Tag: reading plan

Day 28: Luke 13-15 (NEW TESTAMENT 90)

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Today’s reading comes from Luke 13-15 follow the link provided here to read the ESV online.

Imagine being the younger son in Luke 15, rehearsing your speech and making the final turn to approach the house. You’re not sure if you will be accepted. Then you see him. Running to meet you. It’s your dad! You’re running through the speech one more time in your head. You are practiced, you are ready, but as the words leave your mouth you hear him say, “kill the fatted calf, we are going to have a feast tonight. My son who was dead is now alive. He is home.”

You’re accepted. You are welcomed. You enter the party with full confidence that you have your father’s unmerited favor. ..

Then imaging the older brother in Luke 15. (Remember, this story is about two brothers.) You’ve been loyal, you work the farm, you do what you are told and never once has your old man thrown a party for you. When you come home you are furious to find that your brother is home and the old man has thrown him a party. You feel slighted somehow. You feel edged out. Somehow the fact that your father would accept your stupid younger brother makes you angry. You don’t enter the party. The father has to come out to invite you in… in the end we are left wondering if you will ever go in?

This is the scandal of Amazing Grace that God would love sinners who repent and find their way home. Sometimes we think that people need to suffer a little because of where they have been and the choices they have made. But that’s not the way God welcomes sinners. The road to repentance is an open road that he looks down, waiting and expecting.

FATHER, thank you for the scandal of Amazing Grace. Thank you that you welcome repentant sinners. I rejoice with those who have trusted in you as Lord and Savior. I lift up those who have wandered far from home and are living in the far country. I pray for the salvation of friends and family. I pray for repentance that leads to rejoicing. IN JESUS NAME, AMEN.

What did you take away from today’s reading? What are your thoughts or questions? Feel free to comment below and enter the discussion.

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Day 23: Mark 16 (NEW TESTAMENT 90)

On By pastorjonathanIn DevotionalLeave a comment

Today’s reading comes from Mark 16 follow the link provided here to read the ESV online.

Mark 16:7 jumped out at me today. Jesus said, “Go tell the disciples… AND PETER” (emphasis mine).  Tradition tells us that Peter is the Apostle behind the gospel of Mark. It is certain that Peter remembers this part very well. He had denied Jesus and when Jesus rose from the grave he wanted to make sure that Peter knew he was still part of the group.

The last eleven verses of Mark are somewhat controversial as they don’t appear in some of the earlier manuscripts.  Controversy aside, there is a great commission like statement found in Mark 16:15. The idea is also found in the other gospels, Acts.

God has made the way to rescue sinners from His wrath through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ who was crucified, buried and risen from the dead. This is indeed good news and the world should hear! Believers are called to be ambassadors of Christ! We are to take the good news everywhere, including to people who may not count the gospel as good news. We are to go!

But where are we to go? If we are not careful we will become mistaken and think we are to go places (indeed that may be part, but it is not the whole), but the command to go and make disciples is not about geography as much as it is about people. People who at this very moment stand outside the kingdom of God. People who may have never even heard the gospel. The command is to go to the people, not the place. Sometimes we have to go places to get to the people, but please make no mistake we go to share the good news with people.

The implications of this are huge! My region has an abundance of churches, and yet there are people who have not clearly heard the gospel.  The condition of those who have not heard in my region is the same as those who have not heard in another area or country with less churches. Again the command isn’t to go to places, but to go to people! Darkness is darkness wherever it exists. We can no longer use the fact that there are more people without the gospel in another region of the world as an excuse to just give our money and not search out those who are without Christ on our own neighborhoods. (We should give and give generously to reach people across cultural divides, but not in replace of sharing the good news in our own culture).

Here is how I am praying today:

FATHER, Thank You for the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and that that means for the forgiveness of our sins. I pray for those who have yet to clearly hear the gospel in my community. I pray for the opportunity to speak of your truth and love to them. Thank you for the privilege of leading your people. IN JESUS NAME, AMEN.

What did you take away from today’s reading? What are your thoughts or questions? Feel free to comment below and enter the discussion.

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Day 10: Matthew 8-10 (NEW TESTAMENT 90)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today’s reading comes from Matthew 8 -10 follow the link provided here to read the ESV online.

What sticks out to me in these chapters this morning is the issue of faith and belief.  Jesus could and would heal, but those asking for healing knew that the power to heal wasn’t in their hands, it all belonged to Jesus. They weren’t just sending good vibes through the universe as if positive thinking would heal them. They weren’t trying to ignore the illness or deformity that plagued them, as though if they fooled themselves into thinking they were healthy it would make them healthy. NO… we see time and time again, there was a real and raw feeling of emptiness and brokenness that only Jesus could answer.

Go back with me to the paralytic man (9:1-8). Jesus said to the crowd, “For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” (Matthew 9:5). Think about that question for just a moment. What does this paralyzed man want to hear? What is the desire of his heart?  He is broken. There is no other cure. There isn’t a miracle surgery out there that can change his condition. He is desperate… has come for healing and so if Jesus just merely wants to please this man and his friends, all Jesus has to do is heal this man and He’s got a fan.

But Jesus isn’t looking for a fan, He is looking to bring real healing into this man’s life, a healing that is deeper than this man even knows to look. He has come to heal the rift in his soul. He has come to forgive his sins and reconcile him to God! So he says, “Your sins are forgiven.” 

What does it cost to heal this man? Seemingly it’s just a few words upon the divine lips and this man is restored to health? What does it take to forgive this man of his sin? The story of the gospel of Matthew is not over. This pronouncement sets Jesus on a course for the cross.

Here is how I am praying through this passage today.

LORD, I thank you that you are a healing God. That in your kingdom there is no sickness or disease. I thank you that those of us who have been crushed by infirmity will find true relief in you. I praise you that sometimes we get a glimpse of the kingdom coming by seeing miracles of healing in our own day. Today, I ask that you would be pleased to work that kind of miracle for a friend of mine who is suffering. I lift up the many individuals I know who are sick and struggling with infirmity. I want to thank you that you are a forgiving God. Thank you for forgiving me. Today I pray for those who are lost in their sins and don’t know it. I ask that they would find true forgiveness through the mercy of the cross. I pray that we would all receive and realize the greatest gift of your grace. Thank you for calling me into ministry and giving me the charge to lead your people. I pray that you give me great grace and insight in preaching the gospel and pointing people to you . IN JESUS NAME. AMEN

What did you take away from today’s reading? What are your thoughts or questions? Feel free to comment below and enter the discussion.

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Day 4: John 10-12 (NEW TESTAMENT 90)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today’s reading comes from John 10-12 follow the link provided here to read the ESV online.

“I have come [as] a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  “And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him–the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. (John 12:46-48, NKJV)

John’s message continuing to be pounded out. Jesus will be lifted up. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is being rejected by people who should be the first to welcome Him, etc.

Then a few other things jump out at me from the text today.

1. Between the reading for yesterday and the reading today a new and subtle theme is emerging.  Through both the man born blind and the death of Lazarus we see places where the darkness seems to be winning. When questioned about it Jesus comments that these events are for God’s glory. The light shines the brightest after the darkness. Blindness wasn’t the end for that man. Death wasn’t the end for Lazarus. In the midst of suffering and injustice it is important for us to remind ourselves that these current conditions are not the final, but rather shadows before the sunrise. We’ll see this again with the dark hours at the cross and the morning of the resurrection.

2. Jesus continues to make a distinction between those who believe in him and those who reject him.  He used the analogy of a shepherd and explained that the pharisees didn’t follow because they weren’t his sheep. Following Jesus demands that you actually follow him. My fear is that there are many today who are religious like the Pharisees who do not follow Jesus in the only real way that counts.  They offer lip service and can tell you where the lines are, but don’t seek to lovingly trust and obey Jesus themselves.

3. I think sometimes we can imagine that if we just present the truth in a better way that more people will believe, but we have to remember that near the end of chapter 12 Jesus illustrates that the same light brings belief in some and hardens hearts in others. Charles Spurgeon summarized this thought well when he said, “The same sun with melts wax hardens clay. And the same gospel which melts  some persons to repentance hardens others in their sins.”

Here is how I am praying through these chapters today:

Lord, Thank you that you are the Good Shepherd. Thank you for Shepherding me. I look to you today for wisdom and leadership. Guide my steps, direct my path, let my heart continue to long to follow after you all the days of my life. Keep me from straying. Thank you that even when we face the dark shadows of life that you are there, you are in control and you love me. I pray for those who are sick and hurting, those who have wandered, those who are estranged in their family relationships, those who grew up in church and are far from you, those like me who are under-shepherds charged with leading your flock, those who don’t know you, those who have yet to hear, those who have hardened their hearts, would we all be touched by your word today and drawn to follow you in faith and repentance. In Jesus Name, Amen.

What did you take away from today’s reading? What are your thoughts or questions? Feel free to comment below and enter the discussion.

Find out about New Testament 90 – Here

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