October 8 – John 5

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from John 5. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

Too often we look at the Pharisees in negative light. Their actions give us many valid reasons to do so. In our reading today they looked at the man Jesus healed and gave this condemnation, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn't allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” (John 5:10b NLT) Too often they were more concerned about the letter of the Law than the heart of the Law. We give them a bad reputation for their hatred toward Jesus. In our minds, we think of them in completely negative terms.

However, as an honest man, I do have to give them credit where it is deserved. When they come to Jesus to harass Him for breaking Sabbath rules, they fully understand His claims. Jesus responds to their harassment by saying, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” (John 5:17 NLT) They were furious and wanted Jesus killed. In their reaction, they understood the claims Jesus was making.

We praise the Apostles for their ministries, and rightly so. But we often forget how much they struggled to understand Jesus and His claims. From very early in Jesus ministry the Pharisees understood the claims he was making. While they understood them, they certainly did not accept them. However, what it does show is that their education and study of scripture brought them to a point where they understood the rich claims Jesus was making.

How are you in your Bible reading and knowledge? Is it preparing you to be ready to see the evidence of God all around you? While they did not accept it, the Pharisees where prepared intellectually to understand the claims that Jesus was making. That is a valid lesson for us to learn and apply to our lives. 

October 5 – Matthew 4 & Luke 4-5

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Matthew 4 & Luke 4-5. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

The introductory material about Jesus birth is now behind us. Today he begins His public ministry. He does so by going into the Wilderness following His baptism to spend time in prayer, fasting, worship, and simply connecting with God. As He begins His public ministry He does so in unusual ways.

He starts with calling disciples. He also begins to perform miracles. He does things that are far from the normal pattern of new Rabbi’s on the scene. He even does things that anger the religious officials of the day. They are upset that he forgives sins. They are confused as to why he eats with scum (the NIV calls them sinners). Jesus does not do things the way He was supposed to do things.

To conclude this section Luke shares with us Jesus’ words about all this …

Then Jesus gave them this illustration: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to patch an old garment. For then the new garment would be ruined, and the new patch wouldn’t even match the old garment. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.” Luke 5:36-39 NLT

Jesus has basically come and said the old system is about to be finished. I am bringing something new. There will be people who do not accept it, because they are fine with the old way. But we know new against old does not always work. New wine in old wine skins will break the wine skins. A new patch on old clothes will tear the old clothes as the new patch begins to shrink while washing. New sometimes has to go with new … and that is ok. 

October 3 – Matthew 2

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Matthew 2. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

We can again see Matthew’s purpose in writing was to give an account of Jesus’ life that was targeted at the Jewish community. They were familiar with the Old Testament. They knew the stories of their ancestors. They studied it like we study American history. They could tell about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They knew about Ehud and Eglon. They were familiar with the life of David. Not only did they know the stories, they also were waiting on hope. God throughout the period of the Old Testament slipped in glimmers of hope through his prophets and through his writers. We often call these Messianic Prophecies.

We are given a glimpse of Matthew’s purpose by the abundance of Messianic Prophecies Matthew uses in chapter two, … “And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.”  (Matthew 2:6 NLT) This prophecy is taken directly from Micah 5:2. Jesus was born in Bethlehem because that was where is ancestral roots came from. Now believing this prophecy is not hard, because it is where David was from and this is what was supposed to happen. Matthew is simply reminding and showing his audience that in fact this did happen.

God certainly knows what He is doing. He knows that there are people waiting on the Messiah, so he speaks through Matthew and reminds the people that what He set in motion through the prophets has now come to fruition. God gives solid evidence from the very birth of Jesus to point to His Messianic work. 

October 2 – Matthew 1 & Luke 2

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Matthew 1 & Luke 2. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

The story of Jesus birth and all that happened are simply wonderful and amazing. Matthew starts his Gospel with what some might consider a boring genealogy. This genealogy however establishes Jesus as first being a Jew and second being from the right family tree as predicted by God. This was an incredibly foundation for Matthew to build upon.

What I also love about our reading is the awesome events that play out.

•   Joseph is visited by an angel in a dream – Matthew 1:18-25
•  Shepherds are sent to Bethlehem to see the child because angels visited them – Luke 2:8-20
• When Jesus is presented at the temple two people offer amazing prophecies, first by Simeon – Luke 2:25-35 and second by Anna – Luke 2:26-40.

 This birth is special. There is now way around it. Joseph and Mary had to know that what was happening was all because of God. How would you have felt to be chosen by God to do something so great? Would it have been hard or easy to accept knowing your life was going to drastically change? These are tough questions to answer. 

October 1 – Luke 1 & John 1

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Luke 1 & John 1. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

We have finally arrived and started the New Testament. Our first encounter of the New Testament is the book of Luke. Each gospel writer wrote to a specific audience and for a specific purpose. Their audience and purpose dictate the way their gospel is arranged. We will examine Luke’s purpose and writing as we start the New Testament.

Luke’s gospel was written for a Gentile audience. We know that Luke is the author of both Luke and Acts. We believe Acts is simple a continuation of his first book Luke. There is speculation that these two works were written to present to the Roman Emperor of the day as a defense for the Apostle Paul. Paul was on trial because he had appealed to Caesar when he was arrested in Jerusalem (Acts 21-28). To bring the Emperor up to speed on what Christianity is he needed the whole story. So Luke wrote his Gospel as well as a history of the church. Now we do not fully know this was the case for sure, however it is evident the audience of Luke was not Jewish.

The first chapter of Luke is very interesting. Two angels appear to two Jews. Each Jew is told they are going to have a child. One is an old man named Zechariah, and the other was a teenage girl from Nazareth named Mary.

Zechariah was a priest and as a priest he knew the Old Testament very well. He knew that a coming Messiah was promised. Many in his day thought the time was just right. To convey this understanding to a Gentile audience Luke includes a prophecy of Zechariah into his Gospel that outlines the History of Israel and the promise past down from God. With this Luke has established the tradition which the Jews had been waiting for the one to come.

Luke does this again with Mary. When the angel comes and shares that God is with her and that she will give birth to His Son, she sings a song of praise. This song of praise highlights the tradition and the promise that God had made through Abraham. The small town teenage girl knew her scripture very well.

What Luke has done is given the back story needed. In fact he had done what we at West Side did with The Story. We unveiled the problem that sin created and we showed by walking through the Old Testament how God worked to restore mankind. This is an important step for Luke to make, because this is all the foundation for everything Jesus will do and start with His time on earth. 

September 30 – Malachi 1-4

Below are my thoughts from the daily Bible reading of the West Side Church of Christ. Today’s reading comes from Malachi 1-4. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word. Also above in the tabs is a link to the Bible reading plan.

Today we close out the Old Testament. It has been a long nine months going through the Old Testament. I love the Old Testament. There are so many wonderful stories as well as so many heart breaking stories. I love that throughout God gives hope in the darkest moments of despair. Now for the next four hundred and some years God will be somewhat silent as Israel waits for the coming Messiah. But he does not leave them without a challenge to give fully to Him.

The entire book of Malachi is God challenging the quality of the sacrifices and gifts brought before God. To be frank, their gifts were not that great … “You have shown contempt by offering defiled sacrifices on my altar.” (Malachi 1:7 NLT) … “You defile them by saying the altar of the LORD deserves no respect. When you give blind animals as sacrifices, is not that wrong?” (Malachi 1:7-8 NLT) … “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered!” (Malachi 1:10 NLT) This is just a little sample of the strong words God brings against Israel.

Let’s apply these thoughts from God to our giving. What does it look like? Are we giving God our best or what is left? Yesterday I had lunch with a very godly woman whose husband is barely hanging onto life right now because of his health. She made the comment that when he was healthy and involved in his day job that the school he worked for got the best of him. How often does that scenario play out in your relationship with God? How often do we let everything else come before our relationship with God and when we get to Him, we are wiped out, barley giving Him any quality. As we turn to the life saving mission of Jesus tomorrow, let’s contemplate our sacrifices before God.