From the above phrases, I see how Jesus welcomed interruption, opening himself up to the crowds and the wealth of needs they had even as He wanted to probably minister to his apostles and have a time of rest. Love manifests itself in putting your needs after the emerging, unpredictable needs of others in your life. It means to be open to the burdens, issues, and hardship that come when you involve yourself in the lives of those around you. As Jesus charges the apostles to feed the teeming crowds, hungry and tired from following Jesus to this place of withdrawal, He is trying to teach them ownership and responsibility. The disciples were likely expecting Jesus to send them away, and felt justified in doing so. After all, the crowd had already interrupted their already busy schedule, and the apostles wanted a respite after having gone into so many towns to preach and heal. But, along with welcoming yourself to interruption comes the willingness to become responsible. I can learn that love is a willingness to consider yourself the primary person that will take ownership over another. It is not to just look to someone else to resolve an issue or situation, or to step back for fear of more inconvenience and burden, but to stay faithful, and find a way to meet the need. As a person who naturally fears the burdens and messiness of trying to love another person, as it can become as unpredictable as the situation we see here in the text, I am challenged to again commit to a life of ownership over the people in my life–from the students I am reaching out to, the interns I am trying to love and train through their first year on ministry, to my fellow staff who are my co-laborers in Christ, to the people in our church who are currently suffering from tragedies, to my own family.

What encourages me to commit to a life of interruption and ownership as I see here is the latter half of this event. After the disciples offer their meager morsels of food, they see Jesus give thanks, multiply their small offering, and the crowds are miraculously fed. What I can learn about love here is that in the context of ministry and doing God’s work, it is not a limited resource. I think that is what can explain much of my fear or reluctance to love another person. I believe I will run out of emotional energy, or my precious time, or just not have enough wisdom to really give that person “something to eat.” But as I see here, in trying to love this intimidating mass of people, the apostles end up seeing God using what they have to truly meet the need of each person in the crowd. In the same way, Jesus is charging me to give the people in my life those things to eat, but I do not do so by my own resources. There is the other half to look at–that He can multiply it, use it to plant seeds in other’s lives, and that in reality, it is God who ends up providing, not myself. I imagine the surprised delight as the apostles wandered about the crowd, fetching basketful after basketful of bread. At the start, they wanted to push away that responsibility of love, and now, they saw how God could more than meet the crowd’s need. As I think of again the number of people that fill my life, each having their burdens, issues, and the ways in which I can specifically encourage and love them, I commit my own five loaves and two fish to truly taking ownership over them, to open up my schedule, my heart to their interruption. Though at times I feel like the apostles, lacking the wherewithal to really love others, reluctant to try, in committing, I will only see God use in miraculous ways whatever I have to offer to bless others in my life.

What are my five loaves and two fish?
For the apostles, their 5 loaves and 2 fish represented what they already had with them. It was whatever they had happened to carry over to Bethsaida as Jesus brought them to withdraw from the crowds. For me, as I think about what I already do have, the five loaves and two fish I can offer up on a daily basis are my time, my emotional and mental energy, my hands and feet to do the work of ministry, as well as my financial resources. When I take a look at who I am and my limited competencies, I feel like the apostles that I can only give a meager offering. However, God is asking for what I already have, and I can offer them up in full trust that He can and will expand what I have to somehow bless others. Concretely, I can offer up my schedule to the constantly emerging needs that surround me from preparing and planning for my Life Group meetings, spending time talking to and encouraging those who are going through difficult times, to making relational connections to students. I can offer up the emotional, mental, and physical resources I have to thinking through on ministry issues, to planning for memorable and meaningful times for my interns, students, to evaluating the ministry we are doing, to praying intensely and intently for the wealth of needs that surround our church, to even faithfully setting up, taking down, cooking, giving rides, and carrying out small details that go into serving others.

Luke 9:18-27
“But what about you?” is the same question that Jesus asks of me today. Who is Jesus to me?
Jesus to me is my Savior, much in the same way that Peter confesses here. He has saved me from my sins, away from that old life dominated by addictions, apathy, purposeless to a life where He is now LORD over each area of my life. He saved me from a life of following my desires, wants, and ambitions to a life of following His calling to love others in the same way He does here.

What are the implications of my answer?
The implications of my answer, that Jesus is my Savior, means that concretely my life is no longer mine. As He charges me to love others, so I have to offer up my five loaves and two fish. That means that my time, money, energy, resources are all to be of use to Him so He can continue to reach other people who need to know and experience the love of the Gospel. There is no “I” in terms of how I want to spend my time, as urgent or important my personal agenda can sometime seem. There is no “I” in terms of what I choose to buy or how I spend. Instead, all of my considerations now fall in the context of Jesus’ calling to love others. As I determined before how I wanted to spend my resources, so now that is dictated by the people and needs that abound around me.

Another implication with Jesus as my Savior is that I no longer need to look to other things to save me. The world bombards me with notions, ideas, and images that it is a more carefree life that will save me. Or, with my season of life, it is making something of yourself, gaining the esteem and approval of others through social status, through being noticed and applauded, that will save me. Such things do have their pull and temptation on me. But, with Jesus as my Savior, I no longer have to give into this pull. I don’t have to listen to such voices or take heed of such images. Instead, I can trust that my life is best spent following Jesus. It means that the life Jesus has saved me to is what is meant for me, best for me. Even as the world tells me that I need to save myself–save my time, be less devoted, be less committed, make more of your life, spare the money I have, and always hoard for myself–I know that I have committed my life to Jesus. As seen earlier in this passage, only by fully committing and offering what I have to Jesus can I live out that confession of faith that Peter has made, and that I have to make each day.
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Submitted by Eugene P. from Gracepoint Berkeley Church
Luke 9:18-27
“But what about you?” is the same question that Jesus asks of me today. Who is Jesus to me?
Jesus is always interested in each person’s answer to this question, regardless of what others may have to say about Him. Peter’s response also reveals a different side of him that we do not see in the rest of the Gospel; that is, in contrast with the usual impatient, action-oriented Peter, Peter’s response reveals much thoughtfulness. He must have paused from time to time and pondered upon this question frequently before reaching his conclusion that was so different from the rest of the crowd. Indeed, this is one question in life that truly deserves our time and energy to ponder upon.

Many years ago, I have struggled with my preconceived biases and wrestled with popular notions of Jesus’ identity to finally come to the same conclusion that Peter had: “You are the Christ of God! You are my Lord and Savior!” Since then, I have also realized that this is one question that I need to answer on a daily basis, or more accurately, a confession that I need to hold onto on a daily basis despite how the world wants to portray Jesus and my own sins/desires may seek to pull me from Him. So, today, my answer remains: “You are the Christ of God! You are my Lord and Savior!”

What is the implication of my answer?
When I claim that Jesus is the Christ of God and Savior, I affirm that He has come down to our world to save me from my sins. I acknowledge that I can’t do anything about my sin and I need to come to Him on a daily basis and seek forgiveness. Not only so, when I claim that Jesus is the Christ of God, I recognize that He is the One long foretold by God and sent by God. He alone knows how I ought to live my life for He is my Master and Lord. Therefore, I need to submit to His authority. On a daily basis, I find that my sinful self wants to reassert itself and I want to have control over my own life and pursue my desires. If I truly believe in my own confession of Jesus’ identity, I need to wrestle with my sins and desires to my confession a reality in my life.

Luke 9:22-25
Why did Jesus begin talking about the cross upon Peter’s confession?
Jesus talks about the cross to show that what it looks like to follow Him. It makes sense to talk about it only after Peter has reached the conclusion that Jesus is the Christ. Now that Peter acknowledges that Jesus is his Christ and Lord, he is finally ready to hear what it is like to be a disciple of Christ.

Jesus clearly commands those who made the same confession as Peter to follow him to the cross. How can Jesus be so confident to invite us to die with him?
The exchange between Jesus and Peter is about Jesus as much as it is about Peter. That is, Jesus does not deny Peter’s confession in any way. In fact, Jesus simply accepts Peter’s confession as a matter of fact and He knows that He is the Christ of God. He is our Maker, and He is the way, the truth and the life. As He tells us to take up our cross and die with Him, He in fact wants us to experience this paradoxical truth in life, that is, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (vv.24-25)

In our sinful nature, we think that the only way to preserve life is to preserve as much of our self as possible. As was the case with the demon-possessed man in our recent Mark 1 bible study, we want to respond to Jesus’ seemingly threatening invitation by crying, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:23-34) O we know who Jesus is – the Holy One of God, but we are not so sure about His way of life. We fear that He wants to destroy the life that we are familiar and comfortable with. I had found it scary to trust Jesus and denying myself simply because it was contrary to my upbringing. Yet, experientially, I have come to accept that when Jesus asks me to die with Him, He is not only destroying the life that I am familiar and comfortable with; He is really inviting me to truly live. I would not have the kind of abundant, blessed life that I have, if I did not trust in His teaching – the relationships that I have had, the experience of following Jesus in Berkeley and in mission fields and greater appreciation of God’s sovereignty through all the ups and downs. I think the second part is even more important – that is, to die to ourselves is to save our very self. Before I became a Christian, to be true to myself meant to follow my desires and to gain all that I wanted in this world. I remembered vividly how empty I felt in my pursuits. In contrast, the sense of identity and security that I have now – that is, despite what the world tells me, I know that I am a child of God and a follower of Christ – is something that I have gained as a result of denying myself.

Going back to the question why Jesus can so confidently invite us to die with Him, I think Jesus knows how He wants to bless us and He knows that is the only way to live. The process requires dying to our selves, but the end result is greater abundance and true life. Our God is loving and good. He is confident because He knows that is the only way to live that kind of blessed life.

Practice
Thinking about those who are in charge of planning a building–like Sierra Lodge for example–they had to lay the foundation when the weather and the soil conditions were at their best. It takes a lot of planning and foresight before one can begin building and it all starts with making sure the foundation can be laid in the right conditions. There are factors such as weather, even the exact placement of the building so that it does not run into rocks or is not too close to tree roots or water. There are many steps to ensuring the foundation is laid correctly, including digging a deep whole to prepare to lay the foundation. The man who builds his house and digs deep laying the foundation very carefully has more confidence that his building will withstand a torrent or calamity. This building that Jesus is referring to is like our life. Each person is building his/her foundation in some way or another. I thought about some of the inadequate foundations that people can build. People work on achieving a notable position in their career, earning a large income to accumulate wealth, and spending most of their time seeking comfort. However, there is nothing truly secure in building any of these foundations. Unexpected situations like job loss or health matters can come up and cause all the building that a person has been done to crumble. For me, I remember growing up I was always concerned about the future – would I get into the right college, what kind of career could I build for myself, who would I marry and what would the future hold. I was concerned about these things more than who God was, what was the purpose of my life, and how could I relate and trust in God. But after college, I began to start thinking about these questions because I realized that all of my planning and building could not ensure the kind of future that I wanted. I realized how inadequate and insufficient it would be.

As I get older, there is so much around me that tries to lure me in, but I must remain focused on what is important to invest my time and life into – the Word of God and putting his word into practice. It will take time and energy, building the right foundation is not an easy task. But, the consequence to not doing this is too great. It means destruction and renders all of my effort and energy meaningless. I realize I have many opportunities to “build,” yet I fail to take advantage of them. I hear a message and do not reflect on it. A situation comes up which reveals my heart or attitude towards someone, and I don’t take time to think about my underlying motives. I need to do more work towards taking advantage of allowing God’s Word’s with what I am experiencing impact my life. The building process for my life then is a deliberate process that is made up of small steps – spending time in God’s Word each day and seeking to apply it to my life (like DT), praying, reflecting on my life, being part of a church that is a community of brothers and sisters who share lives together and taking time to grow in my concerns for people around me – sharing God’s message of forgiveness and grace with others, noticing others needs and loving people God has placed in my life. Through practice, it becomes more of my life. I can see this as I look back at my college days where I was only concerned about myself. But now, as I have been a Christian for 10 years, I can see how my sphere of concern has grown, my confidence and understanding of God’s Words as true and how God desires for me to thrive through following him. Although I know that the storms will come to everyone, this is the best test of my foundation. This parable is both a warning, but can also encourage me that I don’t have to be swept by the storms, but with God’s help my foundation can withstand the ultimate storm of death. I see this confidence in a friend’s mom who held on to God and hope of heaven as she battled cancer. I see this confidence in Joni Erickson Tada who was left paraplegic in a diving accident and unable to move any body part below her neck. She used this experience to create an organization to care for those who are suffering from some type of debilitating disability. My dad volunteers at this camp every year and says he can see how the participants of the camp really thrive though they face this difficult disability every day. And as I minister to others, I see how trusting in what God says and doing the hard work to put it into practice is how we grow. I commit to doing this in my life.

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Submitted by Peter K. from Gracepoint Berkeley Church
Luke 6:46-49
•For whom does Jesus tell this parable?
Those who call Jesus as “Lord.” He is addressing self-confessing followers of Jesus.

•Reflect on the disparity between calling Jesus “Lord, Lord,” and not doing what he says.
When someone calls Jesus as Lord, this implies that he acknowledges Jesus as his master and owner of his life. Lordship of Christ means surrender of ownership of his life to Jesus; he no longer has claim over his life. “Not doing what he says” completely contradicts calling Jesus as “Lord.” By not doing, he claims his rights to do he wants to do. Jesus is no longer the “Lord” of his life.

•What are some ways in which Christians today take comfort in their spiritual jargon and rhetoric, or define their spirituality on things other than actual obedience to Jesus’ words?
There are many self-professing Christians today who just have the spiritual rhetoric but do live out the Christian life. There are many attend church on Sundays, even serve in some ways at their church, but ultimately compartmentalize their spiritual life and their faith has no impact upon the rest of their lives, such as how they choose to spend their time or resources. Apparently they may appear religious and do and say all the right things at church, but in their personal life they are not practicing the word of God. There are many elders, deacons and lay people in modern day churches who live a compromised life outside of church consistent with worldly values. Their values and priorities are no different from non-Christians.

•To what extent is there divergence between my words and my life when it comes to my identity as someone who calls Jesus “Lord”?
As I examine my life, there is divergence in my words and my life. In terms of understanding and confessing, I am very clear that Jesus is my Lord who owns all my time, energy, and resources. He has a full right to claim my life and demand all of these. However, in practice my self-centeredness prevent me from obeying the word of God. I still have a desire for a comfortable life. Whenever this sinful desire appears in my heart, joy of serving people and building God’s church disappears and grumbling sets in gradually in my mind. This hinders me from giving my all to the Lord. I also have a desire for pleasing my body that makes me selfish and not sacrificial. Here’s a small example. My commitment against my physical laziness is to clean the house for 15 min every night. After a long day of work, there is not much motivation to clean the house when I come home at night. There is a struggle in my mind. Either I deny my tired body and make a small sacrifice to clean the house or I give in to my tired body. I find myself giving in to my body many times. This mundane example shows how divergent I am between my words and my life. When I call Jesus “Lord,” for sure I should clean my house every single night because God’s command is to love my wife and kids with a sacrificial attitude. However, in practice I am so quick to please my tired body for my own comfort. This is very selfish and contradicts my commitment to Jesus as my Lord.

•What is the fundamental difference between the wise and the foolish builder?
The fundamental difference between the wise and the foolish builder is the foundation on which a house is built. The wise dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. I remember how much rocks and cement were poured in to make a solid foundation for the Sierra Lodge. The strong foundation is the key to withstand snowstorms and other challenges of nature. Jesus in this passage illustrates people’s spiritual foundation as building a house. He says that the wise are those who hear the word of God and put them into practice. He emphasizes the key difference between the wise and the foolish is to put into the practice. It is not only reading the Bible and listening to messages, but putting them into practice in our day to day lives. This way we can lay down deep spiritual foundation which can help us withstand storms and challenges in our lives. I am always personally challenged by Pastor Timothy’s testimonies. He listens to the messages and applies them to his life very concretely and specifically. Stories about moving up to Davis to start our first church plant and quitting his job at Intel to find a job on campus to become more available for students challenges me how concrete it should be applying messages to my life. Pastor Timothy’s faithful serving at Davis church for many years and now his serving at our recent church plant at Minnesota really teach me that putting the word of God into practice is the key to laying down a solid spiritual foundation and deepening our faith.

•How can I avoid being like the foolish builder?
The key characteristic of a foolish builder is that he listens to the word of God but does not put into practice. I can identify myself with the foolish builder because I listen to a lot of messages but don’t apply them to my life. The ways that I can avoid being the foolish builder is by reflecting over messages and making personal applications. Often after I listen the messages from Sunday worship services or prayer meetings, I don’t spend adequate time to review and reflect on them. If I allow a few days to pass by, I end up not even remembering the content. In terms of carrying out personal commitment, I should just do it and not allow myself to go through emotional dramas. A lot of times my resilient and selfish emotions are the big hindrances to obeying God’s word and carrying out commitments that I have made.

PERSONAL PRAYER
Heavenly father thank you so much for teaching me the importance of laying down a deep and solid foundation of spiritual life. Through today’s passage, I see that there is a big divergence between my words and my life. I repent of my selfish desire to please my body and my ego to comfort myself. I realize how selfish and wicked I am through today’s passage. I ask for your forgiveness. Thank you for teaching me the importance of laying down a solid and strong foundation by putting the word of God into practice. Please help me obey your word and carry out my commitments immediately without going through my emotional struggles. Amen!

I grew up in a well-to-do family that provided for all my needs. I was given tutors when I needed it, I was given opportunities to develop skills, play sports, and even have work experience early. And while I am thankful for these things, these are also the things that made it so I didn’t think I needed God. I thought I could control my own destiny, that I could control my own life. I felt like if I tried hard, if I worked at something, I could be successful. So I never saw my need for God. It wasn’t until high school and the early part of college when I started to realize that I didn’t have control over my sin addictions, that as hard as I tried, I couldn’t secure my future, that I started to have the humility to seek God. At the same time, my mother was hospitalized with a brain aneurism and had two consecutive major brain surgeries. I knew at that time, that no matter how put together I looked externally, I was not in control of my life or the lives of my loved ones. Through these difficult times, I started to seek God and the result was that I became a Christian my freshmen year. Since then, my life has been filled with ups and downs, and again and again I have experienced that during the difficult times of my life, when I cry out to God, I experience him in a more intimate way. But it is when things are going smoothly in my life, when I forget God or don’t feel the need for God. So in many ways, when I face difficulty, when I experience my own weakness, it becomes a precious time where I can experience the truth of God’s power and the reality of my own reliance on God.

Luke 6:22-23
• What may come to those who follow Jesus in this world?
This passage tells us that there will be times when men hate you, exclude you, insult you, and reject you for following Jesus. When I read this, I think of the students that we’ve been ministering to out here in Taiwan. As this is a country made up of over 70% Buddhism/Taoism and closer to 90% that practice these traditional family religions, nearly all our students face opposition from their family when they make their decision to become Christian. For many, facing the cost of discipleship means that they will receive rejection and insult from their parents. On top of that, Taiwanese culture is such that children grow up valuing obedience to their parent and their extended family. So for them to experience this kind of persecution from the family is very painful since for many of them, this is the first time they have disagreed with their family. So for them, following Jesus, literally means they will be hated by some of their loved ones that view their decision as a rejection of the family. Yet, when I see their faith, I see how this has matured them. I see how they struggle to make sure what they believe is true, and I see them changing as they take their faith seriously. And in many ways, this experience is that blessing for them. I also see how much they pray before they return home for vacations, and how much they desire to be a good witness to their families through serving around the house. And for many of them, after being a Christian for a while, their parents are won over in the sense that they admit that their children have grown up since becoming Christian. They recognize that they have changed from being selfish to more other-centered. And what started out as rejection gives way to acceptance. And this was even more actualized during our past baptism as four families attended the service and heard the testimonies of their kids. These parents shared how they have notice that their children are more happy than before, how they have changed, and for that they are thankful to the church. And it is simply amazing because these are the same parents that our students were very scared to share their decision with and the same parents that initially reacted very strongly against their faith.

Submitted by Jessica C. from Gracepoint San Diego Church
Self-Study
Being poor, being hungry, weeping/mourning, being hated/rejected, being excluded/left out/not welcomed…this list contains everything that this world tries desperately to avoid. To them, such a life is a tragic life. No one wants to end up this way, and so people do everything they can in order to secure success, financial cushion, comfort, popularity, and acceptance. We see this philosophy played out at every stage of life—from middle school years, to high school, college, the working world, and then with family/kids. Growing up, I, too, believed that that was a blessed life. My parents raised me to place high value on securing success so that I could live a comfortable life. Media, classmates and friends taught me that the value of my worth is dependent on how many friends I have, and whether I’m in with the “in” crowd. Therefore I grew up believing that once I attain all of these, then my life will be set, and that it will then be a blessed life. I knew that my life was nowhere near blessed (according to those terms), but hoped that somewhere down the line, in the future, I will finally get there. But I thought about the irony of such a pursuit. Because as I pursued after securing a good job in a reputable company making good money, as I pursued after financial comfort and security, as I pursued after amassing materialistic things for myself, as I pursued after social acceptance and trying to find that niche to belong…that process to get there was far from what I would have called blessing. To pursue that great reputable career that I believed would solve all my problems involved tirelessly giving my time and energy, putting in 60-70 hour weeks, only to have my work discarded or redone. It meant constant stress, and the ever-present need to compete with other coworkers to stand out and win the approval of our supervisors. It meant giving up time to spend serving at church and building deeper relationships with people God placed in my life. To pursue financial security for myself involved being stingy and tight-fisted with my money when it came to opportunities to be generous. It meant constantly calculating how much I’m giving compared to others, and making sure I’m not being taken advantage of monetarily. It meant creating a chilling, cooling effect on my relationships with people. It meant constantly thinking about and being consumed about my finances and making sure I’m leaving a nice cushion for myself so that I won’t ever have to worry about being in lack. To pursue that desire for acceptance and sense of belonging involved me putting on all sorts of different masks, and doing things that I didn’t feel comfortable doing, and making a fool of myself at times in order to gain people’s attention…and at the end of it all, feeling degraded, empty, pathetic, and ashamed…not to mention feeling lost and confused as to my true identity. I had sought after a blessed life, but as I pursued after the world and its pleasures and promises, what I received instead were a bag of woes.

As I think about my life and what characterized it before I met Christ, in reading this passage, I see God’s wisdom and the truth of these words. God’s ways are right, His ways are true. His definition of a blessed life is correct. This is something that I need to embrace again and again, as I see how I still naturally default to wanting the blessed life as defined by the world’s terms. But as I’m reminded of the woes of following after worldly pursuits, and then also remembering various people in my life who live lives of sacrifice, self-denial, whose sphere of concern extends to so many people and who know what it means to weep and cry out for another person, who have experienced pains and at times “insults” that come with ministry and yet are able to persevere and remain committed to their calling…they are living examples of people in my life whose lives model after God’s definition of a blessed life. It is because of their obedience to God and their commitment to love others that their lives have been a great source of blessing and inspiration for me to also live accordingly. And as I see their lives full of joy, peace and purpose in the midst of its share of difficulties, I’m able to have that shift in being able to see what really is blessed.

Although this is an unusual situation compared to what I normally find myself in, this kind of disregard of others and focus only on my own agenda is not so unfamiliar for me. Especially when in a context where I feel like I’m in competition with someone else, there are times when I find myself viewing others not so much in terms of their humanity but only in terms of how they help me to get ahead or compare favorably with others. I remember times when I felt competitive with some peers, how I viewed other peers not as fellow brothers whom I want to care for, but just as people whom I can consider to be on my side to make me feel more important socially. Even with my leaders, I viewed them not so much as older Christians whom I wanted to learn from, but merely as people whose favor I could gain to make me feel more important in the context of our community. In those times, I’m not really caring for these people but are just viewing them as pawns in my own striving to get ahead of others. Another way that I can have a shriveled heart is if I view the people I’m ministering to mainly as indicators of my spiritual performance to boost my ego rather than people whom God has entrusted for me to care for. Because of my performance-oriented tendency, this attitude can seep in even in the midst of me trying to be faithful. If I am not careful, I can approach even ministry as just another task where I’m evaluated by the results, and I can even see spiritual growth or setbacks of the people I’m ministering to as indicators of my spiritual performance. To view people this way is such an unloving attitude to have and it degrades the humanity of the people that God has entrusted to me, and it is just driven by my pride and ego. Yet, it is such an easy thing for me to fall into if I’m just approaching Christian life and ministry as an area that I’m supposed to get “good” at and perform well in. I really have to take warning from the example of the Pharisees, of how far this kind of attitude can get, such that their only response to the precious healing of this man is anger. I really need to check my heart often to see if I’m really viewing others as just projects or pawns in my ego war, or as precious people that God has entrusted to me.

Purpose of the Sabbath
The Pharisees had such a misunderstanding of the purpose of the Sabbath. Although at one point they probably started off with a desire to honor God by keeping themselves free of distractions on this day of worship and reflection, we see that it has degenerated into mostly just rule-keeping and they did not appreciate the heart behind the Sabbath. Here, they were much more interested in Jesus’ blindly abiding by their misguided interpretation of “no work being done” by not even engaging in acts of healing. They thought that on the Sabbath, it was much more important to care about externally following their rules rather the healing of this man.

Jesus here asks what is lawful on the Sabbath, whether to save life or to destroy it? When we turn our focus and thoughts on him, it should naturally lead us to become people who are interested in saving and preserving life as well. So, this day of worship is a day when we can draw close to God and learn to share in his compassionate heart for people. It starts from personally relating and connecting to this God of mercy and grace, and from there to let his character and concerns rub off on us. The Pharisees could turn this personal relationship with God into just a mechanic following of human rules. How did they get to this point? Perhaps spiritual life grew something routine for them and they started to go through the motions without engaging their hearts. After all, after you do the same things for a long time, what was once challenging and took effort does become easier. Perhaps this is how spiritual life was like for them, and as they merely went through the motions more and more, they disengaged their hearts and even when it came to this day that was set aside for learning God’s heart, they just paid attention to superficial appearances and external behavior. It probably took a long time for their whole religion to get to this state, but this kind of movement is something that I can relate to as well. As I get older, it becomes easier just to go through the motions without engaging my heart as much as before and I can manufacture the same behavior with less effort. And in a way, the temptation to just approach spiritual life with a focus on the externalities can really take a life of its own, without me actually connecting with God through the same spiritual activities that I’ve done before. I can just be satisfied with the fact that I’m doing all the right things and being at the right places, without really being fully there and having my heart actually be engaged with God and with what’s going on. And when that happens, I can really start to have a twisted understanding of what spiritual life is all about, that it’s more about me doing the right behaviors rather than relating to the living God.

PERSONAL PRAYER
Dear Lord, it’s really sobering to see the example of the Pharisees and how they strayed so far from what a relationship with you should look like. How did they allow their hearts to slip so far away from You such that they view spiritual life as following rules and others as merely pawns in their own ego wars? Yet, in so many ways I see that I can have the same tendencies as well, when I fail to properly engage my heart before You and just mechanically approach Christian life or focus more on how I appear on the outside or how I “perform” spiritually. Please have mercy on me that I would not wander to such a point. Please help me to be honest in how I approach You and have those times of heart checks when I can really check my attitude towards You, that Christian life would not be just another thing I’m supposed to do well in and feel good about myself, but that it can really be me genuinely relating to a living God who has shown me mercy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Submitted by Tony C. from Gracepoint San Diego Church

Reflection Questions
Luke 6:1-4
•Have there been occasions in which I rigidly followed rules and in so doing failed to love others?
One thing that always comes to mind when I think of following rules rigidly was how I used to treat house cleaning as something that was mandatory which everyone should show up for. I thought it would only be fair if everyone took part in the cleaning. Since house cleaning was scheduled every week on the same day and time, not knowing that there was house cleaning should not be an excuse.

After cleaning, eating a household meal together was something that we did. Being so wrapped up in the thought that that person didn’t show up for cleaning, I remember there would be times when I didn’t even consider leaving a plate behind for them. As I look back, I realized how I never thought about the things that they were probably struggling with. With one brother, I knew that he wasn’t doing very well in school; perhaps he was just so bummed out with his performance at school that he wasn’t in the mood to clean. Maybe if I was more loving towards that housemate by saving a plate of dinner for him, he would have cheered up more and would’ve been more apologetic about his absence.

•What is the difference between the Pharisees’ and Jesus’ approach to the Sabbath?
For the Pharisees, the Sabbath was a duty they felt obligated to fulfill, as it was a way in which they could show to others their spirituality and devotion to God. For Jesus, he did not approach the Sabbath as a day in which he would refrain from doing anything. All he knew was that there was a man with a shriveled hand standing before him who had been suffering from this handicap for years, and it was an opportunity for Jesus to love this person by healing him.

•Are there ways in which my approach to spiritual life is similar to the Pharisees?
There are times when I get so caught up with the things that I feel like I need to do and get done in order to keep up an image of being spiritual and obedient to God that I miss out on opportunities to love others when the opportunity presents itself. I remember as an undergrad, I used to not want to spend time with my peers because I wanted to read a good Christian book. And as a working person now, there are times when I would do my devotionals or church related things and not take part in doing little things to express care and love to others, such as cleaning up the house or cooking for my housemate who have had a long day at work.

Luke 6:8
•How would a person with a withered hand normally feel about standing “in front of everyone”?
A person with a withered hand would probably feel very embarrassed and singled out as he stood in front of everyone. He knew that he was different from everyone else; throughout his life, he probably had many experiences where people gave him the look of pity or disgust that made him feel insecure and made him want to withdraw from others.

•What areas of my life are “withered”? What do I need to do to receive healing in these areas?
The withered areas of my life are the areas in which I would feel very embarrassed if I were to get called out for them. These are the sins that I want to ignore and hope that others would not address or confront me about. But in order for me to receive healing in these areas, I need to be willing to endure through the painful process of confession. It is through confession that I am able to acknowledge my true sinful condition, desire forgiveness through Christ, and begin the process of healing.

Luke 6:12-13
•Note what Jesus did before the choosing of the twelve apostles. What can I learn from Jesus’ example?
Before the choosing of the twelve apostles, Jesus “went out to the mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” For Jesus, he understood the spiritual battle that he was in and what the twelve apostles would face, and that perhaps made him pray all the more intensely. And as I recognize more and more just how real the spiritual battle is, I need to all the more pray for the people that I am ministering or reaching out to. I need to recognize that it is through my dependence on God, and not on my own experiences and competence, that I am able to engage in this spiritual battle against Satan.

Please write out a prayer of commitment or confession either based on today’s text, or upon reflection over recent events in your life.

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray in the midst of serving and being obedient to you that I would not be someone who is going to miss out on the opportunity to love others when the opportunity presents itself. And as I learn from today the kind of humble attitude that the man with the shriveled hand had, I pray that I too would not allow my pride to cause me to not want to come before you to confess my sins and shame so that I may begin the process of healing in the areas of my character flaws and sins.

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Looking back on this past week’s daily devotions, some teachings regarding time and how to see our times that I want to remember as I start another new year are as follows:

- The fact that my life will end.  My days of my life are numbered.  My life is fleeting.   My life here on this earth is like a breath, a moment to God.  That means I don’t need to invest in the things of the world (homes, accumulating possessions, etc.).

- Psalm 90:10 “The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorry.”  Life is filled with sorrow and difficulty.  However, I don’t have to go through life alone.  God tends his flock like a shepherd.  I need to focus on God, cling to God.  God will not grow tired or weary, despite my sins and troubles/sorrows of sin. God will give strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak to help us put our foot forward to obey God.  I need to put my hope in God, put my hope in heaven to find strength to push through life’s difficulties.

- Need to live being watchful especially towards sin and greed.  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Fact is that I’m a sinner and I naturally am greedy.  I want more for myself.  I need to be deliberate and vigilant to deal with greed and sin by storing up things for God, being rich towards God.

- Life is filled with worries.  We worry because life is filled with trouble and sorrow, due to my sin and others sins.  We worry because of our greed; we fear what will happen to us, we think we need to provide for ourselves.  We forget that we have a heavenly father who is leading us and providing for us.  ”Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. “

- So how should I live?  Be dressed ready for service.  Need to be faithful to carry out the role God’s given to me.  Fact is that Jesus is coming back.  Judgment is real.  I need to be faithful until Jesus comes.  I want Jesus to find me being faithful to the responsibilities that He’s given me.

- The fact is that my life has been spared, as I’ve made it through another year.  God has granted me a new year. I’ve living by God’s grace.  As God continue to deal with me in 2012, I need to obey God so that my life will bear fruit in the coming year.

Ephesians 5:8–20

I can’t believe that somehow another year is over.  It’s by God’s grace that I’m standing here on January 1, 2012.  What a year it’s been.  It’s been a year where I went through the pains of starting the youth church and coming to understanding my own sins and inadequacies through that process.  2011 was a year of huge change as we moved up to Davis.  I can’t believe it’s been 6 months since we’ve been here.  I know that it is God who carried me.  Most of the time, I felt so weak and didn’t think I had the strength to get through.  However, God was the one who tended me and led me.  Who am I that God gives me another year to live?  All the more, I want to approach this year with care and wisdom, to make the most of this year.   Fact is that God spared my life, allowing me to be here today.  I need to live 2012 wisely to make the most of another year God is giving me.

I am making the following commitments for 2012:

To live as children of light & find out what pleases the Lord.  This means my life needs to consist in ALL goodness, righteousness and truth.  What would this look like?  When God shows me and convicts me of my sin or some problems in my life, I should confess the truth to and let it be known.  That means in my relationships whether with my husband, children, and others in my life, I need to be kind and generous.  The ALL stands out for me.  That means there must not be even a hint of a lie, anger, or any sin.  How can I do this in the coming year?  I commit to continue to do what I’ve been taught to be faithful with the basics of my morning daily devotions and prayer times.  Its during these times that I find out what pleases the Lord as God exposes my sins or reminds me of something that I said or did that I need to own up to.  I need to welcome and be humble towards feedback and correction so that I can be a better wife, mother, minister, and friend.  Fact is that I’m blind to myself or I turn a blind eye towards ugly truths about myself. So to find out what pleases the Lord, I need to pray to God to search my heart and show me if there is any offensive ways in me.  Why do all this?  My days are numbered.  Need to be on guard against all kinds of greed.  Don’t want to harm my relationships because of my greed.  I need to live deliberate as a child of light so that I can be a blessing.

I commit to be very careful how I live, making the most of every opportunity.  That means life is filled with different opportunities–to serve others, to obey God’s prompting, to find out what please God, to tell the truth, to be good to others, and to do what is right.  There will also be opportunities to save for myself, to store up my money for myself, to hide the truth, to remain silent, to ignore needs that I see because I don’t want to change my agenda, and to plan for the day as I want it.  I need to be very careful how I live.  Each choice I make matters because my choices set the trajectory of my life.  I don’t want to live like a fool.  I need to know God’s will, understand it and live it out.  Fact is that I’m living today by God’s grace.  It didn’t have to be that I’ve been given another year.  I need to live being filled with the Spirit, with God’s Word.  I can do this as I practice obeying these verses by not speaking to others with complaints, grumblings, bitterness, anger, and frustration.  This creates room in my heart for others as I find my joy in my relationship with God and as I am filled with awe and praise for who God is.  I want to commit to always give thanks to God for EVERYTHING.  To be thankful for each opportunity that I’m given to obey His will.  To be thankful for troubles and sorrows knowing that God will be there for me to lead me and o know that this trouble will be an opportunity for me to soar on eagle’s wings.

As I enter this New Year, I thank God for the opportunities that God gives me to serve at Davis.  Who am I that God entrusts his people to me and includes me in his redemptive work, and that I’m alive and have my health today so that I can be apart of his work in this way.

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Submitted by Wilson F. from Gracepoint Berkeley Church

Ephesians 5:8–20

“Live as children of light” (v. 8).  In “light” of our church’s key verse for the new year which is  John 8:32 (“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”), one application of this biblical exhortation is to live a confessional life, to cultivate the discipline of daily confession of my sins.  As with most spiritual commitments, this is easier said than done, but I often find the practice of daily confession particularly difficult because as a sinner, I am so accustomed to darkness.  “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).  This is my testimony: I was once darkness, but now I am light in the Lord.  I was darkness, not only in terms of my demeanor and countenance, devoid of joy and contentment, with sense of restless and empty, and with no purpose in life, but also in terms of my prideful refusal to acknowledge my sin.  I would stuff them in the closet and try so hard to present a respectable and impressive image of myself.

It was only when I took the risk and became brutally honest with my sins, disclosing secret and shameful things that I had thought I would take with me to the grave that I experienced freedom and relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted off of my back.  In that moment, I found God’s grace to be amazing.  It was a spiritual breakthrough for me, but it did not stop there.  I quickly realized that I need to regularly engage in confession of my sins because my pride is so relentless, and so on a regular basis, I had to empty my heart of all the junk and filth and impurity that had accumulated.  And that is what I need to more in 2012.  It is going to involve lingering a little bit longer during daily devotion time, allowing God’s Word to sift through my heart and through the previous day’s events.  It is going to require the hard work of digging up ugly truths about myself and what I had done, and not being satisfied with throwing up general and vague descriptions.  It is going to have to be daily in order to revive a conscience that has been deadened by years of practicing self-deception and denial, in order to cultivate the ability to confess right away and repent immediately.  Each time I do so, I re-affirm God’s unconditional love–a reality I have embraced more closely this past year, going through Henri Nouwen’s Return of the Prodigal Son (“God is light” [1 John 1:5], and I am his child–noting that Apostle Paul refers to “children of light” as opposed to people of light).

“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (v. 11).  Not only would association and involvement with “the fruitless deeds of darkness” discredit my witness of Christ and undermine my effectiveness in doing God’s work, but it would also lure me back to the path of living in darkness.  Giving into sin, feeling shame, choosing to hide rather than to confess, feeding self-rationalizations and self-justifications to myself, withdrawing from the community, and before I know it, I am back in the dungeon of my own making, the prison of my pride and ego, feeling isolated and worthless, believing I will never change and wondering what is the use in trying, and wasting God’s precious time in self-pitying and self-loathing.  Apostle Paul is saying, “Don’t even go there!”  Yes, I am going to sin, but God’s invitation to me again and again is to step out into the light, so there always remains the option of confession.  As I engage in daily confession, I become more mindful of my own thoughts and actions.  I am also called to expose these fruitless deeds of darkness, and I am reminded of the responsibility I hold toward others.  As a minister, I am to be a watchman over the people God has entrusted to me, and my duty is to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness, calling sin what it is so that they can be struck with the horror and shame over their sins and also engage in confession and repentance and experience the sweetness of contrition and freedom from being forgiven.  While it is much easier to stay silent or to proffer advice and counsel, I am tasked with properly instructing the college students on how to embrace truth and how to grow in their relationship with God, knowing that genuine transformation comes through honest confession and consistent repentance.

“…find out what pleases the Lord” (v. 10).  This verse always brings me back to the fact that God is a personal God who desires a personal relationship with me.  I am always amazed that as a rotten sinner, I am able to please God as his child; and I am always amazed that I can actually find out what pleases him because he is knowable through his Word and approachable in prayer.  Just as I am able to find out what pleases my wife or my friends, I am able to learn what I can do to please God.

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (vv. 15-16).  During last week’s daily devotions, I had the chance to reflect upon the temporariness of my existence, the finiteness of my life, and the need for urgency and intentionality as I approach the rest of my days.  The fact is that I do not know how many opportunities I have left, so each one needs to be used to the fullest.  I cannot simply live any way I want.  Folly is falsely assuming that tomorrow is guaranteed, whereas wisdom recognizes the uncertainty of the future and therefore the importance of taking advantage of the time God has graciously afforded.  In this new year, I want to make the most of every opportunity to love more people, to love more deeply, to invest more of myself into relationships–because, in the end, that is all that matters.  I think about the college students under my care, and how most of them are new in the faith, and I want to raise them up so that they can live as children of light, making the most of every opportunity, understanding what the Lord’s will is, and always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.  I also think about the new people we will be meeting during the upcoming winter mission trip, new friends we will be meeting this upcoming semester, seekers or Christians coming back to faith after growing weary and tired of today’s culture, and a whole new class of freshmen arriving in less than nine short months on every campus.  I am excited and look forward to what God has in store, and I want to maintain this posture of urgency and intentionality in 2012.

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Submitted by Sunny K. from Gracepoint Austin Church

As we just said good-bye to 2011, I am very grateful that God has given me another year in 2012 to live more carefully, more wisely for Him. From v.8 Paul exhorts me in how to approach this new year–that while I may have lived 2011 in some darkness, in some shame over my sinfulness, disappointments in myself and others—by remembering that I am a child of light, a child of the Lord and that I can live this new year 2012 with that truth in mind and place all my strength, energy, creativity, thoughts, wholeheartedness on actively finding out what pleases the Lord rather than in regretting over how 2011 was. In many ways, I already know what pleases the Lord in a general sense (salvation of souls, repentance from His people, authentic connection with God, genuine love for others as I’ve been loved, etc.) and if I am able to live 2012 in these ways at minimum, then, I would’ve lived this new year more carefully and wisely.

From v.11-12, I have seen in more ways than I’ve wanted to the fruitless deeds of darkness people in the world immerse themselves in, esp. ministering on a college campus. Every time I drive home after a TFN and see the streets of Austin filled with people aimlessly wandering around, going to places where I know they will regret, to drink away their lives, I remember this verse and why God has exhorted me to make the most of every opportunity. I want to heed these words “Wake up, sleeper…” – the world is only growing increasingly darker and I cannot be foolish or be naive to think the enemy is sedate or has become irrelevant with the passing of time. No, in fact, the opposite is happening. And yet, I see Christians succumbing to their own fruitless deeds of darkness (i.e. insecurity, competitiveness, envious feelings towards others in the church, jealousies, slander, narcissism), and it’s distracting us from doing our part in fulfilling God’s will in our generation. I don’t want to waste 2012 in engaging in any fruitless deeds of darkness personally, as well as, commit to help others to do the same.

From v.18 I see how this can happen by being filled with the Spirit. I have experienced the difference when I am filled not with my ego, my desires, my sense of entitlement, but with God’s heart for others, God’s insight of humanity, God’s burden over the lost, God’s hatred towards sin and it’s ravages–I know the difference. And that difference is what I commit to making more of a reality, more often in my life in this new year.

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Submitted By Richard L. from Gracepoint Davis Church
The passage today starts with this imagery of darkness and light.  Verse 8 says I was once darkness, but now am “light in the Lord.”  How can this be?  How can Apostle Paul so definitely declare that this applies to his audience then (Christians in Ephesus) and Christians to this day?  When I look inside myself and my heart, I don’t see that I’m light in the Lord, but I see my sins, my struggles, my past, etc.  It’s hardly what you could call “light.”

Did Apostle Paul have it wrong?  No, in light of the message I heard yesterday on John 8:32 and from prayer meeting, I see it is very possible to say that we “are light in the Lord.”  It’s because I can confess and repent, in other words bring out into the light my darkness—my actions, my thoughts, my twisted motives, etc.  In light of the cross, I can confess and repent knowing that God is waiting to forgive me.  In that repentance, in coming clean before God, he turns me into light.  I’ve experienced this, as I become a little bit brighter when I repent and am reconciled with God or the person(s) I’ve wronged.  There’s also that burden lifted and I feel a greater sense of “lightness” in terms of weight.  In confessing and repenting, those toxins causing that darkness get flushed out and there’s cleansing from God and freedom in the truth, hence “goodness, righteousness and truth” as fruits of the light (v.9).

So, what is one commitment I can make this year?  It’s to engage in daily repentance, and to confess and repent quickly without making it a prolonged drama.  In light of the recent DT passages on time, there just isn’t enough time to get bogged down in self-focused drama about my sins.  I need to confess and repent genuinely, and then move on.  This would be one way I can live as a child of light.  For me, I know I can go for some time without thinking about my life and reflecting on what I’ve done, who I am, and what my actions and thoughts say about me.  By default I’m pretty shallow.  So, I need daily time with God’s Word so I can reflect on my life and allow the word to expose me.  This year I commit to daily coming before God’s Word, journaling and reflecting on recent actions and events in my life.  And instead of prolonging and trying to explain away or even hide my sins, I commit to being honest before God, confessing and repenting quickly, apologizing to people I wrong, and to share honestly with those who are close to me and ask for help and accountability so I don’t waste time in darkness and sin.

Submitted by Sue Yi, Gracepoint Berkeley

Compare Goliath’s description in vv. 4-6 with how David sees him in v. 26.  What did David ignore, and what factors did David find significant?

Goliath’s description was very impressive: Over nine feet tall; bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves and a bronze javelin was slung; his spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels; he also had  a shield bearer who went ahead of him.

However, what David saw was as an uncircumcised Philistine that was defying the armies of the living God. David ignored the outer appearance of Goliath’s height, build and strength. He ignored all the impressive accessories made out of bronze that Goliath had on him; he ignored the shield bearer who went ahead of him. He did not see Goliath in the ways that others saw him and was intimidated by. David merely saw him as one who was defying the armies of the living God. He was concerned with removing the disgrace from Israel.

What is my response to people of the world who are impressive in their abilities or accomplishments?

It is easy to feel intimidated by those that are accomplished in the world. People that have fame, wealth, status and even attractive appearance is something that can be seemingly impressive. It is easy to back away from these people and look for those that seem needier and broken that seem “ready” for the gospel. However, my response cannot be intimidation or backing away because of how one appears. David’s response was challenging because he did not allow what he saw on the exterior to back away from standing up to Goliath. He did not even consider what all the others saw and felt intimated and fearful about. As a Christian and as a leader, I need to have the same outlook that David had on Goliath. There are so many seemingly Goliaths that are around. So many intimidating people, fearful situation but as one who has been saved and has experienced the life giving power of the gospel, I cannot be intimidated by ppl and situations that I see. David’s courage came because he had  faith in God and he as he was most concerned about God’s honor that is what needs to give me the same courage as I minister to people and as I face the “goliath’s” in my life.

For the two whole years, Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him.  Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

As I think about Apostle Paul’s life, I think these two verses that appear at the end of the book of Acts aptly describes what he was like.  It says that he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, boldly and without hindrance.   He was bold, because he didn’t seem to fear anything else except he held the fear of not finishing the race and completing the task that God had given him to do.  He was bold because he had pretty much given up on his life.  At this point of his life when he was in Rome for two years, in house arrest and praeching the gospel, he was fully ready for the worst that can happen to anyone.  He was ready for death.  He had gone through other type of sufferings in his life already, like beating, imprisonment, shipwreck, a mob trying to kill him. Given all that he had gone through already, and given the fact that he was awaiting a trial before Caesar, his hope in his own life was not there any more.  This kind of complete surrender of himself made him a bold person.  He was already arrested in Rome and so there was no fear in him.  If you are already imprisoned, you do not fear imprisonment.  If you are already dead, you do not fear death.  He was able to boldly preach the gospel in this way.

He preached the gospel and taught without hindrance.  I think this is pretty remarkable given the fact that there were a lot of hidnrances in his life.  He was a prisoner and there were much restrictions placed in his life.  Even then he was able to preach without hindrance… He found ways to preach and teach, and God opened the doors for him even through the seemingly impossible human restrictions that were put upon his life.  I think about the ridiculousness of this situation when I compare my life to his.  My lfe is so free and without any restrictions.  I do not have a husband that persecutes me or any physical handicap, emotional trauma.  I have a restriction free kind of life.  The only kind of hindrance is the kind of place on my own self by being lazy, by being timid, by being risk-averse, by being calculating, by being comfort-seeking, by being deadened in my spiritual awareness.  I learned through Apostle Paul’s life, that a Christian’s life is governed by the God above, who can work through human restrictions and seemingly impossible barriers.  Our lives are not governed by any obstacles because we serve a living and mighty God who can transcend all these issues.  It’s a matter of my own desire to overcome these issues and not make them into hindrances.  We so quickly grab onto any excuses and say “that’s why I cannot do this  or that.”  We would rather be hindered and take comfort in that rather than being like Apostle Paul who knew he was serving a great God who is not hindered at all.

I think about the power displayed in Apostle Paul’s life and I don’t mean his power to miraculously heal people or his oratory powers to convince others.  Those were ways of God’s power manifested in his life as well. However, what is really powerful in Apostle Paul is his hope and strength that is displayed in his inner life.  I have never seen anyone like Apostle Paul who is so completely transcendscent of this world and it’s system, so poweful inside because of his confidence in God.  Nothing could stop him and nothing could discourage him either. The power of God was displayed in Apostle Paul’s life through his intense focus and hope in heaven and the ability to die to himself in this life.  That is no ordinary human.  He was truly someone who was won over, tranformed by and living accoring to the power of God.

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Submitted by George Hu, Gracepoint Berkeley.

As I read today’s passage, I was struck by Apostle Paul’s calmness in the midst of many trials and storms (literally).  Before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa, he calmly states his case, defending not only himself and that he did not nothing wrong, but uses the opportunity to share the gospel with them, the very people who hold his fate in their hands.  Instead of being defensive and feeling like a victim of injustice, he turns the situation into one where he can share his testimony with them.  On the ship to Rome, Paul is calm and collected, trusting in God and taking even that life-threatening opportunity to bear witness to the sailors he was with.

“But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.  I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

This part really struck me because even in such a situation, Paul is clear on the mission of his life.  He does not lose focus on the fact that he is now a minister of Jesus, and his mission of evangelism.  He sees even his imprisonment as an opportunity for God to work.

One sentence he says sums up Paul’s attitude, “Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am,except for these chains.”  Who is he at that point?  Paul doesn’t see himself as a prisoner, a victim, helpless, devoid of freedom.  He does not view himself in terms of his circumstance, but wholly in terms of his identity as God’s servant, the path to which he just summarized before Festus.  “I have had God’s help to this very day”– He connects everything that happens to him with God, and because he is so clear on the way that God has worked in his own life, he now is unwaveringly secure in God’s presence with him and desire to use him in his present circumstance.

This is very different from me—I tend to become easily discouraged by circumstances and tend to easily think that God cannot use me because of things that are out of my control.  Paul was a prisoner, but his attitude is so free, and he is very clear on his mission and cannot be deterred by his circumstances.  Though I sometimes feel imprisoned by negative circumstances in my life, the greater imprisonment is the cynicism and Denathor-like hopelessness that comes when I forget how God has worked in the past, whether through my own life, the people around me, or the lives of people in the Bible like Paul.  In counseling, we often ask clients to take a step out of their own lives and look at it from the perspective of someone else, and I think that that is what God is asking me to do here.  This is my prayer for myself—that I can have this perspective that God wants to use me through whatever circumstances in my life.  I need to have regular times of reflection on what I have to be thankful for and the ways that God has worked in my life so that I can see that indeed I have had God’s help to this very day.  In short, I need to keep my eyes on the mission of saving souls and loving people, instead of on my own circumstances.

Read the assigned passage for the day and answer the reflection question(s) provided.  There are no memory verses. Click here to download DT Packet.

Daily Devotion and Bible Reading Plan

Monday              11/15                 Revelation 9:13-21
Tuesday              11/16                 Revelation 10
Wednesday        11/17                 Revelation 11
Thursday            11/18                 Revelation 12
Fri-Sun               11/19-21            Nahum, Habakkuk

Reflection Questions

MONDAY, 11/15 Revelation 9:13-21

vv. 14-15

• These verses reveal that there have been destructive fallen angels, or demons, bound at Euphrates (the river from which Israel’s enemies traditionally invaded), which are released at a specified time.  What implication does this have on my view of life and history?

vv. 20-21

• What does the fact that these verses note that mankind did not repent reveal about God’s desire in the midst of judgment?  What does it reveal about man?

TUESDAY, 11/16 Revelation 10

v.4

• What can I learn about boundaries of man’s knowledge from this verse?  What is my responsibility regarding the knowledge that I have been granted?

vv.6,7

• What does the declaration of “no more delay” remind me of?
• Why does God delay bringing forth the final revelation of His “mystery”?  What should be my perspective regarding the will of God and the waiting period that I need to go through?

vv.9,10

• What are the two effects of eating the scroll?  What lessons can I draw from this regarding God’s word and the role of His prophets/messengers?

WEDNESDAY, 11/17 Revelation 11

vv.3-8

• The imagery employed bring to mind Elijah and Moses, but in the New Testament context, “the most common view is that the two witnesses represent the prophetic witness of the church” ^[1] What example and challenge do the two prophets serve for the church today?
• What kind of life should I expect if the church is to fulfill its prophetic role in our world?

vv.9-10

• What will be the response of the inhabitants of the earth to the death of God’s two witnesses?  What truth about human nature is revealed from their response?
• Why would they think that the two prophets were “tormenting” them?  What is my attitude towards those who play the prophetic role in my life?

vv.11-13

• What truths about the ultimate outcome of spiritual warfare can I learn from these verses?  What steps of faith am I emboldened to take because of this truth?

v.15-18

• Reflect on that day when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.”  How much am I living today with this day in mind?
• Who will be rewarded on that final judgment day?  Am I living to receive reward now or on that day?

THURSDAY, 11/18 Revelation 12

vv.1-6

• The dragon represents Satan and his demonic forces, the woman represents God’s faithful people who have been waiting for the Messiah (the crown of 12 stars represents the 12 tribes of Israel), and the child represents Christ.^[2]
• How does the power of the dragon compare to the apparent power of the woman and child?  What is ironic about this contrast in power?
• 1,260 days represent the period of persecution (cf., 11:2; 13:5).  What is the inherent promise of God to the persecuted church in this verse?

vv.9-11

• What are the activities of Satan?  What accusations from Satan do I face?  What are some evidences that Satan is leading the whole world astray?
• How did the early church overcome the accuser?
• What is the relationship between loving one’s life and shrinking back?  What do I shrink back from?  How does the blood of the Lamb embolden me not to shrink back?

[2] Life Application Study Bible, study notes (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers and Zondervan, 1991) 2260.