Month: December 2018

December 28, Reading 1 – Esther 3, 4

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Our reliance on God’s providence does not mean we sit on our thumbs and do nothing. Esther and Mordecai use every bit of courage, understanding and ingenuity they have. Faith leads to works! This is faith with works. It is not dead!

SJA Notes

* Father God, Your word tells us that every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire – Please help us to bear fruit for You!

“And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Our God is sovereign.

He is working in and through _all_ things.

Esther was made Queen to save her people, God’s people. How wonderful this truth is!

We today are placed where God wants us, for His good purposes.

We might not understand why, and we might not like what God is doing through us.

But He is God, we are _His_ people. He is our king, we are His subjects, living as a part of His kingdom.

It is His sovereignty at work, not ours – Ours is the responsibility to obey.

A hard truth, but a reassuring one as well!

* Creator God,

Please help us to know You better today from Your word here in Esther.

Please help us to trust Your hand at work in our lives, moving us, shaping us as Your people.

Thank You for Jesus.

Amen.

December 28, Reading 2 – Zechariah 13:7-14:21

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

Hear these words on Jesus’ lips as He came to the Last Supper. Mark 14:27 In chapter 14, deliverance is in the split ROCK! From Him flows the living water. Zechariah finishes with the Feast of Tabernacles – the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. The harvest will be completed.

SJA Notes

* Creator God, please show us what Your word means for us today.

“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;”

This is a message that we see enacted with Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who seeks and saves the lost.

Jesus knows this passage speaks of Him, when He tells those disciples with Him in the garden before He was betrayed,

“You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'”

We see in the striking the outworking of God’s great love for His people, that He would pour His wrath out on His beloved Son, fully man and fully God – So that we would be saved.

It is the message of Zechariah we have seen layered over and over,

“They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’: and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.'”

How good it is that we can say of the creator God, the one who holds up the universe with His power today, that He chose to enter into covenant with us as a people, and to offer us salvation individually – That we can be born again into a right relationship with Him.

Hallelujah, what a God we have!

* God Above,

What a hard message it is of Your love, that You would strike Your Son, the Good Shepherd.

But what a joy it is for us, that in that striking, by His wounds – We are healed!

Thank You Lord.

What else have we to do but to cry out to You, to fall before You, to bear Your Name – You are our God, we are Your people.

Amen.

December 28, Reading 3 – Revelation 19:11-20:6

Reading

Audio, Visual

SAA Notes

What impresses you about Jesus in this tremendous passage? Once again Psalm 2 is part of the background. Psalms 1 and 2 portray the Law and the Prophets – the 2 witnesses to Christ.

SJA Notes

* Holy God, You are just and Your justice is without partiality. Thank You for Jesus, who took the punishment for our sin on Himself.

“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”

With the same weight that Jesus is the one who shows God’s grace and mercy to His people, He is also the one called Faithful and True – In righteousness He judges and makes war.

These are not past events described here, because while Jesus bore the curse at Calvary, taking on the punishment His people were due – There are many on the broad road who live and then die in opposition to Him.

“He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”

These should be sobering words. Words that clearly show us what will happen here at the end.

This is Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords. Shepherd and Judge.

* God Above,

Please help us see Jesus a little better this day from Your word.

Please help us point to Jesus, those around us, to take the opportunities You bring.

We pray that they would come to You in repentance and belief, so that they are found here at the end as Your sheep rather than the goats.

Amen.