Category: Thoughts

Christ in You Bible Reading Plan

Hi Friends,

Rhonda and I have an exciting new project on the horizon for 2026, and we would love to have you join us in it.  We have developed a chapter-a-day Bible reading plan focused on every believer’s dynamic life with Jesus.  And we have launched a Facebook group, Christ in You Bible Reading Plan, to go along with it.  Each day in 2026, we will have an assigned chapter of Scripture to read.  And each day, Jay will post in this new group a short devotional to go with the chapter of the day.

This approach to reading Scripture together will take all of the New Testament and some of the Old and develop a beautiful portrait of what life with Jesus looks like for us.  Our devotional posts and reading assignments will start on January 1, 2026.  Between now and then, Jay will post a few updates, share the schedule for the first four months, and post some general introductory material to the group page.

We would love to have you participate with us.  Click on this link to our new Facebook group page, answer a couple of questions, and BOOM! you’re in.

Christ in You Bible Reading Plan

Here is a little bonus to whet your appetite.  Jesus’ identification as the “Son of God” is a cornerstone of the message we believe and preach.  If you begin your Bible reading plan in Genesis chapter 1 and read in chronological order, you must read 931 chapters before you hear God say, “Jesus, You are My Son!”  In this reading plan, you will hear these beautiful words on Day 3!

Will you join us on this chapter-a-day journey through the heart of the gospel as together we explore and celebrate … you in Christ and Christ in you?

Reading the book of Acts

When reading the book of Acts, it is important to keep two criteria in mind.  First, Acts is primarily a history book.  It is not a book of theology.  It is a chronological history of the first years of the church.  Second, Acts is about the people of God going through a complete upheaval in their practice and understanding of following God.  The apostles and the new believers are a people of God in transition.

Think about it.  Today, we have such a clear understanding of the sharp break between the old covenant and the new covenant, having the entire New Testament to inform us.  Jesus’ death and resurrection is understood to be the place where life went from the old covenant to the new.  But for the earliest disciples, things were changing radically and rapidly in their spiritual experience.

These believers in Jesus were going through a transition …

  • From Law to grace
  • From a sacrificial system to complete forgiveness in Jesus
  • From children of Israel to children of God (Gentiles included!)
  • From priests to apostles and elders
  • From temple service to a community of faith
  • From Sabbath observance to Sabbath rest
  • From collection of the tithe to giving freely
  • From God in the Holy of Holies to God in us
  • From sin and sin management to Jesus and His finished work
  • From Law to freedom

And I am sure there are more.

So keep all of these transitions in mind when you are confused by converted Pharisees insisting on following the Law.  Or extraordinary miracles involving handkerchiefs and shadows.  Or folks struck dead.  Or new believers receiving the Holy Spirit at a separate time.  Or the great debate in Acts chapter 15.  Or Paul, the champion of our freedom, taking part in a Jewish purification ceremony.  Give these leaders grace as they not only go through these transitions for themselves but also for the church they lead.  The book of Acts is a record of the church “figuring it out.”  And because of the transitional nature of this book, we should not build too much of a strident theology upon it.

But there is one consistent and unchanging theme in the book of Acts.  In sermon after sermon from Peter in chapter 2 to Paul in chapter 26 and every sermon in between, the message is incredibly the same.  Jesus arrived from the seed of David.  The Jews/Romans put Jesus to death.  God raised Jesus from the dead.  We proclaim forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus for those who believe.  The Holy Spirit, Christ in us, has been given to us.  And great multitudes believed.

“Who May Ascend into the Hill of the Lord?”

“Who May Ascend into the Hill of the Lord?”

Throughout the Old Testament, and especially in the Psalms, the mountains are portrayed as the dwelling place of God.  “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?  And who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully” (Psalm 24:3-4).

I underlined these verses in my Bible when I was a teenager.  I committed myself to trying very hard to keep my hands clean and my heart pure.  I aspired to tell the truth at all times.  I believed this commitment would give me entrance to the holy place of the Lord and entrance to God’s blessing.  I didn’t know how long it would take to feel that I had arrived at the top of the mountain.  Maybe a lifetime.

Little did I know at the time that reliance on my self-effort to ascend the mountain was a futile exercise.  It also wasn’t necessary.

When I believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ, my hands were made clean and my heart was made pure, right then and there.  Jesus’ new covenant arrangement with me made me clean, pure, holy, and forgiven.

When Peter returned from preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, he affirmed, “God made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9).

“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:14).

“For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).

“Yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach” (Colossians 1:22).

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).

And finally, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).  This beatitude was a prophecy from Jesus regarding what was coming to us under the new covenant.  A pure heart isn’t a goal to aim for.  You have a pure heart because Jesus gave you a new righteous heart.  Look back at our opening verse.  The “pure heart” requirement of Psalm 24?  It has been fully met by our faith in Jesus.

You do not need to “become” these things.  You ARE these things.  You HAVE clean hands and a pure heart as a gift of grace from Jesus.

This is such a beautiful promise of the new covenant.  There is no mountain to climb to reach the Lord’s presence.  He came to us.  He lived among us.  And when we believed His gospel message, He came to live IN us.  There is no mountain to climb!  Why?  Because the minute you believed the gospel, He whisked you straight to the top of the mountain to dwell forever in His presence.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-7).

Many believe that the Christian life begins at the base of the mountain.  We accept Christ and then begin an arduous journey of finding our way up the mountain.  We see the Christian life as a struggle to maintain our righteousness as we climb toward God’s acceptance, approval, and blessing.  When we are doing well (keeping our hands clean and our heart pure), we are making progress.  When we are doing poorly, we slide back down part of the mountain and have to begin that portion again.  Always striving.  Never arriving.

But I have good news for you.  No, GREAT news for you!  At your moment of salvation, you went straight to the top of the mountain!  We started the Christian life already on top of the “hill of the Lord.”  No climbing required.  You are already “seated with Him in the heavenly places.”  Maturing?  Yes!  Climbing?  No!  As we mature, we learn how to live out of our pure heart and clean hands.  We learn to tell the truth in keeping with our new identity as a Spirit-infused child of God.  But these efforts are not the means to reach God’s presence.  You are already there.  How?  By the blood of Jesus.

“Therefore, brothers, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19).  It is really that simple.  You started this journey called the Christian life already at the top of God’s holy mountain because the blood of Jesus placed you there.

Please look closely at this powerful and beautiful answer to our Psalm 24 question.  Question:  “And who may stand in His holy place?” (Psalm 24:3).  New covenant answer:  “We have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19).

We are the “who.”  The holy place of God’s presence is the “where.”  We are the ones “who may stand in His holy place.”  We are the “who” by the precious blood of Jesus.  Thank you Jesus!!!

“The True Grace of God”

Studies in First Peter Part 30

“10After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  11To Him be dominion forever and ever.  Amen.  12Through Silvanus, our faithful brother (for so I regard him), I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God.  Stand firm in it!  13She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark.  14Greet one another with a kiss of love.  Peace be to you all who are in Christ” (I Peter 5:10-14).

When you emerge from your suffering, when you are rescued from this particular pain, you will feel the full experience of God making you “perfect, confirmed, strengthened, and established.”

“The God of all grace who called you” will give this to you.  He is “the God of all grace.”  Grace is not an attribute of God.  Grace is His essence!

Now, because of Christ’s finished work on the cross and your belief in His gospel, you are already, “perfect, confirmed, strengthened, and established” no matter what circumstances you find yourself under.  But our experience of these things feels very far off in the middle of distressing times.  God knows this.  And though He does not cause our suffering, He does use it to produce good in our lives.  And we become stronger for it.

Peter’s final admonition in his letter is, “I am exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God.  Stand firm in it!”  This letter is grace from front to back, from beginning to end.

  • “May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure” (I Peter 1:2).
  • “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries” (I Peter 1:10).
  • “Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:13).
  • “Show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life” (I Peter 3:7).
  • “Serve one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10)
  • “God is opposed the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (I Peter 5:5).
  • “The God of all grace … will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (I Peter 5:10).
  • “I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!” (I Peter 5:12).

It is the grace of God in which we stand.  And standing firm is available to us by the glorious power of Christ’s Sprit living in us.  “The Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (I Peter 4:14).

“Firm in Your Faith”

Studies in First Peter Part 29

“8Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  9But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world” (I Peter 5:8-9).

How do we “resist our adversary, the devil?”  What does standing “firm in our faith” against the evil one look like?

First, we recognize Satan as a liar.  Jesus identified Satan this way in John chapter 8, “The devil was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

At the heart of Satan’s attacks and temptations are lies.  Lies about Christ and His character.  Lies about Christ and His finished work on the cross.  Lies about Christ and His promised victory over sin in our lives.  Lies about Christ and His goodness.  Lies about Christ and His living inside us.  Lies about Christ and His love, acceptance, and forgiveness.  Lies about finding our satisfaction in Christ rather than Satan’s idols and ways.

So how do we overcome this dark enemy and the temptations that come through his lies?  We overcome the devil by faith.  This is standing “firm in our faith.”  This is not just some kind of religious answer.  It has tremendous practical application.  The Bible teaches that “greater is He who is in you (God Himself) than he who is in the world (Satan)” (I John 4:4), and “this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith” (I John 5:4).  We overcome Satan – ruler of the world system – by faith.

What does this faith look like in practice?  It means that when Satan tempts us with his lies, we resist him by faith; our faith in Christ and our faith in His promises.  When Satan holds up a mirror to our failures and says “failure” is who you are, we rest in God’s promise that we are loved, accepted, and forgiven (Luke 7:36-50).  When Satan digs up our sinful past and says “sinner” is who you are, we believe God’s description of us as “holy and beloved saints” (Colossians 3:12).  When Satan puts his finger on a current sin challenge and says “go ahead and give in” since this is who you will always be, we trust in God’s promise that change is possible and sin will no longer be our master (Romans 6:6).

This resting, this believing, this trusting is done by faith.  We don’t try to outwork or outwit Satan.  We resist him and experience victory by believing God’s truth in place of Satan’s lies.  Yes, Satan is a defeated foe, an assured loser in the war with God.  But until that final battle, Satan is working to disrupt God’s rule upon the earth.  And he is quite adept at throwing accusations, reasons for discouragement, and temptations our way.  We defeat Satan by our faith, that is, by believing God’s promises in the face of Satan’s accusations.

The apostle Paul writes, “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one“ (Ephesians 6:16).  The shield of faith – put into action by walking by faith – is our primary weapon in the fight with Satan.  The shield of faith will extinguish the arrows of Satan.

We see a connection here in our I Peter passage between suffering and the attacks of Satan as it affects us and our brothers and sisters around the world.  I believe that Satan is the dark power behind death and disease in this world.  But that is a long conversation for another day.

For today, may we wield the shield of faith firmly and courageously and thus “resist the evil one.”