Category: 2025 Trek
Preparing the way!
Scripture reading for January 3: Matthew 3
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness; ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.'”. . .”Then Jerusalem and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.” Matthew 3:1-3,5-6
The Scriptures of the Jews taught about the coming of the Messiah, a descendant of King David. The Jews had a messianic expectation from the Law of Moses and the prophets. In the days of John the Baptist, the Jewish nation was in servitude to Rome and under foreign domination. Their messianic hopes were not at the forefront of their world-view. After four hundred years of prophetic silence, God sent John as a ‘voice’ crying in the wilderness. He called the people of Israel to repentance and faith. He called them to water baptism, usually reserved for converts to Judaism, as a humble confession of their sins and need of cleansing. This was to prepare them for the coming King, Jesus, and His kingdom,
The scribes and Pharisees, religious leaders, came to observe and criticize John. John called them out for their pride and warned them of their own need to repent to prepare the way for their Messiah. John challenged their world-view and the culture of their religion to break through their pride. God is still working today to reach the religious and prideful.
Are you currently listening to a ‘voice’ God has sent to call you to repentance? What sins are you willing to confess and forsake? Have you been baptized in water in obedience to Jesus Christ? What step of humility can you take to respond to God’s Voice?
Prayer: Father, thank You for sending out Your people as Your ‘Voice’ crying in my wilderness. Thank You for the ultimate ‘Voice,” Jesus Christ, Who plainly is calling me to repentance and faith. Help me to break through my pride and religious culture. Lead me to humility and true repentance. Amen.
2025–The world according to Jesus!
Bible Reading Plan: one chapter of the ESV New Testament five days a week
Dear Friends and citizens of the Kingdom of heaven,
Greetings in the Majestic Name of Jesus Christ!
In Luke 21:33 (ESV) Jesus states, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away.” As we begin a new year, we choose to ask our Lord Jesus to guide us and transform our thinking, attitudes and resulting actions to reflect His eternal Word.
Our world view is initially formed before salvation by our inherited sin-nature that places us at the center of everything. Relying on the desires of our fallen nature, we easily succumb to the world’s pressure to conform to its definition of ‘normal’. We seek to create our own views of reality through our senses and whatever training is given to us by our parents, peers, and educators. Our world in America not only condones but encourages choices about our sexuality, our morality, and our freedom to be and do anything it now considers ‘woke’, despite laws already on the books or God’s Law which never changes. As those who have repented of our conformity to the world, we seek daily transformation of our thinking through reading and hearing God’s Word.
I have chosen the theme “The world according to Jesus” to guide our reading of the New Testament this year. I am using the English Standard Version (2001) and will read a chapter each day, five days a week, beginning in Matthew and ending with Revelation. As you read along with me, I will share in devotional form a passage from each chapter that helps me understand life and God’s plan for us. Please feel free to make your own journal or to comment on my posts by sharing what God is showing you. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 ESV)
I am thankful for the Holy Spirit Who will help each of us to stay faithful and be conformed to our Lord Jesus and discern worldly habits. Have a blessed year of reading and watch daily for our Lord’s return!
In His Love, Pastor John Morse