April 14 (Tuesday) -- Fooled by moldy bread, plus tree slinging faith

Fooled by moldy bread: Joshua 9:3-10:43

Tree slinging faith: Luke 16:19-17:10

O God, do not keep silent: Psalm 83:1-18

Sluggards get nothing: Proverbs 13:4


Joshua 9:18 talks about what it really means to take God’s name in vain. It’s not about cussing with “God” in the cuss words, although we shouldn’t do that. It’s about swearing on an oath on the name of the Lord, then breaking the oath.

In Luke 17, Jesus taught about both humility and power. His followers wanted Him to increase their faith (verse 5). Jesus told them that even the tiniest bit of faith would do wonders. The He immediately talked about serving God with the attitude of a servant.

I believe the two topics are related. I think believing in Jesus more then you believe even physical laws will result in you serving Jesus faithfully. It’s got to be more than just coming to church because your parents bring you. It’s got to be LILYMI faith. (Live It Like Ya Mean It)

April 13, 2009 (monday)

April 13

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Joshua 7:16-9:2

Luke 16:1-18

Psalm 82:1-8

Proverbs 13:2-3

I'm really pumped about how well the sunrise service went this Easter. Thanks for all the youth who were involved in the planning/setting up/singing/anything. It was really great... 

Today's reading in Joshua describes the covenant renewal at Mount Ebal. This is one of those moments where the Israelites have a moment of realization concerning what it means to be God's people. It is a passage that is helpful in making us consider the gravity of spending a life and an eternity in relationship with the living Lord...

The passage in Luke is very interesting. We have the parable of the shrewd manager. This is a story about a rich man kicking out his manager for stealing from the rich man. The manager basically goes to all of those who owe the rich man money and tell them they can get off of the debt for just paying a small amount (sounds like some sort of ancient story that may involve Bernie Madoff, 'get out of debt quick' schemes and Dave Ramsey all at once, though i'm not exactly sure how exactly) to him directly. The manager takes the money for himself before leaving his job as manager. Then the master actually commends the manager for his shrewdness. he's quite impressed! an interesting story. But Jesus uses it to say that those in the world celebrate dishonesty, but in his eyes it's all evil. I think this applies to anything that you 'can get away with'. sometimes we think we're okay, so long as we don't get caught. Or maybe we think it's okay if we get away with saying some clever insult to someone else at school or church. The point is that there is a higher council than what the world provides. It doesn't matter what the worldly authorities or influential people think, it matters what God thinks.

April 12 (Easter Sunday) -- Can you say, "Ouch!"

I thought I’d post tomorrow’s Bible reading early so I can spend time with the family on Easter.

<---- a flint knife

A cutting experience: Joshua 5:1-7:15

God rejoices when someone joins His kingdom: Luke 15:1-32

If my people would but listen to me: Psalm 81:1-16

A wise son heeds his father’s instruction: Proverbs 13:1


It’s hard to read Joshua 5:1-8 without wincing. :) Isn’t it so good that we’re not bound by the Old Testament?

Jesus is so much better than a flint knife! In this passage of Luke, Jesus basically told the same thing over & over in different ways. Apparently, it’s a very important subject. God is always anxious for people to join His kingdom, including people who used to be part of it & wandered away (the parable of the lost son).

If you’re one of the lost, wouldn’t it be cool to have God bubbling with joy over your coming back to Him?

If you’re already part of the kingdom of God, think about the parable of the lost son for a minute. How would the father have felt about the older son if the older son had gone out and found his younger brother? Instead of feeling jealous over the lost when they come to Jesus, we should be helping them find Jesus & rejoicing with the Lord when they do.

April 11 (Saturday) -- We're the salt for the poop

Crossing a river without a bridge: Joshua 3:1-4:24

Salty poop: Luke 14:7-35

Return to us, O God Almighty: Psalm 80:1-19

In the way of righteousness there is life: Proverbs 12:27-28


The teaching from today that most catches my attention is the one in Luke that Jesus ended with, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 14:35). That’s Jesus’ way of saying, “What I just said is really important stuff, you need to pay attention.”

At first it sounds evil. Some of you read verse 26 and thought to yourself, “Cool! I get to hate my brother or my sister!” :) But the word “hate” in these verses comes from the Greek word “miseo”, which has two meanings: 1) to detest, and 2) to love less. So what Jesus is saying is that you can’t be His disciple if you love someone else more than Him. And, by the way, this includes us loving Jesus more then ourselves (verse 26).

The rest of this teaching is quite profound. It’s about sticking to Jesus through the end. Before becoming His disciple you need to make sure you’re prepared to put Him first for the rest of your life. He then used a few analogies of natural life where wise decisions require us being sure we’re ready to take big steps before we actually take them. The bottom line is that if we don’t stay with Jesus the rest of our lives then it was a waste to get started. His last analogy of salt made this clear – salt that’s no longer good for the soil or the manure is thrown out. Jesus doesn’t want disciples that join Him for a while and then later put other things first.

If you’re His disciple for the rest of your life then you’re putting Him up as your master teacher for the rest of your life. Getting to Heaven is not based on if you were baptized as a baby. Getting to Heaven is not based on if you’re on fire for Jesus today. Getting to Heaven is based on believing in Jesus the rest of your life, believing so much that His teachings take root in your life for the rest of your life.

April 10 (Good Friday) -- Visiting a Hooker's House

Saved by a hooker: Deuteronomy 34:1 - Joshua 2:24

Away, you evil doers: Luke 13:22-14:6

May Your mercy come quickly to meet us: Psalm 79:1-13

A righteous man is a guide to his neighbor: Proverbs 12:26


Our reading from Joshua & and our reading from Luke together throw out common misconceptions of who’s in God’s kingdom & who’s not. How many people look at a prostitute and say, “there’s somebody who’s going to enter the kingdom of God”? Rahab knew which god was for real – the God of the Jews. She changed her life and eventually (warning – the following line is Bible geek information) became an ancestor of Jesus.

Then in Luke Jesus told us that some of the people we think are good servants of the Lord won’t get into the kingdom of God. What mankind often sees as good enough for God isn’t what God sees. He wants your heart. If you believe in Jesus in your heart, not only will you wind up Living It Like You Mean It, but you’ll be part of God’s kingdom.

One final note: Can you imagine the spies going home & telling their wives that they were saved by a hooker? :)

April 9 (Thursday) -- Repent or Be Thrown Out

Moses’ last blessings of Israel: Deuteronomy 33:1-29

Repent or perish: Luke 13:1-21

Then the Lord awoke as from sleep: Psalm 78:65-72

An anxious word: Proverbs 12:25


If any of you want to know how powerful blessings can be, read today’s passage from Deuteronomy in the Amplified version of the Bible at Deuteronomy 33:1-29 (AMP), and be sure to read the footnotes for each blessing.

In today’s passage of Luke Jesus is at it again, calling for repentance. This time the conversation got started because some people assumed that bad things happen only to people who live sinful lives. Jesus responded to them with two important principles:
1) We can’t assume that bad things happen to only bad people, or that bad events happen to only people of some lower religious stature.
2) The people talking like that need to repent. In fact, they need to repent or they’re thrown out. This is so important that Jesus said it three times in this one passage (verse 3, verse 5, and in the parable of the fig tree in verses 6-9).

To sum it up – Jesus calls us to live holy lives and not try to rank ourselves amongst our peers. Are we saved by grace? Of course! But we can’t throw out this often repeated teaching from Jesus about living right. Living It Like Ya Mean It is an integral part of believing in Jesus.

April 8 (Wednesday) -- Time to Be Ready

The song of a 120 year-old prophet before his death: Deuteronomy 32:28-52

Time to be ready: Luke 12:35-59

They put God to the test: Psalm 78:56-64

Laziness ends in slave labor: Proverbs 12:24


In today’s passage from Luke, Jesus tells us to be ready for His return. It can happen at any time & we don’t want to be caught misbehaving because we think we won’t get caught.

You think this applies only to the church leaders & not to everybody? Peter asked who this teaching applies to (Luke 12:41). Jesus replied with an analogy of a master returning home, finding his servants misbehaving, and beating all of them, including the ones not in charge.

We don’t know when Jesus will return. We don’t know if it’ll be daylight or dark. We don’t know if it’ll be today or 1,000 years from now. But we do know that He’ll come back expecting us to be full of LYLYMI – Living It Like Ya Mean It.