Wednesday, June 10th: Jeremiah 15-17, Matthew 23:1-22 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Jeremiah 15-17; Matthew 23:1-22

Jeremiah 16:10b ‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’

Sin is blinding.  Eventually, sin blinds us to much, we don't even notice our sin anymore.  We, like the Israelites, are grossly mistaken when we presume that God's patience in delaying judgment means that judgment will not come at all.  The Word is clear, eventually God's patience will end and judgment will come - for us, just like it did for the people of Judah, and the people of Israel before them.


Jeremiah 17:7-8  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

This passage is very similar to Psalm 1:3 

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

When we meditate on God's word and apply His wisdom, we will bear good fruit - actions and attitudes that honour and glorify God.  

This does not come naturally.....
Jeremiah 17:9-10  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

We see this in our NT passage as well - God is concerned with our heart, because what is in our hearts will inevitably flow out into the way we live our lives.  

Our goal should not be the appearance of holiness, but rather truly becoming more holy through the power of the Holy Spirit, for our good and His glory.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Jeremiah 18-19; Matthew 23:23-39

Tuesday, June 8th: Jeremiah 12-14, Matthew 22:23-46 ~ Nathan

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Jeremiah 12-14; Matthew 22:23-46

Jeremiah 12:1 "You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?"

This verse stood out for me,  it asks the same questions that Christians have been asking forever. Why do good things happen to bad people?  This frustrates us when we see ourselves struggling in our jobs or in raising our children,  and then look over to someone who doesn't even care about God and they seem to have it all together and have everything (material items).

To me,  the answer to this comes at the beginning of 12:3, where it says "But you know my heart,  Lord. You see me and test my mind...." 

Nobody can fool God,  He knows our hearts and cares for us. I think Christians would all agree that it is better to be rewarded in heaven then to gain rewards here on earth,  which don't last.

In our New Testament reading we see how the Sadducees and Pharisees tried three times to fool Jesus with questions and three times He frustrated them with wise answers. He made them look foolish. 

When I've read this over the years I've always wondered why they even tried to go head to head with Jesus and match wits with Him?  I think it shows  arrogance, and is a reminder for me of how small I am and how big God is. I'd rather be on His side and obey Him,  then rebelling against Him.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Jeremiah 15-17; Matthew 23:1-22

Monday, June 8: Jeremiah 9-11; Matthew 22:1-22 by Pamela

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Jeremiah 9-11; Matthew 22:1-22

The first thing that stuck out for me was this passage:

They bend their tongue like a bow;
    falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
    and they do not know me, declares the Lord.

How true that our words can shoot out like arrows. Piercing anything in their path and causing irreversible damage. Speaking words is easy, undoing the damage we inflict is hard. Lies told give birth to more lies and the truth becomes distant.

The parable of the Wedding Feast was something that made me curious. I did some additional reading here and found this (it's long but worth a read!):

To better understand the context of this story, it is important to know some basic facts about weddings in Jesus’ day. In Jewish society, the parents of the betrothed generally drew up the marriage contract. The bride and groom would meet, perhaps for the first time, when this contract was signed. The couple was considered married at this point, but they would separate until the actual time of the ceremony. The bride would remain with her parents, and the groom would leave to prepare their home. This could take quite a while. When the home was all was ready, the groom would return for his bride without notice. The marriage ceremony would then take place, and the wedding banquet would follow.

The wedding banquet was one of the most joyous occasions in Jewish life and could last for up to a week. In His parable, Jesus compares heaven to a wedding banquet that a king had prepared for his son (Matthew 22:2). Many people had been invited, but when the time for the banquet came and the table was set, those invited refused to come (verses 4-5). In fact, the king’s servants who brought the joyful message were mistreated and even killed (verse 6).

The king, enraged at the response of those who had been invited, sent his army to avenge the death of his servants (verse 7). He then sent invitations to anyone his servants could find, with the result that the wedding hall was filed (verses 8-10).

During the feast the king noticed a man “who was not wearing wedding clothes” (verse 11). When asked how he came to be there without the furnished attire, the man had no answer and was promptly ejected from the feast “outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verses 12-13). Jesus then ends the parable with this statement: “For many are invited, but few are chosen” (verse 14).

The king is God the Father, and the son who is being honored at the banquet is Jesus Christ, who “came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). Israel held the invitation to the kingdom, but when the time actually came for the kingdom to appear (see Matthew 3:1), they refused to believe it. Many prophets, including John the Baptist, had been murdered (Matthew 14:10). The king’s reprisal against the murderers can be interpreted as a prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction in A.D. 70 at the hands of the Romans (cf.Luke 21:5). More broadly, the king’s vengeance speaks of the desolation mentioned in the book of Revelation. God is patient, but He will not tolerate wickedness forever (Obadiah 1:15). His judgment will come upon those who reject His offer of salvation. Considering what that salvation cost Jesus, is not this judgment well deserved (seeHebrews 10:29-31)?

Note that it is not because the invited guestscould notcome to the wedding feast, but that they would notcome (see Luke 13:34). Everyone had an excuse. How tragic, and how indicative of human nature, to be offered the blessings of God and to refuse them because of the draw of mundane things!

The wedding invitation is extended to anyone and everyone, total strangers, both good and bad. This refers to the gospel being taken to the Gentiles. This portion of the parable is a foreshadowing of the Jews’ rejection of the gospel in Acts 13. Paul and Barnabas were in Pisidian Antioch, where the Jewish leaders strongly opposed them. The apostle’s words echo the king’s estimation that those invited to the wedding “did not deserve to come”: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). The gospel message, Jesus taught, would be made available to everyone.

The matter of the wedding garment is instructive. It would be a gross insult to the king to refuse to wear the garment provided to the guests. The man who was caught wearing his old clothing learned what an offense it was as he was removed from the celebration.

This was Jesus’ way of teaching the inadequacy of self-righteousness. From the very beginning, God has provided a “covering” for our sin. To insist on covering ourselves is to be clad in “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Adam and Eve tried to cover their shame, but they found their fig leaves to be woefully scant. God took away their handmade clothes and replaced them with skins of (sacrificed) animals (Genesis 3:7,21). In the book of Revelation, we see those in heaven wearing “white robes” (Revelation 7:9), and we learn that the whiteness of the robes is due to their being washed in the blood of the Lamb (verse 14). We trust in God’s righteousness, not our own (Philippians 3:9).

Just as the king provided wedding garments for his guests, God provides salvation for mankind. Our wedding garment is the righteousness of Christ, and unless we have it, we will miss the wedding feast. When the religions of the world are stripped down to their basic tenets, we either find man working his way toward God, or we find the cross of Christ. The cross is the only way to salvation (John 14:6).

For his crime against the king, the improperly attired guest is thrown out into the darkness. For their crimes against God, there will be many who will be consigned to “outer darkness”—existence without God for eternity. Christ concludes the parable with the sad fact that “many are invited, but few are chosen.” In other words, many people hear the call of God, but only a few heed it.
To summarize the point of the Parable of the Wedding Feast, God sent His Son into the world, and the very people who should have celebrated His coming rejected Him, bringing judgment upon themselves. As a result, the kingdom of heaven was opened up to anyone who will set aside his own righteousness and by faith accept the righteousness God provides in Christ. Those who spurn the gift of salvation and cling instead to their own “good” works will spend eternity in hell.

The self-righteous Pharisees who heard this parable did not miss Jesus’ point. In the very next verse, “the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words” (Matthew 22:15). The Parable of the Wedding Feast is also a warning to us, to make sure we are relying on God’s provision of salvation, not on our own good works or religious service.


When we refuse to accept God's invitation or when we bend our tongues like a bow or when we worship idols made by human hands we will be punished.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:

Sunday, June 7th: Jeremiah 6-8, Matthew 21:23-46 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Jeremiah 6-8; Matthew 21:23-46

6:19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people, the fruit of their devices, because they have not paid attention to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.

God is very clear in His Word what His expectations are.  The entrance fee to heaven is perfection.  No one, but Jesus, can pay this entry fee. Jesus is willing to pay it for us, but we need to accept His payment on our behalf.  If we reject Him, the consequences are clear.

7:5 “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

I love the addition of the word "truly" in these verses.  You can't just have the appearance of change and remorse, you can't just flippantly confess your sin and commit to changing your life - it needs to be genuine.  Empty promises won't cut it.  And God can see through phony actions straight to the heart and mind.

8:9 The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom is in them?
This verse reminds me of the "wisdom" of our day.  Those who are enlightened cheer on the homosexual and transgendered movements and celebrate a woman's right to choose, and anyone who disagrees is intolerant and ignorant.  But their wisdom is no wisdom at all.  Anything that goes contrary to the very Word of God is foolishness, not wisdom.  God determines right and wrong, not man.

Over and over in the OT passage it speaks about God warning the people of the consequences of their sin, but they refuse to listen.  As we see from our NT passage, not only did they refuse to listen, they killed the messengers of hope, and later, even the very Son of God, their only hope of salvation.

As we heard in our sermon today, Christianity differs from every other religion because of who we say Jesus is.  Jesus is God, He is the Son of God and the second member of the trinity.  He is fully God and fully man.  He is the Messiah, He is the Christ, He is our salvation, He is our hope. Who do you say He is? What will you do with this Jesus?


Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Jeremiah 9-11; Matthew 22:1-22

Saturday, June 6th: Jeremiah 3-5, Matthew 21:1-22 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Jeremiah 3-5; Matthew 21:1-22

In our Jeremiah passage we see God referring to Israel/Judah's faithlessness as adultery.  This is a betrayal that is very easy for us to understand.  Adultery cannot be forgiven with an insincere apology, and certainly not when it continues without remorse.  The only way a marriage can survive the betrayal of adultery is if there is genuine remorse and repentance, with steps taken to prove it and to rebuild the trust that was lost.  So it is when we betray God.  Our sin is not something God takes lightly.  We cannot continue to sin without remorse and expect God to turn a blind eye.  Eventually, the patience of God comes to an end, like Israel experienced, and Judah after her.  Eventually His patience will end with us as well.  Thankfully, He stands ready to forgive, even the most brutal of betrayal, if we truly repent.  What amazing grace!

In our NT passage, what struck me is how clear it is that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen when it came to the Passion week.  He didn't lose His life, His crucifixion didn't surprise Him, He laid down His life willingly and with complete foreknowledge.  What sovereignty!



Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Jeremiah 6-8; Matthew 21:23-46

Friday, 5 June 2015 Jeremiah 1-2; Matthew 20:17-34 ~ Elizabeth

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is  Jeremiah 1-2; Matthew 20:17-34

Jeremiah presents credentials for his authority to speak and for his claim to be heard. He is the ambassador of the Lord God, who shapes the lives of individuals and determines the destiny of nations. He introduces himself and the historical context of his ministry. God sent prophets like Jeremiah to convict His people of their sin so that they might repent and return to Him. In mercy, God patiently waited, providing ample time for repentance. He is likewise patient toward you, whom He calls to repentance and true faith in Christ. Consecrated to the prophetic office before he was born, this youth was neither a wide-eyed visionary nor a self-appointed rabble-rouser. God commissioned Jeremiah to speak His words, charged with the power to destroy whatever opposed the kingdom of God and to build whatever would promote its coming. It was only natural for the timid, inexperienced young man from a country town to stand aghast at the worldwide results his ministry was to produce. The Lord therefore reveals to Jeremiah that he is simply to announce what is to happen; the responsibility for bringing about the threats and promises belongs to the Lord Himself. He records the details of his call to the prophetic ministry, including two visions and God’s promises to be with him. Through Jeremiah, God would warn His people of impending judgment for their sins. Idolatry and immorality eventually bring disaster upon sinners God wants His people to repent and turn back to Him, averting disaster and receiving God’s mercy.

Further evidence of Israel’s defection was their trust in foreign alliances with godless nations rather than in God Himself. This foolish policy caused the Northern Kingdom to fall prey to the Assyrians, to whom King Ahaz earlier had appealed for help. Negotiations with Egypt would also be as disastrous as they had been in the past. Israel’s sin of faithlessness would condemn them to matter which foreign nation they turned to for relief. At Carchemish in 605 BC, the combined forces of Egypt and Assyria could not repulse the Babylonians from marching into Israel. Revolts against Babylonian domination, inspired by promises of help from Egypt, also proved futile. The struggle for supremacy between the world powers, represented by the Euphrates in the northeast and the Nile in the southwest, would end in the subjugation of Israel and Judah.

In our Gospel reading, we find that serving the Lord’s kingdom is a privilege and labor of love, not something undertaken to gain a reward. When we begin to think that God’s kingdom needs or depends on us, we get it completely backward. We need and depend on it! Through forgiveness and the renewing work of God’s Spirit, we can indeed be used by God for vital service in His kingdom. For a third and final time, Jesus predicts His Passion. Ironically, Jesus’ three predictions match the number of Peter’s denials. The depth of humanity’s sin is such that only the death of God’s Son can atone for it. No one took Jesus’ life from Him, as His Passion predictions make clear. Rather, He willingly laid down His life in order to save us.

Jesus continues to convince His disciples that in His kingdom, humility and service, not acclaim and power, are most highly valued just as it was among the Twelve, so also today the lush for power and control over others continues to be a problem in the Christian community. Though may things make Jesus great-among them His role in creating and preserving all things-it is His sacrificial death that is most wonderful for us. Though the nearness of the crowd and His own impending death weigh heavily on Him, Jesus is not too preoccupied to help two men in desperate need Like the people in Jericho who tried to silence the two blind men, we also may tend to treat persons in need as nuisances. Yet Jesus painstakingly extended His ministry to all in need, showing care and concern for them. We, too, have received His grace.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Jeremiah 3-5; Matthew 21:1-22

Thursday, June 4th: Hosea 12-14, Matthew 20:1-16 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Hosea 12-14; Matthew 20:1-16

Hosea 12:6 “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”
Love AND justice.  My Life Application Bible says this....
The two principles that Hosea called his nation to live by, love and justice, are at the very foundation of God's character. They are essential to his followers, but they are not easy to keep in balance. Some people are loving to the point that they excuse wrongdoing. Others are just to the extent that they forget love. Love without justice, because it is not aiming at a higher standard, leaves people in their sins. Justice without love, because it has no heart, drives people away from God. To specialize in one at the expense of the other is to distort our witness.

Hosea 13:4-6 reminds us of our tendency to forget about God and feel self-sufficient when things are going well for us.  We need to rely on God in both good times and bad.  He's not a genie, ready to pop out and rescue us when things get bad.  And we are truly not self-sufficient.  He holds the world, and everything that makes it work, in His hands.  One moment without His life-sustaining presence would literally result in our death.

Hosea ends with a call to repent and a reminder of God's promise of restoration.  We need to keep God's love and justice in mind - He does not gloss over sin, and we are incapable of saving ourselves.  So thankful for His mercy and love when we recognize our sin and truly repent.

Our Matthew passage teaches us about this grace.  God is generous and will bestow salvation on everyone who repents - whether it is at the beginning or end of our lives.  We should never begrudge those who turn to God in their last moments (like the thief on the cross)!  The reality is - no one deserve eternal life.  God extends grace to us all.  Are we gracious to those around us?



Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Jeremiah 1-2; Matthew 20:17-34

Wednesday, June 3rd: Hosea 9-11, Matthew 19 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Hosea 9-11; Matthew 19

10 10:2 Israel is a luxuriant vine
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
he improved his pillars.

Israel spent their prosperity on idols.  Doesn't it seem like the more God gives, the more we spend?  We want bigger homes, nicer cars, more vacations, finer clothes, etc.  These things aren't wrong in and of themselves, but we do need to ask ourselves where our money is going and whether we are using them for God's purposes or our own.

I also found my post from a few years ago and it struck home for me once again so I thought I'd share it here....

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12

You reap what you sow. Pretty much a universal truth, and an obvious one at that. At least it should be.

But somehow we like to fool ourselves into thinking that we can plant whatever kinds of seeds we want and still get a fruitful harvest. But that is delusional thinking.

We cannot live for ourselves and store up treasure in heaven at the same time.

We cannot sow seeds of rebellion (no matter how small!) and reap the rewards of righteousness. It just does not work that way.

This verse points out another crucial point to the sow/reap analogy. Yes, it is important what we sow, but it is also vitally important that the soil of our life be adequately prepared.

In my Life Application Bible it says this...

Hosea repeatedly uses illustrations about fields and crops. Here he envisions a plowed field, earth that is ready to receive seeds. It is no longer stony and hard; it has been carefully prepared, and it is available. Is your life ready for God to work in it? You can break up the unplowed ground of your heart by acknowledging your sins and receiving God's forgiveness and guidance. (emphasis mine)

Have you tried planting seeds on rocky soil (life full of unrepentant sin)? Or soil that's had all it's nutrients washed out of it (perhaps a life worn down by legalism without grace)? Or soil that's so loose nothing can take root (perhaps by mistaking freedom from sin as freedom to sin)? There are many soil conditions that can cause a huge drop in harvest production.

We need to prepare our hearts by:

reading the Word

studying the Word

memorizing the Word

prayer

focusing on God instead of ourselves

pursuing holiness

acknowledging, confessing and turning away from sin

accepting God's grace and forgiveness and forgiving ourselves

being sensitive to the Spirit's work within us

If we are diligent in preparing our hearts and lives in this way, the harvest that God will bring about in our lives will be beyond anything we could've imagined and He will say of us "Well done, good and faithful servant". All for His glory.

May it be said of us.

Our NT passage reminds us of the sanctity of the marriage bed and the seriousness of the marriage covenant.  It also spoke, once again, of the temptation to loved money instead of stewarding it for the good of others and the glory of God.


Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Hosea 12-14; Matthew 20:1-16

Tuesday, June 2nd: Hosea 5-8, Matthew 18:21-35 ~ Nathan

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is  Hosea 5-8; Matthew 18:21-35

Hosea chapter 5 starts off with talking about how judgement is on Israel and then states in verse 6 how the Lord has withdrawn from them. But again, at the end of this chapter God says that if the Israelites acknowledge their guilt and seek His face, He will return again.

God mentions again in chapter 8:13 that He would redeem them, but they speak lies against Him. They try their best to do things on their own,  but God will destroy all of it (8:14). 

Those that tried to truly live the way God wanted back then,  in a country that openly rebelled against God,  would be similar to Christians living in North America today. Our society tries to provide all our needs on its own,  without God. As useless as it seems, when we read about Israel's attempts at doing things without God, this is similar to what our society today is trying as well.

Why would I want to join in with that? We see clearly the end result.  I want to have a desire to live for God and do things the way He wants, and not try to go do things myself without His help.

In our reading from Matthew,  we get a reminder again about forgiving others. It's easy to ask for forgiveness when we've done something we know is wrong, and then we really appreciate how God forgives and forgets our sin. But it is often difficult to forgive when someone has done the same sin to us.

 Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Hosea 9-11; Matthew 19

Monday, June 1st: Hosea 1-4, Matthew 18:1-20 ~ Conrad

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Hosea 1-4; Matthew 18:1-20

The book of Hosea begins with God commanding Hosea to marry an adulterous woman.  And he did so.  Wow!  It is my anniversary today (happy anniversary Babe!) and I found this reading interesting.  If my father instructed me to marry someone like that, I would have thought he had fallen out of a tree and bumped his head!  It would be very hard for me to love someone who lived a life like Gomer did.

Well, God's plan is perfect, and Hosea obeyed.

Hosea was acting out the way God loves His people.  The Israelites (and us) are sinners and yet He loves us and wants the best for us.  Despite that, we have our own desires and unfortunately, we act upon them, and sin against God.

God does not ask of us what He would not do Himself.  God instructed Hosea to reconcile with his wife in chapter 3, just as He had full intentions of taking back His adulterous nation.  Even though we turn our backs to Him and try to do things our way, He is always right there when we need Him!

While Hosea mentions many of the sins that the Israelites committed (lying, murder, stealing, drunkenness) his main focus appears to be on adultery as Israel's greatest sin - a symbol of Israel's relationship with other gods.  Hosea's condemnation of Israel's adultery reveals God's holy desire that His people be faithful to Him in an intimate love relationship.  God shows us that He wants us to develop a faithful marriage with Christ as the spouse of the church.

It would be very hard for me to love and forgive someone who wasn't faithful to me, why would I expect God to be any different?

In the NT passage we read about entering the kingdom of Heaven.  I remember when our kids were young, I could do no wrong!  I am not saying that I am God, but the kids looked up to me the way we need to look up to and trust in God.  In their mind I could fix anything.  I could run faster than a speeding bullet, skate like the wind (or maybe that was just in my mind), I was an artist, a doctor, or anything that they needed at the time, they felt I could be it or do it.

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  Matthew 18:3

We need to be like children who place their faith and trust completely and totally in our Heavenly Father!

In verses 15-20, Jesus provides specific instructions about caring for weak and needy members, achieving unity, and learning to forgive.  The church is always under scrutiny in those areas, and applicable advice for us today.


 Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Hosea 5-8; Matthew 18:21-35