February 15 Matthew 13:11–15 refers to Isaiah’s prophecy that the Messiah will speak in parables. So what is a parable? The Greek word behind “parable” means “to throw alongside.” As Jesus went about ministering, He often drew word pictures from what He and His disciples encountered. The parables were designed to reveal secrets of the…
February 2 Are you ready to have some of your preconceptions about God blown away? Matthew tells us, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1, CSB) 1.) Jesus was led into temptation. The writer of the book of Hebrews knew what he was…
January 18 Several times in today’s chapter Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit. In fact, He not only talks about the Holy Spirit but the Father as well, sharing some of the Bible’s clearest and most detailed insights about them. John 14 then is a very important passage, and one reason is that it is…
We will turn our calendars to 2026 in just two days! But didn’t we flip our calendars to 2025 just last week? In this day and time, we find it easy to kick back and “rest on our laurels.” But the Bible urges us to be purposeful with our time. (Ephesians 5:16; Proverbs 19:16; Proverbs…
In today’s Bible reading*, Jesus warns the Laodicea Church against its lukewarm walk with Jesus. Jesus tells the church that He would rather a church — or an individual, by implication — be either piping hot or stone-cold as opposed to being lukewarm. One of my favorite scenes in the Christian Movie War Room features Miss Clara serving…
Well, 2025 is almost over, and 2026 will be here next week. What are your plans for next year? What are your plans for your spiritual life — not that you can separate general plans from spiritual plans! Did you follow a Bible Reading Plan last year? I led our church through a chronological reading…
