The Big Reveal

Revelation Chapter 1

Scripture:
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. (Revelation 1:3)

Observation:
Revelation has always been difficult for me to interpret. And now I find myself in a place where I am asked to take portions of it make comments. I don't pretend to understand all that has been penned in this chapter. However, here's what I do know: however difficult parts of it might be to interpret, God still wants us to know what is going to happen. So, it's important to read it, to understand what we can. The bible says we are blessed for reading it.

Application: As you embark on reading through Revelations with us, I invite you to get hold of a good cross reference bible and read the related passages in their context. Use the reply button to post your questions and comments. Lets do this together!

Prayer: Lord, Thank you for your far-seeing love. I pray that as we look into these scriptures that you would bless our time and our intent to see you. Though there is much that is shrouded in mystery, I ask that your Holy Spirit make up the differences and reveal to us the truth you want us to know. Amen.

Burned Out?

2 Thessalonians Chapter 3 

Scripture: 

4We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.  

13And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.  

Observation: 

This scripture was written to a body of believers who had thrown their lot in together, to provide for all the needs of the congregation.  The heavily persecuted church gathered refugees of a sort who lost land, wealth and family for following Christ.  Some of them believed the end times to be coming at any moment and so quit their jobs.  So while most were working for the common good, some others were taking advantage - freeloading on the generosity of the church.  The people who lead the church were feeling used, and found this behavior undermining the gospel.  It was a problem big enough to cause them to call on Paul for advice.  His response to them was to put the ones who would not work out of the fellowship - hoping that this would bring them into repentance of their behavior and restore a productive balance.   

Application: 

So what is there in this passage that we can take for ourselves? (Beyond the obvious to work to build up one another and provide for each other's needs.)  I don't know where you are in your journey, but I could make a broad guess that you are feeling tired or weary.  We don't have the style of communities that the first believers did, but the advice Paul gave then applies to us now.   He says to "direct our hearts into God's Love and Christ's perseverance..."  "To never tire of doing what is good."   

This is something that does not spring from our own human nature, but from the Holy Spirit working through us.  It's God's love, and not our own at work here, do you see?  It sees people through HIS eyes and not our own.  It's the kind of love that doesn't give up, but remains steadfast.  If you are feeling beat up, run down and taken advantage of, first check yourself and see if you are connected to the vine, John 15:5  says "I am the vine and you are the branches, apart from me, you can do nothing."  If we are connected to the vine, he will love others and never tired of doing good through us.  He will also speak to us about our relationships and the proper boundaries to put around them so that they can flourish too.                                                                                                                                                           

Prayer: 

Lord, thank you that we don't have to rely on our own resources. Thank you for the love that never gives up, and always works for the good.  Amen.

A Good Report

A Good Report 

1 Thessalonians Chapter 3 

Scripture: 

But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. (1 Thes. 3:6-7) 

Observation: 

Acts 17:1-10 give us a timeline and framework to put this letter that Paul writes.  He's travelled to Thessalonica  the city for a few weeks, going first to the synagogue and stirring things up over there by effectively witnessing and converting a lot of prominent people of influence and power within the Jewish community.  This gets the notice of the Jewish leaders there and in the course of those weeks he plants a new church while staying with Jason.  Who, by the way, gets hauled out and nearly mobbed for his guilt by association!  They arrest him and later release him on bond.  Meanwhile, Paul leaves town in a hurry where he goes to the Berean Synagogue and starts all over again.   

All this time though he's troubled, worried about the state that he's left the struggling new church - even though he told them to expect persecution.  Are they still faithful to the teaching?  Have they slipped back into old ways?  Have others come behind Paul and tried to stamp out the good news and pervert it?  How are his new "children"?  Are they safe? 

So he sends Timothy to find out.  This letter is in response to the news Timothy brings him from that visit.  And it's good news.  They are still thriving through the persecution that he warned them would come. 

Application: 

The application today is obvious.  How are you holding up in your faith?  Are you stunted in your growth, stumbling?  Trapped by your fears? Worn down by cares?  Too busy to hear Him?  What message would someone take back about us?  Are we fruitful and effective? 

I confess that I too often let fear, worry and stress of worldly things paralyze me.  That misplaced fear, twists my actions, fuels my justifications and leaves me empty of the power that comes from trusting in Him. 

I urge you to spend some time today, confessing the things that keep you from growing.  "Perfect Love casts our fear"  "Do not be afraid"  "Cast your cares on him, because he cares for you"  and for the busyness in us all, "Be still and know that I am God." 

Prayer: 

Lord, help me turn to you instead of my own resources.  Help me keep your perspective as I navigate my day.  I really want the report at the end of my life to be "Well done thou good and faithful servant." 

Behold, The Man!

John Chapter 19 

Scripture: 

5When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”  

6As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”  

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”  

7 The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”  

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, 9and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”  

11Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”  

12 From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”  

13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). 14It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon.  

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.  

15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”  

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.  

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.  

16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.  

Observation: 

"Behold the man!" Pilate says.  Pilate meant that he was presenting the one they'd brought to him, but my mind took a different spin on it today. Jesus was God in the flesh AND all man too.  Human.  It begs the question, "What does it mean to be human?"  What separates us as humans from beasts? 

    

Part of being made in God's image - as being human, is that we have the power to defer to long term thinking that steps outside of short term gratification.  We have the ability to CHOOSE to react or not react, to stimuli, to people, to temptations, to anything.  Pilate saw that Jesus withstood torture without begging for a deal, for his life, or for them to stop.  When after being tortured, and he was offered a way of escape through Pilate, he took the longer view and did not waver from the reasons he submitted to the cross in the first place... and still remained silent. 

In fact, Jesus didn't speak at all during his questioning or torture, and when he did speak it wasn't to defend himself, but to defend the sovereignty of God. Pilate tells him "Don't you know I have the power to free you?"  Jesus breaks the silence by correcting Pilate's worldview.  "You would have no power over me were it not given to you from above."   

Hebrews 12 says "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame...." How great must have been the joy that Jesus looked forward to that it carried Him through THAT suffering? 

Application: 

Today I am wondering about my own worldview. Do I say one thing, but live out another?  Do I say I believe in the sovereignty of Christ, yet act out that faith as though he didn't have all power and control?  I have to confess that I sometimes let worry and stress get leverage over me.  Sometimes I react in the moment and feel defeated by it. 

But Jesus doesn't leave us there.  He shows us how to have the endurance he did.  James 1:2 says, "count it all joy when you face trials (temptations) of many kinds, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance."   

It's a process of development.  Non of us are able to get it right the first time or all the time.... but rather it's something that develops over time that requires you to patiently endure the testing in order to be approved.                                                                                                                       Prayer:    

Lord, I pray you remind us when we go through trials and temptations, that these are opportunities to trust in your sovereignty.  Help us align our worldly and short-sighted worldview into one that trusts not in ourselves but in you.  Amen.

My Father's House

John Chapter 14



Scripture:

 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  (John 14:1-3)


Observation:

In this passage Jesus is referencing the Jewish marriage covenant that he established as a mirror of the covenant that God and his Son, made with man.  I don't have space to tell you all the parallels here, so I scoured the net to give you a link that will lay it all out for further study.  (see attached link at the end)  To simplify it though, there are many points that match between the tradition of a Jewish betrothal and wedding, and Jesus's courting and wooing the world.  All of it done in order to bring us to the Father's House (Heaven).  

Application:

I wonder if we really understand who we are in Christ.  I mean, can we really see ourselves as Jesus sees us?   He came from his father's house to offer us a marriage relationship and is even now making room for us.  If we have accepted his proposal, we now hover in the time in between, waiting for the shout that he comes to collect us for the marriage feast.   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Prayer:

Lord, I pray that we will be faithful in the waiting.  I pray that we have oil in our lamps, that the Holy Spirit teaches us how to make our fiance happy and proud of us.  Teach us how to submit our will to his, so that we can become one.  Amen.        

Click here to see a better listing of the parallels by, Dr. Renald Showers: