Tag: bible study

December 5, 2024

December 5th, 2024

Thursday – Letters

Reading – Revelation 19

Highlight Verse:

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭19‬:‭7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I just read on enduringword.com (one of my research sources for these commentaries) that in Biblical times,

a wedding began with a procession to the bride’s home to pick up the bride

followed by a procession to the groom’s home where the feast would take place.

This wedding began at Bethlehem 2000 years ago.

The bride is the entirety of the Church over all time.

The bride has been preparing by dressing herself in the mercy and grace of salvation provided by the Groom.

This chapter speaks of the time when the Church will be complete and will proceed to heaven, the home of the Groom.

To sum that up, Advent is not just about the coming of salvation but the gathering of the Church to be the bride of Christ.

When do you think the procession to heaven and the feast to follow will take place?
Do you think it has already taken place for those who have gone on to heaven before us?
December 4, 2024

December 4th, 2024

Wednesday – History

Reading – Esther 3-4

Highlight Verse:

“When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or show him respect, he was filled with rage.”
‭‭Esther‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We’ve all dealt with them.

That person who blows a gasket any time things don’t go exactly as they want.

Haman was an extreme narcissist.

He not only expected things to go his way, but he expected others to bow down to him.

I probably would have given him a piece of my mind I could ill afford to lose.

Probably not the best course of action.

Mordecai and Esther handled the situation much more wisely.

They exercised grace and patience. At the right time, they brought their plight to the King’s attention in such a way that he was disposed to favor them.

In doing so, they saved the nation of Israel.

How do you deal with difficult people?
Do you have enough patience to act as wisely as Mordecai and Esther?
December 3, 2024

December 3rd, 2024

Tuesday – Pentateuch

Reading – Deuteronomy 27-28

Highlight Verse:
“You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God:”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭28‬:‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God’s mercy takes away the curses in these chapters when you put your trust in Him.

God’s grace will supply the blessings if you trust Him, even if you mess up sometimes.

It could be argued that the more closely you obey God’s commands and principles, the more blessings you will receive.

I can’t say if that’s 100 percent true, since there are faithful followers of Jesus in this world who struggle to make ends meet, even to survive in some cases.

I can say with certainty that the more you follow God’s path for your life, the more joy and contentment you will experience.

What more blessing do we need?

How has God blessed you in your obedience to His call?
Have you ever experienced frustration and pain during times of disobedience to God?
December 2, 2024

December 2nd, 2024

Monday – Gospels and Acts

Reading – Acts 25

Highlight Verse:

“If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!””
‭‭Acts of the Apostles‬ ‭25‬:‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

At first, I thought it brave of Paul to say he doesn’t refuse to die.

But, of course, he hadn’t done anything worthy of death.

What if he had?

I know Paul hadn’t but there are plenty of people who have done illegal things and then repented.

God forgives them of all sin no matter how severe.

But that doesn’t exempt them from the penalties of the law.

I’ve had a handful of speeding tickets and several parking tickets over the years.

I assure you that God forgave me of those violations.

But I still had to pay the fines.

The same is true for every illegal action, even if the penalty is death.

We should be willing to face our earthly penalties, knowing that they are temporary and if we trust in Jesus and His grace and mercy,

they won’t follow us into eternal life.

Are there earthly penalties you’ve had to pay?
Are there penalties you’ve been avoiding?
December 1, 2024

December 1st, 2024

Sunday – Poetry

Reading – Job 35-36

Highlight Verse:

““Look, God is greater than we can understand. His years cannot be counted.”
‭‭Job‬ ‭36‬:‭26‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Some of what Elihu says is his speech is correct. God is greater than we can understand.

You might say, “but we can learn about God through the Bible.”

That is true, but words alone cannot describe God.

He created the universe and all that is in it.

That means He existed before the first word of creation was spoken.

He will be here long after the Earth is gone.

So, yes, we should learn as much as we can about Him through His Word.

But we should always keep an attitude of wonder knowing that someday, we shall meet Him face to face and begin to learn that which is beyond our earthly grasp.

What question(s) would you like to ask God when you meet Him in Heaven?
When you see that His ways are far beyond what we can understand, how does that make you feel?
November 30, 2024

November 30th, 2024

Held over from Thursday – Letters

Reading – Revelations 18

Highlight Verse:

“Rejoice over her fate, O heaven and people of God and apostles and prophets! For at last God has judged her for your sakes.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭18‬:‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Confession time.

Every once in a while, I buy a lottery ticket.

You don’t have to say it, I know it’s foolishness.

I imagine all the good things I could do for people and the ministries I could support.

And then the longing for material things creeps in.

Scholars call the Babylon of Revelations 18 the commercial Babylon as opposed to the religious Babylon of chapter 17.

In other words, the Babylon of chapter 18 is the temptation to seek worldly wealth and pleasure.

That is why we should rejoice at its destruction.

In the end of time, those temptations will be gone, along with my temptation to buy lottery tickets, and the many other temptations the world has to offer.

That, my friends, is reason to celebrate!

In the meantime, we must keep up the struggle against such things and help each other seek after that which matters.

What is it that matters most to you?
What are ways that you’ve used to combat temptation?
November 29, 2024

November 29th, 2024

Friday – Prophets

Reading – Zechariah 9-10

Highlight Verse:

“Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.”
‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭9‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I love reading mystery novels.

It’s fascinating how all the little puzzle pieces of the story fall into place.

A good author keeps you guessing throughout the story but once all the pieces come together, the story makes sense.

Today’s verse is one of those little pieces of the puzzle that seem totally random when you read it but falls right into place at the triumphant entry (Matt 21).

My favorite novels sit on my bookshelf, or on my Kindle or Audible apps. Every couple of years I pick them up again both to refresh my memory of them and to figure them out more.

If I do that with a novel, you know I do it with my favorite book, the Bible.

In another month, we reach the end of this reading through the Bible.

You better believe I’m going to read it again to refresh my memory and to understand it better.

I hope you’ll join me.

What truths from the Bible did you find the second or third or more times that you read it?
Do you find yourself remembering it better the more times you read it?
Thanksgiving Day, 2024

November 28th, 2024

(Today’s normal reading will be on Saturday, Nov. 30th)

Special Reading – Psalm 100

Highlight Verse:

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100‬:‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Last night we struggled with how to seat 11 people at the dinner table today.

It was a good problem to have. We eventually arrived at a satisfactory solution.

In the process, I had to think of my growing up days. Thanksgiving was often spent with my Godparents. Their family of 6 would come eat with our family of 7 or vice versa.

There was always a kids table.

It was usually chaos.

It was awesome.

Times were not always good back then. More often than not, they were pretty bad.

But there was always something to be thankful for – dear friends, family, food on the table (even if we knew there’d be turkey sandwiches for at least a week).

Sometimes it can seem like there is nothing to be thankful for.

I’ve lived long enough to know that something good will come out of even the worst of times.

This year, I am thankful for family, for provision, and for God’s grace and mercy.

But I’m also thankful for the good that came from the bad: For the empathy that came from living through my parent’s divorce, for the reliance on God’s provision that came from the times of financial crisis, and even for the closeness to God that came out of my depression after my own divorce.

Sometimes God’s most precious gifts come from life’s hardest moments.

What good things are you thankful for today?
What good has come from bad situations in your life? Are you thankful for that?
November 27, 2024

November 27th, 2024

Wednesday – History

Reading – Esther 2

Highlight Verse:

“And the king loved Esther more than any of the other young women. He was so delighted with her that he set the royal crown on her head and declared her queen instead of Vashti.”
‭‭Esther‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It’s hard to imagine being in Esther’s place.

She was a young woman (probably a teenager) who was selected to be a concubine for the leader of the biggest empire in the world at that time.

Not an ideal situation.

There’s no way she could refuse, but I doubt she was happy about it.

How did she face the situation?

The passage doesn’t describe how she acted but how people reacted too her.

She impressed them.

So much so that she was crowned queen.

Whatever she did, she did it right. The divine call on her life was to be in the right place at the right time.

We’ll read more on how that plays out in the coming weeks.

How would you react in that situation?
How would you balance faithfulness to God with being drafted into a harem?
November 26, 2024

November 26th, 2024

Tuesday – Pentateuch

Reading – Deuteronomy 25-26

Highlight Verse:

““Every third year you must offer a special tithe of your crops. In this year of the special tithe you must give your tithes to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows, so that they will have enough to eat in your towns.”
‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭26‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

When I was a “starving college student” there was a couple in my church who took this scripture quite literally and gave one of their tithe checks directly to me.

While I am not advocating giving a tithe to anyone but your local church,

this verse raises an interesting concept.

Directing your giving in such a way as to give a maximum tax benefit is certainly wise, especially if you also give what you saved in taxes.

But there’s something to be said for helping people directly.

It blesses the recipient by meeting their needs and desires.

It blesses the giver with the satisfaction of causing good.

And it advances the Gospel by serving as an illustration of the grace of God.

I believe other verses make it clear that the whole tithe should go to the local church.

But God always out-gives us, freeing up money to help those in need all around us.

Have you prayed about giving directly to those in need?
Do you think it is a good thing to do?

Tag: bible study

a wedding began with a procession to the bride’s home to pick up the bride

This chapter speaks of the time when the Church will be complete and will proceed to heaven, the home of the Groom.

To sum that up, Advent is not just about the coming of salvation but the gathering of the Church to be the bride of Christ.

Haman was an extreme narcissist.

Mordecai and Esther handled the situation much more wisely.

In doing so, they saved the nation of Israel.

God’s mercy takes away the curses in these chapters when you put your trust in Him.

God’s grace will supply the blessings if you trust Him, even if you mess up sometimes.

I can say with certainty that the more you follow God’s path for your life, the more joy and contentment you will experience.

What if he had?

But I still had to pay the fines.

they won’t follow us into eternal life.

Some of what Elihu says is his speech is correct. God is greater than we can understand.

That is true, but words alone cannot describe God.

But we should always keep an attitude of wonder knowing that someday, we shall meet Him face to face and begin to learn that which is beyond our earthly grasp.

And then the longing for material things creeps in.

In other words, the Babylon of chapter 18 is the temptation to seek worldly wealth and pleasure.

In the meantime, we must keep up the struggle against such things and help each other seek after that which matters.

I love reading mystery novels.

Today’s verse is one of those little pieces of the puzzle that seem totally random when you read it but falls right into place at the triumphant entry (Matt 21).

You better believe I’m going to read it again to refresh my memory and to understand it better.

There was always a kids table.

Sometimes it can seem like there is nothing to be thankful for.

Sometimes God’s most precious gifts come from life’s hardest moments.

It’s hard to imagine being in Esther’s place.

How did she face the situation?

She impressed them.

this verse raises an interesting concept.

But there’s something to be said for helping people directly.

But God always out-gives us, freeing up money to help those in need all around us.