“Counted Worthy”

April 14, 2024

April 14, 2024

Read Numbers 34, Psalm 119:81-120, Acts 5-6

When’s the last time you rejoiced over something? Getting a good grade in school, getting a promotion at work, or maybe you celebrated something with your family like a birthday or anniversary? Whatever it was that you rejoiced over, I bet it was something good. In Acts 5: 41 we find the disciples rejoicing over something that most people would not rejoice over. “His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” The disciples took a beating, they were flogged and questioned and ordered not to continue talking about their faith and testimony in Jesus. They rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of their Savior. Jesus reminded them of this suffering before He returned to Heaven. He told them they would have trouble in this life, but to take courage, because Jesus had overcome the world.  Let this be a reminder for all of us, that when we face persecution from the world for our faith that we too can rejoice and be a part of good company like the disciples and Jesus himself who have faced persecution.

What else do you see in these chapters? What stands out to you most?
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Posted by John Weldon

“Boldness”

April 13, 2024

April 13, 2024

Read Numbers 33, Psalm 119:41-80, Acts 3-4

What would you do if you had a little more boldness? Would you do something crazy like sky dive or ride a motorcycle for the first time? Maybe you would take more chances in business or in life? One of the traits we see in the book of Acts is the boldness of the disciples as they are impowered by the Holy Spirit to share the good news of the resurrection. What made them have this boldness? I believe it came from their experience of seeing the resurrected Jesus and the power from the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 4 is an example of this boldness. The Jewish leaders had Peter and John rounded up and began to question them “’By what power or what name did you do this?’ 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: ‘Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed’” vv. 7b-10. The Holy Spirit is probably the most forgotten and minimized part of the trinity, at least in my experience. But equally as much God as the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit is vital for God’s work in our lives. Peter’s boldness was not just a softball tossed at him to easily hit a homerun, Peter and John were standing before the most powerful people in Israel who had the power to jail or shut them up. Acts 4:12 is probably the most exclusive statement in the New Testament about how we attain salvation. “Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” v. 12. Peter was clear, it was not the law that saved, it was Jesus. The response from the religious leaders tells it all. “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” v. 13. The good news is that you don’t have to be trained or educated or have money or status to be bold. It can come from the Holy Spirit and from our personal experience of witnessing the power of God in our lives.

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
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Posted by John Weldon

“God’s Word from A to T”

April 12, 2024

April 12, 2024

Read Numbers 32, Psalm 119:1-40, Acts 1-2

What acrostics do you know and remember that help you remember something important? Maybe it’s the order of operations in math, (Please My Dear Aunt Sally) or the word ACTS that teaches us the different parts of prayer (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication). Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. It is 176 verses long. It is an anonymous psalm that is in the acrostic of the Hebrew alphabet (22 characters) from Aleph to Taw. Each letter has 8 verses and the entire psalm centers around the Word of God. You cannot tell it English, but in Hebrew each of the corresponding stanzas start with the Hebrew letter.

“Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord” v. 1. The unknown author uses many different words for the Scripture from precepts, decrees, statues, laws, and commands.  What are some of the reasons you are thankful for God Word in your life? What are some of the benefits it has brought to your life?

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
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Posted by John Weldon

“Short and Sweet”

April 11, 2024

April 11, 2024

Read Numbers 31, Psalm 116-118

Sometimes we don’t need to say much to get our point across. My grandfather was a preacher and when my brother and I were younger occasionally we would go spend the weekend with them and go to church with them on a Sunday. I always liked going to their church for several reasons, but one of those was that my grandfather’s sermons were usually no longer that 12-15 minutes. He had a knack for saying what he wanted to say in a short and sweet way without belaboring the point.

Psalm 117 is the smallest psalm in the Bible. It consists of two verses. Twenty-nine words in English (26 in Hebrew). The short and simple message is a message to all the nations to praise the Lord for his great love. God’s love is faithful throughout all generations.

Here is the entire psalm.

Praise the Lord, all you nations;

extol him, all you peoples.

2 For great is his love towards us,

and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever.

Praise the Lord.

What else do you see in these chapters? What stands out to you?
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Posted by John Weldon

“Back to the Future”

April 9, 2024

April 9, 2024

Read Numbers 29, Psalm 110-112

Growing up, one of my favorite movie trilogies was the Back to the Future series with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. An action/comedy movie with a plot about how the past can change the future and vice versa. In Psalm 110, a psalm of David, we have a messianic prophecy that points to Jesus in the future and wording in verse one has a little of the same back to the future vibe.

Psalm 110 opens with, “The LORD says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’” Jesus discusses this verse with the pharisees in the Synoptic Gospels asking about the identity of the Messiah. How could the son of David also be David’s Lord? The only answer that makes sense is that the Messiah is of godly origins and not just another human descendant of David.

Psalm 110 also holds a rare name of someone only mentioned twice in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament. “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek” v. 4. Melchizedek was King of Salem and a priest. Abram paid him a tenth when they rescued his nephew Lot from the other kings in Genesis. He is a mysterious king with no origin or family line known about him. He is not mentioned again until the New Testament book of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews expounds into detail about Melchizedek and compares him to that of Jesus. Many will say that Melchizedek is a preincarnate Jesus that Abram gave the tithe to.

Aside from this lesson in prophecy and history, we can know for sure that Jesus is our priest, the one who represents us before the Father. Jesus acts as the priest who makes intercession for us by his death on the cross for our sins.

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
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Posted by John Weldon

“Journaling”

April 7, 2024

April 7, 2024

Read Numbers 27, Psalm 104-106

If you haven’t figured it out yet. I have been posting on social media and my blog my thoughts on the passages of Scripture that I read every day. This is a type of journaling I felt led to do at the beginning of the year when I started read through the Bible this year. Do you like to journal or record your thoughts down on paper or in some other format? I admit it’s not for everyone. There are benefits to journaling. You get to go back and review your thoughts over a period and see how you felt about a particular circumstance you were going through. Another benefit is to see how God worked through a time in your life or how He was actively involved in your life in the past.

This is the mentality of the author of Psalm 105 and 106. The psalmist goes back over the history of Israel and looks at the highlights of their journey. There are good and bad things mentioned. Times of disobedience and times when God’s providence prevailed. The psalm opens with these verses; “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. 2 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts” vv. 1-2. It starts with Abraham and then with Jacob. Next, we see the journey to Egypt mentioned and some of the 10 plagues that God brought down on Egypt. “He sent darkness and made the land dark—   for had they not rebelled against his words? 29 He turned their waters into blood, causing their fish to die. 30 Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers” vv. 28-30. In Psalm 106 we find more of the negative journaling that reminded Israel of their disobedience and sin. “But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel. 14 In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test” vv. 13-14. The golden calf was mentioned and also when the earth opened up and swallowed some rebellious Israelites for opposing Moses. “The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram” v. 17.

Good or bad, what are some things that you could journal about and return to at a later date to help you remember and appreciate the things that God has brought you through or that you have experienced?
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Posted by John Weldon

“Not To You But For You”

April 6, 2024

April 6, 2024

Read Numbers 26, Psalm 101-103

When you read the Bible it is important to remember that the Bible is not written to you originally but it is for you to read today and for your benefit. There are a few exceptions to this statement in the Bible. For example, in John 17 Jesus prayed for the future believers who would believe in Him because of the disciples. In Psalm 102 we find another instance of this. Verse 18 reads “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD” v. 18. We may read the psalm or other parts of the Bible and it will bring praise to the Lord as we have seen God’s promises come true and see how God acts and interacts with his creation. I want to urge you to read the Scripture and not to just read it as a historical account but allow it to bring forth praise to the Lord for who He is and what He has done.

What have you read today that will cause you to praise Him? Add your thoughts below.

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Posted by John Weldon

“Do Not Harden Your Hearts”

April 4, 2024

April 4, 2024

Read Numbers 24, Psalm 95-97

We have a responsibility to respond to the Lord when He works in and around our lives. Psalm 95 challenges us; “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did” vv. 7-9. This passage is echoed by the author of Hebrews as a warning for us not to turn away from the Lord. Our free will is one of the greatest gifts that God has bestowed on us. The ability to choose to love and freely give or reject that which God has placed before us is powerful. We should be cautious to not continue to away from the Lord like the Israelites did in the wilderness and like so many others have done. It is a scary thing to consider that our hearts would harden and cause us to miss out on the blessings of God because we continually rejected the Lord or continually participated in some form of sin that turned us deaf to the voice of the Lord. Have you become hardened of heart in some way or area? Do we allow the world to influence us in ways that are dangerous to our eternal destiny?

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, verses, or themes stand out to you?
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Posted by John Weldon

“The Original Talking Donkey”

April 2, 2024

April 2, 2024

Read Numbers 22, Psalm 92, Mark 16

If you could talk with an animal which one would it be? What kinds of questions would you ask? Before there was Mr. Ed or the Donkey from Shrek there was another talking animal. Word of the Israelites victory in battle had made way to Moab and to the King Balak. Afraid of what Israel might do to him, Balak send messengers to a man named Balaam. “Now come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed” v. 6. God comes to Balaam and tells him not to go with theses men and not to curse Israel because they are a blessed nation. The King Balak tries a second tine to get Balaam to come curse Israel. This time God responds, “Since these men have come to summon you, go with them, but do only what I tell you” v. 20. Balaam went on ahead on his own and this angered the Lord who sent an angel to stop him. “When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road” v. 23. The donkey refused to go past the angel and crushed Balaam’s leg against the side of the wall. “Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” v. 28. Many will say, Donkey’s can’t talk, but we must remember this is a miracle and when God acts in our world miracles are possible.

What else do you see in these chapters? What other miracles do you see God working?
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Posted by John Weldon

“Speak Not Strike”

March 31, 2024

March 31, 2024

Read Numbers 20, Psalm 90, Mark 14

Have you ever had directions to follow and you may not have followed them close or carefully enough? What happened? Did you leave an ingredient out of a recipe, miss a turn when you were driving, or maybe it was something more costly? In Numbers 20 we have what seems to be a very harsh punishment for Moses from the Lord simply because he struck the rock that God told him to speak to. “The LORD said to Moses, 8 ‘Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so that they and their livestock can drink’” vv. 7-8. There was a problem, Moses in his anger did what he had done before. He struck the rock with his staff and while water did come out, it was not how God had wanted him to do it. Why? We might find a clue in Moses’ comment to the Israelites. “He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank” vv. 10-11. Moses and Aaron had gathered the people together to give them a lecture. Moses said, “must we bring you water out of this rock?” v. 10. This could either been seen as “we” meaning Moses and Aaron or “we” meaning Moses and God. Either way Moses was equating himself with God or leaving God out of the whole process of providing water for the people. It might have been just as much about his words that he actions. Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses chooses to speak about himself rather than the Lord.

We must be careful to follow God’s commands when know God is instructing us. There are plenty of examples in Scripture of people who only half-heartly obey and God was not pleased.

What else do you see in these chapters? What words, phrases, or themes stand out to you?
Add your thoughts below.

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Posted by John Weldon

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