February 26, 2021

Good book Friday!

Below is a quote from Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul David Tripp. If we want to get serious about impacting the wrong thinking, believing, and acting around us, we have to look to our own hearts and be sure we’re leading people to Jesus. Listen to how Tripp says it:

“We all have [hostile people] in our lives, people who attack the borders of our comfortable lives. We have all had attempts at ministry blow up in our faces. We have all been torn between God’s calling and the fear of man, between compassion and anger, between love and bitterness. Given the messiness of sinners helping sinners, we need a model. And as God’s people, we do not have to stumble around. We have the example of the Wonderful Counselor. … Being an instrument of heart change means following Christ’s example and focusing on the heart—starting with your own. [A]ttacks and criticisms had filled me with the fear of man and caused me to forget my primary allegiance to God. These heart issues subverted my knowledge and skill, rendering them ineffective. This was a vivid demonstration of the way my heart shapes my response to the ministry opportunities God sends me. Paul said it to Timothy this way: ‘Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers’ (1Tim. 4:16). Starting with your heart means understanding and submitting to God’s calling, which will shape your life and relationships. God has called us to nothing less than incarnating Christ to others. I am to be rooted in the Word, and zealous to bring the living Word—Christ—to lost, blind, and struggling people. You and I are called to put flesh and blood on who Christ is and what he came to do.”

To read more from this excellent resource, pick up a copy here.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to fight for holiness and humility that I may be a useful instrument of change for our world.

Daily Reading: Genesis 48, Psalm 48, Ruth 3 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 25, 2021

2 Corinthians 2:10-11

10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Wait, what are his designs? How many people, who aren’t total weirdos, do you think would confidently claim to know Satan’s designs? Yet, it’s here in black and white. Paul assumes believers know what the enemy is doing, which means we would also be preparing ourselves to fight against him.

When you take a moment to think about it, we really do know some things about the enemy’s designs, at least in a broad-strokes kind of way. In the situation referenced above, Paul stops the enemy from pulling the church apart. We must certainly fight for unity. We also know that the enemy speaks a language of lies. When the Bible contradicts something our culture holds dear, are we ready to fight there too?

Prayer prompt: Lord, please teach me to love You with all my mind, so I’m ready to identify the lies of the enemy.

Daily Reading: Genesis 47, Psalm 47, Ruth 2 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 24, 2021

Romans 14:17

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Inside or outside? We don’t stop asking that question at Hope Church. Does the way you act make you a Christian or does becoming a Christian effect the way you act? Is being part of the Kingdom about keeping Kosher or the way you dress? Does the gate to heaven swing wide for people without righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit as long as they avoid bacon?

The Kingdom of God is only for the holy and the perfect, and that’s not us. If we want in, we go in through Jesus. The question now is do we have Him? Has His love and has the Holy Spirit begun to change us? If it has and He has then we start to see righteousness, peace, and joy invade our lives. That’s what we are working toward in the Kingdom of God.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please work through me and allow me to see your work from the Inside Out.

Daily Reading: Genesis 46, Psalm 46, Ruth 1 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 23, 2021

Proverbs‬ ‭3:7-8‬

“Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”

Why obey? It’s so much easier to roll your eyes, wink at your friends, and go about whatever you want to do. We can follow the commands of God that make sense like loving people (at least some of them) and caring for the poor, but why follow the awkward ones? What about commands to stand up to our culture and proclaim God's truth?

Obedience is like good food, disobedience like poison. Each have huge effects not just in the mouth but in the belly. There's no question that it will be very difficult to not only stand with God but to stand against the wisdom of our age. But take heart, obedience will bring healing to your soul and refreshment to who you really are.

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for making me strong through obedience and warning me against what will surely hurt me.

Daily Reading: Genesis 45, Psalm 45, Judges 21 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 22, 2021

Matthew 22:36-38
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.

How do you confront people about their sin? All throughout the Bible, people’s disobedience leads to death. Sin, like poison or new lead waste, isn’t something to play around with. But how do you talk to someone about it without being high and mighty or judgmental?

The verses above make it so much easier to have the right approach. When I confront someone, I have to remember how much I break the greatest command. I’m not a good person condescending to a bad one; I’m a recovering law-breaker working at loving better. I speak from love of God that is newly growing in my heart, always hopeful of the same process in my friend.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to speak with truth and love to my brothers and sisters in sin.

Daily Reading: Genesis 44, Psalm 44, Judges 20 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 19, 2021

Good Book Friday!

Below is a quote from Orthodoxy by GK Chesterton. It’s an excellent argument for the Christian faith with humor throughout to lighten the reading. The quote below helps to correct our culture’s difficulty in calling sin sin.

“[The ancient masters of religion] began with the fact of sin--a fact as practical as potatoes. Whether or no man could be washed in miraculous waters, there was no doubt at any rate that he wanted washing. But certain religious leaders in London, not mere materialists, have begun in our day not to deny the highly disputable water, but to deny the indisputable dirt. Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved. Some followers of the Reverend R.J.Campbell, in their almost too fastidious spirituality, admit divine sinlessness, which they cannot see even in their dreams. But they essentially deny human sin, which they can see in the street. The strongest saints and the strongest sceptics alike took positive evil as the starting-point of their argument. If it be true (as it certainly is) that a man can feel exquisite happiness in skinning a cat, then the religious philosopher can only draw one of two deductions. He must either deny the existence of God, as all atheists do; or he must deny the present union between God and man, as all Christians do. The new theologians seem to think it a highly rationalistic solution to deny the cat.”

Prayer prompt: Lord, please give us the light of Your word to see through the darkness of our world.

Daily Reading: Genesis 41, Psalm 41, Judges 17 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 18, 2021

Psalm 36:7-8

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8 They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

To become a Christian you have to give up a crown. Right at the heart of our rebellion against God was a desire to be like God, even to be Him. We traded paradise for a crown, even if it was a crown of fig leaves in a tragic game of make believe. In bowing to God, we take off our crown and recognize God’s authority as the true Lord. But what do we get in return?

If we go back to Him, repentant then forgiven, we don’t become simple slaves cursed to depressing work forever. This Psalm tells us it’s more like walking into a home where we are welcomed to a table weighed down with more food than we can eat, showered with a love that never leaves us, where delights flow with the unending torrent of a river. He says in another place, “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” When we wonder if He is worth serving, remember a God who has challenged you to find the end of His unending love!

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for overwhelming any temptation with the goodness of Your love.

Daily Reading: Genesis 40, Psalm 40, Judges 16 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 17, 2021

John 14:1-2

1 "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

On the list of top 5 most stressful events, moving is listed just between divorce and a major illness. Rachael and I felt that stress this week as we sold our home and bought a new one with a little more space for friends and the girls. As we lost the comfort and relative stability of our home, we kept switching between idolizing some perfect home and imagining getting swindled into homelessness. Through it all, God has been so kind to remind us that we’re not home yet.

I imagine Jesus smiling when He told His disciples not to be troubled. I know big things are coming, “in this world you will have troubles,” but if you could see what I’m preparing for you, you’d run through any fire to get there. It doesn’t matter if the new place is a money pit or everything we hope for, it’s still only a place to leverage for the Kingdom of God. It’s still not home. We pray God would keep teaching us and everyone at Hope to keep our hearts set on what’s coming instead of fretting over what is.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to keep my eyes up on the home to come.

Daily Reading: Genesis 39, Psalm 39, Judges 15 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 15, 2021

Romans 5:5

and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

What’s going to get you through the day today? Monday mornings start another week of drudgery and difficulty that can leave us dreading the alarm. What we need is a little hope. A little hope for morning coffee can get you out of bed, a big hope in a big God can take you anywhere.

Christian hope is a powerful thing. Hope is not just a vague optimism that good things can happen, but the conviction that good things will happen to me. For the believer, the good can’t be oversold either. God’s goodness goes well beyond what we could ever ask or imagine.

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for being so good, my Hope in You can overcome anything.

Daily Reading: Genesis 37, Psalm 37, Judges 13 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 12, 2021

Luke 19:5-8

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

For God Time on Fridays, I’m going to start highlighting excellent portions of excellent books. If you’re a reader, be encouraged to check out the books highlighted for a great read! Today’s quote comes from J.D. Greear’s book Gospel (p. 62):

“Zacchaeus went from being a man who sold his soul to the god of money to a man who got a buzz from giving it away. What caused that change? The focus of the story is on how Jesus treated Zacchaeus, the sinner. Jesus called Zacchaeus down from the tree when everyone else shut him out. We also know that Jesus went to eat with Zacchaeus before he repented. In that day, to share a meal with someone was a sign of acceptance, even of intimate fellowship. To eat with someone meant that you were embracing them. The Jewish leaders understandably objected: “What is He doing eating with a guy who is a known sinner? How can He communicate love and acceptance to that guy?”

Every other religion in the world would have said to Zacchaeus, “If you change, you can find God. If you change, you can find acceptance and salvation.” But the gospel is the opposite of religion. Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Zacchaeus, salvation has come to you. You didn’t go out and find salvation. It has found you.””

February 11, 2021

Luke 18:41-43

41 "What do you want me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, let me recover my sight." 42 And Jesus said to him, "Recover your sight; your faith has made you well." 43 And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Jesus didn’t just come to destroy Rome, He came to destroy death. When people needed to eat, Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 people full to bursting and gave them Himself as the bread of life. When the blind man asked for sight, he opened His eyes and his sight was filled with the face of God. When we say God is good, I don’t think we understand just how good He is.

God hasn’t just promised Heaven, He’s proved and hinted at it 1,000 ways in Scripture. Your hope for today rises or falls on your trust in God’s goodness. Your obedience when it’s hard hinges on God being better than temptation. He has a treasure trove of joy ready for you. Open your eyes on His face.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to turn my eyes upon Jesus.

Daily Reading: Genesis 33, Psalm 33, Judges 9 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 10, 2021

Genesis 3:1

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

The Lord spoke to Adam and Eve the perfect truth. He told them exactly what would happen if they ate of the tree He commanded them not to. If that’s true, why was it so hard to obey? Why is it so hard for us to obey any of the hundreds of true words God has spoken since? He’s not just in charge, He is right: eating the fruit lead to death.

Temptation creates a false world that has all the look of a paradise. The serpent asked Eve to imagine all the blessing of the garden with the addition of the wisdom of God Himself. The thought so gripped Eve that she reached out for greater life and ate death. The lies of temptation always look incredibly appealing and always end in death. How amazing that in Jesus we get the possibility of forgiveness and a love so beautiful we can be enticed back to the delights of the Lord.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please forgive me and show me a love more lovely than what temptations promise.

Daily Reading: Genesis 32, Psalm 32, Judges 8 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 9, 2021

Genesis 2:16-17
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

It’s really important to understand what’s going on here. God isn’t making a careless or cruel punishment for a small, understandable blunder. Adam and Eve have been given everything needed for a perfect life if they will depend on God, but will they?

The option is there for our first parents to leave God’s way and head out on their own. That crime ends up with death because a flower can’t pluck itself from the dirt and expect to go on living. We need God for life and joy so walking away from Him must lead to death. It’s like trying to breathe without air or eat anything but food. Go to God today to see His face and find what you need for life.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I come to You today to learn to find joy in the only place joy can really be found. Teach me to go to You for life!

Daily Reading: Genesis 31, Psalm 31, Judges 7 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 5, 2021

Luke 15:11-12

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.

Below is an excerpt from Tim Keller’s Prodigal God. Join Hope Church’s Community Groups to explore this excellent work on God’s truly awesome gospel!

“This younger brother…is asking his father to tear his life apart. And the father does so, for the love of his son. Most of Jesus’ listeners would have never seen a Middle Eastern patriarch respond like this. The father patiently endures a tremendous loss of honor as well as the pain of rejected love. Ordinarily when our love is rejected we get angry, retaliate, and do what we can to diminish our affection for the rejecting person, so we won’t hurt so much. But this father maintains his affection for his son and bears the agony.”

Prodigal God, page 23

Prayer prompt: Lord, You continued to love us when we did all we could to leave You. Help us to really see and understand Your amazing love.

Daily Reading: Genesis 27, Psalm 27, Judges 3 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 4, 2021

Job 2:11-13

11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Part of the reason we drop the ball with grieving individuals is that we flat don’t know what to say. Whether you have suffered like that person or not, their suffering is still intense and intensely personal. Coming up with something to say feels like letting your kids help with cooking; you just hope they don’t mess it up too much. Here we have some good news: your presence is your best ministry.

Kay Warren, wife of Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren, lost her son to suicide. She said these friends of Job did such a good job until they started speaking. While Jesus has come to undo death, at the tomb of Lazarus He wept with the family. If you know someone who is in a grief, big or small, take it upon yourself not to fix them, but to weep with those who weep. And do so knowing you serve a God who wept with you.

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank You for healing me by suffering with me. Teach me to be willing to suffer for others.

Daily Reading: Genesis 26, Psalm 26, Judges 2 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 3, 2021

Matthew 18:21-22

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

It is nearly impossible to forgive well, if we ever even attempt it. Forgiveness requires me to see the offense in all its grizzly detail, choose to accept the pain of the offense, trust God with the justice, and love the offender again. Apart from a lack of love, we also suffer from a lack of confidence in God to bring about justice. If God may not give me justice, I’ll have to settle my own accounts.

Comparing Jesus’ words in Matthew 18 with Lamech’s words from yesterday in Genesis 4, we see the heart of the matter. Lamech promised to make his own justice because he didn’t trust God. Jesus, who trusted God infinitely, gave His followers the example of infinite forgiveness. Let’s practice everyday with the small offenses so that when the big offense comes we’re ready.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I trust You to give justice and mercy according to Your infinite wisdom. Teach me to forgive others as I rely on You.

Daily Reading: Genesis 25, Psalm 25, Joshua 25 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 2, 2021

Genesis 4:23-24

23 Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.”

When you read through Genesis, the wonder of the words mixes with confusion and a strong sense of curiosity about what’s not there. God speaks all things into existence like a Father telling a lovely story. But why does He choose to rest? And the passage about the nephilim seems like such a tease. What He has given us must be all the more important for being chosen over all the other things He could have told us. This poem, sung by the descendent of Cain, is as dense with meaning as any other passage in Genesis.

In just a line or two, we have the crystal clear picture of the curse of pride. Like Cain who became murderous by God’s criticism of his sacrifice or the men of Babel who desired to make a name for themselves that God could never wipe away, Lamech declares his own glory. We can either drink the humility of being God’s creation, which we are, or choke on our own fake glory. Ask God to show you today the places you follow Lamech instead of Christ.

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to see myself as You see me, that I may be humbled and blessed.

Daily Reading: Genesis 24, Psalm 24, Joshua 24 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

February 1, 2021

Psalm 23:6

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In just 6 verses we have about the most beautiful and visual description of God’s care for us ever expressed. Imagine the ancient worship of a god like Moloch who demanded your infants be cast into his terrible mouth, or the South American gods who demanded priests kill young women to appease their wrath. Then look on this God, who sees our sin, dies for it Himself, then continues to care for us with the knowing, loving, and gentle hands of a Shepherd.

Even in horribly difficult times in a dark and dangerous world, the psalmist can say that goodness and mercy are right behind him, chasing him forward to the presence of the Lord forever. God’s love and mercy, seen as grand as the ocean in the cross and as small as a kiss in the thousand daily blessings He bestows, lead us on. And one day, we will sit at His feet, perfectly whole and His forever.

Prayer prompt: Lord, there is no command to follow after thinking through such a blessing. Help me to rest in and wonder at Your love.

Daily Reading: Genesis 23, Psalm 23, Joshua 23 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

January 29, 2021

Jeremiah 31:12

12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more.

We don’t really know what it’s like to have the grain, oil, and wine truly be seasonal. Our grocery stores are full and our products are year round, and we’ve never had our year’s worth of food stolen by raiding tribes. We do resonate with that word languish though. We know what it is to have bread, strong drink, and medicine yet not be satisfied.

God’s presence brings to this people not merely the stuff needed for a good life, but the power to enjoy it. The verse starts with a song and ends with this picture of the people like a watered garden. They are singing with joy like the trumpet bell of a lily, or the shy grace of a rose. Spend today seeking the Lord and walking in His paths with your eyes firmly on this good reward.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I trust You to bring me Home. How can I bring others to You today?

Daily Reading: Genesis 20, Psalm 20, Joshua 20 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year

January 27, 2021

Genesis12:14

13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

Abraham asked his wife to pretend to be his sister so he could give her to the Egyptians rather than have to fight to protect her. This is the very next story we get after Abraham’s grand display of faith in God’s promise to watch out for him. We do some strange things when we’re scared. How does Abraham go from such amazing faith to such pitiful cowardice?

Generally, we won’t be tempted to sell our wives as siblings to avoid getting murdered. But we are tempted, everyday, to trust our solutions, even horrible ones rather than God and His ways. When you’re scared God won’t be good you seek sin for pleasure. When you’re scared God won’t be true, you trust the world for wisdom. Remember God’s faithfulness so you can trust Him, especially when you’re scared.

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to remember Your goodness all the time.

Daily Reading: Genesis 18, Psalm 18, Joshua 18 (Click or tap the Verses to read them on your device)

Click or tap here to join a Bible Reading Plan to read the Old Testament in a Year