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August 8th

The bible reading today is in Jeremiah 4-6.

God had an assignment for Jeremiah that would span the entire divided kingdom of Judah and Israel. His message might have been entitled: Unfaithfulness and The Repentance that Brings Restoration.

Jeremiah compared unrepentant Israel to broken cisterns of polluted water in yesterday ‘s reading. Wow, Jeremiah said that God’s people had “turned away” from the streams of living water and “gave their energy and devotion” to building broken cisterns that could not hold any refreshment for their thirsty souls.

Israel was doing life “away and apart” from God their Savior. And over and over, God sent his preachers to turn their hearts back to the Lord of life-giving drink. And they refused to turn back to God.

Did God still love them? Absolutely. That is why He continued to woo her back. “If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to “me” you should return. Return to Me...He begged. Stop your backsliding ways and “return to me...”

And what would that look like? “If you “remove” your “detestable things” from my presence, and do not waver,”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭4:1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Returning meant putting away the idols they worshipped. Putting away the pagan deities that they gave time and service to In place of God their Savior.

And God through Jeremiah told them how God would reward their repentant hearts “If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord....you will not waver...(you will not be moved)...and you will swear that I live!”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭4:1‬ ‭

“I will see to it that you are secure no matter what happens next”...and “You will be courageous to stand with Me...no matter what happens next...proclaiming that your God is not dead, but real and alive!”

O friends, how that reminds me of a song By the Newsboys. My God’s not dead He is surely alive. He’s living on the inside. Roaring like a lion. Let hope arise and make the darkness hide. For my God’s not dead but surely alive. Living on the inside and roaring like a lion.

And The name of this God that is alive and in me???? Jesus...that lion of Judah...the God Savior...that calls us back when sin sidetracks us. Restores us and secures us with a courage from above no matter what comes next.

Have a great day...

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August 7th

The Bible reading today is in Jeremiah 1-3, the beginnings of the ministry of a tender young man named Jeremiah.

Listen to what God said to him early on...“But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭1:17-19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The young preacher began his ministry in Judah while Josiah the reformer was king. Suffice it to say Jeremiah had a great relationship with the king and much positive support and cooperation from his office. So, we could say that his beginnings in ministry were happy years. Spiritual revival fires were glowing with the glorious works of God.

But God told him that the ministry honeymoon would not last forever. God told the rookie prophet to “arise”...” dress for work”. God had something to do in Judah in the near future. He was inviting Jeremiah to join Him. The work would not be easy. In fact, it would be hard and the cost would be great.

By way of personal testimony, God had a similar conversation with me through my pastors, Paul Burleson and Jack Boggs, fifty years ago. They told me that my calling would include many rewards many divine highs, but they also told me that my calling to preach the gospel and pastor God’s people would be costly, very stressful, and demanding at times. Even including the dark nights of my soul. But bro Paul and bro Jack reminded me that Jesus would be with me, whatever came up or went down.

“Dress for work”...God told Jeremiah...” get up every morning for work”...as a fellow worker with God. “Say to Judah “everything” that I tell you...” Jeremiah’s primary concern was fulfilling God’s calling upon his life. He was God’s messenger first and foremost. He would commit himself to sharing God’s message with God’s people, no matter what.

Jeremiah could do other things besides preach. But he had to preach God’s very words, that was his God-given ssignment. That was his priority in ministry.

O friends, our pastors can do many things, and they do, but we must remember to do all that we can do to free them up to preach and teach the Word of God to their church. To us.

God told the young preacher not to fear those who would oppose him. God was not raising “ up an arrogant bully in Jeremiah. He was raising up a man of integrity and intense devotion to God and God’s people. A messenger who would faithfully “give” the people “God’s message”. Confident not in his skills, but in God’s through him.

God told Jeremiah that there would be members in his congregation who would disagree with his message. He told him that there would even be some who would fight against him. Jeremiah’s job could be difficult, but he must never forget that it was fairly simple. “Just make sure you tell the people what I say...”

Jeremiah did not have to be creative or clever. He just had to tell the truth as God gave it to him and the Spirit affirmed in his spirit. And then God said what every preacher must remember...”I am with you, declares the Lord.”

Reminds me of Christ’s Great Commission to his disciples in Matthew 28...“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, “I am with you always”, to the end of the age.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28:18-20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Thank You Jesus. We got up today to go to work with You. What a privilege.

Have a good day.

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August 6th

Our Bible reading is in the three chapters of the book of Zephaniah.

“Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city!”

‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭3:1‬

Must surely be referring to the spiritually lost and wicked of a pagan people. Who is this oppressing city? Who is this rebellious city? Who is this defiled city? Ready for a surprise? Not pagan Nineveh of Assyria. No...“Jerusalem of Judah”!

Wow. The way chapter two ends, we might think first and foremost of evil Nineveh. But the prophet Zephaniah referenced the city’s prophets, priests, sanctuary, and law. He was addressing the city of David and her children of promise.

Many people called by God’s name were selfishly oppressing the poor and the “faithful” of God in Jerusalem. The people of the Temple of God were defiling themselves at vain foreign altars, and calling their idolatry true worship...in Jerusalem. The city of the faithful followers of God who saw the judgment of God upon the rebellious northern kingdom were rebelling against the Lord’s words too...even in Jerusalem.

We learn that Jerusalem was the “spiritually polluted” city. The prophet designated three reasons why. First, She was not obeying “his voice”. If Jesus has taught me anything it is that the “sheep recognize the voice” of the shepherd. Sadly, at times, I will recognize His voice but then I will follow my own. God help me! That same thing happened among the Judeans in Jerusalem apparently.

Second, Jerusalem was not receiving correction from God. Correction came to Judah from the Lord, but they did not connect the dots. They just shrugged the correction moments off as “just bad times”, just “tough circumstances” to navigate. Happens to everybody.

I'm afraid that’s sounds too much like me. No wonder God waits to give grace in those situations. I'm still trying to “figure my own” way out, instead of confessing sin and submitting to God’s correcting direction for my life.

Third, She was not trusting in the Lord. Can't help but remember Bev’s and my life verse Proverbs 3:5,6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding...but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”

Judah never found God unfaithful in his love or in his promises given. However, counting on themselves instead of the promise and power of God became easier and easier for the unrepentant people of God.

And Fourth, Judah was not drawing near to her God. I agree with David Gurzik’s comments...”Judah’s worst offense was saved for last in Zephaniah’s prophesy. God longed for relationship with His people. But Judeans, instead of moving closer to their Savior, they withdrew from Him. Nothing says rejection quite as painfully as “distancing oneself” from your loved one on purpose.

No, the prophet wasn't promising God’s judgment upon a pagan city inside a godless country. He was prophesying God’s disciplining of His strong-willed children, for their good and God’s future purposes.

Be alert church. Be alert San Antonio. Be alert USA. The God of our salvation is at work in and through the COVID 19 pandemic. Listen...He is speaking to us.

Have a great day

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August 5th

Our bible reading today is in 2 Kings 22,23 and 2 Chronicles 34,35.

The text...“Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭22:13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Josiah followed his father, Amon, as King of Judah. He was more like his great grandfather Hezekiah believing and following the Lord with his whole heart.

Three hundred years earlier, at the beginning of the divided kingdom of Israel, a man of God prophesied that one day a child named Josiah would be born in the line of David and that he would become the king who would bring righteous worship back to Israel.

Well, here he was and the first things he did included repairing the Temple, purifying the religious practices across Judah, executing the false foreign priests throughout Judah, and tearing down all the foreign god altars that had been built by his wicked grandfather, Manasseh.

While the Levites were cleaning out the unnecessary stuff that evil priests had added to the Temple, they found a scroll. The Book of the Law that had been hidden. Shaphan the scribe gave it to the young king calling it simply, “a book”. I hope that didn't mean that a spiritual leader held the book in careless hands and heart. May it never be so in God’s church today.

The young king read the Book...and his heart and life were both changed. First, he rent his clothes, confessing his own sins of disobedience to God and His commands. It sounds like he was reading either some or all of the book for the first time.

This tells me something. Young Josiah must not have copied the 5 books of the law as was commanded in scripture. Apparently the wicked priests of his father’s day failed to guide the youthful monarch. Perhaps for very selfish reasons.

“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭17:14-15‬ ‭

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, "he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law”, approved by the Levitical priests.”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭17:18‬ ‭

Secondly, after reading the book of God’s laws, Josiah sent a request to the prophets. “Seek the Lord for me and Judah.” Repentant Josiah “sought the Lord. He sought the will of God...” what next Lord”?

And the prophetess, Huldah did so....”So Hilkiah the priest and Shaphan went to Huldah the prophetess and they talked with her. And she said to them, “Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants...”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭22:14-17‬ ‭

It would be some years before the Babylonian captivity, but God’s grace gave the people time to repent at His words and according to the spiritual revival in their young king’s heart.

Repentance of sin brings revival to the people of God. That can bring righteous reforms to a nation. So be it in our day O Lord!

Have a great day

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August 3rd

The bible reading today is in 2 Chronicles 32,33.

“Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. Wow, if he reigned that long, surely God was all over him. He was the son of the godly king Hezekiah. He only knew his dad for 12 years, but he was discipled in the faith early on by his grandfather and prophet Zecheriah. And he reigned as king in Judah longer than any king in Israel’s history. As an outsider looking in, Manasseh had every advantage for a Godly life and kingship.

But so much for the seeming advantages and the blessings of God that surrounded Manasseh...Manasseh turned out to be the worst king in Israel’s history, except at the end of his life.

Let us listen to the text for today...“And Manasseh did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the “abominations of the nations” whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭33:1-2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Wow, here was a king in Judah that copied the darkest evil ever practiced by the godless nations that Yahweh drove out for His chosen ones of faith.

Now think about it with me...Youthful Manasseh had been schooled in the “fear of the Lord” of Israel. In other words, he had been taught that God was good and wise and that He had a wonderful plan for his life. He had been taught that God was watching and working in and around his life for his good and the good of his family and nation.

Manasseh had been taught that God loved him and treasured him as his own and that He wanted to use him for the Glory of God’s kingdom. And most of all, Manasseh had been taught that God wanted a love relationship with him. Believe Me...walk with Me...Let’s do life together. But even with all that knowledge, even with all that promise, Manasseh didn't care and simply chose himself over God.

Oh how this reminds me of my own youthfulness. I was brought up around religion. I believed in God’s existence. I would tell people that I believed the bible, that I had been baptized and joined the church. And yet, I chose myself over God every time. I didn't worship Him. I worshipped and served myself every time.

From a distance, I may have looked religious enough to fool most. But now I know that I wasn't fooling God not one second.

This part of the history of Israel is very telling. It reminds me of Jesus’s message about the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13.

“He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭13:24-26‬ ‭ESV‬

Jesus was teaching that there would be spiritual weeds that would grow up among the true spiritual wheat in the field of the world. From a distance, the weed looked very much like the wheat. It even had a head on the stalk that resembled the wheat, but when you opened it there was no fruit. There was “no Jesus life”.

That was Manasseh, that was me, weeds among wheat...at least for a season. And then God did something to the aging king on his way back from visiting pagan Babylon.

“Manasseh was in distress. He entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.”

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭33:12-13‬ ‭ESV‬

Manasseh lived the better part of his life rejecting the faith and the God of his father. At the end of his days, during great affliction, Manasseh repented and began to serve the Lord. Manasseh had been kidnapped by Assyrian captains and taken to Babylon and put in chains for a season. He got sick..very sick.

Remember Jonah rebelling against God? Remember how God put him in the belly of a whale to turn his heart toward the Lord? Well God put king Manasseh into a Babylonian dungeon to afflict his body and soul, to turn his heart toward the Lord.

Can you imagine what it would have been like for the faithful remnant in Jerusalem when they heard that their wicked oppressive king was actually coming back? They probably started appealing to God for help again. Imagine their surprise when he returned a converted man. Halleluiahs must have replaced their anxious cries.

Some theologians have questioned the validity of Manasseh’s faith after such a long history of ever-escalating sinfulness against God and God’s people. But Spurgeon said, “I do not wonder at Manasseh ‘s sin half as much as I wonder at God’s mercy.”

Oh, Mr. Spurgeon, my heart resonates with yours. Oh, the length and height and depth that my Lord Jesus went to in order to save me from my sin and sinning.

Praise You Jesus...and Manasseh joins in too.

Have a great day

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August 2nd

Our Bible reading today is in 2 Kings 20,21.

Judah is under siege by Assyria. God would deliver Judah from the hand of Assyria, only to give them into the hands of the Babylonians eight years later. These chapters major on the end of King Hezekiah’s reign in Judah and God’s promises to him before he died.

“In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death.” The king was 39 years old. And he was very sick. Isaiah the prophet came to him and told Hezekiah that his death was near...” get your house in order.”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭20:1‬ ‭

Hezekiah wept bitterly. He turned his face away from Isaiah and into the wall for a private time with God. Some say that Hezekiah was the “good king” in the history of the divided kingdom of Israel. Some have said that the young king was closer to God than most in matters of faith and devotion.

Yet when faced with death, Hezekiah wept bitterly. And begged God for more time. Why? Perhaps this young man was scared of death and dying. Maybe he would have been better at a sudden death, with little time to meet it. Maybe he had forgotten that death was not the master. His God was, and death was the Father’s Majestic horse carrying him to the Father’s house in glory. Or maybe Hezekiah genuinely did not want to leave his post as leader in Judah while the nation was in such a perilous conflict with Assyria. Or maybe, he honestly felt that if he had more time, he could adequately have and prepare a son to reign in his place. For at that time, the young king was without an heir to his throne.

God heard Hezekiah’s tearful prayer and gave him fifteen more years. In that time, Hezekiah had a son, Manasseh. And he had 12 years with the boy before he died.

Spurgeon said that “prayer was the burden of a sigh...the falling of a tear...the upward glancing of an eye...when none but God is near”.

By the way, I think that it is important that we take a look at the prayer of Hezekiah for a moment.

“Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.”

‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭20:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I dont think this was intended to be a self-righteous prayer. Though it sure sounds like one. Or maybe he should have prayed, “Lord, you have been gracious enough to make me who I am. Whatever good is included, be pleased to spare my life in these days.”

So how should we pray? In Christ, we come to pray, not in our name and reputation, but in Jesus’ Name and His righteousness. Let us listen to Jesus...John 16.

“...Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father “in my name”, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing “in my name”. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

‭‭John‬ ‭16:23-24‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Ok, Lord, my expectation of answered prayer is in You and your promises, not in me and mine.

Love you, Lord...

Have a great day

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August 1st

Our bible reading today is in the last three chapters of the book of Isaiah...chapters 64, 65, 66.

In chapters 63,64, the prophet is praying. Isaiah is interceding to God on behalf of himself and the whole of God’s people.

“Oh that you Lord would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭64:1‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God our Savior...Elohim...come down...like you did at Sinai...where the mountains quaked and the sky was filled with the fire and cloud of your presence. Come down like that Lord...that awe and conviction would fill the hearts and minds of your people today just like our forefathers and mothers experienced You years ago.

When I read Isaiah’s intercession here, I can't help but apply it to the second coming of Christ. O Lord Jesus, you promised your first disciples at the time of your ascension into heaven that you would return to the earth in glory one day. We are still listening for the trumpet blast that will gather your people on earth and your people from the grave to meet you in the air. As the apostle, John said in the last chapter of the Revelation...”Come, Lord Jesus...Come...!”

We plead as Isaiah did. Rend the heavens. Come down. Do as you purposed to do all along. Make all things new.

When Isaiah prayed this prayer, he was broken over his sin and broken over the sinning of the rest of God’s people. O how he wanted God to do something that would awaken Israel spiritually. “as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— “Isaiah was praying that the “fire” of God’s presence would fall upon Israel and melt their cold hearts and set aflame once again their hearts toward God and for God’s purposes for them.

Isaiah prayed that God would so invade Israel spiritually, that the nations of the world would not only notice but also tremble at what God was doing.

Oh Lord, do that in your church today. Start with me. Let your fire fall on me and set my soul aflame once again for Thee and your people and the world which desperately needs the Gospel unto salvation.

“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭64:6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Isaiah bewailed his own sins before God. He confessed them. He didn't hide them anymore. He humbly admitted his disobedience to God, and was most sorrowful. He confessed to God that his sins had carried him away from God. And that he had been living in the soiled garment of sin too long.

Isaiah prayed...”Lord, even in our sin...You are still our Father... “Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭64:9‬ ‭

In chapters 65,66...God answers Isaiah’s plea...“I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭65:2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Oh friends, do we not see Jesus her? From the mount of olives...looking upon Jerusalem...”Jerusalem how long I waited for you...longing to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks...”

Isaiah knew his God...his Father...his Savior...we know Him too in Christ. We too take hold of him in repentance and faith. Come, Lord Jesus!

Have a great day

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July 31

Our Bible reading today is in Isaiah chapters 59-63.

During the years of Israel’s discipline at the hands of their loving, all-powerful God, many in Israel wondered if God still loved them. And many others wondered if the strength of God had diminished. Some believed that God’s hearing had become dull and that He had lost interest in His covenant people.

And then Isaiah speaks...“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭59:1

Isaiah would remind the people of promise that the problem was not on God’s end, but theirs. They felt distanced from God and blamed God. When in reality, their rebellious and unrepentant sinning separated themselves from close fellowship with God.

God was still right there. Their sinning simply made it hard for them to see and feel his presence or hear His gentle voice. I'm just quoting God’s prophet Isaiah...“your sins have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so it seems to you that he does not hear.”

Isaiah. 59.

Now in chapter 60...“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭60:1-2‬ ‭

The prophet’s message was one of hope and charge to Israel as their days in Babylonian exile marched on. Isaiah was preaching God has judged the nations just as surely as He has put you through the refiner’s fire. You are right, the earth has been covered with darkness.

But, the Lord will arise on you. So get up, take courage, let your faith in Him be seen brightly, shine now.

Fellow followers of Jesus, remember Jesus’ charge to the apostles?...“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:16‬ ‭

O friends, the glory of the Lord has already arisen upon us who believe Jesus. His light has already come to us who believe.

So Isaiah’s message may have been prophesy and hope for Israel’s future in the kingdom of God. But in Christ, the kingdom of God is within us, because the king lives in our hearts today. So let us rise and shine by the power of the Holy Spirit within us and point people toward our glorious Savior Jesus.

Now to one more piece of God’s thunder through the prophet today...Isaiah. 61

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭61:1-3‬ ‭

Sound familiar? This is what Jesus quoted when he spoke in the synagogue in his hometown. Saying...I am that person that Isaiah prophesied of 800 years ago. I am the Messiah you have been waiting for. And all that I do will be done for the glory of God the Father.

O Jesus if You lived for the glory of God...by your grace so will your disciples!

Have a great day