TEXT: Revelation 4

Because our Living and Active God reigns from a place of complete power, holiness, and worthiness, in all things we must depend on Him, seek to become more like Him, and give Him the glory!

TEXT: Matthew 6:1-4

The hypocritical heart seeks to bring glory to self. The heart of a Jesus follower seeks to bring glory to God alone.

TEXT: Matthew 5:38-48

As we close out Matthew 5 today, Jesus helps us learn how to treat people who mistreat us. Through His love and patience with sinners, Jesus shows us how to air grace towards others.

The disobedience of Israel resulted in the destruction of their kingdom. But this is not the end of them, but a chance for a new beginning. The nation as a whole may be disassembled, but the individuals are still able to call out to God when they recognize their sinful state. Ultimately Israel will return to God because God holds His people.

Jesus desires for us to see lying as a sin against God and to be passionate about the truth, which is only found in Jesus.

God appears here in the gut-wrenching situation a father feels when his children choose something he knows will hurt them. The full measure of God’s wrath is stored because of the continual sinning, but in spite of their lack of love for God, He still desires His people to turn back. There is One who is to come that bridges the gap between judgment and grace.

TEXT: Matthew 19:13-15

As children are being brought to Jesus, the disciples interfere, but they soon learn Jesus invites children to come to Him. In the same way, He invites us to have a child-like faith and to see Him for who He truly is.

Continuing to reject God’s call to repentance, we find a detailed scolding of Israel for her actions. And ultimately God outlines a return to the conditions the Israelites abhorred- slaves as though they are once again in Egypt. There is no avoiding this, and yet God still makes appeals for heart change as He remembers the love He has for His children.

The people remain unrepentant and continue to defy God through their evil kings, dependence on foreign relationships, and lack of true worship. Although what they are doing is no worse than the people around them, it is their status as God’s chosen people that makes their breaking of the covenant with God so egregious.  Yet in it all, God still desires that His people give up these worldly ways and return to Him.

Today's Text: Revelation 3:14-22

The Laodiceans believed they were a self-sufficient people who were rich, prosperous, and needed nothing. Christ’s message to them and us is that without Christ we are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.