The 260 Journey

Day 18 Today’s Reading: Matthew 18 When I was working toward my undergrad degree in corporate finance, the students would say cash is king. When I was doing my graduate work in theology, the students would say context is king. So many Bible verses get their punch from context, not from a denominational bent. One of those punchy passages is in Matthew 18. I couldn’t tell you how many prayer meetings I have attended where not many people showed up and the pastor said, “All I know is that Jesus said where two or three are gathered together there I am in that place.” I have this sneaky suspicion that Jesus was not giving us a sentence we can use when we have bad attendance—where we just quote Matthew 18:20, and everyone is content and off the hook. Let’s be honest, the Bible is full of people who met God by themselves and not with two or three people. But context is king. This verse ends Jesus’ huge thought on fixing a broken relationship. Listen to the verses connected with it: If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church . . . For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. (Matthew 18:15-17, 20) Two important thoughts: 1. It’s interesting that Jesus used the word church only twice in the entire Bible. One was in the chapter before when He said the gates of hell can’t prevail against His church. And second, when dealing with broken relationships. Devils and broken relationships . . . think about that—two of the church’s biggest enemies. 2. In the powerful context of two or three being gathered, I believe Jesus was saying more than encouraging us when there’s bad attendance. He was saying, “When you choose to fix a relationship in My house, and do it the right way, I want you to know that when you get the parties in the room, My presence plans on being there.” What an incredible promise. The Bible reminds us over and over that we not only need God in our lives, we need people to be part of our lives as well. God wired us that way and designed life in such a way that life works better with people rather than in isolation. Relational isolation is especially dangerous. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean we give up on community. To be certain, important and vital relationships, though they bring joy to our lives, can also have the potential of bringing pain and conflict. Conflict in and of itself is not bad, but unresolved conflict is. Unresolved conflict creates a toxic environment.    I think that’s why Peter responds to Jesus’ words with this question: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (verse 21). Jesus didn’t let him off the hook. He told him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (verse 22). Remember this math equation that Jesus brought up, seventy times seven? It has to do with forgiveness. It’s connected to how often should I forgive my brother. Sounds like everyone has an account of 490 offenses with each other. I think C. S. Lewis gave the best insight on this idea: “We need to forgive our brother seventy times seven not only for 490 offenses but for one offense.” To forgive for the moment is not difficult. But to go on forgiving, to forgive the same offense again every time it recurs to the memory—there’s the real tussle. We forgive . . . and a week later some chain of thought carries us back to the original offense, and we discover the old resentment blazing away again. And we forgive again. Wow, what an insight! Seventy times seven is not forgiving 490 different offenses but forgiving one offense 490 times. Forgiving over and over when our mind is plagued. When the two or three whom Jesus is talking about try to work out an issue between them, Jesus says in essence, “Plan on Me being in attendance, because this is really important.” Jesus is not only committed to your relationship with Him, He is committed to healthy relationships with the others who are in your life, even if it takes 490 times to get it right and resolved inside and out.

Day 17 Today’s Reading: Matthew 17 If you had a chance to ask God a “why?” question, what would you ask him? Why did this bad thing happen to me? Why did my mom pass away? How about a personal failure question? That’s what we find in Matthew 17! The disciples failed at something they were empowered to do and did not know why they’d failed. The disciples had tried to heal a young man and were unable, so the man brought his son to Jesus. Let’s pick up the story: “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (verses 15-21) Verse 19 highlights the private why—“Why couldn’t we drive the demon out?” I love that the disciples asked this question. People don’t do this today when they finish a task. It’s rare to find someone asking for critique to get better, but these disciples did. We live in a culture that will blame others but not inspect ourselves. Jesus’ answer is astounding and multi-layered: • The big issue Jesus says is: faith. • The problem is the size of it: it’s little. • Because of that: failure.  Jesus refers to mustard-seed faith: if the mustard seed is little and that’s all you need to get big stuff moving, then you’re not in the ballpark of “little faith.” Your faith is smaller than little, it’s microscopic because nothing got changed. And then he tells you what can get your microscopic faith kick-started and moving toward little: prayer and fasting. Faith is not a concept about God. Faith is like a lens on how big we see God. When Jesus spoke about prayer and fasting as His follow-up to their little faith failure, He said that prayer and fasting will help get the God lenses on. How? It’s about connecting fasting to prayer. Does fasting make God big? Not really. Fasting is not a hunger strike to get God’s attention. Fasting creates space for God. To make a meal during this time period was not going to Whole Foods or Costco, it was an all-day affair from killing an animal to cooking it. Fasting meant creating space to pray, space for God. When someone fasts they are giving God more time, and when you get more time with God, trust me, God gets bigger. That’s why I believe you can fast from many different types of things and not just food—social media, television, certain activities—to create space for prayer. How do you deal with demons? Not by deliverance classes and learning crazy ways to deal with the dark world. Create more space for God by fasting. When you do that, God gets bigger. When God gets bigger, faith starts getting bigger. And when faith gets bigger, then mountains (and demons) start moving. The way you get a grain of faith is by praying and fasting. A private “why” did not help only the disciples. What great insight for us to have when we need some movement on things that won’t budge.

Day 16 Today’s Reading: Matthew 16 Poor Alexander. He was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Maybe you’ve read about his day? From the moment he woke up, one terrible thing after another horrible thing happened to him. From finding gum in his hair to tripping over his skateboard to dropping his sweater in the sink while the water was running. And when his brothers found wonderful prizes in their cereal boxes, Alexander found . . . nothing. On his way to school, he was squished in the center seat, and at school his teacher picked on him. After school he had a dentist appointment and the dentist found Alexander had a cavity. And on and on it went—one catastrophe after another. Alexander decides he wants to move to Australia, where they probably never have bad days—but his mom tells him they do have bad days there too. What a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day Alexander had. Alexander had a bad day. Australians have a bad day. And what’s not hard to believe is that Christians do too. We have no promises from God that once you and I become a Christian, all our days are always going to be great. But somehow we forget that when we have bad days! In today’s reading, we see a disciple who had a great day—and then he had terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Or to put it another way, he had a Simon day, a Peter day, and a Satan day—all in one day. You already read this chapter, but let’s take another look at Matthew 16: “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (verses 15-18) Wow! Jesus changed Simon’s name based on his revelation of Jesus. None of the other disciples had this happen. But then Peter had his name changed again. This is where it becomes the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day: Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” (verses 21-23) What a change—from Simon to Peter to Satan. Have you ever felt like that? You’re going along having a Simon day (ordinary), and something happens in which you move to a Peter day (revelation that God is awesome), and then all of a sudden you get smacked with a Satan day (get behind Me). In all of those days, though, you are loved by God. Your worst day does not make you any less accepted by God. The prodigal son covered in mud never stopped being a son, did he? He was still loved by his father. Jesus didn’t stop loving Peter, did He? No. And the same is true of you. Author Brennan Manning does a good job of giving us a glimpse into the revolutionary love of God: “His love is never, never, never based on our performance, never conditioned by our moods—of elation or depression. The furious love of God knows no shadow of alteration or change. It is always reliable. And always tender.” I read those words while traveling from Queens to Brooklyn on the F Train, and I started crying. The revolutionary thinking that God loves me as I am and not as I should be requires radical rethinking and profound emotional readjustment. Our religion never begins with what we do for God. It always starts with what God has done for us, the great and wondrous things that God dreamed of and achieved for us in Christ Jesus. What makes Jesus amazing is that He absolutely knows you and me and every evil and wicked thought and not only accepts us but furiously loves us—even when we mess up. Your behavior does not dictate His behavior. He is who He is. He doesn’t change based on who you are. Your actions don’t control His character. Second Timothy 2:13 tells us, “If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is” (NLT). I love this verse! He cannot deny who He is. God is absolutely consistent. He can’t be anything but who He is. Your bad day does not change God. Regardless of how your day will go today or if it already went, here is one unchanging thought to carry with you: We change, we get moody . . . but God is always the same, which means no matter what kind of day you’re having, He loves you.

Day 15 Today’s Reading: Matthew 15 Abraham Lincoln famously stated, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.” In today’s reading, we find a woman who had absolutely no other place to go but on her knees in front of the Son of God. This has to be the craziest story on prayer in the entire New Testament. Sometimes it’s a fight to get an answer to prayer and prayer can seem like a wrestling match. In fact, Paul used one of the Greek words for prayer when he wrote in Colossians 4:12 (CSB): “Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling for you in his prayers.” Wrestling in prayer for you. The Greek word is agonizomai. What does that sound like? Agonizing. That is what we see in today’s story. They call her “The Syrophoenician Woman.” Jesus . . . withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once. (Matthew 15:21-28) This woman participated in a wrestling match to get her demon-possessed daughter healed. The end of the story was that she received what she asked for. The journey there, though, is worth discussing. This Gentile woman came to Jesus and faced three big hurdles to get her answer—three hurdles we too must wrestle through if we want to experience a breakthrough in our prayers, especially when we’re involved in a wrestling match for someone else’s deliverance. An old preacher friend used to say that we must “pray the price.” And this woman did. The first hurdle she had to overcome is receiving silence. When she begged God for an answer, “He did not answer her a word” (verse 23). Can we pray when we feel like nothing is being heard or responded to? This woman was crying and getting nothing. This is one of the battles we face in prayer. We’re doing all the talking but not hearing anything back. Do we stop? Do we give up? I think it’s a test. As Rick Warren says, “The teacher is always silent when the test is given.” God wants to know how serious we are. The second hurdle is being overlooked for others. Jesus told his disciples, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (verse 24). He spoke but not to her. She had to overhear what Jesus said. She did not even get a direct word. She was listening to Jesus explain and speak to others. Others are getting God but not you. Can you get over the hurdle when God does for others before He does for you? Still she did not stop. The third hurdle is getting a standard answer but not the answer. Jesus told her, “It’s not good to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs” (verse 26). These seem like harsh words but they were simply standard lines. The children’s bread is what God gave to Israel. Dogs is what Israel called all non-Jews. She was listening to standard lines. Instead of being offended, she fought through the standard answers everyone hears. Still she didn’t give up. She told Him, essentially, “All this is good but I need my daughter healed.” And Jesus’ response? “‘O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed at once” (verse 28). Prayer is wrestling. And to get your answer, you have to fight on when you receive silence. You have to fight on when everyone else is getting an answer and you are being overlooked. You have to fight on when you receive only standard answers. You fight on. Just as the woman did, you don’t give up, you don’t stop praying. Keep wrestling!

Day 14 Today’s Reading: Matthew 14 As he awaited his death as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp, the famed theologian, pastor, and Christian martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote a letter about losing people we love. He wrote, in part: There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it. At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled, one remains connected to the other person through it. It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve - even in pain - the authentic relationship. Furthermore, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation. But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain. I love this statement: “Gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy.” Gratitude helps us deal with loss. Jesus showed us one other way to deal with the grief that accompanies the loss of people we love—compassion. In today’s reading we see that Jesus faced loss: When Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities. When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:13-14) John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin. John was murdered because of a crazed and convicted adulterer and a robot of a dancing daughter. She danced before Herod, who became so intoxicated with this sensual dance, he offered her whatever she wanted. The little girl went to her mom for her advice on what to ask for. Her mother hated John because he had confronted and condemned her for sleeping with the king. She told her daughter to demand John’s head on a platter. Can you be more vindictive than that? So Herod gave the order and had John the Baptist beheaded. When Jesus heard the news, He withdrew out of grief and sorrow. He went to a lonely place by Himself. He wanted to be alone. Tragic death paralyzes. The big problem for Jesus was that though He wanted to be alone to grieve and process His loss, the multitudes wanted His healing. When they realized where He had gone, they followed Him. Now consider this . . . when He saw them, He felt compassion for them. He did not say, “Hey, I need some time alone. Let’s do this next Thursday.” Even in His deep grief, He felt something when He saw them and their needs. This is instructive to us. This is one of the great ways to overcome our grief when we have lost a loved one. Our tendency leads us toward loneliness: “I just want to be alone,” “Give me some private time,” “I don’t want to see anyone or talk to anyone,” “Just leave me alone.” Jesus was alone, but He shows us that compassion trumps grief. The way out of the grief funk is not through a season of loneliness but through ministering to others. When you start to tend to others’ needs, God heals you and takes care of you. The passage says, “He healed their sick.” We would say, “I need healing.” Among all the “professional Christian counseling” and “grief counselors,” I’ve never heard them tell us in the midst of our grief to “go help others.” Seclusion does not fix you. It’s dangerous to be left alone with your thoughts when you suffer great loss. It is in giving that you receive.

Day 13 Today’s Reading: Matthew 13 Every day as you read one chapter of the New Testament, the goal is more than just experiencing a feeling of accomplishment but to grow and become more like Christ. Sometimes when you struggle to find time for God’s Word, it isn’t because you’re busy, it is because you’re experiencing spiritual warfare! This book is a supernatural book and changes people’s lives. That’s why it’s hard to read the Bible. Jesus explained about this in today’s Scripture reading. In Matthew 13, Jesus told seven parables, or Kingdom stories. The most famous parable in this chapter is called the sower and the seed. Jesus used the surroundings of the people, more specifically the agricultural fields, to explain the battle that goes on to stop the Word of God from taking root in people’s lives and changing them. Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears let him hear. (Matthew 13:3-9) His big point was this: Satan sees what God’s Word can do in people’s lives and so he will do whatever he can to stop it from producing in you. The seed being planted in the story is the Bible, God’s Word, and it faces challenges to take root and produce. Challenge #1: the devil. That is the seed on the roadside. The moment you read the Bible or listen to a sermon, Satan waits to steal that Word because it is powerful. Sin will keep you from the Bible or the Bible will keep you from sin. Challenge #2: difficulties. That is the seed that takes root but does not go deep. The way you win against difficulties is through depth. Go deep in God. Go deep in His Word. Challenge #3: distractions. Jesus said the weeds that choke the seeds are the worries of the world and deceitfulness of riches. If you’re too busy to read the Bible, you’re too busy. And yet there are those who will get through these hurdles and produce fruit with their lives. Jesus called them seeds that grow in good soil and produce a good crop—a good God-honoring life. The devil will challenge every word and chapter you read in the Bible, because he knows what it can do. When you signed up for this 260 Journey, you also signed up for a battle. But it’s a winnable battle! If you want to win at it, start treating your Bible like you treat your cell phone. Ever wonder what would happen if we did that? • What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets? • What if we scrolled through it several times a day? • What if we turned back to get it if we forgot it? • What if we used it to receive messages from the text? • What if we treated it as though we couldn’t live without it? • What if we gave it to kids as gifts? • What if we used it when we traveled? • What if we used it in case of emergency? And something even better: unlike our cell phones, we don’t have to worry about our Bible being disconnected, because Jesus already paid the bill. The best protection against Satan’s lies is to know God’s truth. The next time you find yourself struggling to read the Bible, remember who’s behind that struggle and then remember that you were meant for the good soil.

Day 12 Today’s Reading: Matthew 12 While I am writing today’s devotional, a television show about Jack Ryan, the fictional CIA analyst, is trending online. Some knew him as Harrison Ford; for others, he was Chris Pine; and for us old folks, we knew him as Alec Baldwin. Jack Ryan is Tom Clancy’s creation. And those actors portrayed him in the movie versions of Clancy’s thriller books, such as The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, Without Remorse. His works are always very thick, about five hundred to seven hundred pages long. There are a half million to three-quarter million words in an average Tom Clancy novel.  How long would it take you to say as many words as he writes in one of his books? According to researchers, people open their mouths an average of seven hundred times in a day. In those seven hundred times, you will use an average of eighteen thousand words a day. Those eighteen thousand words translate to about fifty-four printed pages. That means that in one year, an average person would fill . . . sixty-six books of eight hundred pages each. Every year you write with your words sixty-six volumes that are larger than those Tom Clancy novels. That’s a lot of words! And what makes it even more impressive is that each of those words matter. Why do those eighteen thousand words each day matter? We find the answer in the Old Testament book of Proverbs: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (18:21). Another version says it like this: “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose” (MSG). That’s why we take our eighteen thousand really seriously. So here’s the question: What is your life-and-death ratio on your eighteen thousand? Is it that big of a deal? Let’s see what Jesus said about it in today’s reading: For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of Judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. (Matthew 12:34-37) You and I will be held accountable for every careless word we speak, so yes, we definitely need to take our eighteen thousand seriously. It’s a scary thought, isn’t it? God thinks our words are so important and can make such a difference in someone’s life that he holds us accountable for them. Proverbs 12:25 tells us, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.” So here’s a challenge for you: give someone a good word today. Text it, say it, write it. But choose your words to bring life. Recently my family and I were traveling. As we sat together on the long flight, I watched my youngest daughter write a five-sentence note of thanks to the flight attendant. My daughter wanted to give life with her words. One good word can change anxiety into gladness. Your words have that capability. Do something useful with your eighteen thousand today.

Day 11 Today’s Reading: Matthew 11 Conditions or circumstances can affect perspectives.  What goes on in our lives can determine our points of view and how we define important things—most seriously, our view and definition of God. Sometimes our circumstances can take us from living an exclamation-mark life to living a question-mark life. Let me give you an example of what I mean. John the Baptist was an exclamation man. He was known as a prophet who called people to repent of their sins and baptized them. He’s most well-known, however, as the one who baptized Jesus. Read the following verses about him from the book of John—and pay close attention to John the Baptist’s punctuation: The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (John 1:35-36) We see two exclamation-point verses here. He speaks with certainty and confidence. But then something happens. A change in John’s circumstances began to change his perspective: “When John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” (Matthew 11:2-3). What happened to the exclamation points? John went from an exclamation to a question. And it all hinged on two words—two huge words: “John . . . imprisoned.” These two words changed his perspective on Jesus. His exclamation points got punched in the gut and doubled over into a question mark. That’s what a question mark is—an exclamation point that got punched in the gut. Here’s what John needed to know and what we need to remember: • We change, but God doesn’t.  • Circumstances change, but God doesn’t.  • Life changes, but God doesn’t.  If Jesus was the Lamb of God two years earlier, John’s imprisonment doesn’t change who Jesus is. Our circumstances can’t make God any different. John let being in prison decide his definition of Jesus. Don’t let whatever circumstances arise in your life define Christ.  I’m in trouble.  I’m in debt.  I’m in a divorce.  I’m in a wheelchair.  I’m in court today. I’m in rehab. I’m in hot water. I’m in therapy.  I’m incarcerated. Those are circumstances; those don’t define who Christ is. Know that with all that going on, you can still be in Christ. The “in Christ” part of you doesn’t change—no matter your situation—because He doesn’t change. As the writer of Hebrews assures us: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, TLB). Jesus’ response to (and about) John is pretty amazing: This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you, Who Will prepare your Way before you.’ Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! (Matthew 11:10-11) John was in the worst position he had ever been in. And Jesus said that this did not change what He thought about him. Jesus was saying, When your exclamation-mark life changes to a question-mark life, I am still who I am, and I do not change my exclamation-mark feelings about you. Just because you doubt Me doesn’t mean I doubt My love for you and what I think of you. Even in your worst state, you are still the greatest to God. Jesus gave the highest statement of John after John gave Him the lowest statement. John asked, “Who are You really?” And Jesus responded that no one has been born greater than John. That’s pretty amazing, right? So, if your Sunday exclamation point got punched in the gut on Monday, straighten up and remember that God is still the same.

Day 10 Today’s Reading: Matthew 10 I want to tell you the history of two groups of people who are in the New Testament—the tax collectors and the zealots. The tax collectors were Jews who collected taxes from fellow Jews for the Roman Empire. They made their living by charging an extra amount on top of what everyone owed. Some of them made more than a living. They exacted any amount they could and became well to do. The Jews considered tax collectors to be traitors, because they “stole” money; they became wealthy by collaborating with Roman authorities at the expense of their own people. And their own people hated them. The Zealots strongly believed that the Romans should not rule their land— and they confronted any opposition directly, even considering violence an appropriate response. Within the Zealots were a subgroup called the Sicarii, or “dagger men.” Sicarii  were a group of rebels, most widely known today as the group who fought against the Roman authorities and took Masada, Herod’s famous fortress in the desert. Today we would call them first-century terrorists. They murdered in the name of religion. And they hated traitors— more specifically, tax collectors. Zealots were the terrorists. Tax collectors were the traitors. Put those two together, and it isn’t going to be good. Call 911. And that’s where we find ourselves in today’s reading: "Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him. These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them." (Matthew 10:1-5, emphasis added) Think about that. Jesus put a zealot and a tax collector close to each other as His disciples. Out of the twelve disciples, two of them were sworn enemies of each other: Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector. Matthew 10 even labels them for us, so we know of the potential conflict. And Jesus specifically called each of them to follow Him and to work and live together. It wasn’t an accident or a mistake. He did that on purpose! What does that have to do with you and me? Our tendency is to hang out with people we like and who are like us. Think about your church. If you choose a church based upon the people whom you have stuff in common with, then you want a club not a church. What I love about Jesus’ disciple list is that it doesn’t say, “Peter, a fisherman; John, a fisherman; Simon, a fisherman . . .” Their descriptions show us that Jesus chose people who couldn’t be more opposite. God can put you with people who irritate you. That is how sandpaper works. You get rubbed so the rough edges come off of you, you can be smooth, and you become more like Christ. You don’t grow by being with people who are just like you. (You become boring but you don’t grow.) Oswald Chambers explained it this way: “God can never make us wine if we object to the fingers He uses to crush us with. If God would only use His own fingers and make us wine. But when He uses someone whom we dislike, and makes those the crushers . . . we object.” God may have put the tax collector with the zealot in your church. Why? Because this is a church, not a club. Because the church is about making people become more like Christ. It represents Jesus’ loves and not your likes. And He loves everyone—even the people you might think are the worst. So the next time your zealot nature sits next to an irritating tax collector, think about how Jesus may have placed that person in your life to make you a stronger Christian. Or put another way, when your “I was raised in a Christian home all my life” sits next to a brand new saved person who smells like his struggle, don’t think, That person bothers me. Think, That person sanctifies me. Then rejoice over the fact that God is using you to sanctify somebody else.

Day 9 Today’s Reading: Matthew 9 Matthew 9 is a chapter that is spilling over with healing and faith. A paralyzed man is brought to Jesus by his friends in verse 2 and Jesus sees the faith of the friends and the paralyzed man walks. A woman with a twelve-year disease is free in an instant. Jesus says to her, “Your faith has made you well” (verse 22). Two blind men finally see through their eyes after Jesus said to them, “It shall be done to you according to your faith” (verse 29). Faith and healing. Those two things are inseparable. So many people today need healing in their bodies. It seems that we want our healing, but we have never checked our faith. We probably should get a handle on faith. This small word is huge. Let’s see if we can unpack it in the next few minutes. Faith has to be a huge thing, if in fact: • It’s how we get saved • It’s how people get healed • It’s how we please God • It’s how we walk the Christian life—even a little still does big things • It’s what makes prayer powerful Almost everything we do as a Christian involves faith. So I think we better get a handle on it and realize what it is. Faith . . . • honors God and God honors faith. • cashes God’s checks. • won’t get you everything you want, but it will get you everything that God wants you to have. Only two times does the Bible devote an entire chapter to one topic. The first is love in 1 Corinthians 13. The second is what we are discussing today—faith, which we find in Hebrews 11. Though we aren’t there yet in our 260 journey, today’s reading helps us understand the power of faith. As we see in Matthew 9, God takes faith very seriously. As I’ve heard it said, “Faith is like WiFi. It’s invisible but it has the power to connect you to what you need!”  You exercise faith everyday. Let’s take one example of the doctor and the pharmacist. You go to a doctor whose name you cannot pronounce and whose degrees you have never verified. He gives you a prescription you cannot read. You take it to a pharmacist you have never met. He gives you a chemical compound you do not understand. Then you go home and take the pill according to the instructions on the bottle. All in trusting, sincere faith. When it comes to your spiritual life, you need faith to get over the hurdle of determining that God exists. You use faith for the next hurdle: Who is this God you gave your life to? Then you face another hurdle that takes faith—fighting the devil as he tries to mess you up on the greatness of God. Why? Because biblical faith always depends upon its object. You can have little faith in thick ice and still survive; you can have great faith with thin ice and drown—it’s the object that is the issue. The Bible never says to believe only; it says to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible never says to have faith only; it says to “have faith in God” (Mark 11:22). So if the God you put your faith in is misconstrued, then so is your faith. The best way to grow faith is to do as Peter tells us to, “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). And the best place to start that growth, in order to know God, is through reading and studying the Word of God. The Bible is God’s bio. The more we read it, the more our faith strengthens. Faith needs an object. The object—the bulls eye—of our faith is God and who He is. Your faith is only as great as the God you believe in. He must be the object of your faith. Since God does not change, your faith can still be strong in tough times. You don’t need great faith, you need faith in a great God. As Charles H. Spurgeon once said, “Oh, brethren, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to you.” If you grow, or feed, your faith through the Word of God and the knowledge of God, how does Satan attack your faith and try to squelch it? By messing up what you think about God. If you have faith in a small God, then you will have small faith. How big is your God? Take a page from this little guy . . . A little boy was asked, “How many gods are there in the world? “One God,” he replied. “How do you know that?” said the skeptic. “Because there is only room for One. Since heaven and earth can’t contain Him, how can anyone else fit?” He is so right. “For our God is the best, far better than competing gods. Why, the skies—the entire cosmos!—can’t begin to contain him” (2 Chronicles 2:5-6, MSG). Tell me what other God can fit, if the entire cosmos is already filled up—with the one true God, Jesus! Where is your faith today?

Day 8 Today’s Reading: Matthew 8 Her name was Agnes and she was from Albania. In 1928, at age eighteen, she went to Ireland and became a nun. Almost twenty years later, in 1946, she received what she described as a call within the call. As she was riding on a train, her heart heard the Lord tell her to help the most rejected people in society, the poorest of the poor—the throw-away people of Calcutta, India. It took her two years of fighting through the bureaucratic red tape to pursue that call. But she remained committed, and in 1950, Agnes Bojaxhiu founded the Missionaries of Charity. Agnes Bojaxhiu, of course, is Mother Teresa. Discussing that call within a call, she stated, “Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are—in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people, who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society—completely forgotten, completely left alone. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.” We just finished reading the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher—Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). Now we turn our attention to chapter 8. What interests me is not just the sermon, but what took place the day after the sermon—what we learn about in today’s reading of chapter 8. This is when the crowd shrinks to the individual. The audience now has a name. And we see it immediately in Matthew 8:1-2 (MSG): “Jesus came down the mountain with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. Then a leper appeared.” Life just got real. The worst disease came after the greatest sermon. You know what I’m talking about. After the singing and the preaching, there is debt, marriage problems, addictions, cancer, diabetes, divorce, and abuse. Chapter 8 is all about what happens on Monday—after the great and inspiring Sunday morning worship service. Chapter 8 is where there is no stage, no music, but people with a lot of problems who need help. Chapter 8 is about a lot of people, and all of them have an issue. And Jesus met every one—cleansing, healing, deliverance, words of truth. Think about this with me: • Chapters 5–7 is Sunday at church service • Chapter 8 is Monday through Saturday • Chapter 5–7 is about interacting with God • Chapter 8 is about how we interact with people No one did it better than Jesus: • Chapters 5–7, He is the preacher-teacher • Chapter 8, He is the doctor In chapter 8, His Monday included four encounters: • a leper • a Roman captain with a paralyzed staff member • His disciple Peter’s sick mother-in-law stuck in bed with a fever • two graveyard demoniacs who were causing havoc in town But this is important to notice: Jesus had compassion and healed them. The key word with Jesus, and when He sees someone in need, is compassion. To know the Bible, to know how to sing Christian songs, is important, but that doesn’t translate into making other people’s lives better when we meet them in a tragedy. You can’t be compassionate without people. Compassion needs people to sacrifice for. No one is compassionate alone. Our Calcuttas are right next to us. And they need our compassion. It’s about touching your city, your community, your neighbors, your family and friends. Every one of us has three resources to show compassion: time, treasure, and talents. Time: The Bible says, “To redeem the time” (Ephesians 5:16, KJV). To “redeem” it means to see it as valuable and get the best bang for your buck. The New American Standard Bible translates it as making the most of ou

Day 7 Today’s Reading: Matthew 7 A concerned husband went to see the family doctor. “I think my wife is deaf,” he said. “She never hears me the first time I say something. In fact, I often have to repeat things over and over.” “Go home tonight,” the doctor suggested. “Stand about fifteen feet from her, and say something. If she doesn’t reply, move about five feet closer and say it again. Keep doing this so we can get an idea of the severity of her deafness.” That night, the husband went home and did exactly as instructed. He stood about fifteen feet from his wife, who was standing in the kitchen, chopping vegetables. “Honey, what’s for dinner?” he said. When he received no response, he moved five feet closer and asked again. “Honey, what’s for dinner?” No reply. So he moved another five feet closer and repeated his question. But still no reply. Fed up and frustrated, he moved right behind her, and standing about an inch away, asked one final time, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” “For the fourth time,” she said, “chicken!” Guess who had the problem? Guess who was the deaf one? We can laugh over this story, but it tells a truth: we always assume it’s the other person who has the problem. Jesus addressed this issue in the last part of the Sermon on the Mount—and it gets really up close and personal. He called it logs and specks. "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-3) Jesus was a carpenter so this illustration made sense. Jesus said, in essence, “How can you see the speck in others and yet miss your own log?” In other words, Jesus was saying that the little junk you see in other people and point out just reveals a lot of junk that’s in you, which you choose to ignore. Jesus called this type of person a hypocrite. I’ve heard a hypocrite described this way: "A hypocrite is a person who is easy on himself but hard on others, but a godly man is hard on himself and easy on others." It’s much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. Jesus’ challenge is for us to keep our eyes on ourselves first and be especially sure to admonish ourselves before you and I admonish any of our friends. When practicing this, some good advice to start with is this: • It would be wiser to accuse yourself and excuse others. • If you want to be endured, then learn to endure others. The fault lies not in our inability to see ourselves but in our unwillingness to see ourselves. As the great nineteenth-century preacher Charles H. Spurgeon aptly put it: “None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves.” I have asked couples in marriage counseling to name their logs before telling me their spouse’s specks. It’s amazing how hard it is for them to think of their own. We get in the way of ourselves. Instead we prefer to be the “Help and Speck Inspector.” If we go back to what Jesus was saying, He was showing us that logs are bigger than specks. Meaning that we have a bigger problem than those we judge. When we don’t start with “I’m the problem,” we have a long haul ahead of us in our relationships. Instead, we must always start with ourselves—not with the other person. If you want to judge, judge yourself first, is what Jesus said. Logs before specks, and logs take a long time to get rid of. You’ll be so busy getting rid of the log that you won’t have time for specks. Get this and you will build deep, meaningful and long-term relationships. London preacher

Day 6 Today’s Reading: Matthew 6 In the first part of chapter 6, Jesus spoke about three personal disciplines that are part of every Christian’s life: giving, praying, and fasting. Note that I said, these three disciplines are part of every Christian’s life. If you are a Christian, then they are to be part of your life as well. How do we know they should be part of our lives? Because as Jesus spoke about them, He used an important word before each of them. Jesus started off each of the three with the word when, which assumes we are already practicing them. When you give . . . When you pray . . . When you fast . . . As He discussed these disciplines, He wanted to guide us in the proper way to practice them. In each instance, Jesus used a second word that is an essential part: secret (see verses 4, 6 and 18). We are to do these things in secret. In other words, we aren’t supposed to flaunt the fact that we practice them. Why? Because there’s only to be one member of our audience who sees what we do: God. We do these things in secret—and the aftereffects of them go public. That’s the power of these disciplines, He explained. If we pursue them without anybody’s knowledge, we will receive a reward and everyone will benefit—they will always go public, or “in the open,” in their effect. Let me explain by using prayer as an example. Jesus said, “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6). When we dissect this sentence, we see the when (“when you pray”), the secret (“go into your inner room”), and in the open (your Father . . . will reward you). But I want you to see something else. Go back to the Scripture and count the number of times Jesus used the words you or yours. This is the only verse in the whole Bible that has the singular personal pronoun in it seven times: “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Why is this important to note? Because Jesus was saying that you have a responsibility. You. But—and here’s the beautiful part of it—this responsibility is never a waste of time. Because your Father will reward you. You. The word reward means to clock in and get a paycheck. Jesus was saying that every time you pray, you clock in—you expect a paycheck. God pays His workers well. You will come out with way more than you put in. When Mother Teresa was alive, many who visited her and her Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta were surprised that every lunchtime they left their life-sustaining work in dispensaries and in the home for the dying. “Why do you go back so soon and not stay longer? Where do you go?” Mother Teresa responded, “We go to pray. We have learned that to work without prayer is to achieve only what is humanly possible and our desire is to be involved in divine possibilities.” We get to be involved in divine possibilities. When we give, when we pray, when we fast. Let’s show up today to our responsibilities. The pay-off is too good not to.

Day 5 Today’s Reading: Matthew 5 Several years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported a story on happiness in different nations around the world. The newspaper’s title gave away the happiness level of people living in the United States: “Richest Country, Saddest People—Any Coincidence?” According to a study jointly conducted by the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School, and based on more than 60,000 face-to-face interviews worldwide, the richest country—the United States—has the saddest people and is regarded as one of the unhappiest places on earth. Out of the fourteen countries surveyed, we have the highest rate of depression. We have the highest standard of living and yet we take more tranquilizers than anyone. And it seems that the more people have, the angrier they are. The happiest people on the planet? Nigerians.  And they have one of the lowest standards of living. I don’t believe Nigerians have the corner on the market, though. Believers do. Not feeling it? Today’s reading will help fix that. In Matthew 5, Jesus gives us His prescription for how to have happiness. In today’s through the next two days’ readings (Matthew 5–7), we find the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever walked the planet. It’s called the Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus tells us how to be happy. It’s connected to eight verses, called the Beatitudes, which are structured this way: “Blessed are the . . . for they shall . . .” Some translations have it as, “Happy are those who . . .” It’s amazing that Jesus starts His first sermon with happiness. But what makes this crazy is that Jesus says what will make us happy or blessed are the very things we wouldn’t expect. I once heard theologian N. T. Wright say in a sermon, “The beatitudes of Jesus tell us that all the wrong people are going to be blessed; they are counterintuitive. God is turning everything upside down.” Let me read it to you from the Good News Translation: Happy are those who know they are spiritually poor; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them! Happy are those who are humble; they will receive what God has promised! Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully! Happy are those who are merciful to others; God will be merciful to them! Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God! Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children! Happy are those who are persecuted because they do what God requires; the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them! Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. (Matthew 5:3-11) This is not what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount: Live like this and you will become a Christian. That’s impossible. What He is saying: Because you are a Christian, you can live like this and experience happiness. What to remember regarding the Beatitudes: 1. Happiness is found in character not in possessions. Every one of these Beatitudes is something internal, not external; something you are, not something you have. 2. God would never ask you to do or be something that is not possible. God never makes His Word, His promises, or His challenges unattainable. God never directs us into dead-ends. 3. God always leaves a gap (of dependency). You can’t practice the beatitudes without God. Which means you can’t be happy without God. These beatitudes are not natural for us. We need God to instill them into us and direct us. We look to God to help us. And He will. Eight times Je

Day 4 Today’s Reading: Matthew 4 It seems Jesus can’t even towel off and get dressed after being water baptized in the Jordan River before Satan shows up and challenges what Jesus has heard. We ended yesterday’s reading in Matthew 3 with hearing God speak. Today’s reading in Matthew 4 opens with hearing Satan speak. Remember that in Matthew 3 at Jesus’ water baptism, God said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” And before Jesus could properly digest and process those words, Satan spoke. Satan’s message: Did God really say that? Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God . . . .” (Matthew 4:1-3, emphasis added) God the Father had just told him, “You are My Son” (Matthew 3:17). Now Satan was questioning what God had said to Jesus. In essence, he was asking, “Did God really say that . . . ?” This is not new. Satan was just shooting the same bullet he always does. Remember back to the beginning of the Bible. In Genesis 3, the devil did the same thing in the Garden of Eden with Eve. His first recorded words pose a question—but not just any question. He asked a question to humans about God. “Has God said . . . ?” (Genesis 3:1). In other words, “Did God really say that?” This is what you need to know: Whatever God backs, Satan attacks. Sometimes Satan’s attacks are the confirmations that you did hear from God and God did speak to you. As clear as God’s voice was for Jesus, Satan’s voice came in fast and clear. He did the same to Adam and Eve. He’ll do the same to you and me. No one is off limits—not Jesus, not the first family (Adam and Eve), not a child in the womb, not a pastor’s family. No one who follows God and tries to be obedient to Him. C. S. Lewis writes, “The enemy will not see you vanish into God’s company without an effort to reclaim you.” Why does Satan come after you? Not because you are bad, but because, as a child of God, you are valuable. If you are a thief, and that is what Satan is, you don’t break into abandon houses; you break into places you know has valuable stuff. Thomas Watson puts it this way: “Satan doth not tempt God’s children because they have sin in them, but because they have grace in them. Had they no grace he would not disturb them.” A thief will not assault an empty house, but where he thinks there is treasure. Several years ago Sotheby’s auction house in New York City had an auction. Here are some of the items that sold: • Napoleon’s toothbrush: $48,000 • Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s fake pearls: $256,000 • President John F. Kennedy’s wood golf clubs: $750,000 In and of themselves, they had worth, but what made them so extravagantly valuable? Not what they were by themselves, but whom they belonged to. Just as you had worth before you became a Christian, the day you got saved, your value skyrocketed. You just went from being “abandoned property” to being owned by the Creator of the Universe. Now since you are valuable, you are a target.

Day 3 Today’s Reading: Matthew 3 A little brother was jealous that his older brother was getting water baptized and he wasn’t. As his father instructed the older brother on what it meant and how special it was, the little guy left the room in tears because he wasn’t being baptized. His father followed him to find out why he was so upset. When the father asked the four-year-old what was wrong, the little boy said, “I want to be advertised too with my brother on Sunday.” When you get water baptized, you get also get advertised. It is a public declaration. It announces to everyone who you are following. But it doesn’t make you a Christian any more than saying that a wedding ring on your finger makes you married. My wedding ring doesn’t make me married, but it shows people that I am married. The ring is a symbol. And baptism is a symbol. To make it anything more than a symbol is dangerous. Water baptism, whether a spoonful or a tankful will never save anyone. But it is an important second step in our faith journey. Being water baptized differentiates the serious from the casual follower of Jesus. As Max Lucado says, “Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers.” Some call them ordinances of the church, but really, communion and water baptism are mini-dramas of salvation using props—water, bread, and wine. Something very special happens every time one of these mini-dramas take place: they are not just events in the life of the church among believers; they are sacred moments for God to speak to us. That’s what happened to Jesus. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17) God spoke after Jesus was water baptized: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God confirmed family. God confirmed His love. And so when we participate (practicing obedience), we do it because we love God (the motive of our obedience) and to hear God speak to us. God responds, “I love you too.” We all need that Voice out of heaven to speak to us. We live in a world crowded with voices all shouting at us: • You are not good enough! • You are not skinny enough! • You are not good looking enough! • You don’t make enough money! • You are not married! • You don’t have kids! Those voices label you over what I’m not. And yet God tells us, You belong to Me and you are greatly loved. We need to listen to and hear the Voice that Jesus heard at His baptism. As Steven Furtick writes, “The voice you believe will determine the future you experience.” God’s voice is where our identity is found and the searching stops. We can be assured that God’s voice tells us that He loves us and that He is pleased with us. The biggest temptation today is to seek an alternative identity to who God created us to be. We see it in the ways we answer the question, Who am I? • I am what I do—my job and career define me. But when I get old and can no longer do a job and I retire, I lose my identity. • I am what others say about me—people’s words about me have power, especially who is saying it. So I’m good when the talk about me is good, but I lose my identity when it’s negative. • I am what I have—I have a degree, health, good parents, good children, good salary, and security. But when I lose any of those things, I lose my identity. When we participate in the mini-dramas of salvation, we answer the identity question by hearing and embracing God’s voice. He says, You are God’s beloved. Heaven says that about you today. One of my dear friends reminds us, “There’s nothing you can do that

Day 2 Today’s Reading: Matthew 2 Obedience to God is such a powerful tool. Obedience to God will always keep you one step ahead of the enemy. Obedience to God brings you blessing. And it brings protection and puts you in the right place at the right time—exactly where God wants you to be. When we don’t obey God, we withhold from ourselves all that God has in store for us. An old friend, Joy Dawson, said this: “Disobeying God is the same as telling Him to hold back all of the blessings that come with obedience. That is not only stupidity, it’s insanity.” We find this idea of being obedient to God in today’s Scripture reading. Jesus has been born, which is epic. But what happens after the Christmas story is epic as well. The magi were heading to the place where Jesus was. They’d come to worship Him and to bring Him gifts. One of my favorite descriptions of their arrival is in verse 10 in the Message paraphrase: “They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!” Think about that. “They were in the right place. They had arrived at the right time.” I want a life like that. I want to be in the right place—at the right time. We only get there one way: by being obedient to God. Too many of us, though, believe we can handle things on their own. As John Maxwell said, “Most Christians are educated way beyond their level of obedience.” I know many people who are (education) smart but not (obedient) wise. Education smart is good and helpful, but it isn’t the same as obedient wise. You can’t become obedient wise through education. When you are wise, you will be at the right place at the right time. And wisdom comes from obedience. Joseph shows us this truth. After the magi leave, Joseph has a dream: After the scholars [the magi] were gone, God’s angel showed up again in Joseph’s dream and commanded, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. . . . Joseph obeyed (Matthew 2:13, MSG). What happens next is monumental! King Herod, who learned about the Messiah through the magi, when they initially arrived in the area, commanded that every little boy two years old and younger who lived in Bethlehem was to be murdered. Here is the reality: Obedience to God keeps us one step ahead of the enemy. Think about it. Herod wanted to kill Jesus. Before that happened—first God gave Joseph a dream that told him to leave. And then—second—Herod sends his men on a killing spree. Because God called Joseph to obedience before Herod’s plan was enacted, and because Joseph obeyed, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were able to flee Bethlehem and find safety in Egypt. It was a forty-mile journey for the new family. So they were forty miles ahead of death and destruction, because God is always a first responder. But we have to obey to reap the benefits. As Brother Andrew said, “Whenever, wherever, however You want me, I’ll go. And I’ll begin this very minute. Lord, as I stand up from this place, and as I take my first step forward, will You consider this is a step toward complete obedience to You? I’ll call it the Step of Yes.” I have experienced this truth in my own life. I have watched it happen with a simple apology. I said something I should not have and the Holy Spirit convicted me and called me to go to that person and apologize. Conviction was my dream. And that apology kept that relationship forty miles ahead of the enemy’s narratives to harm it and kill it. Obedience keeps you and me forty miles ahead of death. Jesus said this about our enemy, the devil: “The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy” every child of God (John 10:10, msg). That’s his mission and his Herod-like plan every day. Obedience to God keeps us ahead of any steal-kill-and-destroy agenda. And when we are one step ahead, we are alway

Day 1 Today’s Reading: Matthew 1 The whole of the New Testament starts with today’s reading in Matthew 1. This is the story of stories—and it starts off all wrong. Most adventure stories begin with the wondrous “Once upon a time” so we know we’re in for something truly amazing. That’s the way the New Testament should begin, right? After all, what is more adventurous and exciting than the story of salvation, redemption, hope, and the keys to eternal life? Instead, Matthew starts his book of the same name with a genealogy. Why in the world would he do that? Because this story is not a fairy tale; this story is true. And he wants you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is true. The greatest story ever told starts like a phone book, a long list unpronounceable names. But this is important: Those names tell us that Jesus is real and that He can be traced. This is Jesus’ ancestry.com. What makes this list amazing is that some names in this long list belong to people who had sketchy pasts. Not only did Jesus associate with liars, cheaters, adulterers, murderers, and prostitutes—as we’ll see throughout the Gospels—but Jesus had them in his lineage. And Matthew didn’t even attempt to cover it up! Why does that matter to you and me? Because it shows from the outset that Jesus wants to associate with all of us. No matter what we’ve done or have become, we aren’t beyond His love or reach. I know this is true. Throughout my years of ministry, I have seen hardened prostitutes changed. Too often prostitutes feel irredeemable because their past holds so tightly to them. And yet, no one shows a way out of a past like Rahab, the prostitute who shows up in Jesus’ lineage. Her story is epic, and we see her name in that long list of names in Matthew: “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse” (Matthew 1:5, AMP). This is the Rahab from the Old Testament book of Joshua whose act of saving Hebrew spies got her inducted in Hebrews’ hall of faith (see Hebrews 11:31). She hid them, and when they returned Joshua and the Hebrews conquered Jericho when the walls came crashing down, the only family they saved was Rahab’s. Jesus is associated with a prostitute. Would you expect anything less? Not only was she saved, but she married a Jewish man. Let’s reread Matthew 1:5: “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.” Salmon and Rahab had Boaz, who married Ruth—of the Old Testament book of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed who had a son named Jesse. And Jesse had a son named David. Not just any David. “Jesse was the father of David the king” (Matthew 1:6 , AMP). Guess who was the great-great grandmother of King David? Rahab, the prostitute, the harlot. A quick thought for today: Almost every time Rahab’s name is mentioned, in both the Old and New Testaments, it says, “Rahab the harlot.” How would you like that, if every time someone said your name, they included with it the worst season of your life? Can you imagine that the worst season of your life is your label and tag line connected to your name? What if it looked like this? (I’ll use my name so I don’t indict anyone!): Tim the thief. Tim the embezzler. Tim the adulterer. Tim the baby aborter. Tim the wife beater. Tim the divorcee. Tim the porn addicted. Tim the alcoholic. Tim the road rager. Tim the unemployed. Think about what label would be after your name. For Rahab, “harlot” connects the past to her. If time heals all wounds, then we wouldn’t need God. Time is not that strong, but God is. There is only one place in the entire Bible where “harlot” or “prostitute” is removed from Rahab’s name: It’s when her name is connected to Jesus in Matthew 1. The only wa

Day 260 Today's Reading: Revelation 22 Growing up in my house, if you heard Mom or Day say, “Don’t make me say it again,” you knew that was a clear warning—repetition was a warning. A warning that meant I wasn’t listening to what they said the first time. It could be anything from “Clean your room” to how I said something to my sibling, not heeding the first warning shot would always call for the finale, “Don’t make me say it again.”  Today’s chapter closes with repetition. We’ve finally made it to number 260, the final chapter of the New Testament—Revelation 22. What a journey it has been. As the New Testament closes, the apostle John speaks the same words three times. I believe because we forget how important they are. He quotes Jesus in verses 7 and 12: “I am coming quickly.” Then he says it one final time: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (verse 20). Repetition is always a warning for those who do not take it seriously. Repetition also means we weren’t listening the first time, that we did not think it important enough to pause and ponder. Thus John is shooting us one last warning shot before the New Testament closes.  One of the ways the early-church Christians greeted and said goodbye to one another was to say, “Maranatha.” That Aramaic word means “The Lord is coming” or “Come Lord Jesus.” What a great challenge for us today to find a way to keep the quick coming of Jesus ever before us. A gardener for a large estate in northern Italy gave a tour to a visitor. He showed him through the castle and the beautiful, well-groomed grounds. The visitor commended him for the beautiful way he kept up the gardens. He asked, “When was the last time the owner was here?” “About ten years ago,” the gardener said. “Then why do you keep the gardens in such an immaculate, lovely manner?” “Because I’m expecting him to return,” the gardener said. “Oh, is he coming next week?”  “I don’t know when he is coming,” the gardener replied, “but I am expecting him today.” In chapter 22, Jesus uses in the last chapter of Revelation the title He used in the first chapter of Revelation, “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (verse 13). He is the beginning and the end. Why does He use these two words or, actually, two letters? Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Jesus is saying that He was there at the beginning of everything and He will be there at the end of everything. And now Jesus is really stressing the Omega part here. This is the ending for human history as we know it—judgment, hell, and heaven. God only is Alpha and Omega. We are omega. That means we live forever beyond this life. In Unveiling the End Times in Our Time, Adrian Rogers said this about our omega part: When God created you with a soul, body, and mind, He made you in His image. You could no more cease to exist than God Himself could cease to exist. For all time, your soul will exist somewhere—either in heaven or hell. You have a life to live, a death to die, a judgment to face, and an eternity to endure either in heaven or in hell. And you will not miss hell and go to heaven unless you are twice born. Because He is coming quickly, we must be ready, so the omega part is ready. In Chicago many years ago, there was a nightclub called “The Gates of Hell” that was right downtown. Down the street from this nightclub was a church called Calvary Church. The story goes that a young man wanted to go to that nightclub one evening, so he asked a stranger on the street, “Can you tell me how to get to The Gates of Hell?” The stranger replied, “Go right past Ca

Day 259 Today's Reading: Revelation 21 Kimutchi will always have a place in my heart. She was a prostitute from the streets of Detroit who I led to the Lord. It was one of our initial conversations that forever has marked me. She used to call me Father Tim. She came to our church one day and said, “Father Tim, can you pray for me? I’m having a tough week.” “Sure, Kimutchi,” I told her. But as I began to pray, she quickly interrupted me. “No. You can’t pray. I have no money.” I was puzzled. “What do you mean you have no money?” She proceeded to tell me that certain pastors in town would charge her $25 a prayer and then would give her a Bible passage, which she’d use for playing the lottery numbers. It was a religious scam, much like the indulgences during the reformation, which Martin Luther railed against. I explained that what they had been doing was wrong. Then I took Kimutchi to Matthew 7:21, which says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Her eyes grew wide with amazement. “That’s how you do it?” she said. “I never knew what that meant.” When Kimutchi said that, she did not mean the meaning of the verse. She meant the actual numbers on the top of the page. She did not know that “7” meant the chapter and “21” meant the verse. Then she told me over and over, “Give me one I can look up.” Then, “Give me another one.” We took a journey through the Scriptures together until she finally asked me, “Father Tim, if I give my life to Jesus, I won’t have to be on the streets any longer? I won’t have to sell myself any longer? And when I die, I won’t have to cry every day like I do?” And that’s when I took her to today’s chapter—a chapter that came to mean everything to a prostitute. Here’s Kimutchi’s final passage that she looked up and saw the numbers 21 and 1 in Revelation: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5) This is heaven. This is our reward. This is the climax of history. No more wars, no more pain, no more tears, no more funerals. No more cancer, no more taxes, no more racism, no more bills, no more rent, no more need for health insurance. Because God has made all things new. Once when the great Scottish preacher and writer, George MacDonald, was talking with his family, the conversation turned to heaven. At one point, one of his relatives said, “It seems too good to be true.” To whom MacDonald replied, “Nay, it is just so good it must be true!”  It is just so good it must be true. That is heaven. That’s the place I wanted Kimutchi to know existed. And what makes heaven amazing is that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” God does that.  It’s said that an Eastern Orthodox monk said these profound words about heaven: “For most Christians heaven is envisaged as a kind of postscript, an appendix to a book of which life on earth constitutes the actual text. But the contrary is true. Our earthly life is merely the preface to the book. Life in heaven will be the text—a text without end.”