Read the Bible in a Year (03NOV19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, November 3’s Bible reading is Luke 23-24.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, November 4’s Bible reading is John 1-2. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

LUKE MOMENT – (03NOV19) “For the third time he demanded, ‘Why? What crime has he committed? I have found no reason to sentence him to death. So I will have him flogged, and then I will release him. But the mob shouted louder and louder, demanding that Jesus be crucified, and their voices prevailed. So Pilate sentenced Jesus to die as they demanded” (Luke 23:22-24). All throughout Jesus’ years of ministry, there were those who were jealous of His giftings. He spoke life into the hopeless, gave love to the unloved, associated with society’s rejects, healed the sick, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, and enabled the deaf to talk. He cast out demons, restored lost sanity, and rebuked the hypocrisy of his enemies. Jesus imparted words of wisdom to the people about the kingdom of God as well as gave parables as to how they were to behave in their dealings with one another. The religious leaders taught about God through obedience to rules, but Jesus taught about God through having a relationship which resulted in obedience. Now, He found himself being accused and judged for crimes He never committed by religious rulers who were nothing short of being liars, spiritual thieves, and hypocrites – clothed in garments of righteousness. Jesus was crucified and died; as a result, accomplishing His mission of redemption for the salvation of all mankind.

Many Christians are suffering for the sake of the Gospel and being accused of crimes that they never committed in various parts of the world. Those of us, who have been blessed to live in the west, have not yet had to endure such things. Nevertheless, it is knocking at our front door. So many believers think that we would never be subjected to being society’s rejects and being falsely accused by the masses for high crimes and taken off to prison without due process. Unfortunately, if it can happen to the President of the United States, then it can happen to anyone. Regardless of what side of the political aisle one stands, Christians should be paying close attention to what is going on in the Congress chambers because this is setting the foundation for what will be coming our way in the near future. Most importantly, it happened to Jesus and He said that His followers should expect nothing less. “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” (Matthew 10:24-25). So what must we do to prepare?

We should pray and ensure that we read the Word of God DAILY. There is coming a day when the Bible will be considered a hate book just like it is considered a threat in China. When the Word of God goes against the sins of man and their demonic ideologies, they consider it to be a threat and those who adhere to its principles. This is why they have problems with one saying the name of Jesus and reading the Bible in many schools. It is not so much about there being a separation of church and state as it is about having a separation of God and state. Our nation has wanted God out of it, and we are seeing what happens when God lifts His hands off of a nation – chaos, division, murder, corruption, greed, and every type of evil that one can think of takes place. Therefore, we as Christians should not think that we will not have to go through persecution, but we should look to the One who can help us through it. Something to ponder….