Deuteronomy 2 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence As Moses leads the next generation of Israel in this covenant renewal ceremony with the Lord, he continues to recount for them what happened to the previous generation from the time they left Mt. Horeb (Sinai) till that very moment in which they were standing in the Transjordan area waiting to cross over the Jordan River to take their land. After recounting their initial rebellion in refusing to invade…

Deuteronomy 1 by Pastor David Groendyk As you begin to read the book of Deuteronomy, remember where you are in Israel’s history. The entire nation is encamped on the other side of the Jordan River from their Promised Land. It won’t be long until Israel occupies Canaan, thus fulfilling one of God’s greatest promises from all the way back in Genesis 12. This is a momentous and historic occasion. Of course, Israel doesn’t defeat Canaan…

John 21 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence In this epilogue to John’s gospel, the beloved disciple of Jesus wraps up the loose ends concerning Peter and his denial of Christ. After boasting before the disciples in the upper room that he would never fall away from Jesus, three times Peter denied that he was his disciple and felt the bitter shame of his betrayal when the rooster crowed and he saw Jesus beholding his duplicity. But…

John 20 Devotions by Pastor Mark Hudson One of the reason, people find the Bible believable is the perspective of the authors.  If you read the Bible, you find some pretty horrible things in the stories of  the Bible.  If we would write our family history, our tendency is to leave the more unpleasant stories out or at least minimize them.  That is not the way the Biblical authors do it nor does God, THE…

John 19 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Having nothing substantial to charge Jesus with before a Roman court, the Jewish leaders said that Jesus claimed to be the king of the Jews inferring that he was instigating an uprising against the Romans. Although Jesus never denied being the King of the Jews, or even being the King of Kings, his desire was not to overthrow King Herod nor to oust the Roman authorities from Judah. On…

John 18 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence In the previous chapter we see Jesus praying extensively in his role as our great high priest. In this chapter we get a glimpse of Jesus as our great king. While still in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus and his disciples are accosted by the religious authorities who have sent their thugs to capture the one who has been troubling them these last few years. Jesus knows that they…

John 17 by Pastor David Groendyk Take a moment to reflect on what you’re reading in this chapter. Jesus is praying to the Father. One person of the Godhead is speaking to another person of the Godhead. That doesn’t happen often in Scripture, at least not in this extended format. We have a verse here and a verse there that record some of Jesus’ prayers, but this is almost an entire page of the Son…

John 16 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence As Jesus is continuing to prepare his disciples for his departure, he reveals to them more of the role of the Holy Spirit whom he is sending to help them in their work and to comfort them in their trials. Jesus says that there will be many who will oppose their message and even seek to kill them because of the gospel. But the Holy Spirit will come to…

John 15 Devotions by Pastor Mark Hudson Here is an easy way to look at John 15:  1-16 is the vine and the branches; 15:17-16:4a is Opposition from the world.  This would be a difficult chapter  to misunderstand.  Yet maybe not so easy to plumb the depths of this chapter.  First, of all the analogies Christ could have used, why did He use the vine analogy? For one reason, the vine analogy is a common…

John 14 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence At the beginning of this chapter the disciples are troubled by what Jesus has been telling them. He informs them that he will be leaving them soon and that he will send them a helper who will guide them in his absence. Now keep in mind that these disciples had given up everything in order to follow Jesus and now he is withdrawing from them for reasons that they…

John 13 Devotions by Pastor Mark Hudson   John 13 has clearly recognizable sections.  1-20; 21-30; 31-35; 36-38.  Or you can look at the entire chapter and see the following sections as D. A. Carson does: 1-17 where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, and 18-30 Jesus predicts His death and then 31-38 where Jesus predicts Peter’s denial. In the first section the Lord washes the disciples’ feet.  I have heard some say that the disciples…

John 12 by Pastor David Groendyk After years of ministry, the hour for Jesus to be glorified has finally come (v. 23), meaning that it is finally time for Jesus to go to the cross. The Gospel of John is unique compared to the rest of the Gospels in that nearly half of his book is taken up by this final week of Jesus’ life. That should say something about its importance. Jesus did many,…

John 10 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson This is one of my favorite chapters of the Bible.  I love this section in John because this points to a special relationship believers have with God through Jesus Christ.  Jesus is describing something common to the people of his era.  Jesus was the greatest communicator.  I just used the word ontological in a recent sermon.  Jesus wouldn’t do that nor did He.  He used words like farmer,…

John 9 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson In John 9, we witness a conflict with elements that appear similar.  Jesus and the religious leaders, Pharisees in this case, argue over a Sabbath healing.  This turns into a discussion of who Christ is and the spiritual state of the Pharisees. First, we begin with a theological question from the disciples to our Lord.  The question has a kind of Job-like quality.  It was a simple either-or.…

John 8 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson One of the first issues in John 8 is the fact that while the first 11 verses are in the Bible, your notes say maybe it shouldn’t be.  The best and earliest manuscripts do not include this.  There are close to 5,000 manuscripts of the New Testament which are copies of various sections of the New Testament.  They are grouped according to how reliable they are and the…

John 7 by Pastor David Groendyk “There was a division among the people over him” (v. 43). John may have been understating that a little bit! Over the course of this one chapter, we see numerous evaluations of Jesus. His siblings were unbelieving and skeptical and taunted Jesus to prove himself (vv. 3–5). Some feast-goers thought he was a good man while some thought he was lying to people and a dangerous threat (v. 12).…

John 6 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence It is possible for someone to earnestly seek God and Christ for all the wrong reasons.  In this particular chapter, there were great crowds following Christ all around the Sea of Galilee primarily for two reasons: they had seen him heal the sick and he had given them bread to eat.  One might think that those reasons would be good enough to at least gain a hearing for the…

John 5 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson In John 5 we seen a healing story (vs. 1-17) and then a long discourse (vs. 18-47) where Jesus does all the talking.  This second section is deep, profound, and clearly Christological.  In the first section a man who has not been able to walk for 38 years is healed by Christ.  This man believed that when the water stirred, the first person in the water would be…

John 4 by Pastor Lawrence There are so many surprising revelations in this pericope on the ministry of Christ among the Samaritans. The fact that Jesus is travelling through the unclean country of Samaria, that he is speaking privately with a woman, and that she is one of the hated Samaritans, are just a few of those surprises. Jesus also surprises his disciples with the revelation of food that they didn’t know he had. They…

John 3 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson This gospel might be the most loved gospel due to John’s rich and extended discourse sections.  This chapter is one of the most well-known.  In fact, one can hardly watch an American football game  without a big yellow sign that proclaims “John 3:16” almost begging the fans to read that verse and hopefully have a born-again experience.  Since this section is preached on often, I will direct our…

John 2 by Pastor David Groendyk So far, Jesus has been identified as God himself but a distinct person from God, the Word of God manifested and made flesh, and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He has gathered his first few disciples. Now, his public ministry begins. John 1–11 is often called the “Book of Signs” because of John identifying certain miracles of Jesus’ as signs that especially…