Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Today we have a reading from the book of the Revelation. Most conservative scholars believe that the apostle John wrote the book through a vision he received, as he was exiled on the island of Patmos. As you might know Revelation is a hard book to interpret, and there are generally four camps of interpretation. As a caveat there is no way to thoroughly treat each of these views, so these are given as an overview and are not exhaustive. The "historicism" method seeks to describe the prophecies in the book in light of history, past, present and future. Even certain symbolic persons have been associated with historical figures, spanning many different centuries. The "preterist" school interprets prophecies in the bible as events that have already happened. I.e. The prophecies in Revelation relate to things that have happened in the first century. An example of this would be the Emperor Domitian, who we know persecuted and killed 1st century Christians, as one of t

The psalms often were worship songs that the people of God sang as they went up to worship in the temple. Some of the psalms are the basis for many of our hymns and praise songs today. It is cool to think we are singing songs that our brothers and sisters have sung together in worship of God for thousands of years. The psalms teach us there are different aspects of how we worship God, and give Him the praise He deserves. As we have said before, but bears repeating, worship is about God not us! We do not go to church to get something out of it, but to worship God. Ironically, since we are created to worship, we do get something out of it, because this is what we are created to be and do. There are no forms that make up a list of what is true worship, but the psalm today gives us some aspects to consider. 1. Worship is full of joy and even shouting. We don't have to worry about being staid and emotionless. If we get excited and emotional about everything else in life, why c

Everybody likes reunions, as they are a fun time to re-unite with old friends and share memories of the past. You remember the good times, and sometimes the bad times, and reflect on how it all worked together for good. You may notice in this chapter that Jacob is now called "Israel". This reflects Genesis 32, when Jacob wrestled with God and lived. When Jacob grabbed his brother's heal when coming out of the womb, his name meant "deciever". But when Jacob wrestled with God, God blessed him by naming him Israel, which meant "he struggles with God and still lives." And this is the same name that Jewish people have called their state today. Jacob's 12 sons represented the 12 tribes of God, who went from Canaan to Egypt because of the famine. Then God raised up Moses, Jacob's great, great grandson, who delivered them from the Egyptians at the Red Sea and led them back into Canaan. But today Jacob upon being reunited with Joseph, blesses Josep

As Peter and John continue to preach in Jesus' name in the power of the Holy Spirit, they meet resistance from the religious leaders, who are greatly disturbed. And why are they disturbed? Because they thought they had quelled this Jesus thing, and now it is getting even worse. And we shouldn't be surprised because Jesus himself said, "You will even do greater things than I have done." And it was greater in the sense of the range and scope of the kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven. They were doing what Jesus was doing. They were preaching God's kingdom come, and doing the things Jesus did, healing and doing miracles. So they did the only logical thing, they locked them up thinking it might cool things off a little bit. But the results spoke for themselves. The number of those who believed the message swelled from 3,000 to 5,000. By putting them in jail it added fuel to the missional fire. Why? One, because the Holy Spirit was using the message they we

This Psalm is the most known Psalm of the 150 psalms in the bible. It is the most memorized and most quoted psalm as well. It is often read at funerals because of its comforting words and assurance of God's presence. But we needn't wait until then, as it brings great comfort to us today when life's trials hit. It is a psalm of King David. And we know how many perilous situations David encountered, before he became the greatest king of Israel. We know King David was a "man after God's own heart", and this prayer of his gives us insight into why he had such an intimate relationship with God. In the psalm David shows us: 1. How he trusted in God for all the provisions he needed. 2. He trusted in God for guidance, wisdom, and for right path to walk in. 3. He trusted in God in his battle against darkness and evil. He could face it without fear, for He knew God was with Him in the darkest valleys and would deliver him 4. He knew God's provision always

I'm sure you have not seen much teaching on the book of 2 John. Like 3 John, it is a short note, more like a memo than a letter. The first question you might ask is, "Who is the elder, the Lady chosen by God and her children?" Most think this refers to the church, the bride of Christ. And the children are the sons and daughters of Christ, the believers. The great majority thinks this book is written by John, whose name is obvious in the title of the letter. Also it is a personal letter from John to the church as evidenced by the first chapter. So what is the message of this short letter? 1. The church toward the end of the first century is already being plagued by heresies that were teaching that Jesus only appeared to be a human, but couldn't have been if he was God. That is why John quite often refers to the "truth" as opposed to "error". The truth was that Jesus came in the flesh. And to all those who would receive and believe in Him would

This is one of those passages where careful interpretation is in order. Taken literally, one might say anyone who does not do what is right is a child of devil. Considering we have to confess the things we have done wrong or the good things we failed to do on daily basis, we seem to be in big trouble. After all, who wants to be known as a child of the devil. So what can this actually mean? As always it is important to understand the writer's purpose in writing the letter, and the prevailing conditions for the church at that time. At the time of the turn of the first century, lots of heresies were starting to take root in the early church. One of those heresies was that once you became a believer and were forgiven, your behavior wasn't the issue anymore. Or, love is subjective. What is love is relative to each person. As Jesus' favorite disciple John saw Jesus' love as much as anyone. Jesus trusted in John so much that he entrusted his mother to him when he died. S

Though the exiled Jews have been allowed by King Cyrus to return to Jerusalem, Daniel is still mourning over the vision he had seen in chapters 7-9. But as he mourned and fasted for three weeks, a man dressed in linen came before him on the banks of the Tigris river. Daniel is now in his eighties and falls before the man who appears to look like Jesus, as John describes him the book of Revelation. There is debate over whether this is the pre-incarnate Jesus, or an angel. The awe with which Daniel experiences mirrors other theophanies (word means God being revealed on the earth), in Scripture. This is similar to Isaiah when he experiences God and says, "Holy, holy, holy, is The Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of your glory." But in verse 13, it appears he is a powerful angel fighting against the prince of Persia for 21 days, the same amount of time Daniel was praying. Then he says, "Michael, a chief prince came to help me." But verses 15 to 19 appear to

Today we have two servants of God, David and Daniel, crying out for their people. In David's case, in Psalm 4, the people have started to turn from God's way and the consequences are starting to happen. David is pleading with God to answer him and have mercy on the people. And then he is pleading with the people to turn away from delusions and false gods. The people are wondering where God is and what happened to their prosperity, but not acknowledging their turning away from God. In Daniel's case, the people of Israel are in exile after the Babylonian invasion of 586 B.C. He recognizes as well that God is carrying out judgment against the people, as he had promised in the book of Deuteronomy. When God made the covenant with people, it brought blessings if they obeyed God and curses if they disobeyed God and ran after other gods. Daniel acknowledges, according to Jeremiah's prophecy, that this exile would last 70 years before God restored his people. Nonethele

Is there marriage in heaven? What about people who have had more than one spouse? Will both or all of them be in heaven? These are the questions the Sadducees were throwing at Jesus today. Of course, they didn't really want to know the answer, they were just trying to trip him up. They were trying to put him a situation where he would have no answer and look foolish. First, a little background. The Sadducees were the intellectual, the sophisticated religious leaders. They stuck more to what they could see and prove. As such, they didn't believe in miracles, or extraordinary things happening, despite the rich history of God's doing many miracles for the Israelites. You might say they liked to be in control, and if they couldn't prove it, they didn't believe it. There are those today, who hold a similar view. Prove it to me they say! And even when logic is given for the existence of God and Jesus, they scoff at it, and come up with a reason to disprove

While yesterday we had the amazing story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, today we have the story of Daniel. Like the other three, Daniel was placed in leadership in the reign of King Darius. The Babylonian empire had been replaced by the Perisam empire, but Daniel remained a key leader in the king's administration. Why? Because he could be trusted, he was loyal, and he was not negligent of the kings affairs. He was the ideal person for the King to have working for him. But this made the other 120 leaders under him jealous, as the King planned to put Daniel in charge of the kingdom. But they could find no charge against him. He was spotless and blameless. So they realized the only way they could conspire against him was to get him to disobey his God's commands. So they conned the King to issue an edict that anyone who did not pray to him, would be thrown into the lion's den. Now Daniel prayed 3 times a day to his God according to Jewish law. So when the edict came t

This is the amazing story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, three young Jewish men who refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar. The King was the most powerful man in the world, and not obeying his decree to fall down and worship the golden image would mean immediately mean execution by being thrown into a raging hot furnace. These were three men picked by Daniel to administrate the kingdom with him, and also give the Jewish nation, the Babylonians had captured, freedom to worship the one, true God. We can learn some very valuable lessons from the young, courageous men of God. 1. The reason they refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar was that it would violate the first commandment to worship God alone. It was more important for them to obey God than a mere mortal. Simply put, they knew as they obeyed God, He would take care of them regardless of what happened. 2. After they did not bow down, they were brought before the King, and given on more chance to change their mind a

Often you will hear someone say, "He looks just like his father, he even talks like him." They are referring to a family resemblance, which happens more in some than others. At this critical point in Jesus' journey, he begins to reveal who is his true family in heaven. He says, "whoever believes in me believes in the one who sent me, who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me." Then, if it is not clear what he is referring to he further elaborates, "For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me." This is his clearest teaching revealing his relationship with God the Father, the first person of the Trinity. So what can this teach us? 1. Jesus the Son, had a relationship with God the Father before he was sent to earth. 2. It is a personal relationship as he calls him "father". And in a

This story comes on the heals on the healing of a lame beggar, who was lame since birth. The man had begging the disciples and Peter looks him in the eye and says, "Gold or silver I cannot give you, but I give you what I can. In the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk." When the people saw what happened they came to faith in Jesus, so that the numbers of followers increased to 5,000. This concerned the Jewish leaders, as they saw the number of people following the disciples growing. Not to mention the fact that part of their message was that those He came to save, the Jews, rejected him. You can imagine how nervous this made these leaders, as they were the ones who were supposed to be teaching and leading. And they were seeing their influence slipping away. These verses capture what was going through the minds as they brought them before them after putting them in jail for the night. 13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled,

Every once in a while when you are reading a book or watching a movie, the story ends quite abruptly and leaves the reader wondering what really happened. When am I going to find out how it all end? Sometimes it is rather frustrating. Today in Mark's version of the resurrection, in a similar way, we are wondering how it is all going to end. Although the angels tell the women that He is Risen, they are still uncertain and afraid. They leave the scene trembling. Of course they were afraid because of the possible repercussions of being associated with Jesus, but they are also charged with going to the other disciples and telling them He had risen, just as He had told them. In other versions Jesus appears to both Mary and the disciples which helps them to believe, but in this one the women are left wondering what to do. Of course we like the neater ending, but there is a reality to this one that I believe has something to say to us. How do we react when the ending isn't made a

When I was younger I was deathly afraid of bees. Why? Because I had been stung when I was younger and it really hurt. So when I saw bees I generally ran! Today Paul talks about a different kind of sting. The sting of death, which he calls "sin". And then he says the power of sin, comes from the Law. After all, how would we know sin if there wasn't the Law. Romans 6:23 says something similar when it states, "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus!" But Paul's purpose in 1 Corinthians 15 is not to focus on sin and death, but the victory over sin and death that Jesus brings. And he says quoting Hosea, "where O death is your victory, where is your sting!" I love the term victory. Being a sports fan, there is nothing like the sweet smell of victory. But even greater than victory on earth, is victory over sin, death and the power of the devil. And importantly, that victory came from God through Jesus Chri

Since there is not a lot of teaching on what our bodies are like when we die, we ask questions like: "Will I have a new body, or just new and improved?" "Will it only be a spiritual body, or a spiritual being in heaven?" "Will I eat and drink in heaven?" In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul gives us the best possible answer into these questions. While they might not be as definitive as we would like, they definitely give a picture what our resurrected bodies will look like. As an aside since we just celebrated Easter, the greatest proof for the resurrection of Jesus was that the disciples saw him after he was raised from the dead. He appeared to them in bodily form, and ate with him. It would seem like he had a very similar body to the one he had on earth, though he had not yet ascended to be with His Father. Nonetheless it is evidence for the first resurrected body. And Jesus says to them, "because I live you will live as well". Paul uses the analogy

We have a lot of details about Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and of course Easter, but not as many as about Holy Saturday. This was the day Jesus was prepared for burial, according to Jewish custom, and then laid in a tomb that no one had been laid in. The one who bought the tomb was a rich man, named Joseph of Arimathea. We learn from Mark that he was a counselor in the Sanhedrin, part of the 70 elders that made up the Jewish ruling Council. While the disciples and even Jesus' mother and Mary Magdalene are not mentioned, Nicodemus and Joseph are. Of course there was great risk going to Pilate to ask for Jesus' body, as there would be speculation that the disciples would steal the body and say Jesus had risen from the dead. But the disciples were too distraught at this point to devise such a scheme. They were still mourning for their leader and friend. Joseph, and Nicodmeus another Jewish leader, both came under the possibility of being put in prison or worse. Other sources

On Good Friday, we remember Jesus willingly going to the cross for our sins. Today in Isaiah 53, a prophetic passage referring to Jesus says, 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Probably the most poignant aspect of Good Friday for me is that Jesus willingly took upon our sins and transgressions, even though he was without sin. I deserved to die but Jesus stood in my place. Literally as I would be paying the price before the executioner, he stepped in and said, "I will bear your punishment!" Can you imagine in that moment how much gratitude you would have for tha

The author of Hebrews describes the journey as a Christian a race. In those days a race usually meant an endurance event such as a marathon. If you have ever run a marathon, you know it is a long race and you need to train for the long haul. You need a variety of things to be able to persevere and finish. Of course you need to train. Without training there is little chance the average runner will finish. You need to prepare by keeping you body healthy to prevent injuries along the way. You need hydration or you will usually have to stop, as it can be deadly. And finally you need an encourager, or at least fans along the way. Finally, you need to keep your eye on the finish line. As we look at the race for the Christian there are many analogies. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses that have gone before us. They encourage us to finish well. We need to throw of sinful habits that slow us down and keeping us from finishing well. We need to focus on the finish line where our coach J