to be faithful disciples to be healthy spiritually.

Praying without acting in a responsible manner is laziness. Working without prayer is self-dependence. Neither is correct.

Nehemiah was a strong decisive leader who at the same time was totally dependent on God evidenced by his active prayer life. READ THIS CAREFULLY: Nehemiah's total dependence of God made him a confident leader, because it was God Who made Nehemiah successful. Nehemiah was successful because he was operating in the will of God - that's a great place to be.

October 7 Ezra 9-10 Keeping the Holy Race Holy

Ezra came back to find a number of men who were unfaithful to God by marrying pagan women from their surrounding area. God specifically forbade it because God knew that the women would lead their families astray - toward idol worship. This fear has been borne out in Biblical history. Now some of the men returning from exile had begun to defile Israel yet again. Ezra and the elders take drastic, but necessary action.

Does this have any bearing on today's life? It certainly does. Christians should only marry other Christians. Christians have a hard enough time staying faithful - they shouldn't complicate things further by getting yoked with unfaithful people.

Now, you might point to some Christian you know that married an unbeliever and the unbeliever got saved after marriage. Praise God. It happens. But most of the time, the Christian ends up falling away or living a frustrated life with someone with different values. Since we all tend toward spiritual sloth, the children of mixed marriages usually end up as unbelievers.

Christians should marry Christians. One of the purposes of marriage stated by God in Malachi 2 - "He was seeking godly offspring." In the vast majority of cases, it takes two godly parents to make godly children.

Some Christians date unbelievers and claim they won't marry him/her. The problem is two fold:

1. While they are dating an unbeliever, they are blocking God from bringing a godly believer in their life.
2. They are risking falling in love with this person and letting their feelings getting the better of their judgment and eventually marrying the unbeliever. 

Psalm 1 implores us to stay away from sin - to not even go near it. Trust God and wait for the godly believer. Marriage is for a lifetime - that's a long time.

October 6 Ezra 7-8 Watch God Move

One of the interesting things about today's reading is that a letter from a pagan king is part of sacred Scripture. But its import is not about the pagan king, Artaxerxes, but of the Great King, God, over Artaxerxes. We see God moving through Artaxerxes to achieve God's will - to rebuild the Jewish people in Israel. God uses the treasuries of Persia to do so.

Equally interesting is the safe, but unguarded, 4 month journey of Ezra's band across dangerous territory with untold riches. Ezra was embarrassed to ask Artaxerxes for protection, but instead asked God Who delivered the band and their cargo safely.

We need to step back and see the movement of God in this reading. But, we also need to step back and discern this same God moving in our lives and the lives of others each and every day now. When God determines something to happen - it will! God worked mightily in Ezra's life and he does in our lives, too.

Note, Ezra was committed to God's word and to prayer and fasting and to making disciples of others.

October 5 Malachi Honoring God Appropriately

Malachi is about giving God the honor due Him. Malachi chides the people for using their injured, crippled, or diseased animals for sacrifice when they have a perfectly good one to offer. They are giving God their throw away offerings and keeping the best for themselves. God asks the people if they would try such a thing on their governor!

God says, "My name will be great among the nations." He says, "I am a great king." We should bring God our best worship, never our leftovers.

You might say, "OK, but how does that apply to me. We don't sacrifice animals any more." If you have an important meeting or appointment, aren't you well prepared for the meeting and on-time and alert during the entire meeting. Do you try to get a good night's sleep beforehand and come appropriately dressed to impress those in the meetings? Well, of course you do. Then if you do that for business:

• Get a night's sleep on Saturday night
• Come smartly dressed to service
• Be on-time
• Stay alert
• Be active.

We are given the opportunity to worship THE great king. Unbelievers will be in church watching you to determine if you fear this great king. Give God His due - He is more than worth it.

October 4 Esther 5:1-10:3 Providence of God

The Jews could have been wiped out by the evil plot of Haman. Satan was the one really behind the plot - the plot to destroy the seed of the woman promised of God. However, through a long series of fortuitous occurrences, the Jews were not only saved, but also avenged and let to a time of safety and prosperity in the Persian Empire.

God's name was not mentioned and the Jewish people did not seem overly concerned about their relationship with the LORD. Nonetheless, God, not forgetting His covenant, worked behind the scenes through people to save His people.

God is always superintending over His creation and is continually bringing all His good promises to fruition. The divine plan promised of God will happen.

Our hope is sure. God can not be defeated by any plot of Satan. have faith in God - he is faithful.

October 3 Esther 1-4 Sin Has Long Term Consequences

God, through Samuel the prophet, ordered King Saul to completely annihilate the Amalekites. Saul did not and the wrath of God was on him for His disobedience. Saul certainly felt the brunt of his sin, but so did his family and the whole kingdom at his time.

Now, in Esther, 500 years later, Haman the Agagite, a descendant of of King Agag of the Amalekites, has engineered a plot to wipe out the Jews. Because of Saul's disobedience, the Jews are about to be wiped out.

Saints, we live in community with other people and no matter what we do, we leave a legacy to the next generation and beyond. What we do as ripples through the next generations. So the question for all of us is, "What will my legacy look like - good or bad?"

Make the decision today for good!

October 2 Zechariah 9-14 Mourning for the One They Pierced

There will be a time in the future when all Israel will realize that Jesus is and was indeed their long awaited Messiah. In Zechariah 12, the people will mourn and grieve that they have pierced Him - allusion to the spear in his side and/or the nails in His hands and feet. But in the true character of God, He will not open their eyes to destroy them but to cleanse them. Chapter 13 promises that God will cleanse His people from sin and impurity.

All here and now must come to the point of grieving over their sin - it caused Jesus to need to be pierced for its forgiveness. God did not just turn His head from sin - He is just - it was paid for - by Christ in His pierced body. All sin is costly - to us but even more so to Jesus and His Father.

Praise God that He loves us so much that He paid the penalty for our sin for us. This is Good News to be shared with all. I believe that the more that we understand the cost of our sin to Jesus, then the more we will evangelize - the bad news about us makes Jesus' Good News even better.

October 1 Psalms 126, 128, 129, 132, 147, 149 God With the Humble

Psalm 147 says, "The LORD sustains the humble."

We all want to be sustained, but who wants to be humble. We associate humility with weakness. Weakness is weakness. To be humble, a person has to be really strong. A humble person is strong in the LORD. He/she has to get their confidence and esteem and affirmation from God most of  all. A humble person has to be sure of his/her place in God's kingdom. A humble person is assured of God's protection and provision. A humble person knows God will exalt him/her in the final kingdom, so exaltation now can wait.

A humble person is strong and secure. Are you strong and secure enough to be humble?

September 30 Psalms 107, 116, 118, 125 Hope for the Ill

Psalm 116 is a good psalm to read when you are ill or if you fear a terminal illness. It can give great hope. But I encourage you to read this to a friend who is ill.

Many times, we go and visit a sick person or even someone who is dying. Many don't visit people like this because they don't know what to say. Alternatively, they go and babble on giving the person all kinds of "profound" wisdom.

Here is some simple advice. Go see your sick or dying friend or relative and simply hold their hand - listen - say little - ask if it is ok to read them Psalm 116 - ask if you could pray for them - ask them what you could pray for - sit and be still. Now that's an effective bedside visit. They will know that you love them and you may have given them some hope and comfort.

If they ask you, "Why is this happening to me," then tell them the truth - "I don't know."