Matthew 22, Mark 12 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2019 “LOVING GOD FROM CENTER TO CIRCUMFERENCE” Testing Jesus, a lawyer asked which was the great commandment. Jesus replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On…Keep Reading

Mark 11, John 12 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2019 “THE PARADOXICAL HOUR OF JESUS” Some Greeks—either Greek-speaking Jews (Acts 6:1-2) or proselytes—came asking to see Jesus. When the disciples informed Jesus, he replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). His preaching to the multitudes, intimate teaching of his inner circle of disciples, and his healing ministry was over. The cross loomed…Keep Reading

Luke 18:15-19:48 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019 “SEEKING AND SAVING THE LOST” Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and rich, an outcast from the Jewish community, and all his money could not buy him respectability. His tenacity got both the attention of Jesus that of the pious: “And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must…Keep Reading

Matthew 20-21 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019 “THE INVERTED PYRAMID” The disciples were jockeying for position in the coming kingdom, and Jesus rebuked them, saying, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among…Keep Reading

Malachi 1-4 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 “THE GREAT AND AWESOME DAY OF THE LORD” God’s final message to the Jews was “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree…Keep Reading

Matthew 5:16 DEVOTION FOR TODAY, September 27, 2019 “Let Your Light Shine for Those Who on the Side of the Road” Years ago (before cell phones) our family spent part of a night on the side of a mountain road in a car that was out of gasoline. If I had taken the time to stop at a service station a few miles back we would not have been in…Keep Reading

Nehemiah 6-7 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 “THREE THINGS EVERY CHURCH NEEDS TO BE SUCCESSFUL” Nehemiah, like every godly leader, had his share of enemies: “Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in…Keep Reading

Ephesians 1:15 DEVOTION FOR TODAY, September 26, 2019 “No LOVE Means No CHURCH” One of the greatest challenges that today’s church faces is to know how to hold steadfastly to our convictions while at the same time, love those who do not agree with us. Jesus is our greatest example of this very thing; it is the very heartbeat of the Gospel. The Bible says that while we were yet…Keep Reading

Nehemiah 1-5 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 “A MIND TO WORK” Nehemiah had received news from Jerusalem that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and its gates had been destroyed. He fasted and prayed for days before receiving a commission from King Artaxerxes to go to Jerusalem to lead in rebuilding the walls. God had laid it on the heart of a committee to motivate the people. He…Keep Reading

Jeremiah 12:5 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, September 25, 2019 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets…” Those words sound as if they came from my old Drill Sergeant in basic training. Who would have thought that they were from a prophet? I had a friend…Keep Reading

Ezra 7-10 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, September 25, 2019 “THE HIGH COST OF SIN” The nation had been carried into captivity because of unfaithfulness. Through Jeremiah, God had decreed, “But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations” (Jeremiah 16:18). The exiles who had chosen to return to…Keep Reading

Luke 15:17 THOUGHT FOR TODAY, September 24, 2019 “Lasting Impression” The little wooden church had stood next to a large building on the street corner for many years. It had never been a large congregation, but always faithful. Then things changed in town; people moved out and new business moved in. It isn’t easy to be an out of date building in a modern world. It had to struggle to…Keep Reading