September 6, 2023

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Think for a moment of the incredible work that Jesus accomplished. In just about 3 years of ministry in an unnoticeable corner of the Roman empire with no money and a tendency to say things that would scare crowds of followers away, Jesus built a movement that has turned the world upside down. He broke the power of storms, demons, and illness with a word. When His enemies killed Him, He got back up. 

In these verses above, we hear the prayer that our hearts would be comforted by that Jesus. Jesus is the One who loved us and gave us comfort that won’t end and a bright light of hope that can’t go out. After doing all that, He will set us up to go out and do every good work and word. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, comfort me so that I will be ready for every good work and word.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Tap Here.

September 5, 2023

Mark 10:21

21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

This passage can trip people up because Jesus seems to be selling salvation, but really, Jesus is pulling out the deep idol in this man’s heart. It is as though Jesus said, “If Heaven is what you want, put your treasure there and receive me.” What an exchange! What is the price of following Jesus? Everything. What is the reward of following Jesus? God Himself and Heaven forever.

Tragically, the man walked away sad because he had many possessions. Have you been confronted yet with the idol that may keep you from Jesus? What would hurt most to give up for Him? You could only do it if the love of Jesus was of greater value to you than that thing. Have you opened that treasure chest and stared at the wealth that is God’s love for you?

Prayer prompt: Lord, show me the idols that tempt me away from You.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 9, Tap Here.

September 4, 2023

Romans 12:9

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

What do we do with evil? That’s a hard word to even use today. Moral certainty has eroded to a great degree under banners like “Don’t judge” and “Find your bliss”. If we Abhor what is evil, literally turn away in horror from things God calls evil, do we end up hidden away like the Amish or riding with swords drawn like the Crusaders? 

If Love is genuine, we tap into something certain and empowering. Genuine love, flowing from God to us, has eyes to see good and grab onto it, ears to hear evil and pull back. Genuine love cares enough to pull others along with all the firm and gentle care of a true friend from evil to good. Let your love be Genuine.

Prayer prompt: Lord, keep Your genuine love before me so I will love others in the same way.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 8, Tap Here.

September 2, 2023

Jude 3

3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

When you go to God’s word, are you preparing for a battle or a feast? Jude wants to enjoy the gospel with the Christians he’s writing to, but instead has to fight to preserve that Gospel. The Word of God is eternal, but the minds of men are slippery. How do we defend the faith from false teachings?

If we are going to defend the gospel, we have to know it intimately so we can immediately detect any twisting or changes. That kind of project begs the question, how do we motivate ourselves to gain that level of depth in God’s Word? Jude longs for the Word because he’s been so blessed by the Word. Do you go to God’s Word like you go to a feast? Build that appetite by studying it today.

Prayer prompt: Lord, bring me to your Word daily so I will find food for my soul and learn the only true faith delivered to us.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 7:1-24, Tap Here.

September 1, 2023

Exodus 2:24-25

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

I feel like my kids are always trying to get me in a verbal contract. They can’t remember something I’ve told them to do a mere 2 seconds later, but when I agree to do something for them, you better believe they’ll remember. Does God remember His promises to us? Does He see our abysmal situation?

In Egypt, God saw His people and He knew. He knew their suffering and he heard their groaning. When the time was right, He sent in His man and rescued them in the grandest fashion. Are you tempted to think He doesn’t see you, that He’s forgotten? Look at history and know, He won’t forget His promises.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I know that You see me. Help me to remember that I never suffer alone.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 6, Tap Here.

August 31, 2023

Isaiah 62:5b

5 …and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

    so shall your God rejoice over you.

It’s nearly impossible to imagine a heavier moment than when your wife walks down the aisle. I remember feeling a sort of buzzing as the part of my brain that processes emotions was totally overloaded. I remember being really happy and thinking she was gorgeous beyond words. It will always be one of the highest moments in the human experience. 

And God chose that experience to describe how He looks at you. Take that slowly, He … Looks at you … like that. He has totally cleaned up your sins, past, present, and future if you have put your faith in Jesus. He now can just look at you with the all the love in His heart. My heart is small and my wife has to make do with what love I can squeeze out, but His love is an ocean. Go to Him confident of His love in Christ.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please help me to trust Your acceptance of me.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 5, Tap Here.

August 30, 2023

Colossians 1:18a

18 And he is the head of the body, the church.

Do you ever wonder if you’ll fit in at church? It should be such a welcoming place, and maybe it is, but there can be stress. Who do I talk to? What are the unwritten rules I follow to be accepted? At Hope, our people do a great job of being welcoming, but these fears aren’t always rational. 

That’s when you remember that you know the guy in charge. There’s one voice that matters in the church, and He has already spoken. In Christ, you are totally accepted, valued, wanted, and celebrated. Christ is the head and He loves you.

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to celebrate the acceptance I have in Jesus and enjoy the love I feel from His people.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 4, Tap Here.

August 29, 2023

Romans 12:5

5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

One of the members of Hope Church works in the miracle-producing world of transplants. They take the eyes of donors and are able to give healthy eyes and sight to those in need. Apart from being amazing, this helps us correct an awful problem in the Church. Are you part of the body or are you “doing Christianity” on your own? 

This verse teaches us about our role in the church, also called the body of Christ. You are a part of that body, like an eye or a foot. You have a use, but it’s only a use that really works in conjunction with the rest of the body. Eyes have incredible value, but only in a body as a means of sight; if they don’t get plugged in, they die. Have you connected to the body?

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me overcome excuses, past hurts, and fear so I can be used in Your body for Your glory.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 3, Tap Here.

August 28, 2023

John 15:1-2

1 I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser.  2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch in me that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Summer is full on. Flowers have bloomed and fruit trees are becoming heavy with fruit. Life is dense all around us. Have you thought about the importance of the vines, stems, or trunks of those plants? We appreciate the flowers, fruits, and vegetables, but those can only come from a healthy plant. Our spiritual life functions the same way. Today, are you healthy, are you ready to bear fruit?

True life comes from being connected to Jesus. Our spiritual health and fruit come when we abide in Him. Just as an expert gardener knows to cut off the dead branches and to prune the healthy ones, God equips us to thrive spiritually and then prunes us so that we may bear more spiritual fruit. Today, knit your heart to Jesus by thinking about, praying to, and feeling the love from Him.

Prayer prompt: Lord Jesus, it is impossible to be spiritually healthy apart from knowing and loving You. Help me to love You and to bear fruit for my family, friends, and the growth of Your Kingdom.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of 1 Corinthians 2, Tap Here.

August 26, 2023

Jude 2

2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Dickens painted a compelling scene in Oliver Twist when the orphan asks for a second serving of gruel. “Please, sir, may I have another?” Do you pray like that? Please God, just a little, a crumb more of Your help? 

That’s not how the Kingdom works. God doesn’t give a little, He overwhelms. Jesus doesn’t give just enough food for the multitude, there are baskets left over. Mercy, peace, and love don’t just drip down to us, the bounce around, overflow, and multiply. It seems we get so little only because we ask so infrequently. Pray, today, for that mercy, peace, and love to multiply.

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank you for providing for me in ways that multiply exponentially!

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 16, Tap Here.

August 25, 2023

1 Kings 19:11-12

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

I am desperate for God to win. I want Him to tear up mountains and destroy His enemies with fire and lightening. I want everyone in the world to fall to their knees and embrace the one God who can give them what the need and what they want in unending supply forever. Yet we keep toiling in little whispers, little conversations, little blogs, little sermons heard by such small percentage of our city. 

In the story above, Elijah the prophet and Israel had just seen a triumphant display of God’s power over His enemies in fire that came down from heaven. Elijah was sure God had finally won, but the King and Queen still rejected God. Then God took Elijah and showed him a cyclone, an earthquake, and a monstrous fire, but God was in the whisper. God can work through it all, in it all. The next time your witness, your voice, seems like a whisper, remember God’s working even still.

Prayer prompt: Lord, please remind me of all the work You are doing all the time.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 15:14-33, Tap Here.

August 24, 2023

Matthew 4:3-4

3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

If you’ve ever felt real hunger, take a moment to understand Jesus in this story. The man had not eaten a bite in 40 days. After that length of time, Jesus must have felt a kind of hunger only felt by those about to starve. Yet when tempted He didn’t just tell the enemy, “Obviously not! You’re the devil I’m not going to do what you say.” He said He had something better than food.

When Christians fast, we put ourselves in a position to enjoy God’s grace in a physical way. When you give up food for some amount of time to enjoy God, you make something spiritual more real to you. Like taking the Lord’s Supper or baptizing someone we make a physical experience out of a spiritual reality. Is God’s goodness worth more than life for you? How about lunch?

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to remember the way you saved me so I will trust that you still love me.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 15:1-13, Tap Here.

August 23, 2023

1 Corinthians 15:10a

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

Do you ever wish you were someone else in God’s Kingdom? I think every one does almost all the time. If you have a position of honor, you also have a mountain of responsibilities and uncertainty. If you have a position that people don’t necessarily line up for it’s easy to feel forgotten or hard done by.

Paul wasn’t one of the 12 and wasn’t as eloquent as Apollo, but was God’s work in him and through him in vain? It’s hard to imagine a Christian that has been more useful to the Kingdom, and yet Paul had the same kind of jealousies to fight. By the grace of God, we are who we are and His grace is never in vain.

Prayer prompt: Lord, I am glad to be what You have made me. I trust Your work will never be in vain.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 13, Tap Here.

August 22, 2023

Romans 12:3 

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

When I was a kid, my grandparents kept a peacock and I can tell you, peacocks are jerks. It’s fun to pick up some of the feathers they drop, long and interesting looking. But don’t get close or you’ll be sorry. Have you ever heard the phrase “Proud as a Peacock”? Ostentatious and down right mean, peacocks are a great symbol for pride.

When we regard ourselves more highly than we ought, we step outside God’s definition of who we are and try to create something better. By grace, God has called us His adopted children. He plans to bless us with every blessing, not even withholding His own Son. Why would we ever think we could beat that? 

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to be forever satisfied with who You say I am.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 13, Tap Here.

August 21, 2023

Philippians 1:9-10

9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

There is a silly kind of love that doesn’t have much knowledge. Pop stars have millions of fans who love them, but it’s a shallow love because they’ve never even met. There is a cold kind of approval that knows what is good, but doesn’t do much. Looking down from an ivory tower, some people know what is good, but there isn’t a fire-in-the-belly conviction that stirs that person to action.

The gospel gives us both knowledge and passion. We aren’t drones who follow a preset path without any understanding. God wants us to see why things are good or evil, to discern one from the other. Yet, we have a love that bounces around and grows, filling us up, spilling over. We aren’t content to have knowledge without passion. Today, take your own temperature. Do you feel that love?

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to love You with a deep love that knows You.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 12, Tap Here.

August 19, 2023

Acts 17:6

6 And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

Jesus came to bring about an upside down kingdom. In His new order the greatest has to be the servant of everyone, tax collectors and prostitutes are valued members and the religious leaders are bad guys. In His kingdom the mourners, meek, and even persecuted are blessed. In our world, His Kingdom is upside down.

When that Kingdom logic spread around with the new Christians’ lives and teaching, it didn’t just die out as upside down and weird. It turned the world upside down, or better said, right side up. When you get quiet because your Christian beliefs seem so strange in our world remember, that has happened before. And when it happened it wasn’t Christianity that changed, but the world. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, thank you for making me part of turning the world around.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 11:1-21, Tap Here.

August 18, 2023

Galatians 4:9

9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Imagine a prisoner. He is filthy, in a cramped, lightless place with stale air and awful smells. Hopeless and chained, he only gets the miserable company of the bugs that live on him. Then the sound of the lid being pulled away, light blinds, and gentle hands pull him up to clean, feed and free him. What is the one place on the planet that guy is never voluntarily returning to? He will probably avoid closets and small bathrooms the rest of his life. 

In the same way, you and I are freed by God from the way we use to live. And it was every bit as bleak because it was enslaving, destructive, and ultimately deadly. Can you honestly admit that? If you can, even when it seems so tempting, you can walk away. It will be as easy as doing what you want to do. Employ your imagination so that you can color worldly principles the way that God sees them. Remember the bliss of being known by God. 

Prayer prompt: Lord, please keep me from returning to what will hurt me, even when it is hard.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 10, Tap Here.

August 17, 2023

Psalm 1:1-2

1 Blessed is the man

 who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

 nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

 and on his law he meditates day and night.

You can do whatever you want. But are you free to want what you want? Think about the advertising that we have shoved down our eyes and ears almost all day long. There are very few commands in those ads. Usually, they just show you how much fun, happiness, health, friends, and skinny-ness you would have if you only had that cool whatever it is. The way our lives work, we are being lead around by the desires. 

The opening of the whole Psalter, all 150 of them, is this clear either/or: if you delight in God’s ways rather than in the ways of the world, you will be blessed but if you walk, stand, and sit with those who don’t delight in God’s ways, you won’t be blessed. It’s that simple, and that difficult. What have you allowed your heart to long for? It’s a difficult question to answer, so zoom in a different way. Do you delight in God’s ways?

Prayer prompt: Lord, Your ways lead to life, pleasure and joy. Help convince my heart to delight in what is lovely.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 9, Tap Here.

August 16, 2023

Acts 2:2-3

2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

What does it mean to say God is with you? If you’re a Christian, and God promised not to leave you or forsake you, where is He now? It is so hard to be faithful to God in a real struggle when He’s just absent. The promises of the Psalms about Him being a shield about you seem hollow when you look around. The disciples had Jesus, where is God with us?

You and I need these verses. When Jesus left to go back to heaven, He said the Comforter would come. Then we get this description of what it looks like to have the Holy Spirit. A mighty rushing wind came and filled each of them with fire. God’s real presence, His voice-from-the-whirlwind, fire-on-Sinai presence is in you. If God is with us, who can stand against us? 

Prayer prompt: Lord, teach me to remember the way you saved me so I will trust that you still love me.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 8:19-39, Tap Here.

August 15, 2023

Romans 12:10

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

What does being part of the church look like? It can get really bad. There’s a version of church that looks way more like a contest to see who can seem the most put together. It’s not about who can be most godly, but surface-level stuff like how good your kids act for 65 minutes, how snappy your outfit is, and how broad your smile can be. It becomes a battle between one proud dude who bumps chests with pristine exterior of the next more-put-together-than-you dude. Who wants that?

Paul is describing a church where the opposite takes place. A family that has true affection for each other, where each member delights to see the other lifted up. Imagine a place where people were ecstatic to see you do well, to jump on your success and celebrate them with true joy and to sit by you in your failures with genuine care and affection. That’s what God’s love does in a place. Find that church and plug in.

Prayer prompt: Lord, help me to be so aware of Your love that I can show honor to others without all the competition.

Bible Reading for today: Overview Video Tap Here. To read the daily reading of Romans 8:1-18, Tap Here.