Given by Rev. Paul Yoo

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Revelation 2:12-17

Like Smyrna, the church in Pergamum needs strength to face not just suffering but also spiritual seduction/temptation. “The temptation is too strong, and they give way. Compromise creeps in; the distinction between the church and the world is blurred” (Michael Wilcock).

Given by Rev. Paul Yoo

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Revelation 2:8-11

The church in Smyrna needs strength to face the sufferings of persecution.

Given by Rev. Andrew Field

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Revelation 2:1-7

The church in Ephesus needs to recover their “first love”: love for God and love for each other. “Protecting themselves and others from error and exhaustion is only of value if they are protecting their relationship of love with their Lord and with one another” (Ian Paul).  

Given by Rev. Bijan Mirtolooi

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Revelation 1:9-20

Psalm 16:8 says, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” There was much that was trying to “shake” the seven churches in Asia Minor. This vision of Christ—the Living One, the First and the Last—is what those churches, and every church, always need to keep their eyes on.

Given by Rev. Bijan Mirtolooi

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Romans 8:28-39

This passage doesn’t say all things are good. It says that God works all things for good for his people, culminating in their being glorified—safe with him in his kingdom forever as their truest selves. To know deep down that God is working all things for good provides hope and peace even as we walk through the fiercest storms.

Given by Rev. Bijan Mirtolooi

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Romans 8:18-27

Paul never minimizes the sufferings Christians experience, but he does say that those sufferings pale in comparison to the glory that’s coming. There is a real, embodied, healed future coming for the people of God. Christians are those who live in the present shaped by confident hope in that coming future.

Given by Rev. Bijan Mirtolooi

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Romans 8:12-17

The Spirit helps Christians experience their adoption, that a Christian has become a member of God’s family, his son and daughter, with brothers and sisters (new community). What the Spirit does is take that objective reality and help us experience in subjective ways.

Given by Rev. Bijan Mirtolooi

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Romans 6:1-14

The gospel brings new power and new purpose for living. Through the gospel, a person is freed from living for themselves (sin) and is freed to “live a new life” in, with, and for God.

Given by Rev. Bijan Mirtolooi

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE |  Romans 4:1-8, 4:22-5:2

Justification means not only that sin is forgiven, but being “credited” with Jesus’ own righteousness. Through the gospel, a person can be truly accepted and have a meaning in life that is unshakeable.

“This is my beloved son; in him I am well pleased.” 

Through the gospel, the verdict is in: justified in the only court that ultimately matters.

Given by Rev. Paul Yoo

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE |  Romans 1:14-17

Everyone is looking for salvation. “Interestingly enough, the majority of people who seek salvation today do not think of themselves as someone who seeks salvation. But they feel the need for it regardless. In his book, A Secular Age, Charles Taylor explains the experience of desiring a “fullness” in our lives that is not there, of aching for a life that could be and should be far better than it is now” (Tim Keller). In his introduction to Romans, Paul boasts in the gospel as the only way to experience salvation.