Our Daily Bread
Sunday 5/8/16
(1 Peter 1:3-12)
Something that, for some reason, we take for granted, the angels in heaven look at in amazement and wonder at how it was done. We had the problem of sin, but God destroyed it and allowed us access into His presence by the sacrifice of Jesus. The angels are still marveling at this but how many of us even think about it once per day? I know I’m guilty of accepting it as a given, but it wasn’t as easy as we oftentimes make it out to be. God, Himself, had to come down and live with us (in the middle of all of our dirt and grime). That alone is almost impossible to comprehend. The same God of the Old Testament who you weren’t even allowed to wear sandals around because the ground was so holy, put on His own sandals and accepted us, and loved us to death. And that’s only part of it. How much do we think about that?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His Great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance imperishable and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you. -Peter 1:3-4
Monday 5/9/16
(Deuteronomy 28:58-63)
When studying the Word of God we need to be sure that we’re paying attention to the context, not just the words on the page. We oftentimes try to pull out a sentence in the middle of a paragraph, redress it as something totally different, and then pass it off as the thing it was before. Remember, we didn’t write the Bible, God did. So don’t rewrite it for Him. I’m including an example of how some have done this in the verse below. The portion in bold is sometimes the only portion of the verse quoted. When you see the entire verse it has an entirely differently meaning.
Just as the LORD has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the LORD will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy.
-Deut 28:63
Tuesday 5/10/16
(Galatians 6:11-18)
How serious are we about Jesus? Paul was willing to love Jesus, and teach the meaning of the crucifixion of Messiah, even if he was killed for doing it. Do we love Jesus like that? Or are we so caught up in trying to be accepting to the world (even if the reason we want to be accepted is so that we make Christianity look “better”) that we give away some of the meaning of His death on the cross? Sadly, too often we water down the message in order to make it more palatable and less offensive. But the truth is that message of Jesus, while loving, is offensively not accepting of sin.
But as for me, may it never be that I boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. -Galatians 6:14
Wednesday 5/11/16
(Philemon 1:8-19)
God is able to do such great works in us. So often we think that we’re too flawed to be able to accomplish anything. Or, at least, we’re too flawed in a certain area. Those are the areas that God is going to use us in (2 Cor 12:9-11).
Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful to you and to me -Philemon 1:12
Thursday 5/12/16
(Philippians 4:10-19)
We don’t wake up on our first day of being a Christian and have it all down. The common analogy is that this is a race that we run, but it’s more than that. We will have races throughout our life but the races are few and far between; the truth is that each day is a practice for the race and we are just conditioning ourselves to be able to run the race without growing weary.
In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to have an abundance and to go without. I am able to do all things by the one who strengthens me.
- Philippians 4:12-13
Friday 5/13/16
(Luke 6:41-45)
It's so easy to see the failings of somebody else, but how often do we seek out our own failings? Even when a person is hypercritical of themselves they rarely are critical and want to fix what’s wrong with themselves. We need to be able to look inward and see what we’re doing wrong. We need to be able to assess ourselves and move to fix it.
The good person out of the good treasury of his heart brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heat his mouth speaks. -Luke 6:45
Saturday 5/14/16
(Psalms 141)
The Bible is kind of like our corrective lenses. I wear glasses and I can’t really see without them. When I take my glasses off the world looks blurry. When I view the world through a Biblical worldview, it all comes into focus a lot more. The Bible is the coke bottle lenses we need to make sense of it all.
Set a guard, O Yahweh, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips - Psalm 141:3
Sunday 5/8/16
(1 Peter 1:3-12)
Something that, for some reason, we take for granted, the angels in heaven look at in amazement and wonder at how it was done. We had the problem of sin, but God destroyed it and allowed us access into His presence by the sacrifice of Jesus. The angels are still marveling at this but how many of us even think about it once per day? I know I’m guilty of accepting it as a given, but it wasn’t as easy as we oftentimes make it out to be. God, Himself, had to come down and live with us (in the middle of all of our dirt and grime). That alone is almost impossible to comprehend. The same God of the Old Testament who you weren’t even allowed to wear sandals around because the ground was so holy, put on His own sandals and accepted us, and loved us to death. And that’s only part of it. How much do we think about that?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His Great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance imperishable and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you. -Peter 1:3-4
Monday 5/9/16
(Deuteronomy 28:58-63)
When studying the Word of God we need to be sure that we’re paying attention to the context, not just the words on the page. We oftentimes try to pull out a sentence in the middle of a paragraph, redress it as something totally different, and then pass it off as the thing it was before. Remember, we didn’t write the Bible, God did. So don’t rewrite it for Him. I’m including an example of how some have done this in the verse below. The portion in bold is sometimes the only portion of the verse quoted. When you see the entire verse it has an entirely differently meaning.
Just as the LORD has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the LORD will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy.
-Deut 28:63
Tuesday 5/10/16
(Galatians 6:11-18)
How serious are we about Jesus? Paul was willing to love Jesus, and teach the meaning of the crucifixion of Messiah, even if he was killed for doing it. Do we love Jesus like that? Or are we so caught up in trying to be accepting to the world (even if the reason we want to be accepted is so that we make Christianity look “better”) that we give away some of the meaning of His death on the cross? Sadly, too often we water down the message in order to make it more palatable and less offensive. But the truth is that message of Jesus, while loving, is offensively not accepting of sin.
But as for me, may it never be that I boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. -Galatians 6:14
Wednesday 5/11/16
(Philemon 1:8-19)
God is able to do such great works in us. So often we think that we’re too flawed to be able to accomplish anything. Or, at least, we’re too flawed in a certain area. Those are the areas that God is going to use us in (2 Cor 12:9-11).
Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful to you and to me -Philemon 1:12
Thursday 5/12/16
(Philippians 4:10-19)
We don’t wake up on our first day of being a Christian and have it all down. The common analogy is that this is a race that we run, but it’s more than that. We will have races throughout our life but the races are few and far between; the truth is that each day is a practice for the race and we are just conditioning ourselves to be able to run the race without growing weary.
In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to have an abundance and to go without. I am able to do all things by the one who strengthens me.
- Philippians 4:12-13
Friday 5/13/16
(Luke 6:41-45)
It's so easy to see the failings of somebody else, but how often do we seek out our own failings? Even when a person is hypercritical of themselves they rarely are critical and want to fix what’s wrong with themselves. We need to be able to look inward and see what we’re doing wrong. We need to be able to assess ourselves and move to fix it.
The good person out of the good treasury of his heart brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heat his mouth speaks. -Luke 6:45
Saturday 5/14/16
(Psalms 141)
The Bible is kind of like our corrective lenses. I wear glasses and I can’t really see without them. When I take my glasses off the world looks blurry. When I view the world through a Biblical worldview, it all comes into focus a lot more. The Bible is the coke bottle lenses we need to make sense of it all.
Set a guard, O Yahweh, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips - Psalm 141:3
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