Tag Archives: Matthew

Heaven — the mustard seed. (Matthew 13:31-32) March 26, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Mark 5-6

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:31-32
Jesus told them another parable.
Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a sower took and planted in his field. Mustard seeds are minute, tiny—but the seeds grow into trees. Flocks of birds can come and build their nests in the branches.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I didn’t know much about mustard seeds or how they grow until I did a little research. There are a few different kinds of plants, none really grow into real trees, but there is one that grows so rapidly and so tall that it could be considered a tree. It grows wild in some of the most inhospitable climates as long as it has a water source. And because the seeds are so small, when the seed pods burst at maturity, the wind scatters them so they have the potential of growing wild almost anywhere.

So Jesus talks about these tiny seeds, about one millimeter in diameter. These tiny little seeds germinate in one to five days and grow large enough to harvest in 60 to 85 days. Usually, the plants grow as clumps of bushes three to five feet high, but in the right conditions these wild mustard plants can grown together into tree-like plants as tall as 20–22 feet high. It’s interesting that Jesus would use this as a metaphor for explaining heaven.

Perhaps He compared heaven to a mustard seed to share how quickly it can grow when conditions are right. Certainly they were right when the Father sent His Son into the world at just the right time to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. At no other time in history, had the world enjoyed such a wide-spread commonality in language, freedom to travel, common government, and prosperity. The Roman Empire brought together the nations of the known world at a time that made Jesus’ entrance into the world the perfect time for breaking the chains of sin that bind humankind. So His message could spread around the known world more rapidly at that point in time that at any time before or for centuries after His earthly ministry.

Maybe He compared heaven to a mustard seed to demonstrate how much it grows. Heaven starts with God. He created heavenly beings to minister to Him, then created the rest of the universe and then humankind. Each person that accepts Jesus as Lord enters into His kingdom, the kingdom of heaven and it grows by one more person. The rapid growth of His kingdom happens as we share His word and His Spirit convinces and convicts those who hear His message and come to Him in faith.

Maybe He compared heaven to a mustard seed because like the seeds that scatter from the dried pods at maturity, Christianity, faith in Him, scatters broadly as His followers carry Him in their hearts.When we accept Him as Lord, He travels with us and in us. And like at the day of Pentecost when thousands gathered in Jerusalem to worship, then traveled back to their homes, they took with them the message they heard from Peter. Those thousands who became part of the church during those early days didn’t stay in Jerusalem. They were businessmen, housewives, rabbis, city officials. They came from all walks of life and all the surrounding countries. After they received Peter’s words, gave themselves to God, and received His Spirit in them. They took the message back with them to their several countries and cities and homes. Seeds were scattered. Heaven expanded.

Maybe Jesus compared heaven to a mustard seed because it grows under some of the most difficult conditions. He probably picked up one of these tiny seeds from the ground as He shared this parable. Most in the crowd couldn’t even see it. But they understood that when this tiny seed found its place in the soil, it would grow with just a little water. It grew in rocky soil, sandy soil, dry desert climates. It could withstand drought and floods. It grew under the intense heat of the middle-eastern sun. Just so, no matter what Satan does to try to defeat or slow the growth of God’s kingdom, His kingdom not only survives, but thrives and grows fast and high and strong.

Now that you know a little more about the mustard plant and those tiny little seeds that are almost too small to even see, think about this. Heaven is like a mustard seed. Stop and consider what a great thing to be part of God’s kingdom of heaven. It grows no matter the circumstances, it scatters broadly to every nation and every culture on the globe, it grows under the harshest of conditions, it grows as fast as we share His message, God army cannot be stopped.

What a marvelous analogy. Heaven is like a mustard seed. Are you helping it grow by scattering the message, watering new believers and your heart with the Spirit of God? Are you encouraged by the fact that nothing can stop the kingdom of heaven anymore than nothing can stop those mustard seeds from scattering around the desert.

Pretty cool metaphor when you think about it! 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Stay alert! (Matthew 13:24-30) March 25, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Jeremiah 1-6

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:24-30
Jesus told them another parable.
Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is like this: Once there was a farmer who sowed good seeds in his field. While the farmer’s workers were sleeping, his enemy crept into the field and sowed weeds among all the wheat seeds. Then he snuck away again. Eventually the crops grew—wheat, but also weeds. So the farmer’s workers said to him, “Sir, why didn’t you sow good seeds in your field? Where did these weeds come from?”
“My enemy must have done this,” replied the farmer.
“Should we go pull up all the weeds?” asked his workers.
“No,” said the farmer. “It’s too risky. As you pull up the weeds, you would probably pull up some wheat as well. We’ll let them both grow until harvesttime. I will tell the harvesters to collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, and only then to harvest the wheat and bring it to my barn.”

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Well, I have another confession to make. I don’t know how many times I’ve read this passage. I’d have to look up the number of sermons I’ve preached on this passage and used it to talk about the fact that Christian life in a sinful world. God doesn’t take us out of the world, but leaves us here among the thorns and weeds until His harvest-time comes. Then He will separate the wheat from the weeds. He will sort out the good from the bad. Until then, we just put up with some of the evil around us because it’s not going away until He comes again.

I’ve talked in the past about the fate of the two types of plants. The wheat is gathered into bundles and taken into the farmer’s barn to be enjoyed by the farmer and his family. The weeds are bundled and burned. Sounds a lot like the two kinds of punishment meted out at the final judgment, doesn’t it?

I’ve talked about how Satan, God’s enemy does everything he can to spoil the good work God does and sows evil wherever he can. Sometimes Satan even sows evil in the institutional church with its gossip and dissension, its politics, jealousy, and greed. He makes many look more like the world than Christ and so weeds are sown in the middle of God’s field.

But that’s not the confession I need to make today. For the first time, I noticed two important phrases I’ve just passed over time after time as I focused on other parts of this parable. Did you see them? The first one says, “While the workers were sleeping,…” Ouch! The enemy came in while the workers slept! Did you know the Uniform Code of Military Justice carries a punishment up to death for sleeping while on guard? There’s a good reason for that. If you are on guard duty, you are responsible for alerting the rest of the unit if an enemy is on the perimeter and being the first defense to keep the enemy out. If you’re asleep on the job and the enemy breaks in and kills your buddies, you’re essentially an accessory to murder because of your failure to carry out your responsibilities.

So here are these workers sleeping on the job. When they should be watching for the enemy and protecting their boss’ land, they are snoozing under a tree and let the enemy creep in and sow weeds in the field. But that’s not all that happens in the story. Did you catch the second phrase? The workers said to the farmer, “Sir, why didn’t you sow good seeds in your field?”

So here they are blaming the farmer for their negligence. Isn’t that just like too many of us? Oops, I messed this one up, who can I blame! I know, let’s blame God for all the bad things that happen to us. We’re good at that, aren’t we? When in reality, if we would just wake up and keep watch the enemy would never have the opportunity to sneak in and destroy the way we let him. Notice I said we let him! See it’s our choice.

We are not strong enough to stand up against Satan, but God is. The sentry on duty isn’t strong enough to stand up against an attack when the enemy begins to rush the perimeter of a unit. The commander knows that, too. But his job is not to defeat the enemy. His job is to give the warning, alert the rest of the unit, make sure everyone knows the enemy is about to attack. That’s the sentry’s job. So if we will just recognize the enemy is on the perimeter, God will take over and help defeat the enemy. He has already defeated him anyway. Satan just doesn’t know it yet.

All we have to do is stay awake, stay alert, watch for the temptations that Satan sends our way. Then we sound the alarm and bring in the big guns. Call the artillery. Send for reinforcements. Let God deliver us from the attacks that Satan might bring our way. What happens then? Victory! That’s what! Don’t sleep on the job. Stay awake. Stay alert. Sound the alarm. You won’t be sorry when God keeps Satan and his minions outside the gates of your life.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Which soil are you? (Matthew 13:18-23) March 24, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Job 23-24

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:18-23
Jesus: This is what the parable of the sower means. It is about the kingdom of heaven. When someone hears the story of the Kingdom and cannot understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away whatever goodness and holiness had been sown in the heart. This is like the seeds sown beside the road. You know people who hear the word of God and receive it joyfully—but then, somehow, the word fails to take root in their hearts. It is temporary. As soon as there is trouble for those people, they trip: those people are the seeds strewn on the rocky soil. And you know people who hear the word, but it is choked inside them because they constantly worry and prefer the wealth and pleasures of the world: they prefer drunken dinner parties to prayer, power to piety, and riches to righteousness. Those people are like the seeds sown among thorns. The people who hear the word and receive it and grow in it—those are like the seeds sown on good soil. They produce a bumper crop, 30 or 60 or 100 times what was sown.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

In these verses, Jesus explains His earlier parable. We talked about our missionary responsibility and how we might act as sower looking for those most receptive to the good news. Today, what if you are the soil? What kind of soil are you?

Are you like the rocky soil? Hard-headed and refuse to hear the word and understand it? Do you refuse to let God speak to you through the gospel and just play off the scriptures as so many fairy tales or exaggerations from overly zealous religious freaks? Do you flat refuse to hear God’s word in this day of “enlightened scientific knowledge about all things”? If you fit in that category, you’ll be as fruitful as that concrete like soil on the path beaten down by everyone walking on it. The word won’t get through to you because of your refusal to listen.

Are you like the soil plagued with thorns that choke out the crops? You listen and accept the truth, but then get out in the world and listen to what they have to say and are swayed by their argument, too. You find yourself living life by the last message you heard. So was the last message from God or from the world? Is it Sunday or Tuesday? Are you at church or at work? You bend according to the company you keep and have no opinion of your own, unable to stand on your own two feet and make a decision about which side you will take.

The problem with that stance is you really have made a decision. You’re like the church at Laodecia Jesus had John send the letter about being lukewarm. Thinking everything was okay when Jesus says He would vomit you out of His mouth. He would rather you be cold as ice than lukewarm. At least then you might have a chance of seeing your lost condition and changing. But trying to grow among the thorns, you get just enough nourishment, just enough of the water and nutrients from the soil that you think you’re okay. But you’re not. The thorns choke the life out of you until finally you just wither away.

Hopefully, you are like the good soil Jesus talks about. Rich in nutrients, loose and ready to accept the seed the sower plants. Ready to hear God’s word and plant it in your heart. You’re ready to not just hear His word, but meditate on it, study it, then put it into practice. You’re ready to live it until other see your good works and glorify God because of them. Hopefully, you are like that good soil that creates a bumper crop at harvest time – 30, 60, 100 fold – bringing new disciples into the fold. Helping others find Christ and knowing His peace and forgiveness is for them, too.

Hopefully, you are like that good soil that Jesus talks about. Ready to receive all He has for you and ready to be part of His master plan to bring others to know His will that all would come to the saving knowledge of God’s Son. Ready to give testimony to all God has done in your life and act as His emissary in a world that has too many rocks and thorns and not enough ground ready to plow.

Hopefully, you are like that good soil that Jesus talks about, ready to become the person He created you to be. Full of His Spirit. Acting on His behalf. Sharing His message. Bringing others into His kingdom.

The great thing about the story of the sower and the soil is that you get to pick what kind of soil you want to be. So which is it? Are you the rocky soil, the thorny soil, or the good soil? I pray you make the right choice. Your eternal destiny depends on it. 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

It’s time to open your eyes of faith (Matthew 13:11-17) March 23, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Psalms 33-35

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:11-17
Jesus: The knowledge of the secrets of heaven has been given to you, but it has not been given to them. Those who have something will be given more—and they will have abundance. Those who have nothing will lose what they have—they will be destitute. I teach in parables so the people may look but not see, listen but not hear or understand. They are fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy:
You will listen, but you will not understand;
you will look, but you will not see.
The people’s hearts have turned to flab;
their ears are clogged;
their eyes are shut.
They will try to see, but they will not see;
they will try to hear, but they will not hear;
they will try to understand, but they will not comprehend.
If they, with their blindness and deafness, so choose, then I will heal them.
Many holy prophets and righteous men and women and people of prayer and doers of good have wanted to see but did not see, and have wanted to hear but did not hear. Your eyes and ears are blessed.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Maybe you’ve asked yourself or God the same question the disciples asked Jesus that day. Why do you speak to the people in parable? Why do spiritual things sometimes seem to be hidden from us? Why does it seem that some of your teachings are so misunderstood today? Why don’t you make yourself known clearly to the world so everyone will know you are God? Why don’t you perform the signs and miracles today in your church so that everyone will know that you are the only way to heaven? Why is all of this clouded in our minds to some extent?

We have a lot of questions as to why God just doesn’t blast us with His voice, signs and wonders in the sky, the kinds of things we read in the Old Testament, to help all the world understand exactly who He is and how we should worship Him. We wonder why God doesn’t make all of this as plain as the nose on your face so everyone can understand it and stop the fighting among religious factions and everyone become Christians immediately.

Although I don’t pretend to understand the enormity of the mind of God, I think there are some answers to those questions that we can explore. First, we need to understand that God doesn’t hide from us. He wants us to find Him and know Him. It is His will that all would come to know His saving grace. He created us to love and worship Him. At the same time, He wants our voluntary love. Love that is coerced isn’t love. There may be an appearance of love, but it isn’t genuine. So He wants us to seek Him. He wants to know that we want a relationship with Him.

Second, God isn’t like Waldo. He doesn’t make it difficult to find Him. But we must exercise faith in Him to find Him. We must recognize He is God. And that is the problem most of us have until we acknowledge just how broken, depraved, and sinful we are. We want our way instead of His. We want to pretend we know what is best for us instead of bowing to our Creator. So until we acknowledge God is God and we are not, we will have difficulty finding Him.

Third, Satan, the father of lies, has been at his business for a long time. He has plagued humanity since he first tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and convinced them that God didn’t mean what He said about the trees in the middle of the garden. Satan is a master at deception and has pulled a veil over our eyes. We can’t see the truth in front of us because we believe the lies he has told us through the years. We let him feed us those lies so consistently that we think they are the truth instead of listening to God’s words.

But if we will open our minds and hearts to God’s word, if we will exercise just a little faith in Him, if we will recognize that He is God and we are not, He will open up His word to us and make Himself known to us. He doesn’t hide. But like the objects in those hidden picture puzzles, once you see the object, you can’t help but see them every time you look at them. So it is with God. Once you exercise just a little faith and recognize who He is, you see Him in all His glory. You recognize the truth of His word. You see the power of His Spirit in the world. You begin to see His handiwork around you. His miracles unfold around you and He is evident everywhere.

God doesn’t hide from us, but we must open our eyes of faith to see Him. God doesn’t make His word obscure, but we must let His Spirit speak to us through His word and trust Him to open His truth to us. God makes plain who He is to those who are ready to listen. But to those who refuse, like the object in the hidden picture puzzles, you’ll have a hard time finding Him. Isn’t it time to open your eyes of faith?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Are you ready to sow some seeds? (Matthew 13:3-9) March 22, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 1 Samuel 6-10

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 13:3-9
Jesus: Once there was a sower who scattered seeds. One day he walked in a field scattering seeds as he went. Some seeds fell beside a road, and a flock of birds came and ate all those seeds. So the sower scattered seeds in a field, one with shallow soil and strewn with rocks. But the seeds grew quickly amid all the rocks, without rooting themselves in the shallow soil. Their roots got tangled up in all the stones. The sun scorched these seeds, and they died. And so the sower scattered seeds near a path, this one covered with thorny vines. The seeds fared no better there—the thorns choked them, and they died. And so finally the sower scattered his seeds in a patch of good earth. At home in the good earth, the seeds grew and grew. Eventually the seeds bore fruit, and the fruit grew ripe and was harvested. The harvest was immense—30, 60, 100 times what was sown.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I guess the first question we should ask today is whether we want to talk about the sower, the seed, or the ground. If we talk about the sower in Jesus’ parable, maybe we should think about when is the best time and place to sow the seed. Jesus will explain this parable to His disciples later and we will know that the seed represents the gospel, the good news of His message. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. But if we need to think about the time and place for planting seed so that we can expect the best crop, how do we distinguish between the rocks, the vines and thorns, and the good soil? How do we know when and where to share the message to reap the most benefit from it?

The answer is sometimes we don’t, but there are a few things we know about people that give us hints about when we might best share the message of God’s good news. For instance, when someone is angry, they will not listen. When someone is angry, in a fight or flight mood, it’s like arguing with a drunk. They cannot comprehend what you are telling them. Their adrenalin level is so high, nothing will make sense to them and trying to share a message of hope to a person in the middle of an angry outburst is almost impossible. Until their mood softens, they cannot hear the message.

Equally, a person in the middle of some jubilant mood is unlikely to hear the message. It’s interesting to see how Satan blinds us our sinful, depraved, and desperate condition, but when we feel like we are on top of the world because of some good thing that has happened to us, we are not likely to listen to a message of hope that we need a savior. We think we have nothing to lose when in that state of mind. We have nothing to gain when we think we have it all. I think that’s why Jesus talked about the difficulty of the wealthy finding the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Because they think they are self-sufficient in their wealth, they do not listen to the good news of God’s hope for them.

So when can we best reach someone with the message of hope Jesus brings? At those crisis moments of life. Those times at which everything seems to have fallen apart and our world seems to be crashing in around us. We go to the doctor and hear the dreadful news about our or a loved one’s medical condition that will never get better. We discover our life-time security in our job just ended in a layoff as the company downsized. We discover the retirement account we relied out suddenly disappeared as the broker who held our securities went bankrupt. Hope seems gone.

Or we look at our life and discover just how sinful we are in the light of God’s holiness. We hear a message or a song or read a book or scripture that shines God’s light on our life and suddenly we become aware of just how depraved and empty we are without God’s forgiveness and without His Spirit guiding us in our daily activities. We reach the end of our rope and there is still a lot of cliff below us.

Those are the times we will listen to the message of God’s good news. Those are the times we will hang on to the hope He gives and become aware that all is not lost. We will grasp for His hand extended to us in grace and mercy. We will reach for Him to rescue us from the heavy load of despair that tries to crush our spirit. Those are the times we are ripe for the seed of His messengers to share with us the hope all His saints carry with them.

So do you look for people to whom you can share the message? Do you look for those choice spots where seeds planted can multiply 30, 60, 100 fold? Do you recognize those who are at the point of feeling hopeless and reach out to them with God’s message of hope for their lives? From the sower’s perspective, we are missionaries for God. His emissaries to carry His message to a world screaming for some kind of hope. And when we find those individuals ready to receive His message eagerly because they are at the end of their rope, we can and must be ready to share with them the hope we have within us as Peter tells us.

Are you ready to sow some seeds? 

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Brothers and sisters in Christ (Matthew 12:48-50) March 21, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Genesis 44-47

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 12:48-50
Jesus: Who is My mother? And who are My brothers? (pointing to His disciples) These are My mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of My Father in heaven is My mother and brother and sister.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Psychologists tell us that when you go through traumatic events with someone you become closer to that person or group of people. We see that exemplified in the number of gatherings life Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) groups and within those, you’ll find small groups of men and women who gather to talk about their experiences in particular units and battles. The comradery they find in the telling and reliving those events helps bond them and ease the trauma that comes in the loss of friends in some of those horrifying times.

Some of my own closest friends come from times when I was deployed into combat zones and defending our country from enemies that wished nothing less than the destruction of our way of life and liberty. Some other friends that have drawn close come from assignments in which family was no where near. Back then cell phones didn’t exist and overseas phone calls were just too expensive to use them with any frequency to call home. We had to rely on each other and so those that were once strangers became fast life-time friends.

In the course of life, my travels and assignments and those of my brothers and sisters have carried us to different states and nations so few of us live close to each other. We don’t get to see each other very often. But when we get together, we know each other because we’re family. There is an instant bond. I know their temperments, their likes and dislikes. I know what makes them laugh and what makes them cry. I know my brothers and sisters even though I don’t see them very often. Why? Because we are part of each other. We are family. There is something in us that is the same even though we are all very different from one another.

I read these words of Jesus and I get the same feeling and understanding when I think about my brothers and sisters in Christ. Because of my military career and my corporate travels after my military retirement, I’ve attended a lot of churches. Where a lot of people could count a dozen or so, I could easily count more than a hundred churches I’ve attended through the years. But there is an interesting thing I’ve found in all those churches.

It really didn’t matter what denomination I attended. It didn’t matter what color the majority of the members were. It didn’t matter what language the people spoke as their native tongue. It didn’t matter whether people dressed to the nines on Sunday morning or came in rags. It didn’t matter what kind of music they sang or even if the music was really good or way off key. When I was among a group of believers, I felt at home. There was a connection between us that you knew you were accepted just because you were there among believers.

How does that happen? How is it that we can feel so comfortable in another church and another worship service regardless of the denomination or worship style or country in which we worship? It’s really pretty simple. They are family. Just like my physical brothers and sisters share DNA with me, they are different and similar to me at the same time. So it is with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We share something in common.

We may be different in many ways, but in the most important things we are alike. We share Christ’s Spirit in us. We share His love. We share His grace and mercy. We share His forgiveness in our lives. We have each been adopted into His family and have become children of the King of kings and Lord of lords. We are a part of His kingdom. So we stand on common ground. We believe together in a common understanding of our faith.

If you are part of a Christian faith, there are a few fundamental beliefs that you hold dear, summed up in the words of the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic and apostolic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

On those few statements rest the tenets of the Christian faith. When we join together as brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of our denominational background and baggage, we share this common bond. We have this spiritual DNA that binds us together, His Spirit alive in us that makes us more alike than different. So we can worship together. We can praise together. We can live in harmony together. We can ignore the color of our skin, the style of our music, the order of our service. We can just glory in the presence of God’s Spirit among us and know we are brothers and sisters in the great family of God Almighty.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Let Him in! (Matthew 12:43-45) March 20, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – 1 Corinthians 7-8

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 12:43-45
Jesus: Let Me tell you what will happen to this wicked generation: When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it rattles around through deserts and other dry places looking for a place to rest—but it does not find anywhere to rest. So the spirit says, “I will return to the house I left.” And it returns to find that house unoccupied, tidy, swept, and sparkling clean. Well, then not only does one spirit set up shop in that sparkling house, but it brings seven even more wicked spirits along. And the poor man—the house—is worse off than he was before. This evil generation will suffer a similar fate.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

We listen to these words and think how terrible it must be to let evil spirits get hold of you. But of course we would never do that. After all, we live in an enlightened age in which we just don’t think about such things. We don’t believe in evil spirits and the supernatural. We don’t believe spirits can inhabit people and control them. We don’t believe evil spirits have power over people and can poison their minds, do we?

Jesus’ words must have been for a group of people not so enlightened as we are. They must have been for the uneducated and those who still believed in magic and superstition and the supernatural. They must have been for those who believed in the spirit world and a cosmic battle between good and evil. They must have been for those who believe in God and Satan, heaven and hell. Oops, I got a little carried away. I think that dips into our generation.

Don’t we believe in God and Satan? Don’t we believe in heaven and hell? Don’t we believe in good and evil and the spiritual battle that takes place around us unseen by powers and principals and authorities we do not know? Don’t we believe God’s Spirit can inhabit us and help us through life? And if His Spirit can inhabit us, doesn’t it stand to reason that Satan’s spirit, his demons can do the same? God’s word says he goes about the earth like a roaring lion looking for those he can devour. But he doesn’t do it physically at first. He does it spiritually, from the inside out.

Satan comes into a clean house and starts filling it with trash. He loads up our life with filth. Name the vice and he tries to introduce it until our life internally looks like a pig sty. It fills with lies, deceit, lust, corruption of every sort. Then Jesus comes along and we learn of Him. We let Him peek into our heart and we let Him turn the lights on. We see just how corrupt we are and ask Him to clean us up. We ask His forgiveness for the sins we committed and He comes in to do some house cleaning.

He does a good job and our hearts, our house is sparkling clean. But our problem is, we don’t invite Him to stay. We don’t let Him be the Master of the house. We’re glad He cleaned us up, but we don’t let Him take charge. Instead we decide we want to take charge of our life again. We want to decide what is right for our life. We want to decide what will make us happy and we push Him out the door.

Remember the words of Revelation 3:20 that you hear so much in evangelistic campaigns, “I am standing at the door and knocking. If any of you hear My voice and open the door, then I will come in to visit with you and to share a meal at your table, and you will be with Me.” We use it to try to win the lost. But the verse wasn’t written to the outcasts. John wrote this revelation to the churches. Jesus had John pen these seven letters to the seven churches in Asia, remember?

Jesus says if we don’t let Him in, if we don’t let His Spirit come inside, if we leave Him standing outside the door knocking, a pretty dreadful thing can happen. That spirit that He drives out and cleans up. You know, the filth and corruption and evil He took care of when He forgave your sins, it comes back. But it comes back with a vengeance. It comes back bringing seven friends with him. The plight of the sinner who doesn’t let Christ come in and take charge is worse than the sinner who never lets Him clean up his house in the first place it seems. Now that’s a scary thought. I can get seven times worse than before I let Christ forgive me?

He kind of hints at that in these verses, doesn’t He? The solution is to let Him in. Let Jesus live in your life. Let Him be more than a house keeper. Let Him be the Master of your life. That means saying yes to Him always. It means listening to His voice and following His commands. It means letting Him take charge of your life and letting go of your authority. Don’t forget Revelation 3:20. It’s for believers. Let Him in!

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Exercise some faith (Matthew 12:39-42) March 19, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Mark 3-4

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 12:39-42
Jesus: You wicked and promiscuous generation—you are looking for signs, are you? The only sign you will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah. Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, as the Son of Man will spend three days and three nights in the belly of the earth. One day, the people of Nineveh will rise up in judgment and will condemn your present generation—for the Ninevites turned from sin to God when they heard Jonah preach, and now One far greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will also stand in judgment and condemn this generation—for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom. And today One greater and wiser than Solomon is among you.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

Sometimes I hear people say, “It would be easier to believe if Jesus were here.” Or, “If I could just see Him I could believe.” But you know what? That is a real cop out. I’ll tell you why. If anyone should have a hard time believing it was those who saw Him in the flesh. Jesus came at the right time and lived among us. He showed Himself to be God incarnate, the perfect sacrifice for our sins. But He preached a radical message. If you really listen to His words, He said some things that really upset the apple carts of His day.

Jesus came on the heels of a rebellion that Rome just quelled in Judah. The reason they had such a large army there was because these Jews revolted against Rome and tried to govern themselves…again. Another of their number declared he was their Messiah, their deliverer and had come to free them from the oppression of the Roman government. This Messiah and his followers died a horrible death as the Roman soldiers crushed the rebellion and stationed their cohorts across the countryside.

Now Jesus comes. But instead of revolt against Rome, He preaches love and something of a revolt against the religious rules and regulations that the Sanhedrin put in place for decades. He disrupted the religious norm, not the political norm. He came to bring peace to men’s hearts, not war in the nation. Yet Jesus let His followers declare Him to be the long awaited Messiah. He didn’t make the proclamation Himself, but let His works and His words point to the prophecies fulfilled by His coming.

To many of those who lived when Jesus came, He was just another prophet. Just another rebel making a name for Himself. Jesus was just another man doing things around the countryside. Until they stopped and listened to His words and looked back at the scriptures and put together words of the prophets with the actions of Jesus, no one saw in Him the fulfillment of the prophecies that pointed to the long awaited Messiah. Until the scribes, Pharisees, and Saducees could lay aside their hatred and compare their readings with Jesus’ actions, they would not see Him as anyone other than another rebel about to upset the delicate balance they tried to hold between their frail theocracy and the domaneering dictatorship of the Romans.

But what about us? We live on this side of the cross. We have at our fingertips 2,000 years of history. Unless you’ve studied the history of the Jewish people, you probably can’t name the eight or ten rebels who claimed their Messiahship. In fact, you probably can’t name the rebels that grew up to try to overthrow their shackles during the 400 silent years of the Bible. But they are there. Over and over, the nation tried to rebuild itself but failed. They remained under the rule of the Persians, the Greeks, then the Romans. They could not shake their chains.

But we have that history if we care to look. We know Jesus is a history fact. We have the scriptures that tell us who He is and what He did. We have the record of Pentecost. We have over 5,000 pieces of the New Testament that date back to within a hundred years of His birth that tell us the same thing. All those manuscripts lasted through the centuries and each copy is the same. The scribes meticulously copied them to ensure the letters and gospels were handed down from generation to generation. What a miracle!

So we have all of the evidence of who Jesus is. We have the stories. We have the testimonies of the disciples and the early church leaders. We have the faith of those early Christians who even suffered martyrdom for Christ. Would they do that if all of it were not true? Would they suffer the kinds of death they faced if Jesus were a farce? I don’t think so.

So we have 2,000 years of historic facts behind us. The Pharisees Jesus spoke to had only His words at the time and the gossip they heard from the uneducated masses that told them about this man who could perform miracles and must be God. We know. We have the evidence. We have the witnesses. We have God’s words handed down to us. What more do we need to believe Jesus is the Son of God? If you don’t believe Him now, like the Pharisees, you probably wouldn’t believe if He stood in front of you. What do you need to do about it? Exercise a little faith in Him. That’s all. Stop doubting and believe.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

What crop do you harvest? (Matthew 12:33-37) March 18, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Isaiah 62-66

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 12:33-37
Jesus: Good trees produce good fruits; bad trees produce bad fruits. You can always tell a tree by its fruits. You children of snakes, you who are evil—how could you possibly say anything good? For the mouth simply shapes the heart’s impulses into words. And so the good man (who is filled with goodness) speaks good words, while the evil man (who is filled with evil) speaks evil words. I tell you this: on the day of judgment, people will be called to account for every careless word they have ever said. The righteous will be acquitted by their own words, and you evildoers will be condemned by your own words.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

I’m not much of a gardner. Everything I try to grow seems to wither and die. If I had to depend on what I could grow to feed myself and my family, we’d all starve. In fact, some have told me that I can kill artificial plants! So I really don’t care much for the first part of Jesus’ analogy here. I suppose if I lived on a farm or lived in an area where life absolutely depended on living on what you grew yourself, I’d probably learn how to make green things live a lot better than I do now. But for the last fifty years, you just wouldn’t want me to take care of your garden or flowers or yard unless you liked looking at dead things. I’m just really good at killing plants.

But I do understand what Jesus talks about in these words. Especially as He goes on to talk about what comes out of our mouth. I understand that good fruit doesn’t come out of good plants. I can attest to that as I’ve tried my hand at growing tomatoes and cucumbers a couple of times. And you know what? Good tomatoes and cucumbers never grew from the bad plants I managed to grow. My friends and neighbors could have bumper crops, but my scawny little vines would just produce…nothing.

So it is with the words we speak. When we are dried up and rotten inside, we can’t get good words out that will bless and edify others. For us to really help lift others with our words, we need to be right on the inside. That’s what Jesus is telling these blowhard religious leaders. They can’t help the people they are supposed to be leading because they are rotten on the inside. Nothing good can come from them until they clean up their act from the inside out.

When I first started working as a fairly young teenager, my father gave me some good advice. He said, “If you want to get a good report from you boss, make your boss look good. Unless your boss gets good reports, he won’t know what a good report looks like and won’t be able to give you one.” I didn’t think much about that at the time because when you’re a teenager parents don’t know anything. But as I matured, I found my dad’s sage advice to be very true.

Good words come from good people. So from a business perspective, a good report can only come from someone who is also getting a good report. If you work for someone who is getting a bad report, how can he or she give you a good report? After all, if you’re working for him, aren’t you part of the cause for his bad report? Aren’t you part of the reason the work isn’t getting done to his boss’ satisfaction?

How much truer this philosophy runs in the spiritual realm. When evil runs around inside your head and your heart continuously, guess what spills out of your mouth? You can’t help but let it out. You can’t hold back the atrocious vocabular that spews out of you. You can’t help but cut and hurt and defame with the words you use. It’s who you are when you let evil run around in your head and your heart.

But when you let Christ into your life and let Him clean you up from the inside out, your vocabulary changes. You begin to see people in a different light and your speech takes on new characteristics. You begin to bless instead of curse. You begin to praise instead of demean. You begin to extol instead of admonish. Good comes from within you as you share His love to those around you and begin to edify others instead of destroying them with your words.

How will we be judged? Jesus says we will be called to account for our words. I don’t want to be careless in letting words slip that will inadvertantly cause pain or demean or degrade someone else. I don’t want to be guilty of being careless with my tongue, an instrument that James says is so powerful. Sometimes it’s best to just keep my mouth shut rather than let a careless word slip out that might hurt or tarnish the character of another of God’s creation. Perhaps it’s best to let Him sort out who is careless, good, or bad. Perhaps it’s best to just always live by the rule my grandmother lived by for as long as I can remember. “If you can’t say something good about someone, don’t say anything at all.”

People judge us by our words. Do they see you harvesting a crop of love or hate?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Am I still safe? (Matthew 12:31-32) March 17, 2016

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Job 21-22

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Matthew 12:31-32
It is one thing for you to speak ill of the Son of Man. People will be forgiven for every sin they commit and blasphemy they utter. But those who call the work of God the work of Satan utterly remove themselves from God, and those who blaspheme God’s Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

People worry a lot about this saying of Jesus. What does it mean to blaspheme God’s Spirit? What is the unpardonable sin? Have I committed it? Am I beyond God’s grace for what I have done?

Satan tkes these words of Jesus and causes many to bail out. To think they are so far down the path of sin that God can’t forgive them. Satan makes them feel so bad about themselves that they just know God must feel the same way and would never let them into His kingdom. So they give up. They stay at the bottom of the pit and feel utterly hopeless. But that is just another lie of Satan. Remember, Satan is the father of lies. He will do anything he can to keep you from giving yourself to God.

So what is this unpardonable sin about? I think to understand it, we need to understand a little about God and His plan for humankind. God wants us to live with Him forever, but as a holy God, He cannot live in the presence of sin. So to live with Him, our sins must be forgiven. The penalty must be paid. But Paul tells us the wages of sin is death. Jesus, God’s Son, paid that price for us. His death made our forgiveness possible. It is a gift He gives us, but we must accept the gift. We must come to Him in repentance and accept His gift of forgiveness.

Jesus came to live among us for just that purpose. To live and die and rise again to pay the penalty for us, then to demonstrate His power to forgive through His resurrection. He promised when He ascended into heaven He would send His Spirt, the Spirit of God to live not with us, but in us. And He said God’s Spirit would convince and convict us of our sin, guide us to righteousness, and empower us to live the way He wants us to live.

So here’s the issue. When Christ ascended into heaven and God’s Spirit came at Pentecost, His Spirit became the link between us and God. Before Christ’s sacrifice, we had a need for sacrifices in the temple to atone for our sins. But no more. Jesus paid that price as the ultimate sacrifice. His Spirit now convinces and convicts us of our sins. His Spirit leads us back to Him and lets us know we desparately need His forgiveness, His righteousness. His Spirit brings us to the point of asking for the help we need from God.

God’s Spirit in us then empowers us to do the work God has us to do. He keeps us on the narrow path Jesus talked about. He helps us understand God’s word. He gives us the words we need when we tell others about Him. He shares His heart with us and shows us when we get off track. God’s Spirit makes it possible for us to live the life we were created to live.

But if I cut off that link. If I refuse to listen to God’s Spirit. If I continually push His voice into the background until I can no longer hear even the smallest whisper, I run the risk of not hearing His convincing of my sin. I run the risk of not being convicted of my wrong doing. When I cut God off in my life, how can I get back? How can I hear Him and let Him reach me? If I absolutely cut all ties with God’s Spirit, then how will He communicate with me so I understand my condition? If I don’t understand my sinful condition before God, how can I ask for His forgiveness? If I don’t ask Him for forgiveness and accept His righteousness as my own by letting Him be Lord of my life, I don’t live with Him in eternity. And there is only one other option. Not one I want to choose for myself.

Are you in danger of blaspheming the God’s Spirit? My opinion, if you’re worried about it, you are probably being prompted by His Spirit to get right with Him. I’m amazed at God’s patience, but His word also tells us His Spirit will not always be with us. There will come a day when He will quit calling. Don’t let that day come for you. Don’t think you have plenty of time. You don’t know what will happen tomorrow or even today. Again, His word tells us today is the day of salvation. There’s a reason for that. We don’t know what day will be our last. Make the right choice while you have the opportunity. Today is a good day to make Him Lord.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.