Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Readings for the Day Isaiah 53-56, 2 Peter 2 Verses for the Day Isaiah 53 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 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....

Readings for the Day Isaiah 50-52, Psalm 92, 2 Peter 2 Verses for the Day 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sIns Thoughts for the Day Peter writes his second letter to the scattered believers in Northern Galatia. He is nearing the end of his life and wants to make sure the church stands firm in its knowledge of Jesus. False teachers are going to try an infiltrate the church and create division and conflict. Importantly in the verses above, Peter describes characteristics ...

Readings for the Day Isaiah 43-45, 1 Peter 4 Verses for the Day 4 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Thoughts for the Day As we mentioned before, Peter is writing to the new Christian community as it faces persecution. But in this case he says, "whoever suffers in the body is done with sin". While we might think this means literal, physical suffering, the next verses give us the context to int...

Reading for the Day 1 Peter 2 Verses for the Day 13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. Thoughts for the Day One of the challenges for the new believers, who were scattered throughout Asia Minor, was they started getting persecuted by the Roman government and other authorities. The Roman government did not want any uprising that would cause civil unrest. The more the Christian movement grew, the more intense persecution they encountered. So the challenge was how does a Christian relate to a government that is pers...

Readings for the Day 1 Peter 1 Verses for the Day Verse 6. "Now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." Thoughts for the Day The book of 1 Peter is written to Jewish Christians, who have been scattered throughout Asia Minor. After Paul started many of these churches, as they grew, they faced intense persecution. Peter's letter is to encourage them by reminding them they have an inheritance that will never fade away. They are born again though faith and receive a living hope. Their hope is...

Readings for the Day Isaiah 32-35, James 2 Verses for the Day Faith and Deeds 14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Thoughts for the Day The book of James is often misunderstood because of its emphasis on works. Some theologians, including Martin Luther, were not too fond of it. James is dealing with a situation where the Christians were neglecting the poor and favoring the rich. See the rest of the chapter. And while James is not saying that faith is not needed, or that somehow our works justify us before God. What he is saying that is if faith does not lead to works, especially to those in need, it is dead. It is not ...

Readings for the Day Isaiah 25-28, Hebrews 13 Verses for the Day 7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. Thoughts for the Day In the closing chapter of Hebrews, the writer (in chapter 13 sounds like it is the apostle Paul) concludes with some practical applications for the Christian life. He encourages them to show hospitality to strangers, love one another and keep the marriage bed pure, meaning no sexual immorality/adultery. In the two verses above, he tells them to remember and have confidence in their leaders. Though there doesn't seem to be a ton of structure and hierarchy in the church yet, there wer...

Readings for the Day Isaiah 19-21, Hebrews 11 Verses for the Day "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6 Thoughts for the Day The writer of Hebrews has been teaching about how Jesus' once and for all sacrifice was superior to the Old Testament sacrifices of animals. The ritual sacrifices commanded by God for the Israelites, were a shadow of what God would do for all mankind through the sacrifice of His only Son. Today, he turns to the subject of faith. He defines faith and gives several examples of saving faith in the Old Testament. People like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses had one thing in common, faith. They trusted in God's promises, as shown by their obedience to what God asked them to do. They had faith that trusting in and acting on God's promises would lead them to the best life which God had promised them. T...

Readings for the Day Isaiah 15-18, Hebrews 10 Verses for the Day 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Thoughts for the Day The main purpose of the book of Hebrews is to show the relationship between the Old Covenant given to the Jewish people through Abraham, David and Moses, with the new covenant God has made with all mankind through Jesus. And at the heart of these two systems of how God relates to us, is how our sins are forgiven. The sacrifices in the Old Testament that God commanded his people to conduct, through the priests appointed to serve in the temple, were only a foreshadowing of the one, true and final sacrifice that was to come. And Jesus fulfilled the new covenant, or promise God made, by offering his life as a perfect sacrifice. This sacrifice does not be repeated, and is ...

Readings for the Day Isaiah 11-14, Hebrews 9 Verses for the Day 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. The writer of Hebrews compares the sacrifice that the high priest made every year on behalf of the people, with the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross. The priest took the blood of the innocent lamb to cleanse the altar and atone for the sins of the people. As the passage says earlier, "there is no forgiveness w...

Readings for the Day Isaiah 8-10, Hebrews 8 Verses for the Day For if nothing had been wrong witH the first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord. 10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. ...