You Can Come!
Read: Matthew 22:1-14 Invite to the wedding feast as many as you find. (v. 9) Scott and Betsie’s wedding day was unforgettable. I was their pastor that December morning when an unrelenting Iowa blizzard upended the well-choreographed day. One by one guests called to cancel. The reception band canceled. Even the caterer canceled! However, the couple […]
Highway Robbery
Read: Matthew 21:12-17 “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you make it a den of robbers. (v. 13) An angry elder once cited this story of Jesus driving out the money changers from the temple courts to chastise a music group for selling CDs in the church lobby after they helped lead […]
Mixed Messages
Read: Matthew 21:1-11 Your king is coming to you, humble. (v. 5) If you go to church today you’ll likely see children waving palms and shouting “Hosanna!” As a child I didn’t understand all the waving. I usually turned my palm into a sword to joust with my peers in the front of church. It made […]
Upside Down
Read: Matthew 20:17-28 You do not know what you are asking. (v. 22) Last summer a pastor in Missouri berated his congregation for not giving him a luxury watch and other niceties. Although he later apologized, he evidently missed Jesus’ leadership memo: “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant” (v. 26). The kingdom of […]
A Letter for the Churches and for Us
Read: Revelation 1:1-7 In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Rom. 8:37) Why do I return to the introduction again? John must have written it after the visions. How excited he must have been to send this book to his churches! How it must have amazed, encouraged and […]
The King’s Promise to Return
Read: Revelation 22:6-21 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:3) The seven episodes of Revelation interpret each other. More than 500 allusions to other Bible passages are like footnotes. Revelation isn’t unique […]
A Scintillating Crystal Cube
Read: Revelation 21:9-22:5 Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. (v. 9) John sees a sparkling, jeweled crystal cube. The angel says it’s the Bride, the Church descending from God. Her people are born of God. She is set down on the new earth, her eternal home. Heaven! Each element named […]
A New Earth
Read: Revelation 20:11-21:8 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (21:5) Multitudes stand before the throne. All the unrepentant dead are raised—whether buried, cremated, drowned, bombed to bits, or lost in space! Their […]
April 2023 Prayer Guide
NEPAL — Pray for the team in Nepal as they continue to work toward expanding the number of languages and dialects they produce media in. Nepali society is divided according to caste levels and societal groups. Unique programming by locals of different areas of the country is likely to speak more closely to the needs of […]