The 260 Journey

Day 42 Today’s Reading: Mark 14 A man who felt convicted for lying on his last tax return wrote this letter to the IRS: Dear IRS: Enclosed you will find a check for $150. I cheated on my income tax return last year and have not been able to sleep ever since. If I still have trouble sleeping, I will send you the rest. His problem: he is waiting for more sleepless nights to bring closure. He is not fixing it on the first go around. That first sleepless night should have been a signal. In today’s reading, we see the importance of handling things in the first go around. And it has to do with Peter and a crowing rooster. Let me read to you about this dreadful Thursday night: Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny me three times.” But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also. (Mark 14:27-31) And between verses 66-71 we read that Peter denied Jesus three times. One of them being with him cursing and swearing to make sure the people knew he was not a disciple. And then the fulfillment of what Jesus said to Peter came to him: “Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, ‘Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.’ And he began to weep” (verse 72). Prominent American Methodist minister Halford Luccock said: “In Christian experience, great living begins in tears. It is God’s starting point. When Peter broke down and wept, all pride, of which he had much, and all self-sufficiency and self-trust dropped away from him.” Listen to Jesus’ warning again in verse 30—“Before a rooster crows twice.” Then in verse 72, after Peter’s third denial, it says, “A rooster crowed a second time” and at that second crowing, Peter began to weep because he remembered what Jesus had said. Sometimes we don’t take seriously the Word of God until it is finally fulfilled. That is a dangerous way to live. I had a rooster that lived next to me in Detroit, right in the heart of the inner city. It was the craziest thing. My neighbors had chickens and a rooster that perched in a tree. That rooster would crow every morning at 5 a.m. and every morning, one of my roommates would say, “Oh, Jesus, don’t let me deny You today.” Amazing how that rooster reminded him of that story. That rooster’s crow made Peter recall every word of the Master. No sooner had he completed his third denial then the rooster crowed. So my question to Peter: What were you thinking at rooster crow #1? We read about #2, which was after the full denial. But what about the first crow? What went through Peter’s mind? Obviously he did not heed it. It does not seem that it slowed him down. We don’t have a verse that shows Peter thinking, Hmm, this can’t be a coincidence. . . . The Rabbi said something along these lines . . . that I would deny Him and that the signal would be a rooster’s crow. But nothing. No brake lights for Peter. This was not some new convert. This was a disciple trained by Jesus Himself. It just goes to show the power of fear, sin, and compromise. As James S. Stewart said in The Strong Name: It might seem natural to suppose that every time a man sins he would know a little more about sin, its nature and its methods. Actually the exact reverse is true. Every time he sins he is making himself less capabl

Day 40 Today’s Reading: Mark 12 Today’s reading starts with a parable, a little story with a big meaning. Jesus tells it in nine verses but the actual story covers almost three thousand years. It is God telling His story from the beginning to ending with His Son coming to earth. As we read this passage together, remember that Mark 11:27 says Jesus is in the Jerusalem temple telling this story to chief priests, scribes, and elders. [Jesus] began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. (Mark 12:1-9) Verse 6 is the fast forward to the present of this story—the vineyard owner (the father) had one more to send, his beloved son, believing they would respect him. Yet the story ends with them killing the owner’s son.  Who do you think Jesus is speaking about? It is His own bio. In fact, to make sure there is no misunderstanding, Jesus tells these religious Old Testament experts that this story is connected with the Scriptures they know so well as He quotes from Psalm 118: Have you not even read this Scripture: “The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes”? (Mark 12:10-11) Jesus reminds us in the story that this is God’s planet and we are just stewards of it. I don’t know if you have ever rented a house, a piece of property, an apartment that belonged to you and the renters forgot that it isn’t their property? From the way they treated it and even becoming lax in their rent payments, they assumed the role of owner.  I am always reminded of the old 1901 hymn, “This Is My Father’s World”: This is my Father’s world: O let me ne’er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father’s world: Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King: let the heavens ring! God reigns, let the earth be glad! We are the renters. God is the owner. This is our Father’s world, we are stewards of it. It’s always dangerous when the renters act as though they are the owners—and it is especially dangerous when the owner is God. It’s easy for us to forget and act like we’re owners with our money and tithing when we give God our 10 percent. But it all belongs to God. We get to steward the other 90 percent. The same thing is true of our lives, which the apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV): “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” When some women begin to announce that their bodies are their own—“my body, my choice”—regarding abortion practices and laws, nothing could be further from the truth. The renters are acting like owners. Those ladies and legislators are all bought with a price. In order to say those kinds of words . . . you have to kill the Son. O

Day 41 Today’s Reading: Mark 13 It seems that in Jesus’ ministry, when something significant was going to happen, He took with Him the same three guys: Peter, James, and John. It is as if their names roll off your tongue. Those names just sound right together. Those three men saw and heard things the other nine close disciples missed out on. When Jesus went to the Mount of Transfiguration, for instance, He took with Him Peter, James, and John. When He went into a room to raise a little girl from the dead, He went in with Peter, James, and John. In the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus hit His agony moment and moved from the twelve, He asked those three to move with Him. And then something crazy happened . . . someone broke through the clique: “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately” (Mark 13:3, emphasis added). Somehow Andrew broke through and got entrance into the private club. It may be late but he made it. And the four of them—Peter, James, John, and . . . Andrew—all asked Jesus privately about the end times. The four received an eschatology lesson. Move aside Jack Van Impe and Tim LaHaye! And in giving them this lesson, He taught us as well. Marty Duren gave five good pitfalls to avoid when talking about the coming of Jesus: 1.  Making every news item a sign of the end times. 2. Playing “Name the Antichrist:” in the 1970s and ’80s, this was huge. People claimed Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, the pope, even some secret guy in the Middle East were being raised up as the Antichrist. 3. Neglecting the original audience. This is important; some of the things Jesus said was for the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and not for “you” and the twenty-first century. 4. Setting dates for the coming of Jesus. As C. S. Lewis said, “Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments.” 5. Overemphasizing an American role: people have gone so far as to say that “eagle’s wings” in the Bible is the American mascot. Please. God sees every nation as a drop in the bucket (see Isaiah 40:15-17). So how do we deal with Bible prophecy like this Olivet discourse that Jesus gave in a private discussion not to three men but to four? We need to hear about the end times and the rapture and the judgment to come, but we must do it the right way. It was so important, Mark dedicated this whole chapter to their private conversation. The book of Daniel, the book of Revelation, and the Olivet discourses from Mark 13 are important but should be approached carefully. If you want to understand the second coming and interpret things correctly, then be a student of the first coming. We see how God thinks when He sent His Son the first time. Read the Old Testament prophecies and images and see how this worked in the first coming. God is consistent. There are more than three hundred prophesies of times and places and events when Jesus came the first time. Learn the way God predicts the future. If you are not a student of the first coming, you will embellish Bible verses for the second coming. And finally, I like what Charles H. Spurgeon said, which we can apply to contemplating end times. It is really what the four disciples did in their conversation with Jesus. Spurgeon said that prayer is the best way to open up the Scriptures. Brethren in the ministry, you who are teachers in the Sunday school and all of you who are learners in the college of Christ Jesus, I pray you remember that prayer is your best means of study—like Daniel you shall understand the dream and the interpretation when you have sought God. And like John you shall see the seven seals of the precious Truth of God unloosed after you have wept much. “Yes, if you cry after knowledg

Day 39 Today’s Reading: Mark 11 Sometime ago, Dave Hagler, who works as an umpire in a recreational baseball league, was pulled over for driving too fast in the snow in Boulder, Colorado. He tried to talk the officer out of giving him a ticket by telling him how worried he was about insurance and how he’s normally a very safe driver, and so on. The officer said that if he didn’t like receiving the ticket, he could take the matter to court. At the first game in the next baseball season, Dave was umpiring behind the plate when the first batter approached. And can you believe it, it was the policeman. As the officer was about to step into the batter’s box, they recognized each other and offered a long pause. Finally the officer asked, “So how did the thing with the ticket go?” Dave said, “You’d better swing at everything.” Someone once said, “‘I can forgive, but I cannot forget,’ is only another way of saying, ‘I cannot forgive.’” I think Dave couldn’t let it go. And all of that affected a recreational softball game. Unforgiveness is underestimated. Marilyn Hickey tells us that a person who lives in unforgiveness does three things: 1. Curses the offense. 2. Nurses the offense. 3. Rehearses the offense. In today’s reading, we focus on unforgiveness—and Jesus tells us there is a lot at stake when someone won’t forgive. It’s bigger than a softball game; instead, it infects the most powerful weapon we are given on this planet: prayer. Listen to what Jesus instructs us about prayer and unforgiveness: Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.” (Mark 11:25-26) Today’s Scripture mentions one of these problems that breaks the communication line. It’s similar to a circuit breaker in a house. A circuit breaker in your house is an electrical device that interrupts the flow of electricity from one site to the other. Prayer circuit breakers are things in our lives that interrupt or hinder our communication with God. So when prayer is not working, something broke the circuit. There are two commanding moments in this chapter on the power and importance of prayer. In verse 17, Jesus says that His house should be called a house of prayer. I think this is really missing today. Today, His house is a house of worship, preaching, teaching, serving, but not many believers have placed the importance on prayer on their church. Jesus also tells us in verses 22-24 the power of prayer: Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” One little thing can hinder mountains being put into the ocean—and that is unforgiveness. Jesus said all things for which we pray, we must believe we have received them and they will be granted—except when we don’t forgive our spouse for disrespecting us yesterday. Or a friend for breaking a confidence. Or a supervisor for yelling at us in a staff meeting, which embarrassed us. The bigger question is this: is unforgiveness really worth it? If my not forgiving people stops me from seeing God answer my prayer and short circuits my prayer, I need to let my unforgiveness go. There’s too much at stake. Don’t try to ask big when unforgiveness is big in you. Every time you want to hold on to an offense, just think, If I do this, I get no mountains in the ocean<

Day 38 Today’s Reading: Mark 10 Today’s reading is a tough one. Jesus gets a test . . . a test about marriage and divorce. Before we dive into this chapter, listen to these poignant words from Augustine, which apply to what we’re studying today: “If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.” Now let’s read about Jesus’ test: “Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife” (Mark 10:2). There are some hot-potato issues in the church—and one of those is about divorce and remarriage. Not only is this controversial today in the body of Christ, it was also in the first century when Jesus was here on the earth. It’s important to note that not every question is from an honest heart. Not every questioner is asking to get a truthful answer. Some people ask to see if you agree with them. That is why the divorce question here is not for the religious people to learn the truth, to discover insight or wisdom, but to see if Jesus agrees with them. They already had their opinions and now they want to test Jesus. To test assumes two things: (1) you are the teacher; (2) you already know the answer, so you’re seeing if your student knows the answer. Then you grade them on their answer. Think of the audacity—they are testing the omniscient God to see if He knows, not the right answer, but their answer. That is really the issue today. When was the last time you asked Jesus a question about your struggling marriage? When was the last time you sought direction and theological wisdom from Him? So many times we will go to a book, a pastor—someone who has already decided for us. But what about this issue? Have you ever asked Jesus: Should I divorce? Most never ask Jesus if we should, instead we ask for help once it’s already decided. Then we ask for Him to bless our already decided-upon plans. If this is what you do, then this is the painful truth: you are testing Jesus just as these religious people did. So how did Jesus respond? First, we need to see it from a biblical basis and not a culture or society basis. With all the divorce that is happening today, people try to adjust Jesus’ words to fit our epidemic of marriages falling apart. It’s like our government that can’t stop drugs so they legalize it to make that the best answer. But that is not an answer to a problem.&nbsp; So if half of the marriages in the church end in divorce, as some statistics suggest, do we have to adjust Jesus’ words based on the twenty-first-century marriage problem? I don’t think so. Some have cited successful remarriages as their reason that divorce can’t be wrong. They argue, “So and so got remarried and look at them after twenty-five years. It must be okay.” But we must be careful that we don’t adjust Scripture to fit our beliefs or wants. Instead we must take Jesus’ words as they stand: He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” (Mark 10:3-11) Here’s my summary based on Jesus’ words: Divorce was instituted by Moses. The motive for divorce was that our hearts are hard. Therefore, the reason for divorce was because we have hard hearts. Every marriage, no matter the struggle or the sin or the offense, can have a

Day 37 Today’s Reading: Mark 9 If there was anything you ever wanted to tell people, it would be what happened to three disciples on a mountain in Mark 9:2-7. The conversation might go like this . . . “Guess who I saw today? Moses. Oh yeah, and Elijah. And guess whose voice I heard? Audible voice? God’s! Yep, God Himself. I know what He sounds like now.” These are the ultimate bragging rights. Seeing two celebrity Old Testament guys and hearing God’s audible voice? It doesn’t get better than that. And Jesus messed the whole thing up. He messed it all up when He said . . . “You can’t say anything till after the resurrection.” What? It was about to become a really good day for the disciples, and Jesus tapped the brakes and put a pause on it. Listen closely. There is a huge challenge here for all of us. Just because you saw something and hear it from God doesn’t mean you share it immediately. We are all guilty of saying things too quickly that we heard from God. Let’s speculate for a moment: what could have happened if they would have told that story when they came down? The truth is whatever might have happened wouldn’t have been what Jesus wanted for a good reason. The truth is that some things need to marinate before they are spoken. I think there are many things I read in the Bible that I was called to sit on before speaking them—for the following reasons: • to grow in me • to protect me from pride • to give me more clarity on it • to determine the best place and the best way to share it And the best place or best way are not always immediately. Waiting develops self-control and turns it to God to say, I trust Your timing. In this transfiguration scene, we do know whether this event occurred around AD 29 or AD 30, which means they may have had to keep their mouths shut for more than a year. Though Mark tells the story, Peter does too in 2 Peter 1:17-18: I was there on the holy mountain when he shone out with honor given him by God his Father; I heard that glorious, majestic voice calling down from heaven, saying, “This is my much-loved Son; I am well pleased with him.” (TLB) Peter finally got his time. He was finally able to tell it. And are you ready for this? That 2 Peter passage was written in AD 67, which would be almost forty years later. We have no record that he said anything before that. One final thought: what are you supposed to do when God says to pause on speaking? Don’t say anything. Let’s read it together: As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant. (Mark 9:9-10) The Bible says when Jesus gave them the command, “they seized upon that statement.” That is such a good phrase for us to learn in this journey. As you read the New Testament, you will seize upon a verse or seize a story. Seize. This is such a strong word. To seize a statement means to forcibly take possession of something forcibly. You make it your own. They did that with something they did not understand fully. So practically, what do you do when one of these New Testament passages seize you? You do what the disciples did: First, in verse 9 it says they “discussed it with one another.” They got others’ perspective from experience, study, and their own wrestling with a passage. For you and me, this means we need to read books, ask our pastor, discuss with our friends. We can’t simply trust our viewpoint.&nbsp; And second, verse 11 says, “They asked Him.” Don’t forget this: the author of the Bible is still alive and He knows what He wrote. There comes a time when you have to go to God in p

Day 36 Today’s Reading: Mark 8 Today’s reading opens with a familiar story. But if we examine it closely, we will notice something really puzzling and even humorous. We’ve all heard the saying, “Experience is the best teacher,” but it is simply not true. Experience is not the best teacher; it never has been and never will be. Maturity doesn’t always come with time. Sometimes age brings nothing more than wrinkles and gray hair. And though experience is not the best teacher, evaluated experience is the best teacher. Someone once said, “Experience teaches only the teachable.” And when that happens, maturity happens. But maturity is not a gift. As author Aldous Huxley reminds us, “Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you.” This is important for us to remember as we dig into today’s reading: In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” (Mark 8:1-4) This story probably sounds familiar to you. Either you’ve heard it before or you’ve recently read something similar before—such as two chapters ago: The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” (Mark 6:33-38) Think about this. Two chapters ago this same scenario took place. Jesus fed five thousand men (not counting women and children) in Mark 6 with five loaves and two fish. And in chapter 8, we have the same situation with four thousand people (verse 9) and seven loaves (verse 6). So in Mark 8, we have less people, more food, and the same Jesus—and they still didn’t get it. After the miracle of watching five thousand men being fed on a little boy’s lunch, His disciples still asked Jesus this humorous but very sad question: “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” (verse 4). Let’s switch gears for a moment. A popular cleaner on the market—one you may already use—is call Formula 409®. What you probably aren’t familiar with, though, is that the name is actually a tribute to the tenacity of two young Detroit scientists whose goal was to formulate the greatest grease-cutting, dirt-destroying, bacteria-cutting cleaner on the planet. The thing is, creating the ultimate cleaner doesn’t just happen on the first try. And it didn’t happen on the 101st or the 301st either. It wasn’t until batch number 409 that they were finally satisfied. And the name stuck: Formula 409. I don’t want it to take 409 times to get a lesson from Jesus. I want Him to call me 1 or 2. I’ll even take 3 or 4—but not 409. The disciples couldn’t put it together that the same Jesus was present for both miracles. Jesus who turns little to a

Day 35 Today’s Reading: Mark 7 In today’s reading, Jesus makes a statement to religious people that we have to put the spotlight on. Jesus speaks to the Pharisees and Scribes these cutting words about their relationship to the Bible, God’s Word. Let’s read it from The Passion Translation: “You abandon God’s commandments just to keep men’s rituals, such as ceremonially washing utensils, cups, and other things.” Then he added, “How skillful you’ve become in rejecting God’s law in order to maintain your man-made set of rules. For example, Moses taught us: ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever insults or mistreats his father or mother must be put to death.’ “But your made-up rules allow a person to say to his parents, ‘I’ve decided to take the support you were counting on from me and make it my holy offering to God, and that will be your blessing instead.’ How convenient! The rules you teach exempt him from providing for his aged parents. Do you really think God will honor your traditions passed down to others, making up these rules that nullify God’s Word? And you’re doing many other things like that.” (Mark 7:8-13) The New American Standard Bible says, “Thus invalidating the Word of God by your tradition” (verse 13). Wow! Invalidating the Word of God. Nothing could be more horrible. Taking something as powerful as God’s Word and making it invalid. That word is so vivid and so appropriate. An invalid is a person who is disabled by an injury, illness, or disease. They cannot do what they were designed to do because of their handicap. Jesus told them they had just put the Word of God in a wheelchair. Instead of it walking on its own, they crippled it and did it by their traditions. That’s what had happened to these religious people. They studied the Bible and did not do what it said. Instead, they made it confirm their lifestyle. E. Paul Hovey said it like this: “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.” The Bible contradicted them so they made it say what they wanted it to say, “thus invalidating the Word of God by their tradition.” This verse is so important. Jesus was cautioning the religious from interpreting the Bible through their religion. They saw things with their experience instead of letting the Bible interpret the Bible. Now before we get really ticked at the Pharisees, this is happening to us today. Consider the last part of Jesus’ statement, “by your tradition.” Let’s take out the word tradition and fill in the blank. Ways people can invalidate the Word of God: It is invalid . . . • by their denomination. They will interpret passages denominationally (such as water baptism). • by their soapbox. They will interpret passages from their soapbox (such as political leanings). • by conspiracy. They will interpret passages from their conspiracy (such as end times). • by experience. They will interpret passages from their experience (such as Jesus visitations). • by their pain. God is a horrible Father based on their natural father. • by their ethnicity. Seeing passages from a minority standpoint and cause instead of for what they say. • by their parents. • by their upbringing in church. • by their pastor. • by their seminary. As Søren Kierkegaard said, “The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.” The story that has always intrigued me is from Jack Deere’s Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. Jack Deere was a seminary professor at Dallas Theological Semina

Day 34 Today’s Reading: Mark 6 No one would disagree that Jesus had all the potential to heal anyone, anywhere, anytime. Can you imagine having the person who could heal you, your child, your family, or your marriage right in your town and nothing happens? How is that possible? By limiting Jesus. We have only two times in the Gospels that Jesus was shocked and both have to deal with the issue of faith. The words wonder or marveled in the gospels mean to be shocked. The first time it occurs is in Matthew when He was shocked at the great faith of a Roman centurion for a servant who was paralyzed. The centurion said to Jesus, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8). The centurion’s faith shocked Jesus: When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.” (Matthew 8:10) The second time Jesus was shocked is in today’s reading in Mark 6. But this is a different kind of shock. This is a shock that happens in a negative way in his hometown. Let’s read it together: He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief. (Mark 6:5-6) The unbelief was not from a Roman pagan but from the people who saw Jesus as a boy and grew up with Him. The people who knew Him best trusted Him least. The people who were around Him most, missed who He was and received only a few things when the potential for everything was in their little town. When Jesus was shocked, it was either no faith or great faith and this incident was no faith, unbelief. What makes this story crazy is what it’s on the heels of. In chapter 5 He had just raised a dead girl, set a demoniac free of some 5,400 demons, and healed a woman who had suffered from an incurable condition for twelve years. Then in chapter 6, He went into Nazareth, His hometown, and “could do no miracle” except for healing a few sick people. And here is what’s insane—all these miracles were within walking distance. They happened around Capernaum, and then Jesus walked to Nazareth. The people of Nazareth had Jesus but not His miracles. Can that happen? You have Jesus but nothing miraculous? Nazareth was located in the hills of Galilee and had a population of around two hundred people. So the presence of Jesus could literally have changed this town.&nbsp; How did they limit Jesus? How can we stop Jesus from doing what He does best—changing lives? We see in Mark 6 that it is through unbelief. What is unbelief? Unbelief cannot be little faith. The disciples had that, got rebuked, but still had Jesus calm the sea in Mark 4. What is the difference between unbelief and little faith? It seems that little faith is seeing our bad and big circumstances as bigger than Jesus. I think unbelief is different; it is doubting the one’s character who can bring the miracle. When Jesus taught the people, they challenged who He is because of their limited knowledge: When the sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:2-3) Little faith—what Jesus sometimes labeled as doubt—is when you question what you believe, or if you believe it, or why you believe it. That’s okay. God is still there. Miracles can still happen with doubt present and questions swirling in your mind. But nothing happens when there is unbelief.

Day 33 Today’s Reading: Mark 5 Wow, today’s reading is filled with action, miracles, and healing. It’s nonstop from verse 1 to verse 43. Mark 5 starts with a town demoniac who lived in a graveyard and acts as the welcoming committee for Jesus and the disciples and ends in a house where a dead twelve-year-old girl’s body is laid out and a bunch of laughing people who think Jesus is out of His mind. In this chapter, Jesus casts out a legion of demons, heals a woman of a twelve-year disease that doctors had no cure for, and raises from the dead a young girl whose body would soon be in a coffin for her burial. Go Jesus! Let’s pause and consider the first miracle of the man who lived in a cemetery. Read that section with me, will you? When [Jesus] got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him. (Mark 5:2-6) I have had people ask me, “Can a Christian be demon possessed?” The answer to that question is based on your definition of a Christian. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:3 that when you become a Christian, “your life is hidden with Christ in God.” That means demons can’t find you to live in you. They can’t find the door to enter your soul and spirit; your life is hidden in Christ. That is my definition of a believer in relation to the demonic world.&nbsp; The man was demon possessed, and the demon in this man had a name or a descriptive name: Legion. He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” (Mark 5:9) Legion. This is not really a name but a description of what was going on internally in this man and the magnitude of the dark forces in his soul. Legion was the term given for a battalion or squadron in the Roman army. It usually had 5,400 soldiers and 120 horsemen. This man was possessed by an army.&nbsp; But something huge happened to start this man’s healing, something that gives us hope for people no matter how messed up they are. It’s all in verse 6: “Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before him.” A man with 5,400 demons still has the ability to get to Jesus. He is able to run to Him and bow before Him. No matter how much demonic control is going on, we can see that God doesn’t let the demons control a life who wants help and freedom. Look what happens next. The Message says it like this: Everyone wanted to see what had happened. They came up to Jesus and saw the madman sitting there wearing decent clothes and making sense, no longer a walking madhouse of a man. (Mark 5:14-15) Why would Satan launch that kind of attack against this man? He would be a mouthpiece of God. He isn’t just delivered. He is about to be a preacher. If Satan does not stop this man, ten cities are about to be changed. But Jesus said no. “Go home to your friends,” he told him, “and tell them what wonderful things God has done for you; and how merciful he has been.” So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to tell everyone about the great things Jesus had done for him; and they were awestruck by his story. (Mark 5:19-20, TLB) A. W. Tozer said, “I’m not afraid of the devil. The devil can handle me—he’s got judo I never heard of. But he can’t handle the One to whom I’m joined; he can’t handle the One to whom I’m u

Day 32 Today’s Reading: Mark 4 I want to tell you two stories about storms, Jesus, and a bunch of guys (the twelve disciples) in a boat. Both storms had winds and fear. But their endings were different. We encounter the first storm in today’s reading. Let’s read about it together: On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:35-41) “Do you not care?” is a huge indictment on God’s character, and it plays into this “no faith” issue. So keep these two phrases in mind: Do You not care and Do you have no faith. Let’s continue reading: He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:39-41) Their “no faith” was revealed in this statement, “Who is this man?” Faith is connected to knowing who this Man is. Think of the important progression. A storm arises, as it does in life, and fear comes—fear of tomorrow, fear of going to the doctor or waiting for a call from the doctor, fear of being single, fear of not being pregnant, fear of getting laid off. These are all called storms. If storms produce fear and distrust, then we have a faith issue. When storms drive us to fear, faith has been punctured and is leaking somewhere.&nbsp; This storm ends with a question mark. It ends with questioning Who God is. Faith is a journey, and that’s what these disciples were on. They ended their first Jesus boat ride with, “Who is this Man?” The question mark. If storms produce fear, then we have a faith problem. And if we have a faith problem, then it’s a God issue. What does that mean? Knowing God increases faith. Always remember that if you want faith to increase, find out more about the character of God. As someone once said, “Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.” Faith is based on who God is. That’s how you increase in faith. The disciples did not get an increase of faith from the last storm, just more questions. Now let’s dip back into Matthew for our second storm story: He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” (Matthew 14:22-33) They worshiped him. They recognized who Jesus was: “You are certainly God’s Son!” Remember our first boat story ended with a question. This one still ended with worship. If storms make me a better worshiper, then so be it. I would just rather do it with music on Sunday. But that does not always happen. God wants your and my tests to end with praise not questions.

Day 31 Today’s Reading: Mark 3 When you want to know the definition of a word, you look in the one trusted place that settles all doubt—the dictionary. When you think of the dictionary, you think of one name—Webster. But do you know who this Webster is? Noah Webster was a devout Christian. His word speller was grounded in Scripture, and his first lesson began, “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor for your body, what ye shall put on; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” His 1828 American dictionary contained the greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume. Webster considered education “useless without the Bible.” He claimed to have learned twenty different languages in finding definitions for which a particular word was used. From the preface to the 1828 edition of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English language: In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. In fact, Noah Webster wrote the first paraphrase of the Bible called the common Bible in 1833. Webster molded the King James Version to correct grammar, replaced words that were no longer used, and did away with words and phrases that could be seen as offensive. When you are looking up a word, read the whole definition. You may just stumble into something amazing about the what it means and where it came from. That happened to me. Noah Webster redefined the word enthusiasm for me. Here is his second definition for the word: “belief in special revelations from the Holy Spirit.” The noun enthusiasm comes from the Greek word enthousiasmos, from enthous, meaning “possessed by a God, inspired.” The famous 1828 version said: “special divine communications from the Supreme Being, or familiar intercourse with him.” Special revelations from the Holy Spirit! Seriously? That’s incredible. That redefined enthusiasm for how I think about the word. I get enthusiastic to preach, to go to church, to be a dad and a husband. I get inspired by God and receive special communications from Him to do these things. Redefinitions were needed when Jesus came to earth. Jesus went all Noah Webster from the outset of His ministry and brought an adjustment to a very important concept in today’s reading of Mark 3. In Mark 3:32, a crowd was sitting around Him. They told Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Here are the words Jesus wanted to redefine: “Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and my brothers?” Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!” (verses 33-34). Here comes the redefinition: “For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother” (verse 35). Did you see how He redefined terms? “Who is My mother?” And, “Who is my brother?” When Jesus came, He redefined things by putting them in their true light. He did that on the sermon on the mount when He redefined adultery. It’s not just in the bed but in the head (see Matthew 5:27-28). Jesus asks these questions: Who is my real family? Who is related to me? We hear all the time that blood is thicker than water. But Jesus took it even further by saying that spirit is thicker than blood. Jesus redefined blood relationships for us. He said the ones whom we are closest to are not the ones who have the same father and mother but the ones who “do the will of Go

Day 30 Today’s Reading: Mark 2 I’ve never played poker in my life. I’m not saying that to sound righteous or religious, I’m just saying it. That being said, I had to google if four of a kind beat a full house. It does. That’s our story today. I want to show you this concept in Mark 2 in which two things are competing. In one verse we find a full house and in another verse we find four of a kind. (And remember, four of a kind always beat a full house.) When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. (Mark 2:1-2) There is the full house. The full house didn’t do anything for a paralyzed man. The full house sat listening to Jesus but that did not fix the paralysis. The four of a kind was about to show up in verse 3. A paralyzed man did not need people just sitting there. He needed someone to get him to Jesus. Mr. Rogers, an ordained minister and the famous host of one of the first shows for children on television back in the 1970s, once said, “When I was a child and my mother and I would read about such events in the newspapers or see them in newsreels, she used to tell me, ‘Always look for the helpers. There’s always someone who is trying to help.’” I want to be one of the “helpers.” Don’t you? One of the four of a kind. They came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:3-5) Do you have friends who will get you to Jesus? If not, then you need new friends. They may be able to get you to a golf course, get you to a sports game, get you to a concert, or get you to a club or a bar. But do you have anyone who gets you to Jesus? These four got the sick man to Jesus. There are times you are meant to bear another’s stretcher and not just sit and hear the Word. You must not only carry your Bible to church; at times, you may also need to carry your brother or sister to the Lord. Our problem here in Mark 2 is we have a full house but only four people who were carrying the stretcher. Not many left the full house to help another. How did they do it? When doors are shut, they went higher! The four of a kind could not get through the door. So they had to take it up higher, literally, to the roof. There is a good principle we need to learn from the actions of these four men: when it seems like the door is shut, go higher. Problems are surmountable from above. You can’t solve everything by walking through a door of a doctor’s office or a church. You have to take some things higher. Going up higher means getting it to Jesus. It’s prayer! As Watchman Nee said, “Our prayers lay the track down on which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, His power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.” These men didn’t quit when they saw the full house. They carried him to the roof, removed the shingles, and dug, and then they had to connect ropes to lower him down. Jesus did not see roof busters, He saw their faith (verse 5). Always remember—when you go higher, you get more than you asked for. That’s the twist in the story. They went through all this work to get a paralyzed man in front of Jesus and Jesus did not say, “Be healed!” or “Rise up and walk!” He said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Had I done all that work, His words would have taken the air out of me. I would have wanted my buddy to walk. I might have thought, I didn’t do all this for an inside work, but for an outside thing. <

Day 29 Today’s Reading: Mark 1 Today’s reading showcases the cool way Jesus began His ministry.&nbsp;Who Jesus healed, what He healed, and where He healed it, makes this amazing. Take a look at this passage: [The people] were amazed at [Jesus’] teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee. (Mark 1:22-28) First, a demon showed up in the synagogue.&nbsp;While Jesus was teaching, a demon tried to take center stage from Jesus. Verse 22 says when Jesus taught them, they were amazed.&nbsp;Then when the demon showed up, Jesus rebuked it and it came out of the man. And again “they were all amazed” (verse 27).&nbsp;These two words for amazed were different, though.&nbsp;The amazement the people felt over Jesus’ teaching was something like “blowing their minds.”&nbsp;They were in awe and wonder.&nbsp;But the second amazement the people felt was different—and Mark used a different word to convey it. That word adds something to the first. It adds the physical and the emotional aspect to it.&nbsp;The second word means to be in fear and trembling.&nbsp; When Jesus teaches us, we respond by shaking our heads in amazement. When Jesus heals and delivers us, we shake on the ground in fear and trembling awe.&nbsp;This was a huge miracle in the synagogue in front of non-followers, who were getting an introduction to the powerful ministry of the Son of God. Then after the prayer to get rid of the demon, Jesus prayed again. I call it the fever prayer. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her. And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on them. (Mark 1:30-31) I love the phrase they spoke to Jesus about her. That’s really important.&nbsp;That is the best scriptural definition for “intercession.”&nbsp;It is a form of prayer that prays for others not for ourselves.&nbsp;What is intercession?&nbsp;It’s when we speak to Jesus about others.&nbsp; Quick side note—this kind of praying also heals the church of gossip. We don’t speak to other people about someone, we speak to Jesus about that person. &nbsp; This fever prayer is so encouraging.&nbsp;The demon prayer was in the church. The fever prayer was in the home.&nbsp;That’s where I need the most answers to prayer. &nbsp; I think Jesus was showing us something about Himself. Fever prayers are just as important to Him as demon prayers. I love what Paul says in Philippians about our prayers. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers” (Philippians 4:6, TLB). Pray about everything—demons and fevers. There’s nothing too small or insignificant to pray about. Too often we don’t want to take something to God, because we feel as though He would say, “Do you know how busy I am—and you’re asking for that?” Here’s the truth: God tells us to pray about everything. God created us and He is interested in every aspect of our lives. He wants to know what’s on our minds. If it’s bothering us, He wants us to tell Him about it.&nbsp; <

Day 28 Today’s Reading: Matthew 28 What does famed NFL player Barry Sanders and resurrected Jesus have in common? I am not trying to be disrespectful, but I do have a point. Barry Sanders is considered one of the greatest NFL running backs of all time.&nbsp;He holds many of the coveted NFL records.&nbsp;Two things make Barry iconic in the sport’s world.&nbsp;First, his elusiveness.&nbsp;Barry’s runs were choreographed like a ballet.&nbsp;Though it was impressive to watch, what stood out more than anything about Barry’s plays was what happened after he scored a touchdown. In a time in sports where every tackle, sack, hit, and first down was celebrated like winning a Nobel Peace prize, Barry was a non-conformist and contrarian.&nbsp;He wouldn’t dance, jump into the stands, point to heaven, or find a hidden marker in the goal post.&nbsp;Every time without fail, he simply handed the ball to the ref.&nbsp;In his biography, people took the words of famed football coach Vince Lombardi to describe this action and said,&nbsp;“When you get to the end zone, act like you have been there before.”&nbsp;Barry had been there, a lot.&nbsp;No need to act like a kid seeing Walt Disney World for the first time. So what does Barry Sanders and resurrected Jesus have in common? We have come to the end of our first New Testament&nbsp;book (Matthew)&nbsp;and in today’s reading, we’re studying about the greatest event in world history, the resurrection of Jesus.&nbsp;He has accomplished His mission. Jesus has died for the sins of the world and resurrected from the dead after three days.&nbsp;He crushed death, hell, and Satan and crossed the goal line.&nbsp;He scored, to stay with our NFL comparison.&nbsp;Did Jesus shout over His accomplishment? Did He thump His chest?&nbsp;Did He jump into the crowd of disciples like a Lambeau leap? &nbsp; This has to be one of my favorite moments of the resurrected Jesus.&nbsp;It took me by surprise and stunned me. Jesus flipped the ball to the ref. He acted like, This is what I do. No need to get all crazy. Ready for this?&nbsp;These were the first words of the resurrected, I-just-beat-up-hell-and-the-devil Jesus: The women ran from the tomb, badly frightened, but also filled with joy, and rushed to find the disciples to give them the angel’s message. And as they were running, suddenly Jesus was there in front of them! “Good morning!” he said. And they fell to the ground before him, holding his feet and worshiping him. (Matthew 28:8-9, TLB) Good morning? That’s what you say after you did all that? Thank God I’m not Jesus. My first resurrection appearance line would be something like:&nbsp;“Ha! Told you! Look at me now. You didn’t think I could do it.&nbsp;Bam, done!” Not Jesus. He offered a ball flip, and a simple, “Good morning.” He said it like it was just another day at the job and time to go back to work. Unbelievable! Only people who are secure and know who they are do something like this. Some of the older&nbsp;translations say that Jesus said, “All hail,” which literally means “Good morning.”&nbsp;I don’t like all hail; it sounds like “Caesar” should come next.&nbsp;Sounds formal. I like, “Good morning.”&nbsp;Sounds like He’s saying, Yeah, it’s just another thing I do: kill devils and death and get people to heaven. That is Jesus.&nbsp;“Good morning,” the ball flip, tells us a lot about Jesus.&nbsp;It tells us that when you are the real thing, you don’t have to tell people. It shows every time you cross the goal line. &nbsp; If you are a praying man, a prophetic woman, a pastor, an evangelist, a godly person, or someone who hears from God, all you have to tell people is, “Good morning.”&nbsp;They will know.&nbsp;Jesus did not come out saying, “I am resurrec

Day 27 Today’s Reading: Matthew 27 If ever a man had a chance to become a saint it should have been Judas. Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus. For more than two years, he lived with Jesus. He listened to His words, watched His miracles, and yet this man deliberately planned to betray Him. No one in history had a better chance than Judas. The rich young ruler only met Jesus once, and yet Judas was with Him every day. Judas ruined for all time the name he bore.&nbsp;No woman in history ever thinks of naming her child “Judas;” yet Judas was an honorable name at one time.&nbsp;There was Judas Maccabeus—who bravely fought to defend the Jewish land and religion more than a hundred years before Jesus was born. Even one of Jesus’ brothers bore the name Judas. And now forever that name is associated with betrayal. When Jesus said, “One of you will betray me.”&nbsp;No one said, “Is it Judas?” Jesus always has a double effect, but He never allows neutrality. Just as fire can soften wax or harden clay, to be with Jesus is either a blessing or a curse. The presence of Jesus changed fickle Peter into a rock and exposed Judas’s greed. The sin of Judas was a sin against repeated warnings. The more I think about Judas, the more I see how many times he heard Jesus speak about the perils of money. Judas heard, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” He heard, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul.” Judas heard the parable of the man who filled his barns but did not prepare his soul and was called a fool. I believe Jesus calling him “friend” in Matthew 26:50 was a last-ditch effort to win Judas back before the deal went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is a butterfly hidden within the confines of an ugly caterpillar.&nbsp;But not all caterpillars become butterflies.&nbsp;Scientists tell us that sometimes flies thrust the bodies of the caterpillar with a tiny egg.&nbsp;The egg hatches into a grub, which feeds upon the butterfly, forming elements in the makeup of a caterpillar.&nbsp;The caterpillar does not even know it happens. It goes right on living and eating, but the grub has destroyed its capacity to advance.&nbsp;The glorious, winged creature, which might have been, is now gone and it never becomes the butterfly. &nbsp; Judas had a grub inside him that made him a lover of money more than a lover of God. When he saw the woman break the alabaster box and pour the costly perfume upon Jesus’ head, his first thought, It might have been sold. Listen to the end of his betrayal while Jesus was being tried and led to the cross. Here is what was happening with Judas: When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” “What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.” So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. (Matthew 27:3-5, NIV) I thought hard about this:&nbsp;Peter and Judas. One was a denier and the other&nbsp;a betrayer. After he denied:&nbsp;Peter went out and wept bitterly. After he betrayed:&nbsp;Judas went out and hanged himself. Each of these men had a chapter in their life where sin ruled them. Both failed but their stories ended differently. Should not have Peter’s story ended up like Judas’s? Which is the better end—the disciple with the tearful eye or the disciple with the broken neck? Why would failure bring suicide? And why would failure bring repentance? One disciple after failure became a swinging corpse on a tree and the other became a preacher on the Day of Pentecost. Why did the Master choose a man like Judas? The better quest

Day 26 Today’s Reading: Matthew 26 Every time I get a new Bible, I write the same thing in each one&nbsp;before I start reading. I put it right on the flyleaf. It is a five-hundred-year-old poem a prison convict wrote: “There was a man,&nbsp;and they called him mad;&nbsp;the more he gave,&nbsp;the more he had.” That prison convict was John Bunyan. The more he gave, the more he had. It doesn’t make sense. It seems like a contradiction. The English language does this. We have words and&nbsp;phrases in English that seem to make no sense and at times, appear contradictory. Consider a few: • A ship carries cargo, and a car carries shipments. • You park on a driveway but you drive on a parkway. • Your nose runs and your feet smell. • The person who invests all your money is called a broker. • And why do doctors call what they do practice? Shouldn’t they be good at it by now? Then some words are way off in their descriptions of an item. We see an example of this in today’s reading. Jesus and His disciples saw the same event at the same time . . . but their definitions of it were so far apart that it feels contradictory. Let’s look at the story. Jesus now proceeded to Bethany, to the home of Simon the leper. While he was eating, a woman came in with a bottle of very expensive perfume and poured it over his head. The disciples were indignant. “What a waste of good money,” they said. “Why, she could have sold it for a fortune and given it to the poor.” Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why are you criticizing her? For she has done a good thing to me. You will always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me. She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. And she will always be remembered for this deed. The story of what she has done will be told throughout the whole world, wherever the Good News is preached.” (Matthew 26:6-13, TLB)&nbsp; Here is the contradiction: • The disciples’ interpretation of this woman’s act: “What a waste” (verse 8). • Jesus’ interpretation: “a good thing” (verse 10). These perspectives were based on this woman’s extravagant gift. Listen to the words of comparison. Two views of the same deed:&nbsp;waste and good. These are really far apart. How could someone who had been with Jesus for three years be that far off on something like&nbsp;this? What’s worse is that I can see myself in those disciples. How can I be with Jesus for almost four decades and still misinterpret and misdefine so badly? This woman took Jesus seriously and became the center of attention just days before&nbsp;the crucifixion. What did Jesus see in this act that the disciples did not? What made it beautiful and significant? It had the extravagance of God on it. It was extravagant—it spared no expense; it showed a lack of restraint in using resources; it was elaborate. This woman’s act looked a lot like what God does. Think about creation. When God created He was extravagant. He was not stingy. He could have created one star but decided that was not enough for the space, so He loaded the heavens with hundreds of billions of them. He created everything with extravagance. He spoke and ten million insects were created, ten million species. Not one hundred, not one thousand. There are 2,500 variations of ants (most in my home) and three hundred thousand species of beetles. Extravagance. He created more than ten thousand species of birds. Five billion birds live in the United States alone! Then He got extravagant with their personalities. Some can fly up to five hundred miles nonstop. Mallard ducks fly 60 mph; eagles, 100 mph; falcons, 180 mph. Some He created to navigate by the stars. He created more than 28,000 species of fish. Th

Day 25 Today’s Reading: Matthew 25 Leonard Ravenhill, one of my spiritual fathers, said:&nbsp;“Many pastors&nbsp;criticize me for taking the Gospel so seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment Day, Christ will chastise me, saying, ‘Leonard, you took Me too seriously’?” This chapter makes us take eternity seriously. Jesus starts right away in verse one with, “God’s kingdom is like . . .” and then He tells three stories. This chapter is made up of three parables on the kingdom of heaven.&nbsp;It is very simple to outline. In His first parable, He tells of the silly, or foolish, virgins. Then He tells about the parable of the talents. Finally, He shares the parable of the sheep and goats at the throne. We can see similarities among the three. First, there are winners and losers.&nbsp;Everyone does not go to heaven.&nbsp;There is consequence for living a selfish life and there is reward for living a life sold out to Jesus. In parable 1, He called the winners the ready and the wise.&nbsp;In parable 2, He called them the faithful.&nbsp;And in parable #3, He called them the blessed (“of My Father”) or the righteous. The wise, the faithful, and the righteous. The losers were called the foolish, the wicked, and the accursed ones. &nbsp; Second, no one is born a loser but a chooser.&nbsp;That means they all had opportunities to be on the right side, filled with oil, a prospering talent, or doing the right thing for the poor, imprisoned, and sick. Things were presented to them that would determine what they would do with their life. Third, each of the losing groups had explanations, excuses, and desires to get freebies and not play by the rules. The coming of the Lord will be a time of separation, a time of evaluation, and a time of commendation. Time of separation:&nbsp;all of them were virgins and looked alike. Time of evaluation:&nbsp;we are held responsible for what we are given. Time of commendation:&nbsp;everything we do for God does not go unnoticed. Finally, the end result of the silly virgins, the one-talent man, and the goats was final.&nbsp;Finally is final. It is called “the door is shut,” outer darkness, going away into eternal punishment—a place for the devil and his angels. &nbsp; Let me give you one quick lesson from each of the three: Parable 1’s lesson:&nbsp;What is on the inside is not looked after.&nbsp;Though the outside resembles everyone else, it is the inside that makes all the difference. Parable 2’s lesson:&nbsp;What we are given must produce. Parable 3’s lesson:&nbsp;Jesus does not look like any of the pictures.&nbsp;Is He black, white, Hispanic? Jewish?&nbsp;None of the above.&nbsp;He is naked, a convict, and one who is hungry and thirsty. Leonard Ravenhill said, “If Jesus had preached the same message that ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified.” And this is one of those sobering messages Jesus preached.

Day 24 Today’s Reading: Matthew 24 "When the Author steps on the stage the play is over.” This is how C. S. Lewis spoke about the ending of planet Earth. We would call that the second coming of Jesus. This is where we are in today’s reading. This chapter is very sobering; it’s all about the last days just before the Author steps on the stage. In the 260 chapters of the New Testament, there are 318 references to the second coming of Christ. To break that down even more: one out of every thirty verses in the New Testament speaks about the second coming; twenty-three of the twenty-seven New Testament books refer to the second coming of Jesus. For every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ’s first coming, there are eight that look forward to His second! Matthew 24 and 25 devote a lot of space to it. The second coming of Jesus is going to be the most dramatic happening in human history. It will terminate human history and will usher in eternity. In a moment God will say to human history, “Curtains!” And down the&nbsp;curtains will go. What’s interesting is that Matthew 24 and 25 are Jesus’ final words before His crucifixion. What stands out to me is something He stated five times in chapter 24—that no one knows when the second coming will happen: • “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Matthew 24:36)&nbsp; • “They did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” (Matthew 24:39)&nbsp; • “Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42) • “You also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think&nbsp;He will.” (Matthew 24:44) • “The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect&nbsp;him&nbsp;and at an hour which he does not know.” (Matthew 24:50)&nbsp; Five times in this chapter Jesus tells us that the time cannot be known. Augustine said, “The last days is hidden so that every day would be regarded.” Somebody asked John Wesley, “Supposing that you knew you were to die at twelve o’clock to-morrow night, how would you spend the intervening time?” “How, madam?” Wesley told her.&nbsp;“Why, just as I intend to spend it now. I should preach this evening at Gloucester, and again at five tomorrow morning; after that, I should ride to Tewkesbury, preach in the afternoon, and meet the societies in the evening. I should then repair to friend Martin’s house, who expects to entertain me, converse and pray with the family as usual, retire to my room at ten o’clock, commend myself to my heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in glory.” It did not matter whether his home going would be by death or rapture. He would not change anything. It did not make any difference to him. How about you? Jesus said, “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:30-33). In The Rapture, Dr. Tim LaHaye vividly imagined what the unexpected suddenness of the rapture will be like:&nbsp;When Christ calls His living saints to be with Him, millions of people will suddenly vanish from the earth.&nbsp;An unsaved person who happens to be in the company of a believer will know immediately that his friend has vanished. There will certainly be worldwide recognition of the fact, for when more than one-half of a billion people suddenly depart this earth, leaving their earthly belongings behind, pandemonium and confusion will certainly reign for a time.&nbsp; A million conversations will end midsentence. A milli

Day 23 Today’s Reading: Matthew 23 Today’s reading is an intense chapter.&nbsp;It’s about hypocrites and religion—hypocrites in religion. In fact, Jesus said, “Woe to you hypocrites and religious people” eight times! (See verses 13-16, 23, 25, 27, and 29.) The word woe is an expression of how dreadful and how awful this is—to take something as powerful as God and pretend. &nbsp; This is&nbsp;the argument of so many people who don’t want to go to church or be a Christian: “The church is full of hypocrites! That is why I don’t believe, that is why I don’t go to church.” To put it another way:&nbsp;"Christians say they have Jesus, but we don’t see much of Him in their lives. If Jesus is in them, then He must be hiding." In his autobiography Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned. “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” Later Gandhi admitted, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” In his prejudice, that usher not only betrayed Jesus, he also turned away a person from trusting Jesus as Savior. What exactly is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is someone who does not practice what he believes. He can talk the talk but he doesn’t walk the walk. His lifestyle doesn’t equal his profession. Mouth and action are inconsistent. And yet, let’s consider a couple things: 1. If there are hypocrites, then there must be genuine Christians. A counterfeit always implies a genuine. Christ said there would be hypocrites in the church.&nbsp;He called them wheat and tares growing together (see Matthew 13:24-30). 2. There is a&nbsp;difference between sinner and hypocrite. Hypocrisy is just one of many sins that all of us have committed. Full of it, no; in it, yes. Better to say the church is full of sinners. The answer to the hypocrite problem? Look at the Savior! You don’t start by looking at the church, you start by looking at Jesus—and Jesus&nbsp;is not a hypocrite. Since Christianity depends on Jesus, it is incorrect to try to invalidate the Christian faith by pointing to horrible things many have done in the name of Christianity. If this is your argument then be consistent with it. What do hospitals do? Make sick people well. So, if sick people are in the hospital, is it full of hypocrites? You have mistaken what&nbsp;the church really is. It’s not a museum or a hall of fame, it is a hospital with a lot of sick people getting better . . . and you are looking at one of them. So what is a Christian? A Christian is not a perfect person but is someone who is a continually-growing work in progress. When you get saved you don’t receive maturity all at once, you are not a theologian, and you do not have it all together. You got born again because you don’t have it all together. Christianity is Christ. We are not perfect—but He is. When you take your eyes off of Him, you will see our issues. The church is like Noah’s ark: the stench on the inside would be unbearable if it weren’t for the storm on the outside. Many times we stink and the world is stormy. I love what Ruth Graham made her family put on her gravestone long before she was bedridden and passed away. She was driving one day and entered into a construction zone on the highway. When she reached the end, the sign said, “End of cons

Day 22 Today’s Reading: Matthew 22 The Bible never says you have to believe with all your heart, even though it says&nbsp;you must believe in your heart. But when it comes to loving God—that must be done with all your heart. I think God leaves room for the growing faith and doubts that come with belief. But when it comes to love, we can make a choice immediately. Love is our greatest weapon against sin. Nineteenth-century Scottish theologian Thomas Chalmers wrote, “The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one—the expulsive power of a new affection.” How do you get rid of an old boyfriend? Get a bigger boyfriend. Jesus is the bigger boyfriend. So when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He did not start with, “Thou shall not . . .” or “Thou shall . . .” Jesus started with love. “Jesus declared, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). If you get loving God right, loving your neighbor is easy—because it all starts with God and loving Him. So many people want to change today.&nbsp;Change must have a starting point.&nbsp;To change a life without first addressing the core becomes futile.&nbsp;To educate and to try to reprogram without dealing with the love issue is a dead end.&nbsp;Why? What you love you will do. What you love you will sacrifice for. What you love you will make time for. If you love your boyfriend, you will sacrifice all to be with him. If you love baseball, you will find a way to play year-round or watch year-round. If you love your spouse, you will sacrifice to please him or her. Change starts with love. Change starts with asking the question, “What do I love most?”&nbsp;And the answer could startle us. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Everything self-corrects from there.&nbsp;To pursue Christianity without love does not last long. So, pray each day that you will love God with all your heart, soul, and mind.&nbsp;Because when you love, the other stuff naturally follows.&nbsp; Start with love today. To try to change stuff without loving God is not change, it is conformity, and it won’t last long. A friend of C. S. Lewis asked him, “Is it easy to love God?” Lewis answered, “It is easy to those who do it.” Christianity is not easy for those who don’t love God but love church, love being moral, love the atmosphere. When you fall deeply in love, you want to please the Beloved. And that’s when real change will occur.

Day 21 Today’s Reading: Matthew 21 Theologian John Calvin said, “To know God as the Master and Bestower of all good things, who invites us to request them of Him, and still not go to Him and ask of Him—this would be of as little profit as for a man to neglect a treasure, buried and hidden in the earth, after it had been pointed out to him and he had the map.” Jesus gave us a map and it’s called prayer. Right after Jesus spoke to a fig tree because it had no fruit, the “marveling” disciples asked, “How?” How did Jesus speak to that thing that was not producing fruit? And then Jesus revealed two treasure map verses: Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. (Matthew 21:21-22) All things you ask in prayer, believing . . . you will receive. There are only two hurdles to get over in order to get to receive: (1) you must ask and (2) you must believe. They seem simple but they are challenges we all face. Hurdle #1: Asking Statistics suggest the average Christian spends three to seven minutes a day in prayer. Our asking is limited today. If “asking” is what gets us to receive, we are not even asking very well. C. S. Lewis may have captured the enemy’s plan for the Christian in his Screwtape Letters, a fictional letter of instruction to the demon Wormwood: “Interfere at any price and in any fashion when people start to pray, for real prayer is lethal to our cause.” F. B. Meyer said it like this:&nbsp;“The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” Let’s make a commitment to fight busyness and get to prayer. Hurdle #2: Believing There is a difference between believing someone and believing in someone. The first one deals with existence. The second deals with character and who they are. To have faith in God is to believe He is and who He said He is. Suppose you tell a friend you have faith in her. What does that mean?&nbsp;It means two things. First, you are sure the person you are talking to actually exists. And second, you are convinced she is trustworthy; you can believe what she says and trust in her character. Believing in prayer is believing who God said He is. Faith honors God and God honors faith. Faith cashes God’s checks. Faith in God will not get you everything you want, but it will get you everything God wants you to have.

Day 20 Today’s Reading: Matthew 20 Inevitably when someone well known dies, I get asked, “Do you think that person is in heaven?” Before I respond, I always think of John Newton, the eighteenth-century former slave ship captain who became an abolitionist and clergyman. He said, “If I ever reach heaven I expect to find three wonders there: first, to meet some I had not thought to see there; second, to miss some I had expected to see there; and third, the greatest wonder of all, to find myself there.” With that thought in mind, I tell the person a story: “Let’s say you knew a guy named Rudy who was from the worst part of town. Rudy grew up with no father and no discipline in the home, and from an early age he got in trouble with the law. As a kid, he stole candy; by the time he was a teenager, he’d worked up to stealing cars. Into his early adulthood, he broke into people’s homes. During one break-in, he discovered the residents at home and he killed them. He got convicted and sentenced to death. You also knew the people he killed, so you attended the execution. You saw him enter the room, then walk behind a curtain for his execution. Question: Does that thief who killed those people go to heaven?” The person always responds, “Of course not. I knew him till the end. He didn’t repent.” But then I add a twist and change the scenario. “Okay,” I tell the person. “On that day three executions were scheduled simultaneously in that room. Rudy and one other man were thieves. The third was a deranged man who claimed He was God. Just before Rudy died, he had a conversation with the so-called deranged man, in which he heard something about paradise and he accepted the man at His word. Did he go to heaven?” The person typically knows the “right” answer: that Rudy went to heaven. But I can see the confusion and frustration on the person’s face, especially because of the sins Rudy committed. Inevitably, the person is grappling with the fairness of it all. Surely, he can’t be in heaven, the person thinks. He was a thief and a murderer. How is that fair? And yet this twist in the story is not made up. It happened at Calvary. A life of sin and selfishness was altered in seconds—all because the thief talked to the Middle Man. Jesus is our middle man—the one whose sacrifice made a way for us to go to heaven. No matter who the person is or what they have done, on the day they die, they enter heaven and walk on streets of gold. Before that scene at Calvary even happened, Jesus prepared us for the reality of salvation with this parable, what we call a little story with a big meaning, which comes from today’s reading, in Matthew 20:1–16. Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a vineyard owner who hired workers early in the morning and agreed to pay them a certain amount of money, a denarius, for their day’s wages. Around midmorning, the vineyard owner caught sight of some others who were loitering in the marketplace, so he offered them work and set wages to tend to his vineyard. He rounded up more workers at noon, at midafternoon, and in the early evening, offering the same work for a set wage. At quitting time, the owner directed his foreman to summon the workers, starting with the last group, and to pay them their wages. Each group received a denarius. By the time the foreman summoned the first group who had worked all day, they believed they should receive more wages because they had worked longer. And yet the foreman handed each person a denarius. The men in the first group complained to the owner, saying it wasn’t fair that the last group of men, who only worked a brief time, received the same amount they received. “We worked harder and longer. We dealt with the heat of the day! How is this fair?” But the owner explained th

Day 19 Today’s Reading: Matthew 19 J. C. Ryle wrote, “The highest form of selfishness is a man content to go to heaven alone.” I don’t ever want to be content to go to heaven alone. I want to take as many as I can with me. But I have some hard cases in my relationship circle that need a miracle. I bet you do too. If you know someone who needs to be saved, fortunately, today’s reading in Matthew 19 gives us hope. Listen to what Jesus said about God: “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (verse 26). With God all things are possible. All things! This is a powerful promise, because of&nbsp;what this verse is connected to. It is a response to a question, which makes this amazing verse even more amazing. It follows after Jesus personally invited a very rich young and powerful man known as the rich young ruler to follow Him. But the man refused. Let’s look at the story in context: Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (verses 21-23) And then came the question: “When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’” (verse 25). They were probably thinking of others who needed to follow Jesus, and asked this profound question. Our question will be more like this:&nbsp;“Will my mother, my father, my family ever get saved?” And the answer to that question is . . . With God all things are possible! Who do you want to be saved? Who have you been praying for? Over their name declare: “With God all things are possible.” Those words are for your unsaved loved ones every time you think there is no way. That is the context that gives hope for us who have people we really want to become Christians. Think of the hardest case and the most helpless condition and then announce to hell and Satan, “With God all things are possible!” Corrie ten Boom said it like this: “If all things are possible with God, then all things are possible to him who believes in Him.” If God is all you have, then you have all you need.

Day 18 Today’s Reading: Matthew 18 When I was working toward my undergrad degree in corporate finance, the students would say cash is king. When I was doing my graduate work in theology, the students would say context is king. So many Bible verses get their punch from context, not from a denominational bent. One of those punchy passages is in Matthew 18. I couldn’t tell you how many prayer meetings I have attended where not many people showed up and the pastor said, “All I know is that Jesus said where two or three are gathered together there I am in that place.” I have this sneaky suspicion that Jesus was not giving us a sentence we can use when we have bad attendance—where we just quote Matthew 18:20, and everyone is content and off the hook. Let’s be honest, the Bible is full of people who met God by themselves and not with two or three people. But context is king. This verse ends Jesus’ huge thought on fixing a broken relationship. Listen to the verses connected with it: If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church . . . For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. (Matthew 18:15-17, 20) Two important thoughts: 1. It’s interesting that Jesus used the word church only twice in the entire Bible. One was in the chapter before when He said the gates of hell can’t prevail against His church.&nbsp;And second, when dealing with broken relationships.&nbsp;Devils and broken relationships . . . think about that—two of the church’s biggest enemies. 2. In the powerful context of two or three being gathered, I believe Jesus was saying more than encouraging us when there’s bad attendance.&nbsp;He was saying, “When you choose to fix a relationship in My house, and do it the right way, I want you to know that when you get the parties in the room, My presence plans on being there.” What an incredible promise. The Bible reminds us over and over that we not only need God in our lives, we need people to be part of our lives as well. God wired us that way and designed life in such a way that life works better with people rather than in isolation. Relational isolation is especially dangerous. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean we give up on community. To be certain, important and vital relationships, though they bring joy to our lives, can also have the potential&nbsp;of bringing pain and conflict.&nbsp;Conflict in and of itself is not bad, but unresolved conflict is. Unresolved conflict creates a toxic environment.&nbsp; &nbsp; I think that’s why Peter responds to Jesus’ words with this question: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (verse 21). Jesus didn’t let him off the hook. He told him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (verse 22). Remember this math equation that Jesus brought up, seventy times seven? It has to do with forgiveness. It’s connected to&nbsp;how often should I forgive my brother. Sounds like everyone has an account of 490 offenses with each other. I think C. S. Lewis gave the best insight on this idea: “We need to forgive our brother seventy times seven not only for 490 offenses but for one offense.” To forgive for the moment is not difficult. But to go on forgiving, to forgive the same offense again every time it recurs to the memory—there’s the real tussle. We forgive . . . and a week later some chain of thought carries us back to the original offense, and we discover the old resentment blazing

Day 17 Today’s Reading: Matthew 17 If you had a chance to ask God a “why?” question, what would you ask him? Why did this bad thing happen to me? Why did my mom pass away? How about a personal failure question? That’s what we find in Matthew 17! The disciples failed at something they were empowered to do and did not know why they’d failed. The disciples had tried to heal a young man and were unable, so the man brought his son to Jesus. Let’s pick up the story: “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (verses 15-21) Verse 19 highlights the private why—“Why couldn’t we drive the demon out?” I love that the disciples asked this question. People don’t do this today when they finish a task. It’s rare to find someone asking for critique to get better, but these disciples did. We live in a culture that will blame others but not inspect ourselves. Jesus’ answer is astounding and multi-layered: • The big issue Jesus says is: faith. • The problem is the size of it:&nbsp;it’s little. • Because of that: failure.&nbsp; Jesus refers to mustard-seed faith: if the mustard seed is little and that’s all you need to get big stuff moving, then&nbsp;you’re not in the ballpark of “little faith.” Your faith is smaller than little, it’s&nbsp;microscopic because nothing got changed. And then he tells you what can get your microscopic faith kick-started and moving toward&nbsp;little: prayer and fasting. Faith is not a concept about God. Faith is like a lens on how big we see God. When Jesus spoke about prayer and fasting as His follow-up to their little faith failure, He said that prayer and fasting will help get the God lenses on. How? It’s about connecting fasting to prayer. Does fasting make God big?&nbsp;Not really. Fasting is not a hunger strike to get God’s attention. Fasting creates space for God. To make a meal during this time period was not going to Whole Foods or Costco, it was an all-day affair from killing an animal to cooking it. Fasting meant creating space to pray, space for God. When someone fasts they are giving God more time, and when you get more time with God, trust me, God gets bigger. That’s why I believe you can fast from many different types of things and not just food—social media, television, certain activities—to create space for prayer. How do you deal with demons? Not by deliverance classes and learning crazy ways to deal with the dark world. Create more space for God by fasting. When you do that, God gets bigger. When God gets bigger, faith starts getting bigger. And when faith gets bigger, then mountains (and demons) start moving. The way you get a grain of faith is by praying and fasting. A private “why” did not help only the disciples. What great insight for us to have when we need some movement on things that won’t budge.

Day 16 Today’s Reading: Matthew 16 Poor Alexander. He was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Maybe you’ve read about his day? From the moment he woke up, one terrible thing after another horrible thing happened to him. From finding gum in his hair to tripping over his skateboard to dropping his sweater in the sink while the water was running.&nbsp;And when his brothers found wonderful prizes in their cereal boxes, Alexander found . . . nothing. On his way to school, he was squished in the center seat, and at school his teacher picked on him. After school he had a dentist appointment and the dentist found Alexander had a cavity. And on and on it went—one catastrophe after another. Alexander decides he wants to move to Australia, where they probably never have bad days—but his mom tells him they do have bad days there too. What a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day Alexander had. Alexander had a bad day. Australians have a bad day. And what’s not hard to believe is that Christians do too. We have no promises from God that once you and I become a Christian, all our days are always going to be great. But somehow we forget that when we have bad days! In today’s reading, we see a disciple who had a great day—and then he had terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Or to put it another way, he had a Simon day, a Peter day, and a Satan day—all in one day. You already read this chapter, but let’s take another look at Matthew 16: “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (verses 15-18) Wow! Jesus changed Simon’s name based on his revelation of Jesus. None of the other disciples had this happen. But then Peter had his name changed again. This is where it becomes the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day: Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” (verses 21-23) What a change—from Simon to Peter to Satan. Have you ever felt like that? You’re going along having a Simon day (ordinary), and something happens in which you move to a Peter day (revelation that God is awesome), and then all of a sudden you get smacked with a Satan day (get behind Me). In all of those days, though, you are loved by God. Your worst day does not make you any less accepted by God. The prodigal son covered in mud never stopped being a son, did he? He was still loved by his father. Jesus didn’t stop loving Peter, did He? No. And the same is true of you. Author Brennan Manning does a good job of giving us a glimpse into the revolutionary love of God: “His love is never, never, never based on our performance, never conditioned by our moods—of elation or depression. The furious love of God knows no shadow of alteration or change. It is always reliable. And always tender.” I read those words while traveling from Queens to Brooklyn on the F Train, and I started crying. The revolutionary thinking that God loves me as I am and not as I should be requires radical rethinking and profound emotional readjustment. Our religion never begins with what we do for God. It always starts with what God has done for us, the great an

Day 15 Today’s Reading: Matthew 15 Abraham Lincoln famously stated, “I have been driven many times to my&nbsp;knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.” In today’s reading, we find a woman who had absolutely no other place to go but on her knees in front of the Son of God. This has to be the craziest story on prayer in the entire New Testament. Sometimes it’s a fight to get an answer to prayer and prayer can seem like a wrestling match. In fact, Paul used one of the Greek words for prayer when he wrote in Colossians 4:12 (CSB): “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling for you in his prayers.” Wrestling in prayer for you. The Greek word is agonizomai. What does that sound like?&nbsp;Agonizing. That is what we see in today’s story. They call her “The Syrophoenician Woman.” Jesus . . . withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. (Matthew 15:21-28) This woman participated in a wrestling match to get her demon-possessed daughter healed. The end of the story was that she received what she asked for. The journey there, though, is worth discussing. This Gentile woman came to Jesus and faced three big hurdles to get her answer—three hurdles we too must wrestle through if we want to experience a breakthrough in our prayers, especially when we’re involved in a wrestling match for someone else’s deliverance. An old preacher friend used to say that we must “pray the price.” And this woman did. The first hurdle she had to overcome is receiving silence. When she begged God for an answer, “He did not answer her a word” (verse 23). Can we pray when we feel like nothing is being heard or responded to? This woman was crying and&nbsp;getting nothing. This is one of the battles we face in prayer. We’re doing all the talking but not hearing anything back. Do we stop? Do we give up? I think it’s a test. As Rick Warren says, “The teacher is always silent when the test is given.” God wants to know how serious we are. The second hurdle is being overlooked for others. Jesus told his disciples, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (verse 24). He spoke but not to her. She had to overhear what Jesus said. She did not even get a direct word. She was listening to Jesus explain and speak to others. Others are getting God but not you. Can you get over the hurdle when God does for others before He does for you? Still&nbsp;she did not stop. The third hurdle is getting a standard answer but not the answer. Jesus told her,&nbsp;“It’s not good to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs” (verse 26). These seem like harsh words but they were simply standard lines. The children’s bread is what God gave to Israel. Dogs is what Israel called all non-Jews. She was listening to standard lines. Instead of being offended, she fought through the standard answers everyone hears. Stil

Day 14 Today’s Reading: Matthew 14 As he awaited his death as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, the famed theologian, pastor, and Christian martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote a letter about losing people we love. He wrote, in part: There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled, one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve - even in pain - the authentic relationship. Furthermore, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain. I love this statement: “Gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy.” Gratitude helps us deal with loss. Jesus showed us one other way to deal with the grief that accompanies the loss of people we love—compassion. In today’s reading we see that Jesus faced loss: When Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:13-14) John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin. John was murdered because of a crazed and convicted adulterer and a robot of a dancing daughter. She danced before Herod, who became so intoxicated with this sensual dance, he offered her whatever she wanted. The little girl went to her mom for her advice on what to ask for. Her mother hated John because he had confronted and condemned her for sleeping with the king. She told her daughter to demand John’s head on a platter. Can you be more vindictive than that? So Herod gave the order and had John the Baptist beheaded. When Jesus heard the news, He withdrew out of grief and sorrow. He went to a lonely place by Himself. He wanted to be alone. Tragic death paralyzes. The big problem for Jesus was that though He wanted to be alone to grieve and process His loss, the multitudes wanted His healing. When they realized where He had gone, they followed Him. Now consider this . . . when He saw them, He felt compassion for them. He did not say, “Hey, I need some time alone. Let’s do this next Thursday.” Even in His deep grief, He felt something when He saw them and their needs. This is instructive to us. This is one of the great ways to overcome our grief when we have lost a loved one. Our tendency leads us toward loneliness: “I just want to be alone,” “Give me some private time,” “I don’t want to see anyone or talk to anyone,” “Just leave me alone.” Jesus was alone, but He shows us that compassion trumps grief. The way out of the grief funk is not through a season of loneliness but through ministering to others. When you start to tend to others’ needs, God heals you and takes care of you. The passage says, “He healed their sick.” We would say, “I need healing.” Among all the “professional Christian counseling” and “grief counselors,” I’ve never heard them tell us in the midst of our grief to “go help others.” Seclusion does not fix you. It’s dangerous to be left alone with your thoughts when you suffer great loss. It is in giving that you receive.

Day 13 Today’s Reading: Matthew 13 Every day as you read one chapter of the New Testament, the goal&nbsp;is more than just experiencing a feeling of accomplishment but to grow and become more like Christ. Sometimes when you struggle to find time for God’s Word, it isn’t because you’re busy, it is because you’re experiencing spiritual warfare! This book is a supernatural book and changes people’s lives. That’s why it’s hard to read the Bible. Jesus explained about this in today’s Scripture reading. In Matthew 13, Jesus told seven parables, or Kingdom stories.&nbsp;The most famous parable in this chapter is called the sower and the seed. Jesus used the surroundings of the people, more specifically the agricultural fields, to explain the battle that goes on to stop the Word of God from taking root in people’s lives and changing them. Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears let him hear. (Matthew 13:3-9) His big point was this:&nbsp;Satan sees what God’s Word can do in people’s lives and so he will do whatever he can to stop it from producing in you. The seed being planted in the story is the Bible, God’s Word, and it faces challenges to take root and produce. Challenge #1: the devil. That is the seed on the roadside.&nbsp;The moment you read the Bible or listen to a sermon, Satan waits to steal that Word because it is powerful. Sin will keep you from the Bible or the Bible will keep you from sin. Challenge #2: difficulties.&nbsp;That is the seed that takes root but does not go deep.&nbsp;The way you win against difficulties is through depth.&nbsp;Go deep in God.&nbsp;Go deep in His Word. Challenge #3: distractions.&nbsp;Jesus said the weeds that choke the seeds are the worries of the world and deceitfulness of riches. If you’re too busy to read the Bible, you’re too busy. And yet there are those who will get through these hurdles and produce fruit with their lives. Jesus called them seeds that grow in good soil and produce a good crop—a good God-honoring life. The devil will challenge every word and chapter you read in the Bible, because he knows what it can do. When you signed up for this 260 Journey, you also signed up for a battle. But it’s a winnable battle! If you want to win at it, start treating your Bible like you treat your cell phone. Ever wonder what would happen if we did that? • What if we carried&nbsp;it around in our purses or pockets? • What if we scrolled&nbsp;through it several times a day? • What if we turned&nbsp;back to get it if we forgot it? • What if we used it&nbsp;to receive messages from the text? • What if we treated&nbsp;it as though we couldn’t live without it? • What if we gave it&nbsp;to kids as gifts? • What if we used it&nbsp;when we traveled? • What if we used it&nbsp;in case of emergency? And something even better: unlike our cell&nbsp;phones, we don’t have to worry about our Bible being&nbsp;disconnected, because&nbsp;Jesus already paid the&nbsp;bill. The best protection against Satan’s lies is to know God’s truth. The next time you find yourself struggling to read the Bible, remember who’s behind that struggle and then remember that you were meant for the good soil.

Day 12 Today’s Reading: Matthew 12 While I am writing today’s devotional, a television show about Jack Ryan, the fictional CIA analyst, is trending online. Some knew him as Harrison Ford; for others, he was Chris Pine; and for us old folks, we knew him as Alec Baldwin. Jack Ryan is Tom Clancy’s creation. And those actors portrayed him in the movie versions of Clancy’s thriller books, such as The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, Without Remorse.&nbsp;His works are always very thick, about five hundred to seven hundred pages long. There are a half million to three-quarter million words in an average Tom Clancy novel.&nbsp; How long would it take you to say as many words as he writes in one of his books? According to researchers, people open their mouths an average of seven hundred times in a day. In those seven hundred times, you will use an average of eighteen thousand words a day. Those eighteen thousand words translate to about fifty-four printed pages. That means that in one year, an average person would fill . . . sixty-six books of eight hundred pages each.&nbsp;Every year you write with your words sixty-six volumes that are larger than those Tom Clancy novels. That’s a lot of words! And what makes it even more impressive is that each of those words matter. Why do those eighteen thousand words each day matter? We find the answer in the Old Testament book of Proverbs: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (18:21). Another version says it like this: “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose” (MSG). That’s why we take our eighteen thousand really seriously. So here’s the question: What is your life-and-death ratio on your eighteen thousand? Is it that big of a deal? Let’s see what Jesus said about it in today’s reading: For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:34-37) You and I will be held accountable for every careless word we speak, so yes, we definitely need to take our eighteen thousand seriously. It’s a scary thought, isn’t it? God thinks our words are so important and can make such a difference in someone’s life that he holds us accountable for them. Proverbs 12:25 tells us, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.” So here’s a challenge for you: give someone a good word today. Text it, say it, write it. But choose your words to bring life. Recently my family and I were traveling. As we sat together on the long flight, I watched my youngest daughter write a five-sentence note of thanks to the flight attendant. My daughter wanted to give life with her words. One good word can change anxiety into gladness. Your words have that capability. Do something useful with your eighteen thousand today.

Day 11 Today’s Reading: Matthew 11 Conditions or circumstances can affect perspectives.&nbsp; What goes on in our lives can determine our points of view and how we define important things—most seriously, our view and definition&nbsp;of God. Sometimes our circumstances can take us from living an exclamation-mark life to living a question-mark life. Let me give you an example of what I mean. John the Baptist was an exclamation man. He was known as a prophet who called people to repent of their sins and baptized them. He’s most well-known, however, as the one who baptized Jesus. Read the following verses about him from the book of John—and pay close attention to John the Baptist’s punctuation: The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:35-36) We see two exclamation-point verses here. He speaks with certainty and confidence. But then something happens. A change in John’s circumstances began to change his perspective: “When John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” (Matthew 11:2-3). What happened to the exclamation points? John went from an exclamation to a question. And it all hinged on two words—two huge words: “John . . . imprisoned.” These two words changed his perspective on Jesus. His exclamation points got punched in the gut and doubled over into a question mark. That’s what a question mark is—an exclamation point that got punched in the gut. Here’s what John needed to know and what we need to remember: • We change, but God doesn’t.&nbsp; • Circumstances change, but God doesn’t.&nbsp; • Life changes, but God doesn’t.&nbsp; If Jesus was the Lamb of God two years earlier, John’s imprisonment doesn’t change who Jesus is. Our circumstances can’t make God any different. John let being in prison decide his definition of Jesus. Don’t let whatever circumstances arise in your life define Christ.&nbsp; I’m in trouble.&nbsp; I’m in debt.&nbsp; I’m in a divorce.&nbsp; I’m in a wheelchair.&nbsp; I’m in court today. I’m in rehab. I’m in hot water. I’m in therapy.&nbsp; I’m incarcerated. Those are circumstances; those don’t define who Christ is. Know that with all that going on, you can still be in Christ. The “in Christ” part of you doesn’t change—no matter your situation—because He doesn’t change. As the writer of Hebrews assures us: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, TLB). Jesus’ response to (and about) John is pretty amazing: This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you, Who Will prepare your Way before you.’ Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! (Matthew 11:10-11) John was in the worst position he had ever been in. And Jesus said that this did not change what He thought about him. Jesus was saying, When your exclamation-mark life changes to a question-mark life, I am still who I am, and I do not change my exclamation-mark feelings about you. Just because you doubt Me doesn’t mean I doubt My love for you and what I think of you. Even in your worst state, you are still the greatest to God. Jesus gave the highest statement of John after John gave Him the lowest statement. John asked, “Who are You really?” And Jesus responded that no one has been born greater than John. That’s pretty amazing, right? So, if your Sunday exclamation point got punched in the gut on Monday, straighten up a

Day 10 Today’s Reading: Matthew 10 I want to tell you the history of two groups of people who are in the New Testament—the tax collectors and the zealots. The tax collectors were Jews who collected taxes from fellow Jews for the Roman Empire. They made their living by charging an extra amount on top of what everyone owed. Some of them made more than a living. They exacted any amount they could and became well to do. The Jews considered tax collectors to be traitors, because they “stole” money; they became wealthy by collaborating with Roman authorities at the expense of their own people. And their own people hated them. The Zealots strongly believed that the Romans should not rule their land— and they confronted any opposition directly, even considering violence an appropriate response. Within the Zealots were a subgroup called the Sicarii, or “dagger men.” Sicarii&nbsp; were a group of rebels, most widely known today as the group who fought against the Roman authorities and took Masada, Herod’s famous fortress in the desert. Today we would call them first-century terrorists. They murdered in the name of religion. And they hated traitors— more specifically, tax collectors. Zealots were the terrorists. Tax collectors were the traitors. Put those two together, and it isn’t going to be good. Call 911. And that’s where we find ourselves in today’s reading: "Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him. These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them." (Matthew 10:1-5, emphasis added) Think about that. Jesus put a zealot and a tax collector close to each other as His disciples. Out of the twelve disciples, two of them were sworn enemies of each other: Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector. Matthew 10 even labels them for us, so we know of the potential conflict. And Jesus specifically called each of them to follow Him and to work and live together. It wasn’t an accident or a mistake. He did that on purpose! What does that have to do with you and me? Our tendency is to hang out with people we like and who are like us. Think about your church. If you choose&nbsp;a church based upon the people whom you have stuff in common with, then you want a club not a church. What I love about Jesus’ disciple list is that it doesn’t say, “Peter, a fisherman; John, a fisherman; Simon, a fisherman . . .” Their descriptions show us that Jesus chose people who couldn’t be more opposite. God can put you with people who irritate you. That is how sandpaper works. You get rubbed so the rough edges come off of you, you can be smooth, and you become more like Christ. You don’t grow by being with people who are just like you. (You become boring but you don’t grow.) Oswald Chambers explained it this way: “God can never make us wine if we object to the fingers He uses to crush us with. If God would only use His own fingers and make us wine.&nbsp;But when He uses someone whom we dislike, and makes those the crushers . . . we object.” God may have put the tax collector with the zealot in your church. Why?&nbsp;Because this is a church, not a club. Because the church is about making people become more like Christ. It represents Jesus’ loves and not your likes. And He loves everyone—even the people you might think are the worst. So the next time your zealot nature sits next to an irritating tax collector,

Day 9 Today’s Reading: Matthew 9 Matthew 9 is a chapter that is spilling over with healing and faith. A paralyzed man is brought to Jesus by his friends in verse 2 and Jesus sees the faith of the friends and the paralyzed man walks. A woman with a twelve-year disease is free in an instant. Jesus says to her, “Your faith has made you well” (verse 22). Two blind men finally see through their eyes after Jesus said to them, “It shall be done to you according to your faith” (verse 29). Faith and healing. Those two things are inseparable. So many people today need healing in their bodies. It seems that we want our healing, but we have never checked our faith. We probably should get a handle on faith. This small word is huge. Let’s see if we can unpack it in the next few minutes. Faith has to be a huge thing, if in fact: • It’s how we get saved • It’s how people get healed • It’s how we please God • It’s how we walk the Christian life—even a little still does big things • It’s what makes prayer powerful Almost everything we do as a Christian involves faith. So I think we better get a handle on it and realize what it is. Faith . . . • honors God and God honors faith. • cashes God’s checks. • won’t get you everything you want, but it will get you everything that God wants you to have. Only two times does the Bible devote an entire chapter to one topic. The first is love in 1 Corinthians 13. The second is what we are discussing today—faith, which we find in Hebrews 11. Though we aren’t there yet in our 260 journey, today’s reading helps us understand the power of faith. As we see in Matthew 9, God takes faith very seriously. As I’ve heard it said, “Faith is like WiFi. It’s invisible but it has the power to connect you to what you need!”&nbsp; You exercise faith everyday. Let’s take one example of the doctor and the pharmacist. You go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce and whose degrees you have never verified. He gives you a prescription you cannot read. You take it to a pharmacist you have never met. He gives you a chemical compound you do not understand. Then you go home and take the pill according to the instructions on the bottle. All in trusting, sincere faith. When it comes to your spiritual life, you need faith to get over the hurdle of determining that God exists. You use faith for the next hurdle: Who is this God you gave your life to? Then you face another hurdle that takes faith—fighting the devil as he tries to mess you up on the greatness of God. Why? Because biblical faith always depends upon its object. You can have little faith in thick ice and still survive; you can have great faith with thin ice and drown—it’s the object that is the issue. The Bible never says to believe only; it says to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible never says to have faith only; it says to “have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). So if the God you put your faith in is misconstrued, then so is your faith. The best way to grow faith is to do as Peter tells us to, “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). And the best place to start that growth, in order to know God, is through reading and studying the Word of God. The Bible is God’s bio. The more we read it, the more our faith strengthens. Faith needs an object. The object—the bulls eye—of our faith is God and who He is. Your faith is only as great as the God you believe in. He must be the object of your faith. Since God does not change, your faith can still be strong in tough times. You don’t need great faith, you need faith in a great God. As Charles H. Spurgeon once said, “Oh, brethren, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven

Day 8 Today’s Reading: Matthew 8 Her name was Agnes and she was from Albania. In 1928, at age eighteen, she went to Ireland and became a nun. Almost twenty years later, in 1946, she received what she described as a call within the call. As she was riding on a train, her heart heard the Lord tell her to help the most rejected people in society, the poorest of the poor—the throw-away people of Calcutta, India. It took her two years of fighting through the bureaucratic red tape to pursue that call. But she remained committed, and in 1950, Agnes Bojaxhiu founded the Missionaries of Charity. Agnes Bojaxhiu, of course, is Mother Teresa. Discussing that call within a call, she stated, “Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are—in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people, who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society—completely forgotten, completely left alone. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.” We just finished reading the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher—Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). Now we turn our attention to chapter 8. What interests me is not just the sermon, but what took place the day after the sermon—what we learn about in today’s reading of chapter 8. This is when the crowd shrinks to the individual. The audience now has a name. And we see it immediately in Matthew 8:1-2 (MSG): “Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared.” Life just got real. The worst disease came after the greatest sermon. You know what I’m talking about. After the singing and the preaching, there is debt, marriage problems, addictions, cancer, diabetes, divorce, and abuse. Chapter 8 is all about what happens on Monday—after the great and inspiring Sunday morning worship service. Chapter 8 is where there is no stage, no music, but people with a lot of problems who need help. Chapter 8 is about a lot of people, and all of them have an issue. And Jesus met every one—cleansing, healing, deliverance, words of truth. Think about this with me: • Chapters 5–7 is Sunday at church service • Chapter 8 is Monday through Saturday • Chapter 5–7 is about interacting with God • Chapter 8 is about how we interact with people No one did it better than Jesus: • Chapters 5–7, He is the preacher-teacher • Chapter 8, He is the doctor In chapter 8, His Monday included four encounters: • a leper • a Roman captain with a paralyzed staff member • His disciple Peter’s sick mother-in-law stuck in bed with a fever • two graveyard demoniacs who were causing havoc in town But this is important to notice: Jesus had compassion and healed them. The key word with Jesus, and when He sees someone in need, is compassion. To know the Bible, to know how to sing Christian songs, is important, but that doesn’t translate into making other people’s lives better when we meet them in a tragedy. You can’t be compassionate without people. Compassion needs people to sacrifice for. No one is compassionate alone. Our Calcuttas are right next to us. And they need our compassion. It’s about touching your city, your community, your neighbors, your family and friends. Every one of us has three resources to show compassion: time, treasure, and talents. Time: The Bible says, “To redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16, KJV). To “redeem” it means to see it as valuable and get the best bang for your buck. The New American Standard Bible translates it as making the most of ou

Day 7 Today’s Reading: Matthew 7 A concerned husband went to see the family doctor. “I think my wife is deaf,” he said. “She never hears me the first time I say something. In fact, I often have to repeat things over and over.” “Go home tonight,” the doctor suggested. “Stand about fifteen feet from her, and say something. If she doesn’t reply, move about five feet closer and say it again. Keep doing this so we can get an idea of the severity of her deafness.” That night, the husband went home and did exactly as instructed. He stood about fifteen feet from his wife, who was standing in the kitchen, chopping vegetables. “Honey, what’s for dinner?” he said. When he received no response, he moved five feet closer and asked again. “Honey, what’s for dinner?” No reply. So he moved another five feet closer and repeated his question. But still no reply. Fed up and frustrated, he moved right behind her, and standing about an inch away, asked one final time, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” “For the fourth time,” she said, “chicken!” Guess who had the problem? Guess who was the deaf one? We can laugh over this story, but it tells a truth: we always assume it’s the other person who has the problem. Jesus addressed this issue in the last part of the Sermon on the Mount—and it gets really up close and personal. He called it logs and specks. "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-3) Jesus was a carpenter so this illustration made sense. Jesus said, in essence, “How can you see the speck in others and yet miss your own log?” In other words, Jesus was saying that the little junk you see in other people and point out just reveals a lot of junk that’s in you, which you choose to ignore. Jesus called this type of person a hypocrite. I’ve heard a hypocrite described this way: "A hypocrite is a person who is easy on himself but hard on others, but a godly man is hard on himself and easy on others." It’s much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. Jesus’ challenge is for us to keep our eyes on ourselves first and be especially sure to admonish ourselves before you and I admonish any of our friends. When practicing this, some good advice to start with is this: • It would be wiser to accuse yourself and excuse others. • If you want to be endured, then learn to endure others. The fault lies not in our inability to see ourselves but in our unwillingness to see ourselves. As the great nineteenth-century preacher Charles H. Spurgeon aptly put it: “None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves.” I have asked couples in marriage counseling to name their logs before telling me their spouse’s specks.&nbsp;It’s amazing how hard it is for them to think of their own. We get in the way of ourselves. Instead we prefer to be the “Help and Speck Inspector.” If we go back to what Jesus was saying, He was showing us that logs are bigger than specks. Meaning that we have a bigger problem than those we judge. When we don’t start with “I’m the problem,” we have a long haul ahead of us in our relationships. Instead, we must always start with ourselves—not with the other person. If you want to judge, judge yourself first, is what Jesus said. Logs before specks, and logs take a long time to get rid of. You’ll be so busy getting rid of the log that you won’t have time for specks. Get this and you will build deep, meaningful and long-term relationships. London preacher

Day 6 Today’s Reading: Matthew 6 In the first part of chapter 6, Jesus spoke about three personal disciplines that are part of every Christian’s life: giving, praying, and fasting. Note that I said, these three disciplines are part of every Christian’s life. If you are a Christian, then they are to be part of your life as well. How do we know they should be part of our lives? Because as Jesus spoke about them, He used an important word before each of them. Jesus started off each of the three with the word when, which assumes we are already practicing them. When you give . . . When you pray . . . When you fast . . . As He discussed these disciplines, He wanted to guide us in the proper way to practice them. In each instance, Jesus used a second word that is an essential part: secret (see verses 4, 6 and 18). We are to do these things in secret. In other words, we aren’t supposed to flaunt the fact that we practice them. Why? Because there’s only to be one member of our audience who sees what we do: God. We do these things in secret—and the aftereffects of them go public. That’s the power of these disciplines, He explained. If we pursue them without anybody’s knowledge, we will receive a reward and everyone will benefit—they will always go public, or “in the open,” in their effect. Let me explain by using prayer as an example. Jesus said, “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). When we dissect this sentence, we see the when (“when you pray”), the secret (“go into your inner room”), and in the open (your Father . . . will reward you). But I want you to see something else. Go back to the Scripture and count the number of times Jesus used the words you or yours. This is the only verse in the whole Bible that has the singular personal pronoun in it seven times: “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Why is this important to note? Because Jesus was saying that you have a responsibility. You. But—and here’s the beautiful part of it—this responsibility is never a waste of time. Because your Father will reward you. You. The word reward means to clock in and get a paycheck. Jesus was saying that every time you pray, you clock in—you expect a paycheck. God pays His workers well. You will come out with way more than you put in. When Mother Teresa was alive, many who visited her and her Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta were surprised that every lunchtime they left their life-sustaining work in dispensaries and in the home for the dying. “Why do you go back so soon and not stay longer? Where do you go?” Mother Teresa responded, “We go to pray. We have learned that to work without prayer is to achieve only what is humanly possible and our desire is to be involved in divine possibilities.” We get to be involved in divine possibilities. When we give, when we pray, when we fast. Let’s show up today to our responsibilities. The pay-off is too good not to.

Day 5 Today’s Reading: Matthew 5 Several years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported a story on happiness in different nations around the world. The newspaper’s title gave away the happiness level of people living in the United States: “Richest Country, Saddest People—Any Coincidence?” According to a study jointly conducted by the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School, and based on more than 60,000 face-to-face interviews worldwide, the richest country—the United States—has the saddest people and is regarded as one of the unhappiest places on earth.&nbsp;Out of the fourteen countries surveyed, we have the highest rate of depression. We have the highest standard of living and yet we take more tranquilizers than anyone. And it seems that the more people have, the angrier they are. The happiest people on the planet? Nigerians.&nbsp; And they have one of the lowest standards of living. I don’t believe Nigerians have the corner on the market, though. Believers do. Not feeling it? Today’s reading will help fix that. In Matthew 5, Jesus gives us His prescription for how to have happiness. In today’s through the next two days’ readings (Matthew 5–7), we find the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever walked the planet. It’s called the Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus tells us how to be happy. It’s connected to eight verses, called the Beatitudes, which are structured this way: “Blessed are the . . . for they shall . . .” Some translations have it as, “Happy are those who . . .” It’s amazing that Jesus starts His first sermon with happiness. But what makes this crazy is that Jesus says what will make us happy or blessed are the very things we wouldn’t expect. I once heard theologian N. T. Wright say in a sermon, “The beatitudes of Jesus tell us that all the wrong people are going to be blessed; they are counterintuitive. God is turning everything upside down.” Let me read it to you from the Good News Translation: Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them! Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised! Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully! Happy are those who are merciful to others; God will be merciful to them! Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God! Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children! Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. (Matthew 5:3-11) This is not what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount: Live like this and you will become a Christian. That’s impossible. What He is saying: Because you are a Christian, you can live like this and experience happiness. What to remember regarding the Beatitudes: 1. Happiness is found in character not in possessions. Every one of these Beatitudes is something internal, not external; something you are, not something you have. 2. God would never ask you to do or be something that is not possible. God never makes His Word, His promises, or His challenges unattainable. God never directs us into dead-ends. 3. God always leaves a gap (of dependency). You can’t practice the beatitudes without God. Which means you can’t be happy without God. These beatitudes are not natural for us. We need God to instill them into us and direct us. We look to God to help us. And He will. Eight times Je

Day 4 Today’s Reading: Matthew 4 It seems Jesus can’t even towel off and get dressed after being water baptized in the Jordan River before Satan shows up and challenges what Jesus has heard. We ended yesterday’s reading in Matthew 3 with hearing God speak. Today’s reading in Matthew 4 opens with hearing Satan speak. Remember that in Matthew 3 at Jesus’ water baptism, God said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” And before Jesus could properly digest and process those words, Satan spoke. Satan’s message: Did God really say that? Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God . . . .” (Matthew 4:1-3, emphasis added) God the Father had just told him, “You are My Son” (Matthew 3:17). Now Satan was questioning what God had said to Jesus. In essence, he was asking, “Did God really say that . . . ?” This is not new. Satan was just shooting the same bullet he always does. Remember back to the beginning of the Bible. In Genesis 3, the devil did the same thing in the Garden of Eden with Eve. His first recorded words pose a question—but not just any question. He asked a question to humans about God. “Has God said . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1). In other words, “Did God really say that?” This is what you need to know: Whatever God backs, Satan attacks. Sometimes Satan’s attacks are the confirmations that you did hear from God and God did speak to you. As clear as God’s voice was for Jesus, Satan’s voice came in fast and clear. He did the same to Adam and Eve. He’ll do the same to you and me. No one is off limits—not Jesus, not the first family (Adam and Eve), not a child in the womb, not a pastor’s family. No one who follows God and tries to be obedient to Him. C. S. Lewis writes, “The enemy will not see you vanish into God’s company without an effort to reclaim you.” Why does Satan come after you? Not because you are bad, but because, as a child of God, you are valuable. If you are a thief, and that is what Satan is, you don’t break into abandon houses; you break into places you know has valuable stuff. Thomas Watson puts it this way: “Satan doth not tempt God’s children because they have sin in them, but because they have grace in them. Had they no grace he would not disturb them.” A thief will not assault an empty house, but where he thinks there is treasure. Several years ago Sotheby’s auction house in New York City had an auction. Here are some of the items that sold: • Napoleon’s toothbrush: $48,000 • Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s fake pearls: $256,000 • President John F. Kennedy’s wood golf clubs: $750,000 In and of themselves, they had worth, but what made them so extravagantly valuable? Not what they were by themselves, but whom they belonged to. Just as you had worth before you became a Christian, the day you got saved, your value skyrocketed. You just went from being “abandoned property” to being owned by the Creator of the Universe. Now since you are valuable, you are a target.

Day 3 Today’s Reading: Matthew 3 A little brother was jealous that his older brother was getting water baptized and he wasn’t. As his father instructed the older brother on what it meant and how special it was, the little guy left the room in tears because he wasn’t being baptized. His father followed him to find out why he was so upset. When the father asked the four-year-old what was wrong, the little boy said, “I want to be advertised too with my brother on Sunday.” When you get water baptized, you get also get advertised. It is a public declaration. It announces to everyone who you are following. But it doesn’t make you a Christian any more than saying that a wedding ring on your finger makes you married. My wedding ring doesn’t make me married, but it shows people that I am married. The ring is a symbol. And baptism is a symbol. To make it anything more than a symbol is dangerous. Water baptism, whether a spoonful or a tankful will never save anyone. But it is an important second step in our faith journey. Being water baptized differentiates the serious from the casual follower of Jesus. As Max Lucado says, “Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers.” Some call them ordinances of the church, but really, communion and water baptism are mini-dramas of salvation using props—water, bread, and wine. Something very special happens every time one of these mini-dramas take place: they are not just events in the life of the church among believers; they are sacred moments for God to speak to us. That’s what happened to Jesus. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17) God spoke after Jesus was water baptized: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God confirmed family. God confirmed His love. And so when we participate (practicing obedience), we do it because we love God (the motive of our obedience) and to hear God speak to us. God responds, “I love you too.” We all need that Voice out of heaven to speak to us. We live in a world crowded with voices all shouting at us: • You are not good enough! • You are not skinny enough! • You are not good looking enough! • You don’t make enough money! • You are not married! • You don’t have kids! Those voices label you over what I’m not. And yet God tells us, You belong to Me and you are greatly loved. We need to listen to and hear the Voice that Jesus heard at His baptism. As Steven Furtick writes, “The voice you believe will determine the future you experience.” God’s voice is where our identity is found and the searching stops. We can be assured that God’s voice tells us that He loves us and that He is pleased with us. The biggest temptation today is to seek an alternative identity to who God created us to be. We see it in the ways we answer the question, Who am I? • I am what I do—my job and career define me. But when I get old and can no longer do a job and I retire, I lose my identity. • I am what others say about me—people’s words about me have power, especially who is saying it. So I’m good when the talk about me is good, but I lose my identity when it’s negative. • I am what I have—I have a degree, health, good parents, good children, good salary, and security. But when I lose any of those things, I lose my identity. When we participate in the mini-dramas of salvation, we answer the identity question by hearing and embracing God’s voice. He says, You are God’s beloved. Heaven says that about you today. One of my dear friends reminds us, “There’s nothing you can do that

Day 2 Today’s Reading: Matthew 2 Obedience to God is such a powerful tool. Obedience to God will always keep you one step ahead of the enemy. Obedience to God brings you blessing. And it brings protection and puts you in the right place at the right time—exactly where God wants you to be. When we don’t obey God, we withhold from ourselves all that God has in store for us. An old friend, Joy Dawson, said this: “Disobeying God is the same as telling Him to hold back all of the blessings that come with obedience. That is not only stupidity, it’s insanity.” We find this idea of being obedient to God in today’s Scripture reading. Jesus has been born, which is epic. But what happens after the Christmas story is epic as well. The magi were heading to the place where Jesus was. They’d come to worship Him and to bring Him gifts. One of my favorite descriptions of their arrival is in verse 10 in the Message paraphrase: “They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!” Think about that. “They were in the right place. They had arrived at the right time.” I want a life like that. I want to be in the right place—at the right time. We only get there one way: by being obedient to God. Too many of us, though, believe we can handle things on their own. As John Maxwell said, “Most Christians are educated way beyond their level of obedience.” I know many people who are (education) smart but not (obedient) wise. Education smart is good and helpful, but it isn’t the same as obedient wise. You can’t become obedient wise through education. When you are wise, you will be at the right place at the right time. And wisdom comes from obedience. Joseph shows us this truth. After the magi leave, Joseph has a dream: After the scholars [the magi] were gone, God’s angel showed up again in Joseph’s dream and commanded, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. . . . Joseph obeyed (Matthew 2:13, MSG). What happens next is monumental! King Herod, who learned about the Messiah through the magi, when they initially arrived in the area, commanded that every little boy two years old and younger who lived in Bethlehem was to be murdered. Here is the reality: Obedience to God keeps us one step ahead of the enemy. Think about it. Herod wanted to kill Jesus. Before that happened—first God gave Joseph a dream that told him to leave. And then—second—Herod sends his men on a killing spree. Because God called Joseph to obedience before Herod’s plan was enacted, and because Joseph obeyed, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were able to flee Bethlehem and find safety in Egypt. It was a forty-mile journey for the new family. So they were forty miles ahead of death and destruction, because God is always a first responder. But we have to obey to reap the benefits. As Brother Andrew said, “Whenever, wherever, however You want me, I’ll go. And I’ll begin this very minute. Lord, as I stand up from this place, and as I take my first step forward, will You consider this is a step toward complete obedience to You? I’ll call it the Step of Yes.” I have experienced this truth in my own life. I have watched it happen with a simple apology. I said something I should not have and the Holy Spirit convicted me and called me to go to that person and apologize. Conviction was my dream. And that apology kept that relationship forty miles ahead of the enemy’s narratives to harm it and kill it. Obedience keeps you and me forty miles ahead of death. Jesus said this about our enemy, the devil: “The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy” every child of God (John 10:10, msg). That’s his mission and his Herod-like plan every day. Obedience to God keeps us ahead of any steal-kill-and-destroy agenda. And when we are one step ahead, we are alway

Day 1 Today’s Reading: Matthew 1 The whole of the New Testament starts with today’s reading in Matthew 1. This is the story of stories—and it starts off all wrong. Most adventure stories begin with the wondrous “Once upon a time” so we know we’re in for something truly amazing. That’s the way the New Testament should begin, right? After all, what is more adventurous and exciting than the story of salvation, redemption, hope, and the keys to eternal life? Instead, Matthew starts his book of the same name with a genealogy. Why in the world would he do that? Because this story is not a fairy tale; this story is true. And he wants you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is true. The greatest story ever told starts like a phone book, a long list unpronounceable names. But this is important: Those names tell us that Jesus is real and that He can be traced. This is Jesus’ ancestry.com. What makes this list amazing is that some names in this long list belong to people who had sketchy pasts. Not only did Jesus associate with liars, cheaters, adulterers, murderers, and prostitutes—as we’ll see throughout the Gospels—but Jesus had them in his lineage. And Matthew didn’t even attempt to cover it up! Why does that matter to you and me? Because it shows from the outset that Jesus wants to associate with all of us. No matter what we’ve done or have become, we aren’t beyond His love or reach. I know this is true. Throughout my years of ministry, I have seen hardened prostitutes changed. Too often prostitutes feel irredeemable because their past holds so tightly to them. And yet, no one shows a way out of a past like Rahab, the prostitute who shows up in Jesus’ lineage. Her story is epic, and we see her name in that long list of names in Matthew: “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse” (Matthew 1:5, AMP). This is the Rahab from the Old Testament book of Joshua whose act of saving Hebrew spies got her inducted in Hebrews’ hall of faith (see Hebrews 11:31). She hid them, and when they returned Joshua and the Hebrews conquered Jericho when the walls came crashing down, the only family they saved was Rahab’s. Jesus is associated with a prostitute. Would you expect anything less? Not only was she saved, but she married a Jewish man. Let’s reread Matthew 1:5: “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.” Salmon and Rahab had Boaz, who married Ruth—of the Old Testament book of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed who had a son named Jesse. And Jesse had a son named David. Not just any David. “Jesse was the father of David the king” (Matthew 1:6 , AMP). Guess who was the great-great grandmother of King David? Rahab, the prostitute, the harlot. A quick thought for today: Almost every time Rahab’s name is mentioned, in both the Old and New Testaments, it says, “Rahab the harlot.” How would you like that, if every time someone said your name, they included with it the worst season of your life? Can you imagine that the worst season of your life is your label and tag line connected to your name? What if it looked like this? (I’ll use my name so I don’t indict anyone!): Tim the thief. Tim the embezzler. Tim the adulterer. Tim the baby aborter. Tim the wife beater. Tim the divorcee. Tim the porn addicted. Tim the alcoholic. Tim the road rager. Tim the unemployed. Think about what label would be after your name. For Rahab, “harlot” connects the past to her. If time heals all wounds, then we wouldn’t need God. Time is not that strong, but God is. There is only one place in the entire Bible where “harlot” or “prostitute” is removed from Rahab’s name: It’s when her name is connected to Jesus in Matthew 1. The only wa

Day 260 Today's Reading: Revelation 22 Growing up in my house, if you heard Mom or Day say, “Don’t make me say it again,” you knew that was a clear warning—repetition was a warning. A warning that meant I wasn’t listening to what they said the first time. It could be anything from “Clean your room” to how I said something to my sibling, not heeding the first warning shot would always call for the finale, “Don’t make me say it again.”&nbsp; Today’s chapter closes with repetition. We’ve finally made it to number 260, the final chapter of the New Testament—Revelation 22. What a journey it has been. As the New Testament closes, the apostle John speaks the same words three times. I believe because we forget how important they are. He quotes Jesus in verses 7 and 12: “I am coming quickly.” Then he says it one final time: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (verse 20). Repetition is always a warning for those who do not take it seriously. Repetition also means we weren’t listening the first time, that we did not think it important enough to pause and ponder. Thus John is shooting us one last warning shot before the New Testament closes.&nbsp; One of the ways the early-church Christians greeted and said goodbye to one another was to say, “Maranatha.” That Aramaic word means “The Lord is coming” or “Come Lord Jesus.” What a great challenge for us today to find a way to keep the&nbsp;quick&nbsp;coming of Jesus ever before us. A gardener for a large estate in northern Italy gave a tour to a visitor. He showed him through the castle and the beautiful, well-groomed grounds. The visitor commended him for the beautiful way he kept up the gardens. He asked, “When was the last time the owner was here?” “About ten years ago,” the gardener said. “Then why do you keep the gardens in such an immaculate, lovely manner?” “Because I’m expecting him to return,” the gardener said. “Oh, is he coming next week?”&nbsp; “I don’t know when he is coming,” the gardener replied, “but I am expecting him today.” In chapter 22, Jesus uses in the last chapter of Revelation the title He used in the first chapter of Revelation, “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (verse 13). He is the beginning and the end. Why does He use these two words or, actually, two letters?&nbsp;Alpha&nbsp;is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and&nbsp;Omega&nbsp;is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Jesus is saying that He was there at the beginning of everything and He will be there at the end of everything. And now Jesus is really stressing the&nbsp;Omega&nbsp;part here. This is the ending for human history as we know it—judgment, hell, and heaven. God only is Alpha and Omega. We are omega. That means we live forever beyond this life. In&nbsp;Unveiling the End Times in Our Time,&nbsp;Adrian Rogers said this about our omega part: When God created you with a soul, body, and mind, He made you in His image. You could no more cease to exist than God Himself could cease to exist. For all time, your soul will exist somewhere—either in heaven or hell. You have a life to live, a death to die, a judgment to face, and an eternity to endure either in heaven or in hell. And you will not miss hell and go to heaven unless you are twice born. Because He is coming quickly, we must be ready, so the omega part is ready. In Chicago many years ago, there was a nightclub called “The Gates of Hell” that was right downtown. Down the street from this nightclub was a church called Calvary Church. The story goes that a young man wanted to go to that nightclub one evening, so he asked a stranger on the street, “Can you tell me how to get to The Gates of Hell?” The stranger replied, “Go right past Ca

Day 259 Today's Reading: Revelation 21 Kimutchi will always have a place in my heart. She was a prostitute from the streets of Detroit who I led to the Lord. It was one of our initial conversations that forever has marked me. She used to call me Father Tim. She came to our church one day and said, “Father Tim, can you pray for me? I’m having a tough week.” “Sure, Kimutchi,” I told her. But as I began to pray, she quickly interrupted me. “No. You can’t pray. I have no money.” I was puzzled. “What do you mean you have no money?” She proceeded to tell me that certain pastors in town would charge her $25 a prayer and then would give her a Bible passage, which she’d use for playing the lottery numbers. It was a religious scam, much like the indulgences during the reformation, which Martin Luther railed against. I explained that what they had been doing was wrong. Then I took Kimutchi to Matthew 7:21, which says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Her eyes grew wide with amazement. “That’s how you do it?” she said. “I never knew what that meant.” When Kimutchi said that, she did not mean the meaning of the verse. She meant the actual numbers on the top of the page. She did not know that “7” meant the chapter and “21” meant the verse. Then she told me over and over, “Give me one I can look up.” Then, “Give me another one.” We took a journey through the Scriptures together until she finally asked me, “Father Tim, if I give my life to Jesus, I won’t have to be on the streets any longer? I won’t have to sell myself any longer? And when I die, I won’t have to cry every day like I do?” And that’s when I took her to today’s chapter—a chapter that came to mean everything to a prostitute. Here’s Kimutchi’s final passage that she looked up and saw the numbers 21 and 1 in Revelation: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer&nbsp;any&nbsp;sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be&nbsp;any&nbsp;death; there will no longer be&nbsp;any&nbsp;mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5) This is heaven. This is our reward. This is the climax of history. No more wars, no more pain, no more tears, no more funerals. No more cancer, no more taxes, no more racism, no more bills, no more rent, no more need for health insurance. Because God has made all things new. Once when the great Scottish preacher and writer, George MacDonald, was talking with his family, the conversation turned to heaven. At one point, one of his relatives said, “It seems too good to be true.” To whom MacDonald replied, “Nay, it is just so good it&nbsp;must&nbsp;be true!”&nbsp; It is just so good it must be true. That is heaven. That’s the place I wanted Kimutchi to know existed. And what makes heaven amazing is that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” God does that.&nbsp; It’s said that an Eastern Orthodox monk said these profound words about heaven: “For most Christians heaven is envisaged as a kind of postscript, an appendix to a book of which life on earth constitutes the actual text. But the contrary is true. Our earthly life is merely the preface to the book. Life in heaven will be the text—a text without end.”

Day 258 Today's Reading: Revelation 20 A young man was drinking heavily and decided to go for a swim at a California beach. Fortunately, an older man was watching the young man as he entered the water and saw that when he dove in, he did not come back up for air. The older man ran toward the struggling young man, dove into the water, and saved his life. A few years later, that same young man was standing in court facing a sentence on drug charges. Suddenly, the young man realized the judge was the very same man who’d saved his life when he was drowning years earlier. He looked at the judge and said, “Sir, don’t you recognize me? You saved my life a few years ago. Don’t you remember?” The judge nodded and then looked at the young man. “Young man,” he said. “Then I was your savior, but now I am your judge.” While we are alive, Christ is available to all who will trust Him now as their Savior. But if we reject Him in this life, we will stand before the Lord and know Him only as our Judge. Savior or Judge—that decision is ours. What will we do with Jesus while we are alive? If we do not choose Jesus as Savior, Revelation 20 speaks about the setting and the court we will be in called the great white throne judgment—in this final scene in human history where all will be judged. This is what John the apostle saw: I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is&nbsp;the&nbsp;book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one&nbsp;of them&nbsp;according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15) The way we live here will have eternal, unchangeable, and profound consequences. Who we are today—and who we are becoming today—is preparing us for who we will be for all eternity. And only in this life can we impact our eternity. There are two judgments in heaven: the great white throne and the judgment seat of Christ. The latter is for the saints of God who receive a reward for their Christian life. The great white throne judgment is when it’s all said and done. It’s over for a person if they appear at this heavenly hearing. A misconception is that while we are at the throne of God, that will determine whether we go to heaven or hell. Whether we go to heaven or hell is not determined in heaven, it is determined in this life right now. There is no opportunity to reroute our travel plans after we have died. One second after we die, our eternal destination is unalterably fixed. If Christ has not bore our punishment in this life, we must bear our own in the next. As Matthew Henry tells us, “It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our last day.” Your attendance is mandatory at one of two judgments: the judgment seat of Christ or the great white throne judgment. This is an appointment humanity will keep. Which one you will be at will be determined by whether you are born again or not. If you are not born again, you will be at this Revelation 20 great white throne judgment.&nbsp; Here are the characteristics of this Revelation 20 judgment:&nbsp; We will be judged fairly: no jury bias, no venue change because none is needed. We will be judged thoroughly: no loopholes and nothing missed on the evidence. We will be judged impartiall

Day 257 Today's Reading: Revelation 19 For a number of chapters, we have been through some dark moments, but now in today’s chapter, the hope bursts on the scene with loud shouting! It is God making all things right, and heaven explodes in praise over it: After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her.” And a second time, they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bondservants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” Then I heard&nbsp;something&nbsp;like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” (Revelation 19:1-6) Hallelujah! That’s a great word to use when great things happen. Heaven shouted it! We see it here four times. A great multitude in heaven shouted it twice: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures said, “Hallelujah.” Then the bondservants said hallelujah so loudly that it sounded like Niagara Falls or thunder in the heavens. What a great word. But what does&nbsp;hallelujah&nbsp;mean? The word is an interjection, a part of grammar that is an interruption to a sentence. It is an emotional and, many times, a good interruption. It’s a word that just pops out. It bursts out of the mouths because of joyful hearts. That happens in many of the psalms of the Old Testament. It’s a Hebrew expression that means, “Praise Yahweh [the Lord].” We would translate the phrase as&nbsp;praise the Lord! It’s a victorious shout. In the New Testament,&nbsp;hallelujah&nbsp;only occurs in Revelation 19 in the triumphant song of praise as heaven sings about God finally making things right and getting His banquet ready to celebrate. In this chapter, all of humanity has been waiting for this day of judgment. God is avenging the wrongs done to His people.&nbsp; It’s a great word to use when something great happens. I think hallelujah does two things: it gives God the credit, and it reminds me that He is good to me. We will get many hallelujah days now and will not have to wait until Revelation 19 to join heaven’s chorus. It’s important that God gets the credit for them. I love the simplicity of the word and the magnitude of it. It’s an exercise that we should start using immediately. When you have a good physical, and all the numbers are healthy, throw out a hallelujah. When your child has been in a car accident, and the only thing busted up is a car, but everyone is safe, throw out a hallelujah. When you are reading the Bible and come across a verse that is exactly what you needed for that day, throw out a hallelujah. When for some reason, there is no rush-hour traffic coming home from work, throw out a hallelujah. When the rent is paid . . . When there is food on the table . . . When the report cards are good . . . When there is gas in the car . . . When the sun is shining . . . When you wake up in the morning . . . throw out a hallelujah! It’s saying, “God, You get the credit. God, You are good to me.” There was a church that would not give God praise for anything. Every service, they just sat there. No hallelujahs came from this congre

Day 256 Today's Reading: Revelation 18 When Michael Bloomberg was still mayor of New York City, he announced he was stepping up his efforts beyond his role as mayor to battle a number of social issues, including fights against smoking and obesity, and for gun control. He detailed his plans in an interview in which he predicted his crusades against those issues would serve him well in the afterlife.&nbsp; Then billionaire Bloomberg said, “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”&nbsp; That is scary talk, Michael Bloomberg. That is Babylon talk. What is Babylon talk? It’s the prophecy in today’s chapter of the fall of Babylon. But I don’t think Babylon is Babylon at all.&nbsp; The Revelation 18 Babylon has been the topic of so much eschatological speculation and guessing about who that actually is. I think that is dangerous and usually ends with the wrong assumptions. Scholars have speculated that it could be Rome or the United States. I don’t see either. When people become sure of what the Bible calls mysteries, my antennae go up. Why? I think Babylon is bigger than a localized and specific name of a city or country. It is a spirit of security that comes from wealth and influence and seeing no need of God for our forgiveness or help in getting to heaven. Fallen Babylon is the fall of humanism and every false foundation it is built upon—from science to affluence and influence, riches, power, and personality. Without God, Babylon will fall and always fail. Here is what John saw of what was considered Babylon the great: After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. (Revelation 18:1-5) Babylon was a specific Old Testament place. At one point at the height of her power, Daniel chapter 5 says the king of Babylon saw the finger of a man’s hand write on the wall of his palace a message of judgment that needed someone to interpret. It was during a feast that the image crashed their Babylonian party. It was so frightening that the Bible says it affected King Belshazzar physically: “The king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together” (Daniel 5:6). Daniel is called to interpret the writing and says basically, “Babylon, your days are numbered and this kingdom is coming to an end.” And the end for them happened that night with the invasion of the Medes and Persians.&nbsp; The party was over in one night. And now, in Revelation 18, the party is over again. But I don’t think it’s the same city again. I think it has to do with anyone, anything, any country, system, or government that feels no need of heavenly help. The scary part is that Revelation 18 almost sounds like Daniel’s interpretation from more than 2,500 years earlier. The Revelation Babylon party has a timed ending too. Twice in the chapter, it says, “for in one hour your judgment will come” (verses 10 and 17). Any system that tries to last without God

Day 255 Today's Reading: Revelation 17 A few times in high school, I had to fill in on the track and field team because some players were lost due to injuries and the track coach pulled athletes from other school sports. I remember being asked to run a relay. I found it intriguing how these runners crossed the finish line in a close race. They leaned forward, sticking out their heads across their chests because in that sport, milliseconds matter. And if the head crosses, the other parts of the body win too.&nbsp; The Bible says in Colossians 1:18 that Jesus is the head of the body, which is His church. And as God’s children, we are the body of Christ. He’s the head, and we are the body—that’s the New Testament image. And as a runner wins the race with his head first, so it is true with us spiritually. If the head crosses, the rest of the body wins. The book of Revelation reminds us that the head of the body is crossing the finish line. And because He wins, you and I win! Revelation 17 shows evil unleashed on the planet through the great harlot, Babylon, and the beast. This unholy trinity seems to launch on all cylinders with one target in mind: the saints of God. In fact, their hatred for the saints is so intense that John describes it as “being drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus” (verse 6). Then we read about the head. And wherever the head is, the body goes with it: “These [the unholy trinity of the harlot, the beast, and Babylon] will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful” (Revelation 17:14). I grew up in the church. We used terms and terminologies so often and frequently that I never knew context or reasoning, which has the capability of watering down the power of phrases. One of those phrases is&nbsp;King of kings and Lord of lords. We would say this about Jesus all the time. But to see it in the Revelation 17 context reminds me, this church boy, how powerful this phrase really is. What makes&nbsp;King of kings and Lord of lords&nbsp;powerful is the word that comes before it,&nbsp;because. That word&nbsp;because&nbsp;is a subordinating conjunction, which means it connects two parts of a sentence in which one (the subordinate) explains the other. Part one of verse 14 says that these will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them. How? The answer is in the subordinating conjunction,&nbsp;because.&nbsp;Because&nbsp;He is the Lord of lords and King of kings. That phrase, which I heard in songs and sermons, is connected to the greatest victory in all human history—the Lamb defeats hell forever. Because no king and no lord is higher than Him. But that’s just part one of the subordinating conjunction. Without bogging us down with grammar, we get a conjunction within the subordinating conjunction. We read, “Because He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and [because] those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” The good news for us is that&nbsp;because&nbsp;He wins, you and I win. Because the head crosses the finish line, the body gets the reward also. Because He is the King, you and I are royalty. Because He is the Lord, you and I are protected and provided for. I was reading the story of someone that knew the power of the words King of kings and the Lord of lords instinctively. When Queen Victoria had just ascended her throne in the mid-1800s, as was the custom of royalty, she went to hear George Frideric Handel’s&nbsp;Messiah, rendered by the London Royal Symphony. She had been instructed as to her conduct by those who knew the royal protocol and was told that she must&nbsp;not&nbsp;rise when the

Day 254 Today's Reading: Revelation 16 One of the scariest movies I have ever seen was not in a theater but in a church. It was called&nbsp;A Thief in the Night, and it was circulating in the 1970s about the end times. I knew I wanted to be ready for the rapture, the second coming of Jesus. I remember leaving that church service as an elementary student knowing full well in my heart that I needed to be ready for that day. I went on to read Hal Lindsey’s&nbsp;Late Great Planet Earth. At that time, they had it in a comic book form, and it was the clincher for me that I was going to be ready for Jesus to come back as a thief in the night. If things could get any worse for earth and humanity, Revelation 16 tells us it does in the great tribulation. As if seven trumpets of disaster were not enough for the planet, God unleashes seven bowls of wrath into the earth, from bodily affliction to polluting rivers and water. What’s interesting is that in the midst of these wrathful bowls of God’s judgment, one theme keeps being shouted by the angels inflicting the punishment: “Righteous art Thou O Holy One.” Their words remind us that God is not doing anything we don’t deserve—this is a day of wrath and judgment after millennia of mercy and patience. These bowls are terrifying, as is men’s response to the outpouring of God’s wrath. Almost as many times as it says “God is righteous” after one of the bowls is poured out, it says as many times, “They did not repent so as to give Him glory.” How corrupt is man by this time in his history? The chapter ends with a name many of us are all familiar with. As if things can’t get any worse, we are introduced to Armageddon, the place of the final battle on the planet. All that to say that in the midst of these horrific verses, a parenthetical statement shows up and stands alone in these passages because the verse speaks to the&nbsp;now&nbsp;and not to the future: “(‘Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.’)” (Revelation 16:15). Verse 15 is a parenthetical life preserver for humanity now, right now before this chapter comes upon the planet with the wrath of God. When I say parenthetical, it’s just a large word for parentheses, an insert of another thought, a little path from the original thought. But this is not a little diversion. This is deliverance from the wrath of God. It is as if John breaks from the vision and, in terror of what will happen, says to humanity,&nbsp;This doesn’t have to happen to you. Stay awake and ready for the rapture.&nbsp;The parentheses show us John being overwhelmed and wanting to help us all. The parentheses bring us to the rapture, the second coming of Jesus. The apostle John says that Jesus will come like a thief in the night, but this is not only John’s description of the second coming of Jesus. Jesus says in Matthew 24 that this is the way it happens. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2, Paul uses the&nbsp;thief-in-the-night&nbsp;image. And in 2 Peter 3:10, Peter also says He will come like a thief. The thief-in-the-night day is the rapture. The rapture is Jesus coming physically a second time to the earth, not to redeem it but to start judging it. The rapture has two important days attached to it: the wedding day and the judgment day. The wedding day is the celebration of the “born again” dead and living all going to heaven. It’s the final call, our reward of heaven. And the Bible calls it a wedding-day celebration. The second day is judgment day, and it is God making all wrongs right. No one gets away with anything because of this day. Every person will be judged for what they have done. Hitler and Saddam Hussein will be there. Stalin and Castro. People from your city and my city and every pl

Day 253 Today's Reading: Revelation 15 There is beauty in diversity and variety. Think about how diverse and beautiful America’s landscape is. Parts of our country have mountains, deserts, forests, plains, and cities with skyscrapers. The diversity of landscape brings a balance that delights the eye. The same is true for God. The smallest chapter of Revelation has a very large concept in it. It’s a word Christians rarely use anymore concerning God. When we get stuck on a single part of the landscape of His character, we make God small, which allows unhealthy theology to arise. For instance, we know that God is love. That’s what made God send His Son for our rescue: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” I am grateful for God’s grace and His mercy. His goodness is overwhelming at times. But there’s another aspect of God’s character that makes us uncomfortable, so we don’t talk about it: the wrath of God. Today’s chapter talks about it, so it’s important for us to pay attention to it: “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues,&nbsp;which are&nbsp;the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished” (Revelation 15:1). The seven angels who have the seven trumpets have the most destructive judgment the planet has ever seen. John describes those as seven plagues because of their devastation. But the word that sums up these seven plagues from these seven angels and seven trumpets is the wrath of God. As I mentioned in a previous day, my Italian father had a statement that dealt with his wrath when I was growing up. When we were acting up at the dinner table and getting close to the edge of where judgment needed to come, my father would say, “The bag is getting full.” That is how wrath works. It contains patience, warning, and then judgment. God has been sending warnings from the beginning of time and showing patience to the human race. Now Revelation shows when the bag has gotten full. Wrath does not come without thousands of years of warning, but it comes with people disregarding the warning and His patience. What is the wrath of God? When we think of wrath, we think of anger, explosive anger. But this is not an accurate description of God’s wrath. Revelation doesn’t portray God losing it on the planet and going off on humanity. We see this kind of anger as irrational, the loss of self-control. Nothing could be further from the truth of this very important part of God. The best way to describe the wrath of God is by connecting it to God’s hatred for sin. Revelation shows when God’s patience reaches a limit, and His calculated judgment comes with wrath against a planet that has rejected Him. In Free of Charge, Creation theologian Miroslav Volf spoke about how early in life, he disdained the idea of God’s wrath and even rejected God for it. But part of his conversion to faith was in understanding how important God’s wrath is and how it’s connected to God’s love. Listen to Volf describe it: Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God’s wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who&nbsp;wasn’t&nbsp;wrathful at the sight of the world’s evil. God isn’t wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful&nbsp;because&nbsp;God is love. The wrath of God is necessary if God is love because God’s wrath is His righteous retribution against sin, the enemy of God. Because God is love and God is good, He can never&nbsp;not&nbsp;address evil and sin. How can a police officer be a good cop if he sees crimes committed and does nothing about it? Being a good police officer has a positive side to the law-abiding community but a negative side to the law-breaking criminal. The same is true for God. He is so good that when His wrath is release