With My Own Eyes

How did we get to Thursday already?  I’m looking forward to a good day of study in preparation for Sunday’s message on Romans 12:1-2.

Here is today’s Bible reading: Exodus 15:19-17:7; Matthew 22:1-33; Psalm 27:1-6; Proverbs 6:20-26.

Matthew 22:29 (NIV)
Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

How true this is today.  The topical, thematic, felt-need, seeker driven preaching of the day has produced entire churches that are ignorant of God’s Word.  Too many congregations are a mile wide and an inch deep.  We desperately need a return to the Word of God.  It is no coincidence that the absence of the Word goes hand-in-hand with an absence of God’s power.  The measure of the presence of God and His power in a church is not a crowd hat experiences the warm fuzzy sensation that accompanies a well-performed praise song.  Rather, it is in the radical transformation of lives.  The lost are found.  Sinners become saints.  Those in bondage are set free.  May we truly know the Scriptures and the power of God.

“Moses turned aside to look.  There seemed to be a cause-and-effect relationship between Moses’ willingness to pay attention and God’s willingness to speak.  “When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush” (Exodus 3:4).  God spoke because Moses stopped, paused, noticed, turned aside! (61).”

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 13:17-15:18; Matthew 21:23-46; Psalm 26:1-12; Proverbs 6:16-19

Psalm 26:2 (NIV)
Test me, O Lord, and try me,
examine my heart and my mind;

Part of my journey for the past year has been about my heart.  God isn’t interested in us just “behaving.”  He wants us to have hearts that are truly like His.  Mine is not.  I knew that.  He knew that.  And so, He has begun the process of spiritual open heart surgery to change that.  The crazy thing about this procedure is that you have to go on living while it is happening.  That is no small challenge.  But it does make you rely on Him even more.   I look forward to having a heart that is pleasing in His sight.

One month down!  Well done.  I love the fact that people are talking about what they are reading.

I came across another helpful resource recently:  bible.is.  It contains text and also the Word read aloud.  There is also an app for your smartphone.

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 12:14-13:16; Matthew 20:29-21:22; Psalm 25:16-22; Proverbs 6:12-15.

Matthew 20:30-31 (NIV)
Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
[31] The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

When you are desperate you don’t care about your pride anymore.  You don’t care about what others think.  You shout, cry out, and make an ugly scene until you receive what you need.  I wonder if we would receive more from the Lord if we cried out with this same sense of desperation found in the blind men, if we stopped caring about what others think and only cared about what God thinks.

Had a pretty amazing lunch at Beach House Tacos on the Ventura Pier today.  It is always fun to try new places.  The best part was being with Christy.

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 10:1-12:13; Matthew 20:1-28; Psalm 25:1-15; Proverbs 6:6-11.

Matthew 20:26-28 (NIV)
Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, [27] and whoever wants to be first must be your slave– [28] just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

A lot of our discontent in this life comes when we forget that we are servants.  When we think more highly of ourselves than we ought, we focus on what we think are our rights and what we think we deserve.  But when we choose to follow Jesus, we give up our perceived rights.  And thankfully, we don’t get what we deserve.  We are privileged to be humble servants, serving our Lord through serving others.  When we embrace that role, then we will experience contentment and fulfillment.  Our lives will also overflow with gratitude.

Something pretty cool happened to me this morning.  We have celebrated baptisms the past few weeks.  Our baptismal has a curtain all around it that is closed when not in use.  I went to close it today and couldn’t.  The cord wouldn’t work.  Even crawling up there and trying to manually close the curtains wouldn’t work.  They just wouldn’t budge.  Apparently, there are more baptisms to come.

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 7:25-9:35; Matthew 19:13-30; Psalm 24:1-10; Proverbs 6:1-5.

Psalm 24:1 (NIV)
Of David. A psalm.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;

So true, and so easy to forget.  I don’t own anything.  I am a steward/manager of God’s resources.  Someday I will have to give an account for my stewardship.  Did I use His resources for His glory or my own?

Interestingly, this was precisely the struggle of the rich young ruler that also appeared in today’s reading.  He clung too tightly to what did not belong to him.  As a consequence, he missed out on the far greater blessing.

We are at the completion of week #4.  Great job.  I keep hearing from new people, “I’m doing the Bible reading…”  If you get behind, just pick up where we are today and keep going.

Here is today’s Bible Reading: Exodus 5:22-7:24; Matthew 18:23-19:12; Psalm 23:1-6; Proverbs 5:22-23

Exodus 5:23 (NIV)
Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

Isn’t it true that when you obey God things often get “worse” before they get “better.”  Life with Jesus is hard.  It is a cross-bearing, self-denying life of sacrifice.  But there is no life I would rather live.  For the One who overcame the world makes me an overcomer.  And in that journey is found true life.

Psalm 23 is so familiar that we can miss its beauty.  It is especially a help to those struggling with fear and anxiety.  I love those images of green pastures and quiet waters.  Read it again–slowly and meditatively.  May God restore your soul today.

Happy Friday, everyone.  Hope your weekend is exactly what you need it to be.  Busy day around here tomorrow:  Operation Blessing food distribution and church grounds work day in the morning, final sermon prep in the afternoon, and Upper Room prayer ministry in the evening.  If you are in the neighborhood, come on by.

Here is today’s Bible reading:  Exodus 4:1-5:21; Matthew 18:1-22; Psalm 22:19-31;
Proverbs 5:15-21.

Exodus 4:13 (NIV)
But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

Been there?  Are you there right now?  What if God honored Moses’ request.  Think of all that Moses would have missed.  Most importantly, think of all of the experiences with God Moses would have missed.  What is God sending you to do?  Will you embrace this call and bask in His presence and His provision?

Cleo is off to a great start. She slept in a crate last night with minimal whining. But boy can that dog snore. I am getting a little jealous of all the attention that Christy is giving to her. We would like to give her a new name.  Any suggestions?

Here is today’s Bible reading: Exodus 2:11-3:22&: Matthew 17:10-27; Psalm 22:1-18; Proverbs 5:7-14.

Matthew 17:14-20 (NIV)
When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. [15] “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. [16] I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
[17] “O unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” [18] Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.
[19] Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
[20] He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I would have made a great disciple – not because I am a man of great faith, but because I struggle with faith. The disciples were with Jesus day in and day out, and yet they struggled to believe. But, Jesus didn’t give up on them, and He is not giving up on you or me.  He is daily testing and growing our faith.  And one of these days, He is going to use our faith to move mountains. I pray that day comes very soon.

We finish our first book (Genesis) together today!  Great job.  I keep hearing good reports all around from people who are doing the reading and hearing from God. 

Here is today’s Bible reading; Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10; Matthew 16:13-17:9; Psalm 21:1-13; Proverbs 5:1-6.

Matthew 16:18-19 (NIV) 
    And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. [19] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

It is so amazing to me that no matter how much we human beings get in God’s way and threaten to mess up this thing call The Church, she marches on.  Satan does all he can to sabotage the ministry of The Church–yet, she marches on.  We quickly learn that our understanding of the true nature of The Church is far too small.  The Church isn’t something we attend on Sundays.  The Church is how God moves in the world and accomplishes His infinite purposes.  Those purposes will not fail.   Have you found your place in The Church?  What is your level of commitment to Christ’s Church?