Posts with the category “summer-2023”

Day 5: Living with PurposeEphesians 2:10 Just as Jesus involved the disciples in the miracle of feeding the 5,000, he invites us to join his work today. As Paul says in Ephesians, we are God’s handiwo...  Read More

Day 4: God’s Power in Weakness2 Corinthians 12:9-10 When faced with feeding the large crowd, Jesus’s disciples felt inadequate. But in their “weakness,” Jesus demonstrated his power by multiplying the...  Read More

Day 3: God’s Abundant ProvisionMatthew 6:25-34 Jesus teaches us not to worry about our needs. He assures us that God knows and provides for them. The feeding of the 5,000 demonstrates this truth power...  Read More

DAY 60Together ForeverRevelation 21:1-4 Have you ever ached to be with someone?Some people crave seeing their celebrity crush: Taylor Swift or Harry Styles or Lebron James. Some people agonize over ti...  Read More

DAY 59The Wedding of the LambRevelation 22:12-21 When was the last time you went to a wedding?Weddings are a big deal in every culture. We planned for about eighteen months for our own wedding. People...  Read More

DAY 58There Will Be No More Death1 Corinthians 15:50-57The third picture at the end of Revelation is RECOVERY. One of the most beautiful parts of this book that’s often read at funerals is Rev. 21:4, ...  Read More

DAY 57The City of GodRevelation 21:9-14, 22-27A second picture Revelation shows us of the future is a CITY.John sees the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven to Earth. This city of God has streets of...  Read More

DAY 55Victory in JesusRevelation 20:1-6All week long, we’ve been focused on this conviction: Jesus Christ is returning to judge the living and the dead.It’s natural to be anxious about death and judgm...  Read More

DAY 54Afraid or Inspired?2 Timothy 1:7Jesus Christ is returning to judge the living and the dead. Here’s my question: Does that scare you, or does that inspire you?If you’re scared, why? Dig a little ...  Read More

DAY 53Each of Us Will Give an AccountRomans 14:10-13The old confession of faith shared by Christians everywhere, the Apostles’ Creed, says, “Jesus Christ shall return to judge the living and the dead....  Read More

DAY 52We Will Be JudgedRevelation 20:7-15Jesus Christ will return to finish God’s victory over sin, death, and the devil. Revelation 19 and 20 are just one place in the New Testament to say so. We don...  Read More

DAY 51He Shall Come AgainRevelation 19:11-16“He shall come again to judge the living and the dead.”Christians all over the world confess this truth about Jesus Christ. We believe Jesus is coming back ...  Read More

DAY 50Renew Your VowsJohn 21:15-22Breakup with Babylon and quit compromised Christianity. From time to time, we need in-your-face confrontations like Revelation that question our commitment. From time...  Read More

DAY 49Get Out!Revelation 18:4-8Let’s review.Babylon is a powerful spiritual force that infects big groups just as much as individuals. Babylon is powerful and seductive. Babylon is arrogant, hostile, ...  Read More

DAY 49Why is Babylon So Bad?Revelation 18:1-3 Why is Babylon so bad?We can summarize Babylon from Revelation with four ingredients. They’re not Babylon on their own but together make a Babylon cocktai...  Read More

DAY 48Why a Wild Woman?Revelation 17:7-18Why does John call Babylon a prostitute?It’s fair to ask if this picture unfairly makes women look like villains. It’s true that the Bible has been used to hur...  Read More

DAY 46The Wild Woman on a DragonRevelation 17:1-6“Don’t be a quitter!” Many of us have heard that message. But we’re also told plenty of times to be a quitter: quit smoking, quit sitting around, quit ...  Read More

DAY 45God’s Just-nessRevelation 15:3-4God’s wrath in Revelation shows us the ugliness of evil and God’s delight for us. The third and final thing it shows us is God’s just-ness. “Just-ness” is a good ...  Read More

DAY 44God’s DelightHosea 11:1-9God’s anger shows God’s delight.In fact, Revelation’s talk about God’s wrath shows us is God’s delight for us. Modern people love to quote “God is love” but squirm to sa...  Read More

DAY 43God’s Wrath1 Thessalonians 5:4-11 Is God angry?The short answer is, “Yes!” But we have to answer this question more carefully. Let’s look closer at what the Bible says.Pastor John talks about Go...  Read More

DAY 42The Ugliness of EvilRevelation 16:1-9“Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”Why does John talk about God’s justice in such ugly ways? Pastor John, inspired author of Revelati...  Read More

DAY 41God’s GuaranteeRevelation 15:1-4 In Genesis 18, Abraham asked God, “Should not the judge of all the earth do what is right?” Abraham wanted to make sure God was treating people fairly. Most of u...  Read More

DAY 40The Heart of Ordinary FaithRevelation 14:1-5How can we hold on to the Way of Jesus in the face of pressure and propaganda?We’ve said that the two beasts of Revelation 13-14 - The Sea Monster and...  Read More

DAY 39Ordinary FaithRevelation 14:9-12 Let’s step back for a minute and summarize. The two beasts - The Sea Monster and the Beast of the Land - symbolize Roman pressure and propaganda. Roman power was...  Read More

DAY 38The Beast of the LandRevelation 13:11-18; 2 John 7Should we be watching for Godzilla?After his vision of the Sea Monster, Pastor John has a vision of another monster, the Beast of the Land. This...  Read More

DAY 37The Sea MonsterRevelation 13:1-10“Let’s watch Jaws!”The beach is our family’s fun place, but let’s be honest: there’s terrifying stuff out there! One of my kids requested the classic movie befor...  Read More

DAY 36Where the Wild Things AreMark 4:34“And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws.”I must've read...  Read More

DAY 35Our BattleJohn 8:31-32 How do we fight the devil?We’ve talked about our enemy and our champion. Before we talk about our battle, let’s review: 1) Our enemy rages on. 2) Our enemy's weapon is lie...  Read More

DAY 33The Enemy’s FallRevelation 12:7-12 Who exactly is the devil?The Bible never gives Satan a proper origin story. Everyone knows Superman’s origin: sent by rocket from the doomed planet, Krypton, t...  Read More

DAY 32The Enemy’s WeaponRevelation 12:1-10 “Never bring a knife to a gunfight!”That famous line is from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Indiana Jones famously demonstrated the point in Raiders of ...  Read More

DAY 31Our EnemiesEphesians 2:1-5 (NLT) I must’ve been about ten. I was outside our single-story house, probably summer. I needed someone inside the house but didn’t want to walk around and go in. So I...  Read More

DAY 30Worship and WitnessRevelation 11:15-19Why is there so much worship in Revelation?John moves to a third and final scene in Rev 11. We're back to another worship service! Heaven celebrates God's v...  Read More

DAY 28Let the Truth TalkMatthew 5:33-37Yesterday we said that, as Christians, our witness is our weapon. We also said that the Church has no other weapon than to tell the truth about God. But we often...  Read More

DAY 27Eat This BookRevelation 10:8-11How do we talk about God?I grew up in a church that told us how important it is to talk about God. We stressed evangelism, telling people the good news about Jesus...  Read More

DAY 26You Must ProphesyRevelation 10 Perpetua was a wealthy, North African Christian woman living about 150 years after Jesus. But the new Roman emperor thought Christianity undermined patriotism, so ...  Read More

DAY 25Don’t Curse CorrectionPsalm 26:2 How can we welcome correction in a way that moves us closer to God?Ask yourself some hard questions:How responsive am I to correction? When someone, says, “You’r...  Read More

DAY 24Don’t Curse CorrectionHebrew 12:4-11 All of Revelation, even John’s graphic vision in Rev 8-9, is aimed at our improvement. John says in Rev 9:20 that many of the people who should make a course...  Read More

DAY 23They Still Did Not RepentRevelation 9:17-21Why does God allow the suffering shown in Revelation 8-9?We can’t know the full mind of God, but we’re allowed to know enough to trust God and God’s go...  Read More

DAY 22The Judgments of GodRevelation 8:6-13What kind of judgment are we looking at in Revelation 8-9? The Bible shows lots of judgment, like God judging Egypt during the Exodus. But Revelation is famo...  Read More

DAY 21The Cry for JusticeRevelation 8:1-5 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” These famous words of Jesus in Matthew 5:6 might actually be translated ...  Read More