Do you have any idea what you've done?

Sure, you've just spent the last 10 weeks reading 10 books in the Bible in just 10 minutes a day, but you've done something far  greater than that.  You've just laid the foundation for a new life.  You just made a critical change in direction that will alter the course of your life.

How, you ask?  By honoring God's word and putting it first in your day. 

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible and it's 100% about what can happen in our lives when we honor God's word by not only learning it, but living it.

It keeps us pure (Psalm 119:9).

It gives us delight (Psalm 119:16).

It sets us free (Psalm 119:32).

It gives us good judgment (Psalm 119:66).

It gives us direction (Psalm 119:105).

In short, it teaches us what we need to know in order to live a life on this earth that is full of purpose, passion, and power.  It changes our hearts to desire the things that bring God glory instead of ourselves glory.  It takes us off the throne and places Jesus squarely in the place that is his and his alone.

What have you just done?

You have changed your life and, by placing it in the hands of Jesus by honoring his word, you will change the lives of many others around you.

Do you know what you've just done?

You have just stepped into a new destiny, and God will be glorified in it.

TODAY'S READING: Jude

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Who makes you smile?

Not what makes you smile, but who?

For John, it was a friend named Gaius (yes, we know that's one of the more bizarre names ever, but it doesn't change the point!) and thinking about him and how he was faithfully serving Jesus made John smile.  In fact, hearing about Gaius' faith brought John "great joy" in verse 3!

So two obvious questions come out of that simple verse.  One, whose faith is bringing you joy and who is your faith bringing joy to? Maybe it was your mother or father who first introduced you to Jesus.  Perhaps it was a friend or even a spouse.  At any rate, someone who was near God came to you when you were still far from him and brought you to Jesus (or maybe, brought Jesus to you).  And the best way to show honor to those who first introduced Jesus to us is to simply continue walking with Jesus.

It is, without a doubt, the best way to put a smile on a face!

TODAY'S READING: 3 John

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Finishing strong.

It sounds easy, but have you ever noticed that our natural tendency is to almost relax a little when we see the finish line?  I've done it in races before.  I'd run hard and be so tired that when I finally saw the finish line I'd feel my body and mind start shutting down: "Well, it was a good race and you've finally made it. Let's coast it in."

Of course, that thought can only last a moment before we push the accelerator as far as we can so that we can finish strong.

You're close.  Really close.  After today's reading, you have 2 days left and if you're not disciplined, you'll find yourself thinking that you can coast across the finish line.

Don't.  Focus on the finish line, get out your journals and be even more inTENtional about finishing what you started.  You'll be glad you did the minute your foot crosses the line.

TODAY'S READING: 2 John

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Can I tell you a secret? I know if people love me by how they treat my children.

If you tell me that we're friends and then I hear that you mistreated one of my kids, you and I are going to have a bit of a problem, and it probably won't end well.  In fact, your actions toward my children far outweighs any thing you might have said to me.  In the first verse of 1 John 5, John says that's also true about God and his children.

What's sad is that all over the world there are multitudes of people who have told God how much they love him only to turn around and treat his children horribly.  They gossip about his children, mock his children, and mistreat his children (and we're just talking about most Sundays in church!) and then expect God to still believe that they love him?

John says that's ridiculous.

The question for you and I to wrestle to the floor is a simple one: if our love for God is measured by our love for his children, how much do we really love God?

TODAY'S READING: 1 John 5

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Have you ever heard something that was so powerful that it became a turning point for you?

On April 6, 1991 I heard the words "I do" come out of my wife's mouth and those 2 simple words changed my life.  They became part of a day that is a touchstone for me, and years later I still think about them and they still influence my life.

John had a moment like that, too, and in today's reading we can see just how much that moment changed the course of his life.  27 times over fifteen verses (1John 4:7-21) he writes the word "love."  You can't read this section and not have the word echoing in your head.  A couple of times he makes the bold statement that we're liars if we say we love God but can't love others, especially the others that are in the church with us.

This idea is kind of John's trademark, his continual theme.  If you and I attended the church where John was the pastor, we'd walk out every week scratching our heads and wondering when he was going to start talking about something besides loving one another.  I'm sure when John visited churches in his day, people smiled because they already knew what he was going to say.  Maybe they even started repairing their relationships before he came so they'd be less convicted when he spoke.

But the question that matters for us is when did this happen?  When did this become his creed?  What was the turning point in his life in this area?  You can read about it in John 13:35.

Jesus is spending his last meal with the disciples.  He has washed their feet and has begun to explain to them what is about to happen: the arrest, the denials, the trials and the cross.  The moment is weighty, as any last moments would be.  These are the time that we lean in a little closer so that we don't miss any of the last words that might be spoken.  And in that moment, John's life changed.  Jesus said that there was one thing that the disciples could do that would prove to the world around them that they were his disciples, and as everyone leaned in and waited for some profound revelation from heaven, Jesus simply said: "Love one another."

Sound familiar?  That simple truth so impacted John's life that some 50-60 years later when he was writing the letter you and I are reading today, he was still repeating that theme to anyone who would listen, and it's such a powerful proof of the redemptive work of Jesus in our hearts that it's worth repeating today, too.

Love one another, and by doing that one thing, you will prove to the world around you that you are, in fact, a disciple of Jesus.

TODAY'S READING: 1 John 4

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

One of the things that has been driven home to us over and over again throughout many of the passages we've read during the reading plan is the fact that, while what we do can't save us, it is what we do that reveals that we're being saved. The reason we've seen it so often is because God knows two things: one, it's important, and two, it's misunderstood.

The sooner that we can get our heads wrapped around the fact that what we do reveals who we love, the sooner we'll have a solid foundation in our walk with Jesus. It's never about EARNING salvation, but it's always about REVEALING salvation, and that's what John is writing about when he says that what we do shows who we're with: Jesus or the devil (see 1 John 3:10).

Of course, we hate to hear that, because it feels so black and white. But honestly, the gospel IS black and white. We're in or out, hot or cold and none of us like that because we don't know what to do with that on the "bad" days. But that's where grace comes in, which is why John included verse 20, and that verse is a great way to close this out. "When our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

Your God - the God who did not spare his own son, Jesus, in order to save you - knows EVERYTHING about you.  He knows why your heart condemns you, and he is greater than your heart, or the condemnation, because his son on the cross was enough to defeat it.

That's something we can all be thankful for!

TODAY'S READING: 1 John 3

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

This is it!  The first day of the last week in the 10/10/10 Reading Plan.  Congratulations on getting here!

As you move through this week, it's a good idea to begin to think back over the keywords that we've shared throughout the series and begin to highlight the 2 or 3 that really spoke to you:  inTENtional, conTENtment, atTENtion, TENsion, consisTENcy, TENacious, poTENtial, straighTENed, exTENded and rewritTEN.

10 words full of hope and promise and challenge, and I'm sure that some of them really rang true for you in your current situation. What has God done in your life over the last 10 weeks?  How has his word changed you?

After you read today's passage and make some journal entries about it, take an extra few minutes and journal those answers.  As you write, you'll be surprised at just how far you've come!

TODAY'S READING: 1 John 2

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Have you ever been awakened because someone flipped the light switch on?  It's not a very pleasant experience, is it?  In the first chapter of 1 John, we read all about God being light and that there isn't any darkness in him, but it also means that he shines that light on us, and sometimes that can take some getting used to.

Most of us, if we're honest, like shadows.  We like at least having the choice to hide the less than perfect parts of our lives, right?  We'd rather reveal those parts once we've got them fixed and polished up, but sometimes the best thing God can do for us is slip into our lives and turn on the light switch!

Does it hurt?  Sure, the same way it hurts your eyes in the morning!  Does it help?  Absolutely!  It allows us to see what we're doing and where we're walking.

Let God shine that light on your life today, and see what good can come from finally stepping totally out of the shadows!

TODAY'S READING: 1 John 1

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

This week we have focused on being fully exTENded in our relationships with God and with others.  We've talked about the cost of going all in and leaving nothing in the tank when we give our lives away.  We've challenged one another to reach for Jesus and the souls of men because we value them.  We read in 2 Timothy that Paul did just that, and described it as having poured out his life as a drink offering.

And today, as James closes out his letter to Jewish Christians who were suffering persecution, he reminds them that they need to wait patiently for the Lord like a farmer (James 5:7).  Guess what a farmer is?  That's right, all in!

A farmer is fully exTENded.  The soil has been prepared (tough work!) and the seed has been planted in it.  He has taken the time to care for it (because he values it) and now, he waits.  But because he's all in, he doesn't just sit and twiddle his thumbs, but is rather fairly active as he waits for the crop.  He prepares his barn for the coming crop.  He secures whatever supplies he will need to harvest the coming crop.  And as he does all of this, he patiently trusts the process...and waits.

That's why the farmer is never surprised when he sees a stalk pop out of the ground. Because he exTENded himself, he now expects a harvest in the area where he went all in.  Good farmers are surprised when there isn't growth!

You've gone all in over the past 9 weeks.  You're fully exTENding yourself toward God and toward those around you, and now you can wait expecting, not hoping.  A harvest will come where you planted yourself.  If you've gone all in with reading the Bible daily, you'll begin to see a harvest of greater understanding.  If you're exTENding yourself in giving, you can expect a harvest in your finances.  It's all because we wait actively and patiently and trust the process God has given us.

Just like a good farmer.

TODAY'S READING: James 5

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

While the answer to that question may be up for debate, the fact that order is important isn't.  By order, I don't mean cleanliness (although for some of us, we could use a little bit more of that kind of order!) or what we do in a restaurant.  I'm talking about the order of things, the sequence of events, and when it comes to spiritual things, the order in which we do things is extremely important.

Many times we find ourselves trying our best to resist evil, don't we?  We try to discipline ourselves to stop a bad habit, or to smile even when we're mad, or to make new friends that can encourage us instead of bringing us down.  But eventually, we run out of steam and fail, not because we don't want to succeed, but simply because we got the order all wrong.

James 4:7 tells us to resist the devil, yes, but that isn't the first step.  In fact, working up as much strength as we possibly can for the fight isn't even the first step, because that just makes the fight about us.  The order is to submit ourselves to God first.  Humble ourselves and recognize that only he has the power that we need for the fight.  In fact, a life fully submitted to God is a life that can fully resist the devil.

But only if the submission comes first. Order means everything!

TODAY'S READING: James 4

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Reading James 3 always brings the same thought to mind: "Pass the duct tape, please!"

James has so much to say about our tongues and most of it ain't pretty!  It would be so easy to simply place a piece of industrial strength duct tape over our mouths in order to be sure we never say anything wrong, and yet that's not what James is encouraging us to do.  James wants us to go a little deeper than that.

Have you caught yourself with your hands on your mouth, almost horrified at what you just heard come out of it?  We all have.  And the funny thing is that we never react that way when we say good things, do we?  Do you know why?

Because speaking life-giving words requires thought.  It doesn't really come naturally to any of us at first, and so we're never surprised by it. Jesus said that the mouth speaks what the heart holds (my paraphrase of Matthew 12:34), and so as we become more and more full of Jesus and his word (the Bible), we will begin to see a change in how we speak.  

Our words should never surprise us if we realize that they are the result of whatever we've filled our hearts with.  Take control of your tongue by taking control of your heart, and you'll find yourself feeling a lot better about taking the duct tape off.

TODAY'S READING: James 3

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Faith and works.

It's always been a source of debate among Christians and was a big reason why the book of James was written.  Basically, people knew that they were saved by faith in Christ alone and so they never bothered to do anything after salvation.

Sound familiar?  Sadly, it's an accurate picture of the church today.  We are known for nothing because we typically do nothing.  We say a lot about what we believe in but rarely do anything because of those beliefs, and James steps right into that kind of blind hypocrisy and shouts, "Your faith is worthless!!" (James 2:17)

Please understand this simple statement: works never lead to salvation, but salvation always leads to works.

Always.

If you and I love Jesus, then there is no way we can sit back and not enter the fray of mankind.  There is no way we cannot give our lives away in the practical ministry that meets the physical needs of people around us so that we might have the opportunity to share the good news of salvation through Jesus.

Works never lead to salvation, but salvation always leads to works.

Always.

So get up and do something for the King and his kingdom today.

TODAY'S READING: James 2

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Here we go.  Welcome to a book that will feel like it's hitting you below the belt.  James ain't playing around.

This means that we will all read verses in this book that will literally feel like they just jumped off the page and slapped us in the face.  It won't feel good, but there's one truth found here that will revolutionize how you read the Bible and also how you view your relationship with God.

It's James 1:5, and there's a quality of God that is revealed in this verse that most of us can't wrap our brains around because it is so rarely modeled for us here on earth.

God gives to us when we need without finding fault with us in our need.

That. Is. Huge.

It means that as we read this book - or any of the other books in the Bible - and we feel like we've fallen short or are facing a trial and don't understand why, we can ask God for his wisdom and he won't beat us up for not knowing.  He is a Father who wants his children to learn and grow, and so he loves to teach us what we do not know.

So don't hide your confusion, your failings, your ignorance.

Ask your Dad for help.  He loves to give generously without finding fault.

TODAY'S READING: James 1

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

There is no substitute for dying without regret.

Paul was able to do that because he held nothing back.  He lived a life that was fully exTENded towards both God and man and as he closed out the last letter he would ever write, he was able to say, "I have fought the good fight."

I want to say that, too, and I'm sure you want to, as well.  What Paul wrote the verse before it will help us determine whether or not we'll be able to.

In 2 Timothy 4:6, Paul told Timothy that he had been poured out as a drink offering.  That's not really the kind of phrase we go around using today, but basically Paul was saying, "I went all in for Jesus.  I served him and I served the lost around me. I HELD NOTHING BACK."

When Jesus saves us, he transforms us from people who serve themselves to people who serve others.  It sounds harsh, but the reality is that saved hearts serve.  Extending ourselves in worship to God and service to man becomes our nature, and when we live that way, we will find ourselves being able to say the same thing Paul did as he was preparing to die.

"I have fought the good fight."

Living an exTENded life leads to a death with no regrets.

TODAY'S READING: 2 Timothy 4

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Have you ever worn a shirt that just didn't quite fit?  If it was too big, you were constantly rolling or pushing up the sleeves and if it was too small you would find yourself constantly trying to stretch it out or pull the sleeves down.  The reason you would do that?  Because you wanted it to fit.

There is no better feeling than putting on clothes that just fit you.  You don't feel the need to suck in your gut or to pull up the collar or to make any other multitudes of adjustments.  Instead, you just (hold on for the amazing truth) wear it.  You relax in it and more than likely, you smile when you walk out with it on.  That's what the perfect fit can do for us, and in the last verse of today's reading, Paul reveals that it's just as try in our spiritual lives as it is in our natural lives.

In 2 Timothy 3:17, Paul says that the Bible is good for making sure that each one of us are "thoroughly equipped" (NIV) for the works that God has for us, and the Greek word used there literally means "perfect fit."

At the beginning of this chapter Paul describes horrible men who appear to have godliness but on closer examination have no power and, honestly, are pretty vile.  In other words, they're wearing clothes that don't fit them.  But in the last half of the chapter Paul describes Timothy and himself as men who are comfortable in the calling of God and are faithful to Jesus.  In other words, they are wearing clothes that do fit them.

The difference between the two?  The one factor that kept Paul and Timothy from pulling on their sleeves and stretching out their waistbands?  The Bible.

It really is as simple as that.  When we learn it and live it, we become people who are perfectly fit to do every good work that Jesus calls us to.  We can relax in our faith, and we can be free to focus on God's glory and other people's needs instead of our own stuff.  This is the faith that will win the world to Jesus, and you and I take part in it every morning that we get up, pick up the Bible and read.

Yes!

TODAY'S READING: 2 Timothy 3

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Runners know something that everyone else needs to know, and it's something that Paul wanted Timothy to know, too.

It's just as important to run toward something as it is to run from something.  If you're not moving towards something, eventually you'll stop.  In 2 Timothy 2:22, Paul told Timothy to run from evil desires, but he knew that it wouldn't be enough to simply try to stop doing bad things.  Paul knew the running principle, too, and so he gave Timothy a long list of great running goals: righteousness, faith, love and peace.

Which of these can you pursue today?  What steps can you take as you pursue them?

TODAY'S READING: 2 Timothy 2

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

If you knew your life was ending and you had the chance to talk with the people you loved one more time, two things would happen: one, you would really choose your words wisely and two, the people you were talking to would lean in a little closer to hear what you were saying.

In other words, the last words often carry more weight than any others we speak.  Today, you will begin reading the last words that the apostle Paul ever wrote, and that one fact should cause us to lean in and pay a bit more attention to what he's writing.

In the first chapter, you'll notice that he immediately encourages faithfulness.  Not fruitfulness, not better religious practices, but simply the bulldogged willingness to never give up.  It is the faithfulness of believers from day to day that grows into week to week and month to month and eventually - like Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:13 - generation to generation.

What we do today as faithful followers of Jesus will pave the way for another generation of followers coming behind us.  You and I can take heart in that!  

TODAY'S READING: 2 Timothy 1

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Uh oh.

Paul's getting practical...and personal.  Over the next 2 chapters of Colossians, he writes a lot about what the life of a Christian should have in it and what it should not have in it, and it's so easy to write these chapters off with an all-too common Christian mantra: "I'm free."

We sling those 2 words around like they're our magic "Get out of the Hard Part" cards, and yet the truth of the gospel is that we are set free by Jesus so that we can choose to walk with Jesus.  Freedom isn't the freedom to just pick and choose the parts that we'll believe and obey as much as it is the freedom to actually pick.  When we were slaves to sin, we couldn't have chosen to obey even if we had wanted to because we weren't free!

But now we are, and so now we can make the choice to walk according to the life that Paul shared with the Colossians.  We can rid our lives of the things we once did (Colossians 3:5-9) and we can choose to fill our lives with the actions and attitudes that fit a follower of Jesus (Colossians 3:10-17).

Freedom isn't always easy, but it is always better than captivity. Today, let's walk in the freedom that Jesus gave each of us!

TODAY'S READING: Colossians 3 and 4

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

It is so easy to reduce the Christian life to a list of things we should and shouldn't do, and Paul tackles that tendency head on in the second chapter of Colossians.  "How do we live the Christian life?" Paul answers in verse 6, "the same way you entered the Christian life."  By grace, through faith. (for more, see Ephesians 2:8)

You and I did nothing to become a follower of Jesus other than trust him enough to follow him, and continuing to follow him requires the same action: nothing but a choice to continue trusting and following him.

It is not our actions that make us followers of Jesus, it is simply the fact that we are following Jesus that makes us followers of Jesus.  Don't confuse the things we do as we follow him with what first allowed us to follow him.  You aren't what you do as much as you do what you are.  Change the inside, and the outside will follow.

TODAY'S READING: Colossians 2

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

There is no one like Jesus, and as you begin reading Colossians today, that is one take away that you'll have no trouble with.  Jesus is supreme and he deserves the place of highest honor in our lives.

Many times we get hung up on how to best honor Jesus, but if we've learned anything during the 10 Series, we've learned this: honoring the Bible and giving it a place of priority in our lives is a very real way of honoring Jesus, because John 1:1, 14 tells us clearly that the Word was with God and the Word became flesh.  The Word is Jesus.

So this morning as you take the first 10 minutes of your day to read through your chapter, your putting Jesus first.  You are aligning your day with Jesus and that results in a life that naturally follows a path straighTENed.

TODAY'S READING: Colossians 1

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

During the 10 Series, many of you have committed to not only reading God's Word for 10 minutes every day, but also to giving God 10 percent of your income (what is typically called the "tithe" which means "a tenth") and have experienced the faith that it takes to tithe and also the faith that comes when we do tithe.  Today's reading shines more light on how God works through our giving.

Take a look at Philippians 4:19.  For some of you, this is a verse that you've heard many times in church.  It's one that is usually read by the church to someone who is stepping out in faith as a missionary or a minister.  Kind of a "don't worry because God will take care of you" verse that we hope helps them not worry when the love offerings are small or the supporting churches stop supporting them.  But the context of this verse shows something very different, and if you catch this, it will revolutionize how you see giving.

The missionary wrote this to the givers.

It wasn't the other way around.  The recipient of the gift told the people who sent it that God would now take care of all their needs because they had stepped out in faith to be generous!

If you've started to practice Biblical tithing and generous giving, then this is YOUR promise!  As we give, our God will meet all of our needs according to HIS riches.

That, my friend, is a good place to be!

TODAY'S READING: Philippians 4

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

We live in busy times.  Schedules are full, stress levels are up and focus is down.  We feel stretched, pulled, anxious and overwhelmed. We live in a time when we desperately need the truth that Paul wrote about in Philippians.  After summarizing the life he had lived before meeting Jesus, he simplified it all when we shared this:

"But ONE THING I DO..." (Philippians 3:13)

Not 10 things, or even 5 things.  Just one.  There is incredible power in focus.  When we know why we exist, we are able to take all our energy and all our resources and bring them to bear on that one thing.  No matter what craziness was going on around Paul (remember that he was writing this from prison), he was able to cut through the fog and remember what his purpose in life was: to press on in his relationship with Jesus (verse 14).

You may be overwhelmed by all the demands in your life right now, too.  You may feel imprisoned by your circumstances.  But if you can boil it all down to one thing, you'll find incredible strength waiting for you in that simple step of focus.

TODAY'S READING: Philippians 3

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Wow.

That's a great way to sum up Philippians 2, isn't it?  Paul, always the master communicator, begins the chapter by encouraging all of us to learn from others and to serve others.  He isn't calling us to have a low self-image but to have a high others-image.  And then, just when he knew that our human nature would be to hold ourselves up as the example of what he's saying, he drops the bomb:

Your attitude should be the same as Jesus (verse 5).

We'll never find a better example of humility, obedience, servanthood and power than we have in Jesus. He literally put aside his rightful place as God in order to step into the mess we had made so that he could rescue and redeem us.  His obedience is what led to his exaltation, and Paul encourages all of us to follow that example.

And then Paul reads our minds.  He knew that we'd read verses 5-11 and think that it might take the rest of our lives to live out those verses, and he follows it with the beautiful command to work out our salvation!  He's not telling us to earn our salvation, but to make our lives the petri dish inside of which we experiment with this life of faith and following Jesus.

Do that today.  Pick one principle, one truth from this powerful chapter and think about it.  Pray about it.  Write about it.  Talk about it.  Work out how you can best display that truth today in your life, and you'll be well on your way to following the example that Jesus gave to all of us.

TODAY'S READING: Philippians 2

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

If you've ever bitten off more than you can chew (or seen someone else do it), then you know how uncomfortable it can be.  Now, after a day off, we're heading into Philippians and, if we're not careful, we can find ourselves quickly with a whole lot of word stuffed in our mouths as we try to chew it and swallow it.

This book is short (only 4 chapters) but it is PACKED with amazing truth and POWERFUL verses that can seem a bit overwhelming at first.  You'll want to make sure that you take the time to really process what you're reading so that you can get the benefit of the wisdom found here.

Just like eating a meal, it's good to SLOW DOWN so you can really enjoy the FLAVOR of the food and so that your body can properly DIGEST the food.  Reading the next 8 books in the plan will be no different.

TODAY'S READING: Philippians 1

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

This is the second catch up day during the 10/10/10 Reading Plan, and it's a good time to make up some missed days or simply reflect on what Jesus has been saying to you as you've been reading.

TODAY'S READING: No reading - catch up day!

Buckle up, because the reading plan is getting ready to take off.

We've spent the first 45 days of the plan reading through 2 books: Mark and Acts.  Today you'll finish up Acts (or tomorrow on the catch-up day if you're a little behind) and then you'll be reading 8 books over the next 23 days.  Paul, the man we've been reading about in Acts, is the one who wrote the next 3 books on the plan.

So congratulations are in order!  Mark was easy to read because it was full of action and it was exciting and it was somewhat short.  Acts was a bit more work because it's full of trials and conversations and it was kind of long.  But you did it!  You've read through the story of Jesus and the story of his church and now we get to spend the rest of the plan reading how both of those accounts impact our stories today.

I don't know about you, but I can't wait!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 28

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Can you believe how far you've come since the beginning of the 10 Series?  What has surprised you the most about the journey?  For many, the biggest surprise is often how hard it seems to keep doing this, and yet that probably shouldn't surprise us and here's why.

Your enemy knows the tremendous poTENtial you have for Jesus, and he will try to use anything he can to discourage you from continuing to walk in the word.  Too often, in the face of difficulty, people do what the sailors did in Acts 27 - they simply drift and let the storm take them wherever it wants.  But you and I are no longer those people!  We are recognizing that hard times must come because that is often the way that God accomplishes the process found in John 3:30 - "He (Jesus) must become greater; I must become less."

Charles Stanly says that "brokenness is God’s requirement for maximum usefulness."  If you're feeling tired, a little out of focus or just plain ready for Acts to be finished, then take heart!  The way you feel is part of the breaking process, and on the other end - if you don't give up - you will find yourself living for Jesus with the greatest poTENtial possible.

And it all starts by making up your mind to not end the journey before you've arrived.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 27

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

If Paul were alive today and could follow us around and then walk into our churches, I'm convinced he would ask one question.

"What about the change?"

We know - and so did Paul - that the things we do can't save us.  Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we're saved by grace through faith alone, but he also testified in Acts 26 in front of the King that people everywhere should repent, turn to God and then "prove their repentance by their deeds" (verse 20).

The Greek word used in that phrase is "axis" and it means "worthy, of worth, weighty."  In other words, when we make the decision to yield our wills and our lives to Jesus, then we should naturally do things that are worthy of that choice.  Following Jesus should result in change, and if it doesn't, something is broken somewhere.

It should change our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions.  We should speak to people differently and see people differently.  Our outlook on the things that take place around us should change as we see them in light of Jesus and his glory instead of our own.

In other words, Jesus should change everything.  In fact, the Greek word "axis" is the root of our word "axis" which means "a point on which everything rotates or pivots."

Your testimony about meeting, falling in love with and following Jesus hinges on the change he has brought in your life.  Everything hinges on that.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 26

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Railroaded.  It's a term that means "to convict someone without a fair trial" and it's the perfect way to describe what is happening to Paul in the latter chapters of Acts.

It may be a term that describes a lot of people who feel helpless in the judicial system today, too.  Why was Paul able to stand so firm in the face of these baseless charges, and how can you and I stand strong when we feel like we're being railroaded (even if it isn't in the court system)?  By understanding the character of God.

Isaiah 30:18 says this: "Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him."

In the face of screaming, hateful, bloodthirsty lies, Paul knew that God had his back because God is a God of justice.  You and I can stand firm, just like Paul did, and rest in the fact that the God of the universe has our back, and as long as we're serving him and accomplishing his purposes, we will never have to face him in court!

That can fill each of us with confidence, even in the face of being railroaded.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 25

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Long before Al Gore introduced the world to An Inconvenient Truth, Paul had already done it.  In fact, you probably have, too.  The real inconvenient truth has nothing to do with global warming, but everything to do with global evangelism.

The real inconvenient truth? The gospel of Jesus.

In verse 25 of Acts 24, we find the response of the governor, Felix, to Paul's continual discussions about the gospel: "That's enough for now...when I find it convenient, I will send for you."

Isn't that how most of us responded to Jesus at first?  We were interested but inconvenienced by him, and so we would keep his followers at arm's length while we tried to figure out a way to "make Jesus fit."  Of course, when we realized that Jesus didn't come to fit in our lives as much as to fix them and fill them, we relented and became his disciples.

Don't take it personally when the people you share Jesus with seem a bit reluctant to hear more.  They've just encountered the truth - the inconvenient truth - and have to be able to process what they're learning.  Give them time and grace and allow Jesus to begin to win them over.

That's something he's very good at doing!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 24

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

How would it feel to have followed Jesus so closely that you were able to say to others what Paul said in Acts 23:1: "I have fulfilled my duty to God?"

I'm guessing it would feel amazing, and that's exactly what God is accomplishing in you.

A good thing to remember is that we don't fulfill duties just because we're supposed to as much as we fulfill them because we love and are loved by Jesus.  John 14:15 says that it's our love for Jesus that motivates us to keep his commands, and the end result of a lifetime of loving Jesus is standing before your accusers and being able to say that you fulfilled in every way the purposes of God.

This morning as you read, continue to fall in love with Jesus and you'll find what he's calling you to do a lot easier to accomplish!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 23

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

How powerful is redemption?

Do we think that it is powerful enough to truly change a person?  To transform them?  To totally wash away the filth that we have known about them and replace it with the new, pure life of Jesus?

If we're like most people, we'll answer all those questions with a yes because we know we're supposed to, but in Acts 22, a man named Ananias answered them with a yes even when he didn't want to.

Now, to get the whole backstory you may want to go back and read Acts 9 again, and when you do you'll see that this man was told by God to go pray for a murderer, and not just any murderer, but one who would like to kill Ananias. In that moment, Ananias had to answer the question, how powerful is redemption?  Is it power enough to transform a vile, hateful murderer like Saul into a man passionate about following the very Jesus he had been persecuting?

Ananias' life hung in the balance of that question, and in Acts 22:13 we see how he answered it. His first 2 words to the murderer were...

"Brother Saul."

He could have called him Saul and that would have been enough, but he made sure that Saul understood that redemption wasn't just powerful enough to change him, but also powerful enough to change Ananias.  Redemption worked a miracle in both men, and the history of the Christian church is what it is today as a result.

Who is beyond the power of redemption?  As long as we're breathing, no one.

Thank you, Jesus!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 22

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

TENacious.  It's what you and I need to be right now, because as we head into the second half of the 10 Series, there will be a growing number of distractions that will try to keep us from our goal.  And the goal is a life devoted to Jesus and the daily reading of his word, not just 10 weeks dedicated to reading it.

In Acts 21, we see the TENacity of Paul, don't we?  At almost every place he stops, he is warned by well-meaning Christians not to go to Jerusalem because something bad was waiting for him there.  Even Paul himself had been warned by the Holy Spirit on a number of occasions (Acts 20:23) about what could be waiting for him in Jerusalem, and yet he still felt strongly that going there was an act of obedience to God.  At the final stop before Jerusalem, another group tried to convince him to stay but found out that TENacious people will "not be dissuaded" (Acts 21:14).

How about you?  What has the Lord called you to do, and how TENacious will you be about doing it?  Are you willing to not only face persecution from this world but also the pressure to stay safe that often comes from the well-meaning believers around us?  Are you willing - at every turn - to say to Jesus yet again, "I'm all in?"

If you are, then you will be ready for whatever waits for you when you do what Jesus has called you to do.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 21

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

In Acts 20, we find out that church in the New Testament was similar to today's in one way: really long sermons that put people to sleep!  But we also see a couple of ways in which it was very different from what you and I experience at church.

First, dead people came back to life.  Picture the scene: Paul is talking (and talking, and talking, and talking).  The light is dimming, the temperature is rising, and a young man's eyes are getting heavier.  He gets a case of the nods until finally he falls out of a window and dies.  Sounds like the kind of thing that happens every week in our churches, right? Not!  Not only did he die, but Paul prayed and he came back to life!

Second, not even raising a dead person could take the focus off of what was most important: the fellowship of the believers and the teaching of the word.  Verse 11 says that they all just went back to what they had been doing until sunrise!  Apparently, seeing dead people come to life was such a normal part of life back then that it wasn't much more than a blip on the radar.

Guess what?  I'm ready to see the great acts become daily acts.  I'm ready to be so close to Jesus that stuff like dead people coming back to life is a normal, expected part of what we see.  Can you imagine a culture that brought the sick (and even the dead) to the church BEFORE the doctor?  Wow!

We have the opportunity to help people experience life where there was death, and to be - in the words of Acts 20:12 - "greatly comforted."  Let's seize it!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 20

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Would you ever burn money?  Most of us wouldn't.  But in Acts 19, a number of people burned scrolls worth quite a bit of it.

The value of the scrolls they burned was 50,000 drachmas.  A drachma was about a day's wages, and I got curious to find out what that would be worth by today's standards.  If you base it on the median salary in America ($26,000), a day's wage is right at $100.  If you base it on the average salary in America ($46,000), a day's wage is closer to $175.  So taking those numbers and multiplying them by 50,000 means that those people in Acts burned somewhere between 5 MILLION and 7.5 MILLION dollars worth of scrolls that day! 

There's only one explanation for anyone doing something that amazing, and the key is found in Matthew 6:21: "Where your treasure is, your heart will be, also."

They burned what they no longer valued.

Do you see it?  In a moment their hearts were changed, and that meant that what they treasured - or valued - changed as well.  Jesus became a greater treasure than the scrolls, or the money they were worth.

It sounds harsh to say, but it's still true: when we're giving Jesus less than we tip our servers, we don't value Jesus.  The love and grace and mercy that he has poured into our lives will always create a change in what we treasure.  Today, I'm praying that you begin to value Jesus more than any other thing in your life.

When you do that, his kingdom will experience what happened in Acts 19:20 after the scrolls were burned: the word of God will "spread widely and grow in power."

TODAY'S READING: Acts 19

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

The halfway point.  On every run and in every race, the halfway point is a big moment for me.  Something clicks in my mind and I go from running uphill to running downhill.  I start to feel like the wind is at my back, even if it's blowing right in my face.  I find myself thinking about what I've experienced in the first half and smiling about how that will help me in the second half.  Basically, just getting to the halfway point gives me the confidence to know I can get to the finish.  

I hope you'll find the halfway point just as liberating, because today, you've reached it!

From this point forward there are less days remaining than you've already completed.  You're running downhill with the wind at your back and there is no stopping you now.  Today is a good day to look back at how much you've grown since that first day when you read the very first chapter of Mark.  It's a good day to celebrate how reading the Bible on a daily basis has started to be who you are as much as what you do.

I had a conversation yesterday with someone who noticed that she has begun to pray for people much more naturally than she ever had before simply because of reading how natural it was for the disciples and the early church in Mark and Acts.  The Bible is alive, and it is powerful, and it will change you when you read it (see Hebrews 4:12).

You're halfway, and the best is yet to come!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 18

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Culture.

It's amazing how many different emotions that one word can create in us.  Some feel fear and need to run and hide, grabbing the kids along the way.  Others feel free and run as quickly as possible into the worst parts of it.  Many of us feel frozen and do nothing because we don't know what to do.

In Acts 17, we read about Paul going to Athens and we can learn a lot from how he responded to the culture of that city.  He didn't run from it, and he didn't become it.  Instead, he engaged it.  Here are some things that Paul experienced or did that we'll need to do also as we engage our culture:

1. He was misunderstood.  In verse 18, some called him a "babbler," and yet he didn't run away mad.  He still pressed in, and so must we.

2. He was questioned.  Verses 19-20 show that he was invited to speak with the people some more about what he was sharing, and so will we.  When we engage the culture around us - even when they misunderstand us - there will be a curiosity that is sparked in some, and they will ask to know more.  The question for us is, will we have more to give them.  Paul did, because

3. He was prepared.  He had taken the time to get to know the culture that he was bringing Jesus to, and so he was able to show them how some things in their culture were already pointing to Jesus (v. 23).   

Today you and I will encounter culture.  The question, of course, is whether or not we'll engage it.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 17

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

How far would you go to see somebody saved?  In Acts 16, Paul and Silas went as far as not leaving the prison even after their chains fell off and the doors blew open!

As I was reading, I found myself wondering if I would have done the same or if I would have rushed out of that prison as fast as I could?  But for some reason, they stayed, and just a few verses after the pyrotechnics, we get to see why. In verse 29, the jailer asked them how he could be saved, and it dawned on me that, if they had left, they wouldn't have been there to answer that question, and all the events that happened with the jailer and his family wouldn't have happened, either.

I don't know where you are today, but I do know that God has you exactly where he can use you to grow his kingdom.  Don't be in a hurry to rush away, and you may find yourself leading someone far from God a whole lot closer to him!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 16

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

A lot of times we get the mistaken idea that Christianity is all bubblegum and butterflies.  We assume that everyone who has decided to follow Jesus sits on a cloud playing a harp and never has any kind of trouble.  And almost everyone thinks that Christians should agree on everything.

Todays' reading blows that kind of thinking away, and I'm so glad that it does.  I'm so thankful that God made sure to include these disagreements in the Bible for us so that we could see a few things:

One, it's okay to have preferences, but at the end of the day if our preferences are making it hard for people to come to Jesus, then we've probably made too big of a deal about how "we" like to do things.

Two, it's okay to have expectations of people who come to know Jesus.  The key is not to make them requirements for coming to Jesus.  One way to think about this is that before a person is saved, their lifestyle isn't the issue, but after they're saved, it is an issue.  In other words, how we live is a reflection of how we love.  If we're madly in love with Jesus, there are probably some things that we won't do anymore, not because a religion tells us we can't, but because the relationship we have with Jesus would be hurt if we did.

Three, sometimes men and women who all love Jesus don't agree, even after they've tried to.  Admittedly, this one's hard to handle because part of the love of God is us wants to make sure that everyone get's along.  But sometimes, as Paul and Barnabas experienced, time apart helps us live in peace.  The important thing is that both men continued preaching the gospel even as they went different ways.

Bottom line?  Christians disagree from time to time, and because of their love for Jesus and each other, they have conversations about it instead of just disappearing.  They also do all they can to make it easy for men to come to Jesus.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 15

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Fasting.

It's something that we've heard of but most of us have never even thought about actually doing, and yet as we read through the 10/10/10 Reading Plan, we're going to notice that some pretty incredible things took place when the early church simply denied themselves food and spent the time in God's presence instead.

Yesterday we read about the first time - in Acts 13 - and it's an amazing one.  The new church at Antioch had already learned the importance of setting aside time for worship and fasting and during that time, they heard the Holy Spirit speak.  Don't miss that simple truth.  Often it is during times of fasting that our ability to hear the leading of the Spirit is increased (and you thought that you'd only hear your stomach growling!!).  There is something about denying ourselves that awakens us to the voice of God, and that's exactly what happened in Acts 13:2. God spoke, and the church heard him.

Not only did the hear his voice, but they heard him calling out the first missionaries of the church!  "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."  When we set ourselves aside and give God room to operate in our lives individually as well as in our church corporately, we'll always hear his voice calling us to the very things that he created us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

What does this mean for you and I?  It means that if we're unclear about what we've been made to do - about what work we've been set apart for and called to - then fasting is a great way to improve our ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Try it.  Pick a meal, a day, or a week and set food aside and see if you don't begin to hear God setting you apart for something greater than you could have ever imagined possible (Ephesians 3:20).

TODAY'S READING: Acts 14

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

My wife, Wendy, is sick.  She's been in the bed since for a few days and nights and is just now seeing the light of day.  Our family?  We're alive but haven't run as well as we normally do.  Wendy is the straw that stirs this drink.

That's body life, isn't it?  That's why there are so many "one another" commands in the Bible and why one of the major themes in Acts is how the early church learned to do life and faith together.  What happens to one happens to another, and the minute we forget that is the minute we cease to live as the body Jesus called us to be.

The New Living Translation writes Galatians 6:2 this way: "Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ."  Can you imagine if I refused to do anything extra while Wendy was in the bed?  Many of the tasks that she typically does around our house would go undone, and if you walked in you'd see dishes piled high in the sink and on the counter, you'd see hungry children wondering what they can eat, and you'd smell a house that hadn't been cleaned and clothes that hadn't been washed.  (And in case you're wondering, I do a lot of that, too, but not nearly as well as Wendy does!)

If you walked in and saw that, you would immediately assume that something wasn't right.  You might not know what it was, but you'd know that wasn't the picture of how a family should live and operate.  No, true families - including the family of God - share each other's burdens.  We pick up the slack for each other.  We help each other.

You see this in Acts all the time, and if we're faithful to live what we're reading, the world will see it in the church, too.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 13

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

I love chapters like Acts 12!  Not only does it describe - in awesome detail - the first recorded prison break, but it reminds us that no matter what we might be facing, there is nothing that can hinder the power of God from accomplishing what God wants done.

Stuck in a prison?  Whatever!

Between 2 guards?  No problem!

I especially love the fact that Peter thought he was dreaming even while he was being set free!  Sometimes a move of God can be like that - so good it makes us think it has to be a dream!  But it wasn't a dream for Peter, and it won't be a dream for you.

How great is it to know that the things that bind us can't control us?  The circumstances that seem to squeeze the life out of us are the very same circumstances that allow the power of God to put his life into us?  

I find it interesting that Peter slept between the two guards.  He wasn't panicked; he was peaceful.  I wonder if he was already expecting something to take place?

So sleep well, my friend.  You're not forgotten, and Jesus is on his way!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 12

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Hello, Antioch.

Sometimes we read books like Acts and pass right over the names of cities and people (mostly because they can be hard to pronounce), but it would do us well to learn more about this place called Antioch.  According to Josephus, Antioch was the third greatest city in the Roman Empire.  It was large, extremely diverse, and well-positioned to be a hub for all that takes place in the remaining chapters we'll read in Acts.  In fact, the church that gets established in Antioch will become more central to the story of Acts than the church in Jerusalem.

Lots of people have written lots of articles about the differences between the church in Jerusalem and the church in Antioch, but for the sake of simplicity let's boil the differences down to one: in Jerusalem, the church escaped culture and in Antioch, the church engaged culture.

We face the same struggle in our churches today, don't we?  When our basic approach is for the world to "come to us" like the Jerusalem church, we force them to meet our standards before they are "allowed in."  This allows us to escape the stickier situations that current culture might face because that is left on the outside.  Conversion to our churched culture becomes paramount.

But when our basic approach is to "go to them" like the Antioch church, we find ourselves engaging the culture and all the situations that we might find there.  We begin to wrestle with how far we might go in order to be accepted by them in order to share the good news.  We engage the culture that we find when we step outside of our safe, churched culture.  Conversation with the unchurched culture becomes paramount.

It is easy to paint one as good and one as bad, but that's too simplistic.  What we can conclude, though, is that at this point in Acts, there is a pretty big shift taking place, and we would do well to learn as much as we can from the struggles the early church faced as a result.

It will pay big dividends for our church going forward.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 11

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the 10 Series has been hearing so many stories and conversations about the new insights and observations that are happening as our church digs into the Bible for 10 minutes every day.  In a sense, I've had the privilege of watching the word of God spread like a viral video.

The believers in the early church got to see that, too, and today's reading highlights an important moment in the movement of the gospel.  Not only was the word spreading, but in Acts 10 the word starting spreading to people that were not previously accepted by others.  

Isn't that one of the greatest signs of the gospel?  When men who can't naturally get along suddenly find themselves bonded supernaturally because of Jesus?  Different backgrounds, different viewpoints, different traditions, one Savior.

That is the kind of movement that gets the world's attention.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 10

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

All of us know the power that hypocrites have had over people for years, don't we?  Countless numbers of people who need Jesus stay out of church and avoid Christians like the plague because they don't want to be anywhere near "a bunch of hypocrites."

But in today's chapter, we see a different power.  A power that is infinitely greater than the power of hypocrisy to turn people from Jesus.  In fact, one could argue that this power is so great that only one life that displays it is enough to counteract many lives that don't.  What power?  The power of a changed life.

It's almost mind-blowing when you read the first thirty-one verse of Acts 9 to see how much Saul changes.  He starts off the chapter breathing murderous threats against believers and ends the chapter being ministered to by believers.  At the beginning he is persecuting Jesus and by the end he is preaching Jesus.  The man who was killing Christians was now the man whose life was being saved by Christians.

Simply mind-blowing.

And that's the power of a changed life.  You could line up 100 hypocrites, but throw Saul in that line-up and everything changes.  One of the reasons why a changed life has so much power is because everybody knows how hard it is to change.  Most people have a pretty good idea that their lives would be better if they could stop doing some things and  start doing other things.  The problem is that they've tried...and failed.

January gym memberships become wasted February bank drafts.  Most people recognize the need to change and feel powerless to do it.  So when they see you and I changing before their eyes, they know we couldn't have pulled it off anymore than they could have, and that's when they start to wonder how we did it.

And that, my friends, is when you and I get to smile and introduce them to Jesus, the only one who has the power to change us.  So walk with the greatest power today, and let your changed life attract others to you so that you can point them to him.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 9

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

In a week when the focus of the 10 Series is on TENsion, it's pretty interesting to read a chapter that mentions persecution and being scattered.  Honestly, none of us like the feeling that we're being scattered, and when so many of us have spent our entire Christian lives trying to "pull it all together," it's a little unnerving to, one, feel like it's all coming apart, and two, think that somehow God could be the one doing the pulling.

But for the early church, that's exactly what took place. Huddled in close after watching one of their best men being martyred, they suddenly found themselves in the middle of persecution and before they knew it they were just like hash browns at Waffle House - scattered.

Before we all get too hung up on the scattering, let's keep the end result in mind.  The word was preached everywhere they went (Acts 8:4), entire cities were filled with joy (Acts 8:8), the greatness of God's power was revealed (Acts 8:12-13) and the Secretary of the Treasury was saved and baptized (Acts 8:27-38).  How did all that happen?

TENsion.  Persecution.  A church being scattered.

Francis Bacon, an English statesman who lived in the mid-1500s, once said: "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New."

While we may wince at that statement, stop to consider this: many of the qualities that we believe mark the follower of Jesus are only obtained in adversity.  TENsion produces patience, faithfulness, courage, strength, and steadfastness.  We could go on and on listing other virtues that every follower of Jesus either has or has need of, and none of them are forged within us during the pleasant times.  They all grow in times of persecution.

So if you feel like a Waffle House hash brown today, take heart!  What you thought was your greatest trial could very likely become your greatest triumph!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 8

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

What a story!  Stephen, a man who we know was full of the spirit and wisdom, standing before a crowd of men that held his life in their hands and at the moment when many would shrink back, he went...

ALL IN!

He told the whole history of how God had moved through previous generations through the fathers of the men he was addressing, and he had them right where he wanted them.  I can almost see the heads nodding as Stephen recalled the history of great men like Abraham and Moses.  He could have stopped there, but instead he went...

ALL IN!

He started sharing about Jesus and about how God had sent him to rescue his people.  Even though the men he was speaking to might not have agreed with Stephen on exactly why Jesus had come, they had to nod their heads in agreement that God was a God who had promised to send a deliverer.  Again, Stephen could have quit, but again he went...

ALL IN!

There comes a time when what we've seen has to be told as much as what we know.  Stephen knew all the things that the religious leaders knew, and as long as he was telling them what he knew, it was okay.  But the minute Stephen told them that he saw Jesus, things got nasty in a hurry.

Most of the people that you and I are around every day are okay with us knowing Jesus.  They may even tolerate us telling them that they need to know him, too.  But start talking about seeing Jesus alive and active in your life, and you'll quickly see lines being drawn in the sand.  You'll be called crazy, nuts, a fanatic.  They'll do almost anything they can to shut you up just so they don't have to hear anymore about a man who really wasn't just a man.

But never let that stop you from telling others what you've seen, and when they stand to oppose you, remember that Jesus is standing, too, and he is far more powerful than anyone who might try to oppose you.  They may be able to throw rocks, but Jesus is a rock.

I'd take that over angry men any day of the week, wouldn't you?

TODAY'S READING: Acts 7

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Don't you just love a day off?  Isn't it interesting how differently we all use our days off?  One person will spend their entire day out in the yard cutting, trimming, planting and cleaning while another will spend it curled up on the couch with a good book or movie.  One loads up the family and heads to the mall and another loads up the family and heads to the park. But the point is that all of us love days away from our jobs and our responsibilities and - for the most part - that day off does wonders to prepare us for heading back to work when the day off is over.

In short, we all need margin, and today you've got it.  This is the first catch-up day in the 10/10/10 Reading Plan and you can use it however you'd like.  This is a great time to get caught up on some reading that you may have missed or spend some time reflecting on the things you've written in your journal over the last 3 weeks of reading.  Of course, if you'd rather, you can spend the day doing nothing or reading other portions of Scripture.

The point is, it's you day off and you get to spend it however you choose.

Enjoy it!

TODAY'S READING: No reading - catch up day!

Are you threatened by people you've never even heard of?  Of course not!  Satan isn't, either.  He isn't worried about the people who claim to be followers of Jesus but never do anything that followers of Jesus would normally do.  But let one of those followers get radical about following, and I can guarantee you that they'll make a blip on Satan's radar!

That's the picture we see in Stephen's life, isn't it?  Here was a man faithfully serving Jesus and others who was suddenly placed in a position of leadership in the early church.  Instead of using his new position to get more power, he used it to serve more people, and because God could trust him, he was used by God to do incredible signs and wonders.  If we could have seen Satan's radar, we would have seen the blip getting closer to the middle of the screen, and the blips would have been coming a whole lot closer together!!

That's why "opposition arose" in Acts 6:9.  It's what normally happens in the lives of people who get radical about the call to follow Jesus!  The early church saw opposition as an opportunity to preach Jesus (you'll read Stephen's sermon in the next chapter) and as an opportunity to praise Jesus (we read that yesterday in Acts 5:41).

How do you view opposition?  When we expect it, we prepare for it, and when we prepare for it, we thrive under it instead of hoping to survive through it.  If you are following Jesus radically, I can make you a 100% guarantee that you're becoming a blip on Satan's radar.  So don't be surprised when opposition rises up in your life.  Instead, strengthen your relationship with Jesus and your resolve in him so that you can use the opposition as an opportunity to preach about him and to praise him.

And you, too, will see mighty signs and wonders. 

TODAY'S READING: Acts 6

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Sometimes the greatest witness is the one we have when we don't have anything good.  After all, it was one thing for the disciples to walk with Jesus during his ministry physically on the earth (which is what we read so much about as we read the book of Mark), but as we make our way through the book of Acts we see a church full of power that is still following Jesus even when he isn't there!

The obvious benefit of not needing to see Jesus in order to follow Jesus is that we stop becoming so dependent on the external to drive the internal.  Instead, we become the same passionate, internally-driven followers of Jesus that we read about in Acts, and the circumstances around us don't have the same negative effect on us that they used to.

That's what we see happening at the end of our reading today, isn't it?  The apostles had been arrested, imprisoned, and flogged and yet they still went home rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.  They were driven internally by their relationship with Jesus, and the good or bad external circumstances couldn't touch that passion!  That's what we're praying for you, too.  That as the word of God gets in you, your internal commitment to Jesus will outgrow any external circumstances against him.

When that happens, you, too, will rejoice in difficult times, and in those moments when you don't seem to have anything good going your way, people around you will see your greatest witness as you stand firm and clearly point them to Jesus.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 5

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Acts 4:13 reveals a very powerful truth that all of us know but don't always live.  It's what we could call the "spillover effect."

Peter and John spent time with Jesus, and because they did, the power and authority and teaching that Jesus poured into them during his time with them spilled over into all the other areas of their lives.  The power wasn't limited to the times that they were actually with Jesus.

Why is that so important for you and me?  Because we've been praying for the power of God to spillover in our lives, too.  We're not content to simply limit God's power to a few hours on Sunday when we're "with Jesus."  We want that time with him to effect every other area of our lives on the other six days of our week!  We want people we work with to notice the spillover.  We want classmates to notice the spillover.  We want our friends and family to notice the spillover.

So often we spend a lot of energy trying to keep Jesus "in his place" when he wants to spillover everywhere!  And just like a real spill, when he spills over into every area of our lives, it can create some interesting situations!  Things can get messy before they get better.  In Acts 4, the men who noticed the spillover were the men who had arrested Peter and John, so for the followers of Jesus the spillover was messy, too.

But it gave them the opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with a city in need of a Savior, and that's what we're called to do.  So this morning, spend your 10 minutes with Jesus reading his word, and then let the power of that word spillover in everything you do today.  You may be surprised who takes notice!

TODAY'S READING: Acts 4

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

This morning, when I should have been totally focused on the chapter I was reading in the Bible, I wasn't. I was distracted.  It all started when I hit the widget button on my keyboard and the weather never refreshed.  I kept staring at it, waiting to see a number, and nothing ever happened.  After resetting my router and restarting my mac, I got my number.  Of course, then I had to open Outlook just to make sure that everything was working properly which led to me tracking a shipment I've been waiting for which led to...well, you get the point.

But the real truth that was so vividly driven home to me is the fact that it's hard to focus on spiritual things when you have no connection - or even a poor connection.  How many times have you heard someone say that they just don't get anything out of the Bible?  Certainly there are times when we experience dry seasons, but for the most part we get very little life from God's word when we have a bad connection with him.  Here are some things you can do when you feel the connection isn't as strong as it needs to be:

Remember what Jesus has done for you.  There's no better exercise than getting out a sheet of paper and simply listing all of the ways that the grace of God has blessed you.  With salvation, with family, with friends, and the list could go on for a long time.  You won't list too many things before you begin to feel more connected to God again.

Realize that the Bible is spiritual and ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand it.  Many times we just jump right into the chapter without even thinking about our need for God to reveal his truth to us.  A simple prayer asking for his insight can make all the difference.

Read with a purpose.  Engage the Bible instead of waiting for the Bible to engage you.  Be curious.  Ask questions.  Investigate.  Why are the people mentioned in the passage you're reading?  What details are in the story that catch your attention?  The Bible was written with purpose, and we need to read it with purpose.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 3

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

What's your "one thing?"

You have one, and so do I?  In fact, everyone on the planet has one.  We all have something that gets the majority of our time, our energy and our resources.  That one thing gets the bulk of our atTENtion, too.

In fact, very often that one thing is what our mind naturally drifts to even when we're busy doing other things like working or eating or playing.

The disciples had one thing.  In Acts 2:42 we read that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Now, I know what you're thinking because I can count, too.  You're thinking that they didn't have one thing, but four.  But I think those four were really just expressions of their devotion to one thing: following Jesus.

The Greek word for devoted literally means "to adhere to one."  They were attaching themselves to following this man whom they had seen crucified and risen and who now had sent them the power of the promised Holy Spirit.  Their devotion to following Jesus - their one thing - changed who they listened to, who they shared life with, who they worshipped with and who they sought God in prayer with.

Everything in their lives suddenly got extremely focused and clear, and later Paul would echo their commitment in Philippians 3:13-14 when he'd write that he did one thing, too, and his one thing was the same one thing that the believers did in Acts: going all in to follow Jesus.

Over these 10 weeks, that is becoming your one thing and my one thing, too.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 2

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Most people who watched Spiderman didn't think of Peter Parker's uncle - Uncle Ben - as a great theologian, but he was.  In fact, when Peter had begun to find this new power after being bitten by a really weird spider, it was his uncle who delivered the advice that means a lot to us as we begin to read through the book of Acts.  Do you remember what he told the young Spiderman?

"With great power comes great responsibility."

As I was reading the first chapter of Acts I kept thinking about how much we need the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be able to do the great task that God has called us to.  The picture in my head was a young carpenter standing in front of a big pile of wood and being told that he needed to build a housing development.  Not just one house - which would be a big enough job, right? - but a whole neighborhood of houses.

That task would be overwhelming if all he had was a hammer.  Not totally impossible, but he'd be swinging that hammer a lot and for a long time, wouldn't he?

But if he was given a nail gun?  And if others came alongside him with more nail guns?  Well, you get the idea.  Power doesn't reduce the size of the task because they still have to build the same development, but it sure makes the task a lot more doable.

That's what happened for the church in Acts 1, especially verse 8.  They were given an enormous task - be the witnesses of Jesus to the whole earth - and then they were given enormous power to help them pull it off.  And that's where Uncle Ben comes in, right?

With great power comes great responsibility.  Too often we get wrapped up in the power and we ignore the command.  We become a bunch of young carpenters having nail-driving competitions to see whose nail gun is the biggest and most powerful, and before we know it we've gathered in a small circle focused inward on a power competition instead of being an army of builders going outward on a power expedition.

We've been given the greatest power because we have the greatest responsibility.  You and I are 100% responsible for the evangelization of the current generation, and perhaps the point of Acts is the exact reverse of Uncle Ben's advice:

With great responsibility comes great power.

So let's get busy using the power we've been given.

TODAY'S READING: Acts 1

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

As we go along in the plan and in the 10 series, you'll begin to notice that each week has a new focus, and each of them has been picked purposefully in order to help all of us along.  The first week was inTENtional, and we learned that no change in our lives happens accidentally.  Lifestyle changes require that we be inTENtional.  The second week we studies conTENtment because anytime followers of Jesus make an inTENtional decision to create margin in their lives for Jesus to fill, the enemy of our souls will always try to tempt us away, and his greatest weapons are the things in our lives that distract us.  Learning to be conTENt with Jesus alone is critical.

And now, in week three, we're focusing on where we place our atTENtion.  Phil Baucom did an awesome job laying the groundwork for what could be a great - and yet hard - week of self-examination about how we spend our time.  You can watch the message here and you can download the resource that we've created for tracking your atTENtion here.

You might wonder why this is so important, and here's the answer: creep.  No, we don't think you're a creep, but we do recognize that creep always takes place in our lives.  Slowly over time, our focus wanes and our energy fades.  We wake up one morning and realize that, without even trying, we're 3 days behind of the reading plan or that conversation we need to have hasn't happened yet. And just like a drowsy person behind the wheel of a car, you need to hear us yelling to you...

Pay atTENtion!!  Wake up, snap out of it.  Grab some coffee, stick your head out the window, do whatever you need to do in order to stop the creep from pulling you away from what matters the most: your time with Jesus.

It's been a great 2 weeks, and by taking this third week to really track your atTENtion - to honestly evaluate how you spend your time - you'll be setting yourself up to finish they journey out strong.

TODAY'S READING: Mark 16

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

This is going to be a landmark week!  We're now 20% of the way through the 10 series and through the 10/10/10/ reading plan.  This week we'll also complete the first of 10 books that the plan takes us through, and this week we're going to start really paying atTENtion to...ourselves.

Typically when people start reading the Bible for the first time consistently, they make the same discoveries.  They notice all the things in the Bible - the miracles, the parables, the people - and they make observations about them as fast as their hands can write in their journal.  And that is awesome.  We've encouraged each of you to have at least 10 conversations over the 10 series about exactly that: what you're learning in the Bible.

But this week, we want to ask you to pay atTENtion to something else, too.  It's time to start noticing more than just what's happening in the Bible and it's time to start noticing what is happening is us.  This next step is difficult (because none of us really like to look at ourselves in the mirror) and at the same time extremely rewarding (because we start to see the real change that is happening or that needs to happen in our lives).

All of us have done a good job paying atTENtion to what we're reading.  We've learned to be investigators of the Bible by asking the who, what, when, where and how questions.  Now, allow the Holy Spirit to turn that investigation on you. That's what David did in Psalm 139:23-24: "Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

This is the week that the Bible could begin to get very personal for you.  Let it.

The end result will be that not only did you learn to get into the Bible, but you'll find that the Bible has begun to get into you.

TODAY'S READING: Mark 15

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Every now and then in Scripture we run across passages that call us to sit up and take notice.  Usually they start with words like "one thing I desire" or "the Lord's will is" or any other phrase that shines a spotlight on questions you and I want answers for and the next verse or verses that will apparently answer one of those questions.

We find a passage like that in Mark 14, and I want us to take a few minutes and unpack what's happening.  Jesus is sitting in a home when a woman comes in, breaks open a bottle of very expensive perfume (worth a year's wages!) and pours it over his head.  Not only does the smell of the perfume fill the house, but soon so does the sound of angry words of disdain for a woman who would waste so much when so many poor around her could have used the money that the perfume could have brought at the market.

And then, Jesus speaks.

He defends her, and he calls what she did "a beautiful thing."  He goes on to say that for the rest of time, wherever the gospel is preached, her story will be told.  Apparently, something bigger than perfume on the head is happening here; something bigger than just making sure we have generosity toward the less fortunate.

Some have accused Jesus of being unsympathetic to the poor.  Was he?  Hardly! The fact that Jesus had no permanent home, or as Luke puts it, “nowhere to lay his head” (Luke 9:58); that Jesus’ only possession was the clothes he wore to his execution should speak powerfully to every one of us who follows him of our obligation to give sacrificially as Jesus did to those less fortunate.  It isn't a question of either Jesus or the poor; it's always a matter of Jesus first and then the poor.

That is the revelation that this woman had and the people arguing didn't.  The ones screaming about waste had a mentality that many of us have today: there's only so much pie to go around.  It is a mentality of limited resources, and when we see the world that way, we become very guarded and very selfish.  But this woman had a revelation of unlimited resources when her resources went to Jesus first. Perhaps she had followed in the crowd and had seen this man multiply the fish and the loaves and so she knew what he could do with anything she gave to him.  We see waste when we see an end to the resources, but if the resources never run out, then nothing can ever truly be wasted.

It sounds almost magical, but it's not.  It's the spiritual reality all of us experience when we bring the stuff that used to define us and give it to Jesus first.  When he becomes the object of our affection and our offering, we begin to realize that when we can give all we have to Jesus, he always makes sure we have more to give.

Unlimited resources. Everybody wants them, but only a few get them, because only a few are willing to do the one thing that brings them their way: give everything to Jesus.

For many, it appears reckless, wasteful and unnecessary.

But to Jesus, it's a good thing, a valuable thing...

...a beautiful thing.

TODAY'S READING: Mark 14

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

As we begin to bring this second week of reading to a close, it's good to be reminded of what John the Baptist said about Jesus in John 3:30: "He must become greater; I must become less."

This week's focus has been on living with conTENtment, and John knew that the quickest way to conTENtment was through getting more of Jesus.  More Jesus inevitably results in less me.  Have you noticed this beginning to take place in you during the 10 series?  Have you found that you are starting to want to read the Bible more than you did before?  That you're becoming increasingly more willing to turn off the tv, the computer, the phone, the world in order to have more time with Jesus?

That's what he does!  We give him a little, and he begins to make us want to give him more!  Even at the end of the reading today which is full of crazy statements about desolations and earthquakes and rocks and fig tree leaves and bad times to be pregnant, Jesus left the disciples with a simple, one-word command: watch.

I can imagine that the disciples made absolutely sure that Jesus never got out of their sight!  I bet they made sure they watched him like a hawk, and I want to encourage you to do the same.  There will always be things we don't quite understand, but one thing we do know: when we chose to follow Jesus, we made the best choice of our lives, and if we'll watch him - really focus on him amidst all the distractions - we'll be okay.

And, we'll be conTENt.

TODAY'S READING: Mark 13

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Last night, my favorite men's college basketball team lost a trap game.

"Trap" games are the games that you should probably win, but because they come right before or right after a really big game, they are often lost because the favored team isn't properly prepared or focused.

Last Saturday, N.C. State beat #1 Duke.  It was crazy, chaotic, fun, and the perfect set-up for last night's trap.  On the road against a Maryland team that needed a win badly, State laid an egg.  They fell into the trap and never got out and traveled home with an ugly loss just days after an amazing win.

Only State fans will know this, but after 14 wins against Duke and North Carolina (which would be considered signature wins for a State program desperately trying to become one of the "big boys") over the past few years, the Wolfpack is now 1-13 in the games following those big wins.

They are a team that is easily trapped because they are so easily distracted by the "big" moments.

Today you'll read about what was a trap chapter for Jesus.  He was coming off of what we would consider quite an impressive moment in Mark 11 - riding into town on a colt with people waving branches and basically calling him the Messiah - and in 4 consecutive conversations Jesus encounters people trying to trap him.  

Of course, he didn't lay an egg like State did.  He answered with the wisdom that only comes from God and only amazes humans.  He left his enemies scratching their heads, trying to think of any way possible to crack him, to pull him down.

What's the point, you ask?  Simply this: the biggest moments often come in surprisingly small ones.  The woman you meet coming from that awesome Bible study who needs an encouraging word, the couple in Walmart who keeps staring at their cash hoping somehow it will multiply so that they can afford the groceries that just rang up, the grieving single mother who feels helpless against the pile of bills and emotional scars.

These are the moments when there are no crowds, no spotlights, no applause.  They are the moments when - if we're not careful - we will find ourselves passing by on the way to "bigger" things.  But I beg you, don't pass them by.  Don't fall for the trap.

Allow God to move you and to move through you.  Allow him to use you in a way that exalts Jesus and amazes those around you. 

TODAY'S READING: Mark 12

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

At the end of Mark 10 is a beautiful story about a blind man that reminds us what faith in Jesus really looks like.  Just at the news that Jesus was passing by, he began to cry out loudly for Jesus to have mercy on him, and even though his friends were embarrassed by him, he didn't stop.  Eventually, Jesus heard him and responded by asking what he wanted, and with no hesitation he told Jesus that he wanted to see.  Immediately, Jesus healed him.

One of the values we hold @ our core at The Gathering is bold faith, and this simple blind man shows us 3 ingredients of bold faith: it's risky, it's persistent, and it's specific.

First, the man took the risk of calling out to a man he couldn't see.  He'd only heard about Jesus, and for all he knew his friends were playing a trick on him.  It didn't matter.  With a loud voice, he pushed all his chips to the middle of the table and called out to Jesus.  he took a chance, because bold faith is risky.

Then, he was persistent, which simply means he wouldn't stop.  Like a do with a piece of meat, he wasn't letting go.  Even at the risk of losing his friends (who by now were telling him to be quiet), he wasn't taking no for an answer and so he kept on calling out to Jesus.

Finally, his faith was specific.  He didn't stutter when Jesus asked him what he wanted.  He said clearly, plainly, and unapologetically, "I want to see."

Let me ask you some questions to think about throughout the day.  Are you trusting Jesus for something that would require you to go all in?  Has your faith in Jesus ever embarrassed those around you?  If you suddenly heard the voice of Jesus asking you, "What do you want me to do for you?" would you have an answer?

Bold faith answers "yes" to all three of those questions.

TODAY'S READING: Mark 11

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Tucked away at the end of a powerful story that ranks right up there with any sci-fi flick you or I have ever seen is another situation where we find Jesus telling someone to keep his identity a secret. But this time, there's more to it and you and I need to heed the warning or else we'll be in danger of hearing Jesus tell us to, in essence, shut up.

Let's talk about it.

The ninth chapter of Mark contains the account of what has become known as "The Transfiguration."  We know things are important when they get a name, don't we?  Cleveland Browns fans (are there any??) cringe when they think of "The Drive" or "The Fumble" and Dallas Cowboy fans feel their chests get tight when they think about "The Catch."  Important moments somehow seem to end up with a name, and this was an extremely important moments for Peter and John, and we would be wise to learn this lesson second-hand instead of directly from Jesus.

The Transfiguration was the moment when Peter and John actually saw Jesus as he truly is - glorified, dazzling white - and then saw Moses and Elijah hanging out talking with Jesus.  And then, as soon as it had started, it was over, they were walking back down the mountain, and Jesus turned to both of them and ordered them not to tell anyone what they'd seen until after he had risen from the dead.

Let me tell you why that's so important for us.  We talk too much about Jesus.  We say things about him that haven't become reality in our own lives first, and in short, Jesus is saying to each one of us that we need to stop talking about him until we've first experienced the resurrected life in our own hearts.

If our lives aren't any different today than they were before we encountered Jesus, then we haven't experienced the resurrection power.  Resurrection power produces change, because something that was dead is now alive.  When that happens in our lives, there is change that is obvious to those around us, and when change is obvious, that's when it's time to tell everyone about the glorified, powerful Lord who caused the change.

Jesus wants everyone to know who he is, but not until the messengers have been changed by his power.  Are you experiencing the life-changing power of Jesus' resurrection?  Then spread the word everywhere that HE IS LORD!

TODAY'S READING: Mark 10

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

For some, reading the Bible this past week has been a breeze. For others, it's been a hurricane!!

What I mean by that is that sometimes establishing the discipline of reading the Bible doesn't go as smoothly as we expect it to.  Sure, it seems that giving God 10 minutes a day in the Bible isn't hard.  Think about it: how often do you and I throw away ten minutes texting, playing a game on our phone, or doing any number of other trivial things?  And yet, try to take those same 10 minutes and devote them to God and his word only, and watch what starts to happen to distract you!

The phone rings.

The phone alerts you to a text or email.

Your friend who hasn't interacted with you for a week suddenly wants to go get a cup of coffee and she wants to go now.

Don't be surprised by that, because all that stuff means is that you have given yourself over to the pursuit of something so great, so important, that the enemy has to pull out all the stops in order to, well, stop you.

Proverbs 2 is packed with the great benefits we can all expect when we give our time to gaining God's wisdom through his words, and if you feel ambitious after today's reading, it would be another great 10 minutes to spend with God.  But let me at least tell you what verse 4 says: it tells us that we are to go after God's word like someone looking for hidden treasure.

I read that and immediately thought of the National Treasure movies: an explorer who refused to give up the search no matter how many obstacles were thrown his way.  Ultimately, he always found what he was seeking, and I know that we will, too.

So search on!

(but maybe wait until after the 10 minutes are over before you answer that text)

TODAY'S READING: Mark 9

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Congratulations! You've completed week 1 and you're diving into week 2.  You're seeking Jesus by giving Him 10 minutes, 10 percent, 10 conversations and 10 nights. It feels great, right? So What's Jesus Saying to you?  Consider emailing us to share with the church what you've been hearing from Him.  Maybe it will be the encouragement someone needs to keep seeking Jesus!  We are proud of you!

Have you ever hosted a party at your home and not had enough food?  I remember going to a party that didn't have enough chili to go around.  It was sort of awkward because everyone was thinking the same thing. Everyone was doing the same thing too: putting a little scoop of chili in their bowl and loading on massive piles of toppings to give the illusion of substance.  If only Jesus had been there, right?

In Mark 6 and 8 Jesus has fed 9,000+ people with 12 loaves of bread and 5 or 6 fish.  It was about more than feeding hungry people.  Everyone from his disciples to his followers to the Pharisees seemed to get caught up on the bread.  They wanted Him to bake more and do other cool things like He was some sketchy street magician.

His response? John 6:30-69, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."  In short, what He wants us all to understand is that He's the only thing we need.  If we've got nothing and no one but Jesus in life, we've got MORE than enough.  He wants us to trust Him fully without needing some miraculous booster shot every few months.  This is why the 10 series is so important!  It's you consisTENtly pursuing Jesus in a multitude of ways, regardless of highs or lows, miracles or monotony, success or failure.  It's not just so He will give you bread, but because He's your King! If you have time to read this linked passage in John, it has a split ending.  After telling everyone He was God and all they needed, some didn't like the sound of that and stopped following. But in verse 67-68: "So Jesus said to the 12 (disciples), 'You do not want to go away also, do you?' Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom else would we go?'" Great answer!

TODAY'S READING: Mark 8

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

As we bring the first week to a close, I'm not sure there could be a better portion of Scripture to read than the first half of Mark 7.  In it we find Jesus have (another) pretty intense conversation with the religious leaders of the day about how hard they work to stay clean, and yet how profoundly unclean they are where it matters the most: in their hearts.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you and I are like the Pharisees, but I am suggesting that you and I need to remember something very important: the more we love Jesus, the more our behavior changes, and yet Jesus isn't about behavior modification as much as heart modification.  It can become so easy to think that if we do spiritual things for a certain number of days then we'll become more spiritual, but like Jesus told the Pharisees in Mark 7:15, nothing we do on the outside can change anything we are on the inside.  But what you and I have done over the first week is begin to put into place the discipline necessary to allow Jesus access to what he's really wanted all along: our hearts.

Our hearts are the center of everything we do: every thought we think (Proverbs 23:7), every word we speak (Luke 6:45), every action we make (Mark 7:21-23).  Proverbs 4:23 warns us to "guard (our) heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." (NLT)  What you and I are doing over these 10 weeks is letting the guard down on our hearts and allowing Jesus to speak to us from the Bible and through others with whom we are having conversations about the Bible.  The result will be changed hearts, which in turn will result in changed lives.

Continue to let Jesus in, and I can assure you that he will eventually begin to find more ways out, and it won't seem cold and unnatural like the Pharisees who received the rebuke from Jesus.  It will be natural and easy and it will consume every part of your life!

TODAY'S READING: Mark 7

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

You're closing in on a pretty key moment, aren't you?  It's almost been one week since you started giving Jesus 10 minutes a day in his word, and our guess is that you're experiencing 2 of the things that the disciples experienced in the sixth chapter of Mark:

1. You're "straining at the oars because the wind is against you."  Of course, we wouldn't word it quite like that, but you get the point, right? You're trying to do something new - something very important to your spiritual growth - and at times it can seem like everything that could happen to distract you will happen during the 10 minutes you've chosen to spend in the Bible!  Do you know what we need to do when that happens?  Recognize that our enemy knows how important the Bible is and then (to quote Dory from "Finding Nemo") just keep swimming (or in this case, reading!).  Even if everything is against you, "strain at the oars" because this is one habit that is worth the fight to develop!

2. The second thing you and I are experiencing that is similar to the disciples is a deep sense of awe.  How many times have we already read in Mark about the disciples being amazed at the power and authority of Jesus?  Again in chapter 6, we read that when Jesus climbed in the boat, the wind dies down and the disciples were "completely amazed" in verse 51.  That, my friends, is what is happening in the 10 series.  We are inTENtionally pushing ourselves in areas that can feel unnatural at first, but if we keep at it, if we keep "straining" against the wind, we will find that Jesus will come to us and the other things swirling around us will die down, and we will find ourselves totally lost in awe of who Jesus is.

What are you learning through the reading?  What is Jesus saying to you in his word?  We'd love to hear about it and include it here on the 10 site!  Check out the "What's Jesus saying?" page to see what others are experiencing and then let us know about your experience!

TODAY'S READING: Mark 6

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Through the first five chapters of Mark, it's pretty safe to say that there is A LOT of activity around Jesus! Everywhere he goes he has a crowd following him and everywhere he goes it seems there are evil spirits talking to him and people falling on their knees before him.

Jesus is the stuff!

Why is that so important for us today?  Because it can become so easy to get busy doing a lot of things that are about Jesus and actually forget that we need to be with Jesus.  That's the biggest difference between a religion about Jesus and a relationship with Jesus.

The woman who was bleeding and pressed through the crowd to touch Jesus in Mark 5 illustrates this beautifully.  A lot of people were crowded around Jesus (after all, Jesus was a rock star!), but only one person touched him in such a way that power left him, and that one person was the desperate, hurting, bleeding woman.  She wasn't content to be around Jesus and occasionally bump into him.  She wanted to touch him with purpose.  She was inTENtional, and when we're inTENtional, we'll find that our lives are increasingly fuller of Jesus and his power!

TODAY'S READING: Mark 5

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

If not today, at least one day during this 70 day journey you and I are going to read passages in the Bible that make no sense to us.  We won't feel the excitement of finding a treasure as much as we'll feel the strain of digging for treasure, and it's important to remember a few things when we have those days in the Bible:

1. It's normal. Reading the Bible isn't much different from eating, and I'm sure that you have sat down to eat a meal that was less than memorable before.  But the reality is that 3 meals a day nourishes our bodies even though we may not "enjoy" all the meals equally.  Trust me, when you read the Bible - even when it seems dry - God is using it to nourish your soul.

 2. Jesus always speaks! 2 Timothy 3:16 says that "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."  That means that every word, every phrase, every verse, and every chapter that you and I read contains something that can teach us, something that can train and correct us.  Usually, when the Bible seems silent, it's because we're drowning out it's voice with other distractions.  Turn down all the white noise in your life and ask Jesus to help you hear.

TODAY'S READING: Mark 4

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

One of the observations that we hope you'll make as we read through 10 books over the next 10 weeks is the way books in the Bible have themes and unique characteristics. Yesterday we wrote about some of the things that make the book of Mark unique, and we want to share a link to some great teaching from John Piper about another theme you'll see over the next two weeks as you finish up Mark.

My wife, Wendy, noticed (and maybe you did, too) that in chapter 2, Jesus called himself the Son of Man. She asked me what that meant and how it was different from Son of God, and being the incredible pastor that I am, I immediately...

...went to Google which took me to the following page in John Piper's website. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Why Jesus is called the Son of Man

TODAY'S READING: Mark 3

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

As Americans, we love things fast, don't we?

Fast food, fast diets, fast cars.  We're just not really into the waiting thing.

That makes us a lot like the people that first received the book that Mark wrote.  They were citizens of Rome and they placed a high premium on authority and action, and as you continue to read through the first book on our 10 week journey, you're going to notice a few ways in which Mark connected with his readers:

1. This is a Gospel of action. Mark places a lot more emphasis on what Jesus did than on what he said, and the author records more than 4 times as many miracles of Jesus as he does parables of Jesus.  In a culture like ours, we might be advised to put a bit more attention to increasing our actions and decreasing our words.  After all, talk can be cheap.

2. Mark takes the time to explain a lot of Jewish things to his non-Jewish readers.  I love the fact that he doesn't ignore the fact that many of his readers wouldn't automatically understand his ways, and so he teaches, explains, and makes sure they get it.  Not a bad strategy, especially for followers of Jesus who have lost the art of relating to the hurting world around them.

3. Mark uses the Greek word for "immediately" a lot.  Actually, he uses it 42 times. In our Bibles, we might not see the word "immediately" every time, but we'll see other variations like "at once" and "without delay." Remember, it was the authority of Jesus that impressed the  Roman readers, and today, you'll find that the immediate authority of Jesus still impacts people who are looking for a strong leader.

Today as you read, don't miss these characteristics that are unique to the Gospel of Mark.  No other gospel begins as quickly, ends as abruptly, and includes as much action.  Our prayer is that as you read and journal through this action-packed book, you will find yourself hungrier than ever for the power of Jesus to operate in you and through you.

People around you will be blessed when it does. 

TODAY'S READING: Mark 2

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.

Today is the beginning of a great new journey and Romans 12:2 reveals the destination: lives that are no longer conformed to what this world looks like, lives that are being transformed. Not only does Paul write about where this journey will end, but he also does something even more amazing: he tells us how to get there.

It all happens "by the renewing of your mind." And that begs the question, doesn't it? How exactly do we renew our minds so that we can be transformed? The answer is so simple and so powerful that it has been used for decades by men and women who don't even love Jesus in order to persuade other men and women toward specific actions. What is this powerful secret that can change minds? Simply this: we think about what we see.

Want to change what you think about? Change what you look at. Advertising rakes in billions of dollars annually for businesses just based on that simple principle. Show the ad enough, get your product in front of enough people enough times, and at some point purchases will be made. Why? Because those people saw the ad and they thought about the product and they acted on it.

Spiritually, this is powerful. Ephesians 5:26 says that we're washed by the Word, and when we combine that truth with the truth of Romans 12:2, the implication is as obvious as it is life-altering: look at the Word and it will begin to change how you and I think. We can be transformed simply by spending time reading the Bible.

And so, today kicks off what could be the most transforming 70 days you've ever spent with Jesus, because you're going to inTENtionally spend time looking at His Word.

The fact that we're all doing it together just increases the impact. Thanks for coming along on the journey!

TODAY'S READING: Mark 1

Don't forget the 3 "R"s...

READ: Take your time. You should be able to read it through comfortably in a bit under 10 minutes.

REFLECT: Take some time as you read (or after your finished) to make notes in your journal about the parts of the reading that impacted you, inspired you, or intrigued you.

RESPOND: Close your time in prayer asking the Lord to help you apply one truth from the reading in your life.