The 260 Journey

Day 47 Today's Reading: Luke 3 Today I want to take you to a water baptism class. I believe that water baptism displays the difference between the casual Christian and a serious follower of Jesus, because it is clear in the Bible that it is a next step after being born again. As Max Lucado says, “Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers.” Water Baptism does not mark an arrival but a beginning. Let me tell you four things that are important about water baptism: 1. It’s Scriptural Water baptism was Jesus’ idea not the church’s. In Matthew 28:19-20, we read that Jesus connected water baptism to discipleship. Water baptism is done when a person is born again. You never read of an unbaptized believer anywhere in the Bible. Water baptism is done after second birth, not the first birth. There is not one single verse in the Bible that says you become a Christian when your body touches the water. 2. Historically, It’s Public You are going public with your faith. When you get water baptized, you get advertised. It is a public declaration to show everyone whom you are following. You will see places in Scripture that say, “There was much water.” They would do this outside in a lake or a river. Wherever it took place, it was for everyone to see what had happened to that person. The same is true for you. The city, your family, your coworkers, heaven, and hell now know you have taken the second step of discipleship with your walk with Jesus. 3. It’s Symbolic When we get married, we say, “With this ring, I thee wed.” Though we make that statement, we know that putting the ring on the finger is not what makes us married. The same is true with water baptism. There is no magic water. It’s not the water that does anything; it is our step of obedience that is the big deal. To make it anything more than a symbol is dangerous, it’s like worshiping our wedding bands. To cling to a symbol is what many try to do, though. And they miss what God is trying to show us. What is the symbol? It is a symbol of death, burial, and resurrection. 4. Practically, It’s a Next Obedience Step Can we go to heaven dry and unbaptized? Of course we can. Anyone who says differently forgot a story about a thief on the cross who did not have the time or the tank to be baptized (see Luke 23:39-43). You express love by obedience. Love is not just a feeling. Love is a controlling passion to do something for the one we love. The apostle John told us, “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you” (John 14:15, MSG). What makes Luke 3 crazy is how different John the Baptist’s baptismal class is: [John] began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Luke 3:7-9) I don’t know if I would start my water baptism class with calling the people “snakes.” My class would start off with something like this, “I am so glad you are here.” After John called them snakes, he told them that an axe was resting on the root of their hearts waiting to chop it down if they have not repented and fruit has not come from their lives. It’s incredible what happens next: the people ask, “What shall we do?” They got it! I remember Leonard Ravenhill once telling me that when God is moving with repentance, we don’t have to tell people what to do, because they will ask us what to do before we tell them. That’s what the people did with John the Baptist. What’s interesting is that in verses 11-14, we see he gave direction to three different groups of people: The first group were the multitudes. He told this group to learn to be givers, to share their blessings (verse 11). The second group were the tax collectors. He told them not to be like everyone else; to be different and to act like believers in their jobs. He wanted them to use their jobs as an arena for them to show off God’s power in their lives, that they should be different—no matter how others act (verses 12-13). The third group were the Roman soldiers. He told them to stop abusing their authority, build relationships, and be content with their wages (verse 14). Then something amazing happened: the people got baptized that day—the multitudes, the tax collectors, and the soldiers. Not only did they get baptized, verse 21 tells us that Jesus also got baptized. They got baptized with Jesus! What a powerful lesson for you today: you never know what will happen when you do what God wants you to do.

Day 46 Today’s Reading: Luke 2 One of my favorite quotes about moms comes from the old 1960s’ comedian Milton Berle: “If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” With all a mother has to do, it is no surprise when a child gets accidentally left behind in the rush and frenzy of trying to get someplace. Have you ever done that? My wife and I have . . . or should I say, I have. I think each of my children have called me while I was driving in my car to tell me I left them at church. Have you ever lost a child in a store? In our family when I was growing up, we had a special whistle that my mom had. When we were lost we just listened for that whistle. Every mother has experienced losing a child at one time or another. Don’t be discouraged; even the best mother ever messed up. Ready for this? Mary, the mother of Jesus, lost Him. That’s our study today as we dive into Luke 2. It can be embarrassing to lose a child. But what if your child is Jesus—and you lost Him? Then it’s cataclysmic. Let’s read the story: Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” (Luke 2:41-49) I love Mary and think she is an amazing woman. This story tells me why Mary could not be sinless, though. You can’t be sinless and lose God. Let’s get a couple of lessons from our story. Mary and Joseph made two big mistakes in this situation: 1. They supposed Him to be in the caravan; 2. They looked for Him among their relatives. Let’s consider the first mistake: they assumed Jesus was there without checking. They “supposed Him to be in the caravan.” How many times have we supposed something? We suppose because we are in a church that Jesus is there; or we suppose because someone says they are saved that Jesus is there in their heart. We can’t suppose anything. The question is: “Is He there or is He not there?” How do I know if Jesus is with you? Because wherever Jesus is, change happens. Not change on your weekend when you come to church, but an everyday change! How long has your journey gone on and you have not stopped even to ask yourself, Is Jesus with me? Or how long has it been until you realized that Jesus is not there with you? Thank God it took Mary and Joseph only a day to figure out that He wasn’t with them; many go on for years. Their second mistake was that they assumed, If He is with the family, He is with me. This is really dangerous. They looked for Him among their relatives, but they looked in the wrong place. We do that too. We look for Jesus in a church, a denomination, even on a day of the week. How often have we even thought, My mom is religious, so I am religious too. Your mom may have Jesus, but that doesn’t mean you do. The place you look for Jesus is in your own heart. God only comes where we invite Him into our lives. He is not there automatically. As John 1:12-13 (NIV) tells us: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” When it was all said and done, it took Mary and Joseph four days to finally find Jesus: When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. (Luke 2:45-46) As Tim Keller reminds us: Every religious founder of every major religion says, “I’m a prophet who has come to show you the way to God.” But of all the major religions of the world, only Christianity has a founder who has the audacity to say “I am God, and I have come to find you.” Do you realize how different that is? If Jesus is not with us, let’s find Him today. Or let’s get it straight that He is not lost, we are.

Day 45 Today’s Reading: Luke 1 Change is hard for those who have been doing the same thing for a long time. We see that truth in today’s reading about an older couple who are about to have their world turned upside down—all because they prayed something when they were young and it didn’t get answered until they were old. It’s the story of Elizabeth and Zacharias, cast members in God’s story. They were about to discover their why in life. Let’s read this passage from Luke 1:5-7: In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years. That’s just a kind way of saying they were old, although we don’t know how old. And yet notice something ageless that happened to Zechariah—he was faithful. And faithfulness is always rewarded by God. Let’s read the passage together—and notice how boring it is on how he was led to the spot where God showed up. Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. (Luke 1:8-13) Don’t take faithfulness lightly. God sees it as rewardable and promotable. This is amazing to me and nothing seems spiritual about this, but his name was on the list. It didn’t magically appear there; he was scheduled to do the priestly service. He wasn’t led by the Holy Spirit. He didn’t feel it. That day he just showed up, and guess what? God showed up too—with his destiny. Who knows what will happen if you look at the schedule and realize this week it’s your turn—and maybe something will happen to you as it did to Zacharias. The children’s department put you on the schedule. A leader said you are on ushering or greeting this Sunday. Here is a thought, look at the calendar and go, believing that maybe if you show up, God will show up. Zacharias showed up and God did show up. Don’t ever take it lightly that you showing up every Sunday simply because it’s on the list. The longest standing ovation in sport’s history was twenty-two minutes for Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles when he beat Lou Gehrig’s record for most consecutive games played in Major League Baseball. He just showed up every day for 2,632 games without taking a day off. Cal Ripken is in the hall of fame because he showed up. What you think is routine and redundant, God calls faithful. As Hudson Taylor said, “A little thing is a little thing, but faithfulness in a little thing is a big thing.” Why did this happen when it happened? Because God’s timing is perfect. Here is what the angel told him: “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John” (verse 13). After the word heard, we find a comma. Sometimes that is not simply a place for us to catch our breath and pause. Sometimes it means there is a pause in the conversation. I think it’s the latter. I think Zacharias forgot what he and Elizabeth had prayed for. It reads like the angel said, “Your prayer has been heard.” Silence . . . “Elizabeth will bear you a son.” They prayed the prayer when they were young is the implication. For Elizabeth and Zacharias, the answer to their prayer was slow in coming . . . really slow. “Your petition has been heard. You will bear a son and you will call him John.” God couldn’t answer their original prayer at the time they prayed, since Jesus was not born yet. The life of Jesus needed the life of John the Baptist. They were going to bring fulfillment to what Isaiah talked about. We see this from Matthew 3:3: “For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!”’” God was sending His Son. John the Baptist was needed to prepare the way. And it was the perfect time to answer the prayer of the older couple. And it all happened because Zecharias showed up, because his name was on the volunteer list that day. Go Zacharias. Go church volunteers!

Day 44 Today’s Reading: Mark 16 Today’s reading brings us to Mark’s account of resurrection morning. Mark’s description of resurrection morning is priceless. My favorite moment is in verses 3-4: They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. They were saying to each other, “Who will roll away the stone?” And verse 4 gives us insight to the why of their question: “Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away.” That means their heads were down as they asked the question. If they would have come with their heads up, they would have seen it was done already. They were asking for something already accomplished. I think this lesson is significant. Looking up may already give you your answer. One of those wrong-look questions goes like this: “I wish God existed and He was easily proven.” Look up is what I want to say! David says God’s creation is always talking to us about the One who created it. It’s pouring out speech to the planet. Look up, it’s talking, it’s saying something: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge” (Psalm 19:1-2). The Message says it like this: “God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening. Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded, but their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere” (Psalm 19:1-4). Why is this important? Because people are looking in the wrong places and ending up with the wrong conclusions about God’s existence. Romans 1:20 tells us, “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Paul is saying that God’s creation clearly shows God. We don’t need a “made by God” stamp underneath every rock. His workmanship is so clear that God says there is no excuse for anyone not to believe. The issue is not that it’s seeable, but that humans refuse to look and believe. Let’s look at Romans 1:19 out of The Message: “The basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is!” Sounds a lot like a big rock story. The big rock story is like the Big Bang story. If you don’t look correctly, you end up with the wrong conclusions. When you see creation you end up with a big God not a big bang. The science community is divided on this and not slanted. Many would make you think that there are only a few crazy creationist scientists and all the others figured it out. It’s not that way in science. Scientists are looking up and seeing a big God. When you look up, you may see more than you bargained for. This is how Isaiah explains it: Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God?" Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. (Isaiah 40:26-31) Isaiah says that if we lift up our eyes, we may see something pretty cool about God. The women at Jesus’ tomb lifted up their eyes and saw that God is stronger than death and He doesn’t lie, He rose from the dead. Lift up your eyes when you pray for something. God may have already done it for you.

Day 43 Today’s Reading: Mark 15 Today we come to the darkest day in human history: the crucifixion of Jesus. Calvary shows how far people will go in sin—and how far God will go for our salvation  (God always goes a step further, loving us). Every step that Jesus took to the cross said, I love you to every person in history. As we study the crucifixion, we need to look at something that happened on the way to the cross, which has huge significance: After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him. They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross. (Mark 15:20-21) The Bible not only tells us the name of the man who carried Jesus’ cross, Simon of Cyrene, it also tells us the names of his children. We know this about Simon: he was a father of two boys, Alexander and Rufus, and also it was not his plan or desire to carry the cross of Jesus. The Bible says in verse 21 that they pressed him into service. Simon wasn’t even a spectator, he was just a “passer-by,” whom they had to force to carry the cross. Can you imagine the family story if your dad carried Jesus’ cross? I come from a storytelling family and this would have been the story around our dinner table (where we told most of our stories with very loud Italian emotion and hands flying everywhere). Seriously, though, can you imagine if one of those stories from your dad was, “Did I ever tell you the time when I was in Jerusalem, minding my own business, and a Roman soldier pulled me out of the crowd?” As a father, I want to live such a godly life in front of my children that I will not have to say to them, “Don’t do what I did.” I want to say to them, “Live how I lived.” I want them to imitate me. I wonder if that’s what Simon told Rufus? Do you know the father-and-son relationship between Simon and Rufus? Do you know these two biblical names? In Romans 16:13, most historians and commentators believe that the Rufus mentioned there was the son of a cross carrier. And not just a cross carrier, but the cross carrier: “Greet Rufus, a choice man in the Lord, also his mother and mine.” Rufus was the son of Simon of Cyrene, the man who was called out of the crowd to carry the cross of Jesus. And that family’s introduction to faith in Jesus could have very well started on the day the dad carried Jesus’ actual cross. Can you imagine Rufus hearing the story from his father about that day of the redemption of the planet? It was Simon not only being in the right place at the right time, but being willing to do the right thing when called upon.  Cross carrying is not out of style. It’s still on our agenda. But not one time only. Luke 9:23 tells us something about taking up a cross: “[Jesus] was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” It isn’t one-and-done, like Simon’s literal experience. It’s daily, right in your home, on your campus, at your job. So what does taking up your cross look like? What Simon did was interrupt his plans and his life at whatever expense for Jesus. Each day Jesus will interrupt us. It could be that He’s leading us to apologize, to compliment, to encourage, to correct. It could be in generosity, giving to the poor, stopping and praying with someone. Taking up our cross is when our plans are interrupted by God to do whatever He needs us to do. It could be as simple as wanting to watch Netflix or FOX news or CNN or ESPN, and God interrupts you and says, My plan is for you to be with your family or be in the Word of God. That can happen, that’s the cross, interrupting what you want to do, and doing what God is wanting you to do. Taking up your cross daily is when Jesus calls upon you to do something for Him. No one cheered for Simon that day, except heaven. Just as Rufus knew his father carried the cross, I want my children to know that when I was called on to carry the cross, I did it each day. Theologian A. W. Tozer explains the results of a cross-carrying person: “There are three marks of one who is crucified. One, he is facing in only one direction. Two, he can never turn back. And three, he no longer has any plans of his own.” I hope that what can always be said of you and me.

Day 42 Today’s Reading: Mark 14 A man who felt convicted for lying on his last tax return wrote this letter to the IRS: Dear IRS: Enclosed you will find a check for $150. I cheated on my income tax return last year and have not been able to sleep ever since. If I still have trouble sleeping, I will send you the rest. His problem: he is waiting for more sleepless nights to bring closure. He is not fixing it on the first go around. That first sleepless night should have been a signal. In today’s reading, we see the importance of handling things in the first go around. And it has to do with Peter and a crowing rooster. Let me read to you about this dreadful Thursday night: Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, because it is written, ‘I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny me three times.” But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also. (Mark 14:27-31) And between verses 66-71 we read that Peter denied Jesus three times. One of them being with him cursing and swearing to make sure the people knew he was not a disciple. And then the fulfillment of what Jesus said to Peter came to him: “Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, ‘Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.’ And he began to weep” (verse 72). Prominent American Methodist minister Halford Luccock said: “In Christian experience, great living begins in tears. It is God’s starting point. When Peter broke down and wept, all pride, of which he had much, and all self-sufficiency and self-trust dropped away from him.” Listen to Jesus’ warning again in verse 30—“Before a rooster crows twice.” Then in verse 72, after Peter’s third denial, it says, “A rooster crowed a second time” and at that second crowing, Peter began to weep because he remembered what Jesus had said. Sometimes we don’t take seriously the Word of God until it is finally fulfilled. That is a dangerous way to live. I had a rooster that lived next to me in Detroit, right in the heart of the inner city. It was the craziest thing. My neighbors had chickens and a rooster that perched in a tree. That rooster would crow every morning at 5 a.m. and every morning, one of my roommates would say, “Oh, Jesus, don’t let me deny You today.” Amazing how that rooster reminded him of that story. That rooster’s crow made Peter recall every word of the Master. No sooner had he completed his third denial then the rooster crowed. So my question to Peter: What were you thinking at rooster crow #1? We read about #2, which was after the full denial. But what about the first crow? What went through Peter’s mind? Obviously he did not heed it. It does not seem that it slowed him down. We don’t have a verse that shows Peter thinking, Hmm, this can’t be a coincidence. . . . The Rabbi said something along these lines . . . that I would deny Him and that the signal would be a rooster’s crow. But nothing. No brake lights for Peter. This was not some new convert. This was a disciple trained by Jesus Himself. It just goes to show the power of fear, sin, and compromise. As James S. Stewart said in The Strong Name: It might seem natural to suppose that every time a man sins he would know a little more about sin, its nature and its methods. Actually the exact reverse is true. Every time he sins he is making himself less capable of realizing what sin is, less likely to recognize that he is, in fact, a sinner; for the ugly thing (and this, I feel sure, has never been sufficiently grasped), for the really diabolical thing about sin is that it perverts human judgment. Hence every time any of us sins, we are making it not more but less probable for us to appreciate what sin is, and therefore not more but less likely that we shall feel there is anything to be forgiven. Every time I reject some voice in conscience, I am making it certain that next time that voice is going to speak not more but less imperiously and convincingly. I think crow #1 was the shout from God to say, Put on the brakes. God’s Word is true. Stop here and don’t go any further! To hear crow #1 is the canon ball over the bow of the boat. It shouts that God is right! Listen to him. No one jumps to #2 without first receiving a #1 warning. There are nine words in the Greek language for sin. But the one that always catches my attention is the trespass. Have you ever violated a “no trespassing” sign? You have to do a lot to get by it. You have to climb through barbed wire. Climb over a fence. Go by the blaring sign. Trespass means you have to really work to sin. God is active in wanting to warn and protect you. Though you may not be as fortunate as I was to live next to a rooster in Detroit, it does not mean you don’t get the same effect. Let me give you a rooster crow that you will be sure not to miss: It is the conviction of the Holy Spirit. A conviction does not stop you from doing anything, it just keeps you from enjoying it. I love this young boy’s definition of conviction: “Something that makes you tell your mother before your sister does.” The Holy Spirit begins to bring a feeling inside of us that something is not right. This is a crow #1 protection. Before a failure turns into a fall, He will convict us. The old churches built in America some hundreds of years ago were built with the steeple that had weather cocks on them. They were put there to remind the people that even Peter, the first among the apostles, fell into the deep grievous sin of pride and denied his Lord. I wonder what church members and boards would say today if a pastor put the rooster back on the church so folks would not backslide. We might hear: “That’s so negative!” “Why remind us of failure and sin?” “You are so judgmental!” But I would be thinking, God is always right, listen to Him.

Day 40 Today’s Reading: Mark 12 Today’s reading starts with a parable, a little story with a big meaning. Jesus tells it in nine verses but the actual story covers almost three thousand years. It is God telling His story from the beginning to ending with His Son coming to earth. As we read this passage together, remember that Mark 11:27 says Jesus is in the Jerusalem temple telling this story to chief priests, scribes, and elders. [Jesus] began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. They took him, and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those vine-growers said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ They took him, and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. (Mark 12:1-9) Verse 6 is the fast forward to the present of this story—the vineyard owner (the father) had one more to send, his beloved son, believing they would respect him. Yet the story ends with them killing the owner’s son.  Who do you think Jesus is speaking about? It is His own bio. In fact, to make sure there is no misunderstanding, Jesus tells these religious Old Testament experts that this story is connected with the Scriptures they know so well as He quotes from Psalm 118: Have you not even read this Scripture: “The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes”? (Mark 12:10-11) Jesus reminds us in the story that this is God’s planet and we are just stewards of it. I don’t know if you have ever rented a house, a piece of property, an apartment that belonged to you and the renters forgot that it isn’t their property? From the way they treated it and even becoming lax in their rent payments, they assumed the role of owner.  I am always reminded of the old 1901 hymn, “This Is My Father’s World”: This is my Father’s world: O let me ne’er forget That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father’s world: Why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King: let the heavens ring! God reigns, let the earth be glad! We are the renters. God is the owner. This is our Father’s world, we are stewards of it. It’s always dangerous when the renters act as though they are the owners—and it is especially dangerous when the owner is God. It’s easy for us to forget and act like we’re owners with our money and tithing when we give God our 10 percent. But it all belongs to God. We get to steward the other 90 percent. The same thing is true of our lives, which the apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NIV): “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” When some women begin to announce that their bodies are their own—“my body, my choice”—regarding abortion practices and laws, nothing could be further from the truth. The renters are acting like owners. Those ladies and legislators are all bought with a price. In order to say those kinds of words . . . you have to kill the Son. One fundamental problem is that they did—but He rose again! The renters are still renters. We have to honor the Son. Years ago, I heard an amazing story about a wealthy man who had one son, whom he loved dearly. He was a lover of art and he taught his son to love fine art. Because he was wealthy, he and his son amassed a valuable private collection of priceless works of art. When he was old enough, the son joined the marines and was deployed to Vietnam, where he was killed in action. The father’s heart was broken. Several years later, when the wealthy man died, his estate planned to auction off his works of art, which were estimated to be worth in the millions of dollars. The day of the auction, with art dealers crowding in waiting to bid on the Van Goghs and the Monets, the lawyer announced that before any of the valuable art could be auctioned, the deceased had left specific instructions that the portrait of his son must be auctioned off first. “Get on with it,” the impatient art dealers complained. “Get that picture out of the way so we can bid on the real art!” The auctioneer held up the painting. “Who will give me one hundred dollars for the picture of the son?” No one replied. Finally, a friend of the son’s who was also a soldier said, “I’ll give you twenty dollars for it.” “Twenty once,” the auctioneer said, looking around the room. “Twenty twice. Sold for twenty dollars.” At that moment, the rich man’s attorney stepped forward again and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, there will no more bidding. My client left secret and specific instructions that whoever bought the painting of his son would receive all the other works of art at no additional charge. . . To quote the words in his last will and testament, he wrote, ‘Whoever chooses my son, gets it all.’ This concludes the auction.” Whoever chooses God’s Son gets it all. As Romans 10:11 (TLB) reminds us: “The Scriptures tell us that no one who believes in Christ will ever be disappointed.” Not church. Not religion. Not a denomination. Only the Son.

Day 41 Today’s Reading: Mark 13 It seems that in Jesus’ ministry, when something significant was going to happen, He took with Him the same three guys: Peter, James, and John. It is as if their names roll off your tongue. Those names just sound right together. Those three men saw and heard things the other nine close disciples missed out on. When Jesus went to the Mount of Transfiguration, for instance, He took with Him Peter, James, and John. When He went into a room to raise a little girl from the dead, He went in with Peter, James, and John. In the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus hit His agony moment and moved from the twelve, He asked those three to move with Him. And then something crazy happened . . . someone broke through the clique: “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately” (Mark 13:3, emphasis added). Somehow Andrew broke through and got entrance into the private club. It may be late but he made it. And the four of them—Peter, James, John, and . . . Andrew—all asked Jesus privately about the end times. The four received an eschatology lesson. Move aside Jack Van Impe and Tim LaHaye! And in giving them this lesson, He taught us as well. Marty Duren gave five good pitfalls to avoid when talking about the coming of Jesus: 1.  Making every news item a sign of the end times. 2. Playing “Name the Antichrist:” in the 1970s and ’80s, this was huge. People claimed Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, the pope, even some secret guy in the Middle East were being raised up as the Antichrist. 3. Neglecting the original audience. This is important; some of the things Jesus said was for the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and not for “you” and the twenty-first century. 4. Setting dates for the coming of Jesus. As C. S. Lewis said, “Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments.” 5. Overemphasizing an American role: people have gone so far as to say that “eagle’s wings” in the Bible is the American mascot. Please. God sees every nation as a drop in the bucket (see Isaiah 40:15-17). So how do we deal with Bible prophecy like this Olivet discourse that Jesus gave in a private discussion not to three men but to four? We need to hear about the end times and the rapture and the judgment to come, but we must do it the right way. It was so important, Mark dedicated this whole chapter to their private conversation. The book of Daniel, the book of Revelation, and the Olivet discourses from Mark 13 are important but should be approached carefully. If you want to understand the second coming and interpret things correctly, then be a student of the first coming. We see how God thinks when He sent His Son the first time. Read the Old Testament prophecies and images and see how this worked in the first coming. God is consistent. There are more than three hundred prophesies of times and places and events when Jesus came the first time. Learn the way God predicts the future. If you are not a student of the first coming, you will embellish Bible verses for the second coming. And finally, I like what Charles H. Spurgeon said, which we can apply to contemplating end times. It is really what the four disciples did in their conversation with Jesus. Spurgeon said that prayer is the best way to open up the Scriptures. Brethren in the ministry, you who are teachers in the Sunday school and all of you who are learners in the college of Christ Jesus, I pray you remember that prayer is your best means of study—like Daniel you shall understand the dream and the interpretation when you have sought God. And like John you shall see the seven seals of the precious Truth of God unloosed after you have wept much. “Yes, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding: if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hid treasures: then shall you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” (Prov 2:3-6) Stones are not broken except by an earnest use of the hammer. And the stone-breaker usually goes down on his knees. Use the hammer of diligence and let the knees of prayer be exercised, too, and there is not a stony doctrine in Revelation which is useful for you to understand which will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith. Martin Luther said it best, “To have prayed well is to have studied well.” You may force your way through anything with the leverage of prayers. You want to know about end times? Study the first coming and the Scriptures and pray, seeking God’s wisdom.

Day 39 Today’s Reading: Mark 11 Sometime ago, Dave Hagler, who works as an umpire in a recreational baseball league, was pulled over for driving too fast in the snow in Boulder, Colorado. He tried to talk the officer out of giving him a ticket by telling him how worried he was about insurance and how he’s normally a very safe driver, and so on. The officer said that if he didn’t like receiving the ticket, he could take the matter to court. At the first game in the next baseball season, Dave was umpiring behind the plate when the first batter approached. And can you believe it, it was the policeman. As the officer was about to step into the batter’s box, they recognized each other and offered a long pause. Finally the officer asked, “So how did the thing with the ticket go?” Dave said, “You’d better swing at everything.” Someone once said, “‘I can forgive, but I cannot forget,’ is only another way of saying, ‘I cannot forgive.’” I think Dave couldn’t let it go. And all of that affected a recreational softball game. Unforgiveness is underestimated. Marilyn Hickey tells us that a person who lives in unforgiveness does three things: 1. Curses the offense. 2. Nurses the offense. 3. Rehearses the offense. In today’s reading, we focus on unforgiveness—and Jesus tells us there is a lot at stake when someone won’t forgive. It’s bigger than a softball game; instead, it infects the most powerful weapon we are given on this planet: prayer. Listen to what Jesus instructs us about prayer and unforgiveness: Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.” (Mark 11:25-26) Today’s Scripture mentions one of these problems that breaks the communication line. It’s similar to a circuit breaker in a house. A circuit breaker in your house is an electrical device that interrupts the flow of electricity from one site to the other. Prayer circuit breakers are things in our lives that interrupt or hinder our communication with God. So when prayer is not working, something broke the circuit. There are two commanding moments in this chapter on the power and importance of prayer. In verse 17, Jesus says that His house should be called a house of prayer. I think this is really missing today. Today, His house is a house of worship, preaching, teaching, serving, but not many believers have placed the importance on prayer on their church. Jesus also tells us in verses 22-24 the power of prayer: Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” One little thing can hinder mountains being put into the ocean—and that is unforgiveness. Jesus said all things for which we pray, we must believe we have received them and they will be granted—except when we don’t forgive our spouse for disrespecting us yesterday. Or a friend for breaking a confidence. Or a supervisor for yelling at us in a staff meeting, which embarrassed us. The bigger question is this: is unforgiveness really worth it? If my not forgiving people stops me from seeing God answer my prayer and short circuits my prayer, I need to let my unforgiveness go. There’s too much at stake. Don’t try to ask big when unforgiveness is big in you. Every time you want to hold on to an offense, just think, If I do this, I get no mountains in the ocean. Norman Vincent Peale related how that, as a boy, he once bought a large cigar that he began to smoke. He was feeling bold until he saw his father approach him on the street. He tried to hide the cigar behind his back. Searching desperately for something to say, he made a certain request of his father. “My father’s voice wasn’t harsh when he answered; it was simply firm. ‘Norman,’ he said, ‘one of the first lessons you should learn is this: never make a petition and at the same time try to hide a smoldering disobedience behind your back.’” Next time you go to God in prayer and you realize you are harboring something that you need to forgive, do it quickly and get those mountains thrown into oceans. Nothing is worse than asking our Father for something with the glaring disobedience of unforgiveness holding on.

Day 38 Today’s Reading: Mark 10 Today’s reading is a tough one. Jesus gets a test . . . a test about marriage and divorce. Before we dive into this chapter, listen to these poignant words from Augustine, which apply to what we’re studying today: “If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.” Now let’s read about Jesus’ test: “Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife” (Mark 10:2). There are some hot-potato issues in the church—and one of those is about divorce and remarriage. Not only is this controversial today in the body of Christ, it was also in the first century when Jesus was here on the earth. It’s important to note that not every question is from an honest heart. Not every questioner is asking to get a truthful answer. Some people ask to see if you agree with them. That is why the divorce question here is not for the religious people to learn the truth, to discover insight or wisdom, but to see if Jesus agrees with them. They already had their opinions and now they want to test Jesus. To test assumes two things: (1) you are the teacher; (2) you already know the answer, so you’re seeing if your student knows the answer. Then you grade them on their answer. Think of the audacity—they are testing the omniscient God to see if He knows, not the right answer, but their answer. That is really the issue today. When was the last time you asked Jesus a question about your struggling marriage? When was the last time you sought direction and theological wisdom from Him? So many times we will go to a book, a pastor—someone who has already decided for us. But what about this issue? Have you ever asked Jesus: Should I divorce? Most never ask Jesus if we should, instead we ask for help once it’s already decided. Then we ask for Him to bless our already decided-upon plans. If this is what you do, then this is the painful truth: you are testing Jesus just as these religious people did. So how did Jesus respond? First, we need to see it from a biblical basis and not a culture or society basis. With all the divorce that is happening today, people try to adjust Jesus’ words to fit our epidemic of marriages falling apart. It’s like our government that can’t stop drugs so they legalize it to make that the best answer. But that is not an answer to a problem.  So if half of the marriages in the church end in divorce, as some statistics suggest, do we have to adjust Jesus’ words based on the twenty-first-century marriage problem? I don’t think so. Some have cited successful remarriages as their reason that divorce can’t be wrong. They argue, “So and so got remarried and look at them after twenty-five years. It must be okay.” But we must be careful that we don’t adjust Scripture to fit our beliefs or wants. Instead we must take Jesus’ words as they stand: He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” (Mark 10:3-11) Here’s my summary based on Jesus’ words: Divorce was instituted by Moses. The motive for divorce was that our hearts are hard. Therefore, the reason for divorce was because we have hard hearts. Every marriage, no matter the struggle or the sin or the offense, can have a miracle ending with God if our hearts are soft. God’s intention from the beginning of creation was for two to become one flesh—and what God has joined together, no one should separate. I heard a counselor once say to a young woman contemplating marriage: “Do not accept a man’s proposal until you have successfully worked through at least one significant disagreement. Better yet, make it a heated argument that leaves one of you preferably in tears. If you have never been in the thick of a serious conflict with that person, you don’t really know their heart. And marriage needs a soft heart to face hard situations.” So let me try to make this applicable. Divorce is an option—but it occurs because of a person becoming hard hearted. Just look at the statistics on divorce and remarriage. Statistics have shown that in the United States, 50 percent of first marriages end in divorce. The number raises to 67 percent of second marriage, and 73 percent of third marriages. Why do the percentages go up each time a person gets married? Because they very likely have not addressed the hardness issue. So now the question is . . . where is your heart today? Are you working toward a soft and tender heart? Or have you allowed your heart to become hardened? Someone said it like this: “How do you fix your troubled marriage? You don’t need a change of partners, but a change in partners.” We are only halfway through our scene with Jesus, though. When the disciples hear Jesus’ response to the Pharisees, they ask for more insight. Notice verse 10: “In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again.” They are not testing Him, but genuinely questioning Him. They wanted answers. That was the difference between them and the religious leaders. As you read Jesus’ response, think about what that means for you in your marriage, if you are married, or if someday you want to pursue marriage. Ask Jesus what He means, just as the disciples did.

Day 37 Today’s Reading: Mark 9 If there was anything you ever wanted to tell people, it would be what happened to three disciples on a mountain in Mark 9:2-7. The conversation might go like this . . . “Guess who I saw today? Moses. Oh yeah, and Elijah. And guess whose voice I heard? Audible voice? God’s! Yep, God Himself. I know what He sounds like now.” These are the ultimate bragging rights. Seeing two celebrity Old Testament guys and hearing God’s audible voice? It doesn’t get better than that. And Jesus messed the whole thing up. He messed it all up when He said . . . “You can’t say anything till after the resurrection.” What? It was about to become a really good day for the disciples, and Jesus tapped the brakes and put a pause on it. Listen closely. There is a huge challenge here for all of us. Just because you saw something and hear it from God doesn’t mean you share it immediately. We are all guilty of saying things too quickly that we heard from God. Let’s speculate for a moment: what could have happened if they would have told that story when they came down? The truth is whatever might have happened wouldn’t have been what Jesus wanted for a good reason. The truth is that some things need to marinate before they are spoken. I think there are many things I read in the Bible that I was called to sit on before speaking them—for the following reasons: • to grow in me • to protect me from pride • to give me more clarity on it • to determine the best place and the best way to share it And the best place or best way are not always immediately. Waiting develops self-control and turns it to God to say, I trust Your timing. In this transfiguration scene, we do know whether this event occurred around AD 29 or AD 30, which means they may have had to keep their mouths shut for more than a year. Though Mark tells the story, Peter does too in 2 Peter 1:17-18: I was there on the holy mountain when he shone out with honor given him by God his Father; I heard that glorious, majestic voice calling down from heaven, saying, “This is my much-loved Son; I am well pleased with him.” (TLB) Peter finally got his time. He was finally able to tell it. And are you ready for this? That 2 Peter passage was written in AD 67, which would be almost forty years later. We have no record that he said anything before that. One final thought: what are you supposed to do when God says to pause on speaking? Don’t say anything. Let’s read it together: As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant. (Mark 9:9-10) The Bible says when Jesus gave them the command, “they seized upon that statement.” That is such a good phrase for us to learn in this journey. As you read the New Testament, you will seize upon a verse or seize a story. Seize. This is such a strong word. To seize a statement means to forcibly take possession of something forcibly. You make it your own. They did that with something they did not understand fully. So practically, what do you do when one of these New Testament passages seize you? You do what the disciples did: First, in verse 9 it says they “discussed it with one another.” They got others’ perspective from experience, study, and their own wrestling with a passage. For you and me, this means we need to read books, ask our pastor, discuss with our friends. We can’t simply trust our viewpoint.  And second, verse 11 says, “They asked Him.” Don’t forget this: the author of the Bible is still alive and He knows what He wrote. There comes a time when you have to go to God in p

Day 36 Today’s Reading: Mark 8 Today’s reading opens with a familiar story. But if we examine it closely, we will notice something really puzzling and even humorous. We’ve all heard the saying, “Experience is the best teacher,” but it is simply not true. Experience is not the best teacher; it never has been and never will be. Maturity doesn’t always come with time. Sometimes age brings nothing more than wrinkles and gray hair. And though experience is not the best teacher, evaluated experience is the best teacher. Someone once said, “Experience teaches only the teachable.” And when that happens, maturity happens. But maturity is not a gift. As author Aldous Huxley reminds us, “Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you.” This is important for us to remember as we dig into today’s reading: In those days, when there was again a large crowd and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, “I feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come from a great distance.” And His disciples answered Him, “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” (Mark 8:1-4) This story probably sounds familiar to you. Either you’ve heard it before or you’ve recently read something similar before—such as two chapters ago: The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” (Mark 6:33-38) Think about this. Two chapters ago this same scenario took place. Jesus fed five thousand men (not counting women and children) in Mark 6 with five loaves and two fish. And in chapter 8, we have the same situation with four thousand people (verse 9) and seven loaves (verse 6). So in Mark 8, we have less people, more food, and the same Jesus—and they still didn’t get it. After the miracle of watching five thousand men being fed on a little boy’s lunch, His disciples still asked Jesus this humorous but very sad question: “Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?” (verse 4). Let’s switch gears for a moment. A popular cleaner on the market—one you may already use—is call Formula 409®. What you probably aren’t familiar with, though, is that the name is actually a tribute to the tenacity of two young Detroit scientists whose goal was to formulate the greatest grease-cutting, dirt-destroying, bacteria-cutting cleaner on the planet. The thing is, creating the ultimate cleaner doesn’t just happen on the first try. And it didn’t happen on the 101st or the 301st either. It wasn’t until batch number 409 that they were finally satisfied. And the name stuck: Formula 409. I don’t want it to take 409 times to get a lesson from Jesus. I want Him to call me 1 or 2. I’ll even take 3 or 4—but not 409. The disciples couldn’t put it together that the same Jesus was present for both miracles. Jesus who turns little to a

Day 35 Today’s Reading: Mark 7 In today’s reading, Jesus makes a statement to religious people that we have to put the spotlight on. Jesus speaks to the Pharisees and Scribes these cutting words about their relationship to the Bible, God’s Word. Let’s read it from The Passion Translation: “You abandon God’s commandments just to keep men’s rituals, such as ceremonially washing utensils, cups, and other things.” Then he added, “How skillful you’ve become in rejecting God’s law in order to maintain your man-made set of rules. For example, Moses taught us: ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever insults or mistreats his father or mother must be put to death.’ “But your made-up rules allow a person to say to his parents, ‘I’ve decided to take the support you were counting on from me and make it my holy offering to God, and that will be your blessing instead.’ How convenient! The rules you teach exempt him from providing for his aged parents. Do you really think God will honor your traditions passed down to others, making up these rules that nullify God’s Word? And you’re doing many other things like that.” (Mark 7:8-13) The New American Standard Bible says, “Thus invalidating the Word of God by your tradition” (verse 13). Wow! Invalidating the Word of God. Nothing could be more horrible. Taking something as powerful as God’s Word and making it invalid. That word is so vivid and so appropriate. An invalid is a person who is disabled by an injury, illness, or disease. They cannot do what they were designed to do because of their handicap. Jesus told them they had just put the Word of God in a wheelchair. Instead of it walking on its own, they crippled it and did it by their traditions. That’s what had happened to these religious people. They studied the Bible and did not do what it said. Instead, they made it confirm their lifestyle. E. Paul Hovey said it like this: “Men do not reject the Bible because it contradicts itself, but because it contradicts them.” The Bible contradicted them so they made it say what they wanted it to say, “thus invalidating the Word of God by their tradition.” This verse is so important. Jesus was cautioning the religious from interpreting the Bible through their religion. They saw things with their experience instead of letting the Bible interpret the Bible. Now before we get really ticked at the Pharisees, this is happening to us today. Consider the last part of Jesus’ statement, “by your tradition.” Let’s take out the word tradition and fill in the blank. Ways people can invalidate the Word of God: It is invalid . . . • by their denomination. They will interpret passages denominationally (such as water baptism). • by their soapbox. They will interpret passages from their soapbox (such as political leanings). • by conspiracy. They will interpret passages from their conspiracy (such as end times). • by experience. They will interpret passages from their experience (such as Jesus visitations). • by their pain. God is a horrible Father based on their natural father. • by their ethnicity. Seeing passages from a minority standpoint and cause instead of for what they say. • by their parents. • by their upbringing in church. • by their pastor. • by their seminary. As Søren Kierkegaard said, “The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.” The story that has always intrigued me is from Jack Deere’s Surprised by the Power of the Spirit. Jack Deere was a seminary professor at Dallas Theological Semina

Day 34 Today’s Reading: Mark 6 No one would disagree that Jesus had all the potential to heal anyone, anywhere, anytime. Can you imagine having the person who could heal you, your child, your family, or your marriage right in your town and nothing happens? How is that possible? By limiting Jesus. We have only two times in the Gospels that Jesus was shocked and both have to deal with the issue of faith. The words wonder or marveled in the gospels mean to be shocked. The first time it occurs is in Matthew when He was shocked at the great faith of a Roman centurion for a servant who was paralyzed. The centurion said to Jesus, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8). The centurion’s faith shocked Jesus: When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, “Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.” (Matthew 8:10) The second time Jesus was shocked is in today’s reading in Mark 6. But this is a different kind of shock. This is a shock that happens in a negative way in his hometown. Let’s read it together: He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief. (Mark 6:5-6) The unbelief was not from a Roman pagan but from the people who saw Jesus as a boy and grew up with Him. The people who knew Him best trusted Him least. The people who were around Him most, missed who He was and received only a few things when the potential for everything was in their little town. When Jesus was shocked, it was either no faith or great faith and this incident was no faith, unbelief. What makes this story crazy is what it’s on the heels of. In chapter 5 He had just raised a dead girl, set a demoniac free of some 5,400 demons, and healed a woman who had suffered from an incurable condition for twelve years. Then in chapter 6, He went into Nazareth, His hometown, and “could do no miracle” except for healing a few sick people. And here is what’s insane—all these miracles were within walking distance. They happened around Capernaum, and then Jesus walked to Nazareth. The people of Nazareth had Jesus but not His miracles. Can that happen? You have Jesus but nothing miraculous? Nazareth was located in the hills of Galilee and had a population of around two hundred people. So the presence of Jesus could literally have changed this town.  How did they limit Jesus? How can we stop Jesus from doing what He does best—changing lives? We see in Mark 6 that it is through unbelief. What is unbelief? Unbelief cannot be little faith. The disciples had that, got rebuked, but still had Jesus calm the sea in Mark 4. What is the difference between unbelief and little faith? It seems that little faith is seeing our bad and big circumstances as bigger than Jesus. I think unbelief is different; it is doubting the one’s character who can bring the miracle. When Jesus taught the people, they challenged who He is because of their limited knowledge: When the sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:2-3) Little faith—what Jesus sometimes labeled as doubt—is when you question what you believe, or if you believe it, or why you believe it. That’s okay. God is still there. Miracles can still happen with doubt present and questions swirling in your mind. But nothing happens when there is unbelief.

Day 33 Today’s Reading: Mark 5 Wow, today’s reading is filled with action, miracles, and healing. It’s nonstop from verse 1 to verse 43. Mark 5 starts with a town demoniac who lived in a graveyard and acts as the welcoming committee for Jesus and the disciples and ends in a house where a dead twelve-year-old girl’s body is laid out and a bunch of laughing people who think Jesus is out of His mind. In this chapter, Jesus casts out a legion of demons, heals a woman of a twelve-year disease that doctors had no cure for, and raises from the dead a young girl whose body would soon be in a coffin for her burial. Go Jesus! Let’s pause and consider the first miracle of the man who lived in a cemetery. Read that section with me, will you? When [Jesus] got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones. Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him. (Mark 5:2-6) I have had people ask me, “Can a Christian be demon possessed?” The answer to that question is based on your definition of a Christian.  Paul tells us in Colossians 3:3 that when you become a Christian, “your life is hidden with Christ in God.” That means demons can’t find you to live in you. They can’t find the door to enter your soul and spirit; your life is hidden in Christ. That is my definition of a believer in relation to the demonic world.  The man was demon possessed, and the demon in this man had a name or a descriptive name: Legion. He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” (Mark 5:9) Legion. This is not really a name but a description of what was going on internally in this man and the magnitude of the dark forces in his soul. Legion was the term given for a battalion or squadron in the Roman army. It usually had 5,400 soldiers and 120 horsemen. This man was possessed by an army.  But something huge happened to start this man’s healing, something that gives us hope for people no matter how messed up they are. It’s all in verse 6: “Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before him.” A man with 5,400 demons still has the ability to get to Jesus. He is able to run to Him and bow before Him. No matter how much demonic control is going on, we can see that God doesn’t let the demons control a life who wants help and freedom. Look what happens next. The Message says it like this: Everyone wanted to see what had happened. They came up to Jesus and saw the madman sitting there wearing decent clothes and making sense, no longer a walking madhouse of a man. (Mark 5:14-15) Why would Satan launch that kind of attack against this man? He would be a mouthpiece of God. He isn’t just delivered. He is about to be a preacher. If Satan does not stop this man, ten cities are about to be changed. But Jesus said no. “Go home to your friends,” he told him, “and tell them what wonderful things God has done for you; and how merciful he has been.” So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to tell everyone about the great things Jesus had done for him; and they were awestruck by his story. (Mark 5:19-20, TLB) A. W. Tozer said, “I’m not afraid of the devil. The devil can handle me—he’s got judo I never heard of. But he can’t handle the One to whom I’m joined; he can’t handle the One to whom I’m u

Day 32 Today’s Reading: Mark 4 I want to tell you two stories about storms, Jesus, and a bunch of guys (the twelve disciples) in a boat. Both storms had winds and fear. But their endings were different. We encounter the first storm in today’s reading. Let’s read about it together: On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:35-41) “Do you not care?” is a huge indictment on God’s character, and it plays into this “no faith” issue. So keep these two phrases in mind: Do You not care and Do you have no faith. Let’s continue reading: He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:39-41) Their “no faith” was revealed in this statement, “Who is this man?” Faith is connected to knowing who this Man is. Think of the important progression. A storm arises, as it does in life, and fear comes—fear of tomorrow, fear of going to the doctor or waiting for a call from the doctor, fear of being single, fear of not being pregnant, fear of getting laid off. These are all called storms. If storms produce fear and distrust, then we have a faith issue. When storms drive us to fear, faith has been punctured and is leaking somewhere.  This storm ends with a question mark. It ends with questioning Who God is. Faith is a journey, and that’s what these disciples were on. They ended their first Jesus boat ride with, “Who is this Man?” The question mark. If storms produce fear, then we have a faith problem. And if we have a faith problem, then it’s a God issue. What does that mean? Knowing God increases faith. Always remember that if you want faith to increase, find out more about the character of God. As someone once said, “Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.” Faith is based on who God is. That’s how you increase in faith. The disciples did not get an increase of faith from the last storm, just more questions. Now let’s dip back into Matthew for our second storm story: He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” (Matthew 14:22-33) They worshiped him. They recognized who Jesus was: “You are certainly God’s Son!” Remember our first boat story ended with a question. This one still ended with worship. If storms make me a better worshiper, then so be it. I would just rather do it with music on Sunday. But that does not always happen. God wants your and my tests to end with praise not questions.

Day 31 Today’s Reading: Mark 3 When you want to know the definition of a word, you look in the one trusted place that settles all doubt—the dictionary. When you think of the dictionary, you think of one name—Webster. But do you know who this Webster is? Noah Webster was a devout Christian. His word speller was grounded in Scripture, and his first lesson began, “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor for your body, what ye shall put on; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” His 1828 American dictionary contained the greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume. Webster considered education “useless without the Bible.” He claimed to have learned twenty different languages in finding definitions for which a particular word was used. From the preface to the 1828 edition of Webster’s American Dictionary of the English language: In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. In fact, Noah Webster wrote the first paraphrase of the Bible called the common Bible in 1833. Webster molded the King James Version to correct grammar, replaced words that were no longer used, and did away with words and phrases that could be seen as offensive. When you are looking up a word, read the whole definition. You may just stumble into something amazing about the what it means and where it came from. That happened to me. Noah Webster redefined the word enthusiasm for me. Here is his second definition for the word: “belief in special revelations from the Holy Spirit.” The noun enthusiasm comes from the Greek word enthousiasmos, from enthous, meaning “possessed by a God, inspired.” The famous 1828 version said: “special divine communications from the Supreme Being, or familiar intercourse with him.” Special revelations from the Holy Spirit! Seriously? That’s incredible. That redefined enthusiasm for how I think about the word. I get enthusiastic to preach, to go to church, to be a dad and a husband. I get inspired by God and receive special communications from Him to do these things. Redefinitions were needed when Jesus came to earth. Jesus went all Noah Webster from the outset of His ministry and brought an adjustment to a very important concept in today’s reading of Mark 3. In Mark 3:32, a crowd was sitting around Him. They told Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Here are the words Jesus wanted to redefine: “Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and my brothers?” Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!” (verses 33-34). Here comes the redefinition: “For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother” (verse 35). Did you see how He redefined terms? “Who is My mother?” And, “Who is my brother?” When Jesus came, He redefined things by putting them in their true light. He did that on the sermon on the mount when He redefined adultery. It’s not just in the bed but in the head (see Matthew 5:27-28). Jesus asks these questions: Who is my real family? Who is related to me? We hear all the time that blood is thicker than water. But Jesus took it even further by saying that spirit is thicker than blood. Jesus redefined blood relationships for us. He said the ones whom we are closest to are not the ones who have the same father and mother but the ones who “do the will of Go

Day 30 Today’s Reading: Mark 2 I’ve never played poker in my life. I’m not saying that to sound righteous or religious, I’m just saying it. That being said, I had to google if four of a kind beat a full house. It does. That’s our story today. I want to show you this concept in Mark 2 in which two things are competing. In one verse we find a full house and in another verse we find four of a kind. (And remember, four of a kind always beat a full house.) When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. (Mark 2:1-2) There is the full house. The full house didn’t do anything for a paralyzed man. The full house sat listening to Jesus but that did not fix the paralysis. The four of a kind was about to show up in verse 3. A paralyzed man did not need people just sitting there. He needed someone to get him to Jesus. Mr. Rogers, an ordained minister and the famous host of one of the first shows for children on television back in the 1970s, once said, “When I was a child and my mother and I would read about such events in the newspapers or see them in newsreels, she used to tell me, ‘Always look for the helpers. There’s always someone who is trying to help.’” I want to be one of the “helpers.” Don’t you? One of the four of a kind. They came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:3-5) Do you have friends who will get you to Jesus? If not, then you need new friends. They may be able to get you to a golf course, get you to a sports game, get you to a concert, or get you to a club or a bar. But do you have anyone who gets you to Jesus? These four got the sick man to Jesus. There are times you are meant to bear another’s stretcher and not just sit and hear the Word. You must not only carry your Bible to church; at times, you may also need to carry your brother or sister to the Lord. Our problem here in Mark 2 is we have a full house but only four people who were carrying the stretcher. Not many left the full house to help another. How did they do it? When doors are shut, they went higher! The four of a kind could not get through the door. So they had to take it up higher, literally, to the roof. There is a good principle we need to learn from the actions of these four men: when it seems like the door is shut, go higher. Problems are surmountable from above. You can’t solve everything by walking through a door of a doctor’s office or a church. You have to take some things higher. Going up higher means getting it to Jesus. It’s prayer! As Watchman Nee said, “Our prayers lay the track down on which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, His power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.” These men didn’t quit when they saw the full house. They carried him to the roof, removed the shingles, and dug, and then they had to connect ropes to lower him down. Jesus did not see roof busters, He saw their faith (verse 5). Always remember—when you go higher, you get more than you asked for. That’s the twist in the story. They went through all this work to get a paralyzed man in front of Jesus and Jesus did not say, “Be healed!” or “Rise up and walk!” He said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Had I done all that work, His words would have taken the air out of me. I would have wanted my buddy to walk. I might have thought, I didn’t do all this for an inside work, but for an outside thing.

Day 29 Today’s Reading: Mark 1 Today’s reading showcases the cool way Jesus began His ministry. Who Jesus healed, what He healed, and where He healed it, makes this amazing. Take a look at this passage: [The people] were amazed at [Jesus’] teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee. (Mark 1:22-28) First, a demon showed up in the synagogue. While Jesus was teaching, a demon tried to take center stage from Jesus. Verse 22 says when Jesus taught them, they were amazed. Then when the demon showed up, Jesus rebuked it and it came out of the man. And again “they were all amazed” (verse 27). These two words for amazed were different, though. The amazement the people felt over Jesus’ teaching was something like “blowing their minds.” They were in awe and wonder. But the second amazement the people felt was different—and Mark used a different word to convey it. That word adds something to the first. It adds the physical and the emotional aspect to it. The second word means to be in fear and trembling.  When Jesus teaches us, we respond by shaking our heads in amazement. When Jesus heals and delivers us, we shake on the ground in fear and trembling awe. This was a huge miracle in the synagogue in front of non-followers, who were getting an introduction to the powerful ministry of the Son of God. Then after the prayer to get rid of the demon, Jesus prayed again. I call it the fever prayer. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and immediately they spoke to Jesus about her. And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she waited on them. (Mark 1:30-31) I love the phrase they spoke to Jesus about her. That’s really important. That is the best scriptural definition for “intercession.” It is a form of prayer that prays for others not for ourselves. What is intercession? It’s when we speak to Jesus about others.  Quick side note—this kind of praying also heals the church of gossip. We don’t speak to other people about someone, we speak to Jesus about that person.   This fever prayer is so encouraging. The demon prayer was in the church. The fever prayer was in the home. That’s where I need the most answers to prayer.   I think Jesus was showing us something about Himself. Fever prayers are just as important to Him as demon prayers. I love what Paul says in Philippians about our prayers. “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers” (Philippians 4:6, TLB). Pray about everything—demons and fevers. There’s nothing too small or insignificant to pray about. Too often we don’t want to take something to God, because we feel as though He would say, “Do you know how busy I am—and you’re asking for that?” Here’s the truth: God tells us to pray about everything. God created us and He is interested in every aspect of our lives. He wants to know what’s on our minds. If it’s bothering us, He wants us to tell Him about it. 

Day 28 Today’s Reading: Matthew 28 What does famed NFL player Barry Sanders and resurrected Jesus have in common? I am not trying to be disrespectful, but I do have a point. Barry Sanders is considered one of the greatest NFL running backs of all time. He holds many of the coveted NFL records. Two things make Barry iconic in the sport’s world. First, his elusiveness. Barry’s runs were choreographed like a ballet. Though it was impressive to watch, what stood out more than anything about Barry’s plays was what happened after he scored a touchdown. In a time in sports where every tackle, sack, hit, and first down was celebrated like winning a Nobel Peace prize, Barry was a non-conformist and contrarian. He wouldn’t dance, jump into the stands, point to heaven, or find a hidden marker in the goal post. Every time without fail, he simply handed the ball to the ref. In his biography, people took the words of famed football coach Vince Lombardi to describe this action and said, “When you get to the end zone, act like you have been there before.” Barry had been there, a lot. No need to act like a kid seeing Walt Disney World for the first time. So what does Barry Sanders and resurrected Jesus have in common? We have come to the end of our first New Testament book (Matthew) and in today’s reading, we’re studying about the greatest event in world history, the resurrection of Jesus. He has accomplished His mission. Jesus has died for the sins of the world and resurrected from the dead after three days. He crushed death, hell, and Satan and crossed the goal line. He scored, to stay with our NFL comparison. Did Jesus shout over His accomplishment? Did He thump His chest? Did He jump into the crowd of disciples like a Lambeau leap?   This has to be one of my favorite moments of the resurrected Jesus. It took me by surprise and stunned me. Jesus flipped the ball to the ref. He acted like, This is what I do. No need to get all crazy. Ready for this? These were the first words of the resurrected, I-just-beat-up-hell-and-the-devil Jesus: The women ran from the tomb, badly frightened, but also filled with joy, and rushed to find the disciples to give them the angel’s message. And as they were running, suddenly Jesus was there in front of them! “Good morning!” he said. And they fell to the ground before him, holding his feet and worshiping him. (Matthew 28:8-9, TLB) Good morning? That’s what you say after you did all that? Thank God I’m not Jesus. My first resurrection appearance line would be something like: “Ha! Told you! Look at me now. You didn’t think I could do it. Bam, done!” Not Jesus. He offered a ball flip, and a simple, “Good morning.” He said it like it was just another day at the job and time to go back to work. Unbelievable! Only people who are secure and know who they are do something like this. Some of the older translations say that Jesus said, “All hail,” which literally means “Good morning.” I don’t like all hail; it sounds like “Caesar” should come next. Sounds formal. I like, “Good morning.” Sounds like He’s saying, Yeah, it’s just another thing I do: kill devils and death and get people to heaven. That is Jesus. “Good morning,” the ball flip, tells us a lot about Jesus. It tells us that when you are the real thing, you don’t have to tell people. It shows every time you cross the goal line.   If you are a praying man, a prophetic woman, a pastor, an evangelist, a godly person, or someone who hears from God, all you have to tell people is, “Good morning.” They will know. Jesus did not come out saying, “I am resurrec