Today’s Verse – Romans 8:18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. —Romans 8:18 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… “Life is pain… Anyone who says differently is selling you something.” This line from the movie “Princess Bride” is poignantly accurate. However, it is not eternally accurate! Better days are ahead for those of us who follow Jesus, and these better days are far better than anything we can begin to imagine. As the old song says, “O that will be, glory for me… when by Thy grace I shall look on His face, that will be glory, be glory, for me.” My Prayer… Please, Almighty God, give me the courage and vision to anticipate from afar the ultimate realization of grace that you have waiting for me. I want to fully believe that you are working to bring me home to you and to that glory — a glory that makes all present sufferings insignificant compared to what you will reveal to me and in me. In Jesus’ name, I anticipate this day as I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Spiritual Power
Note from Jesus Dear Friend, To understand your verses today from the book of Acts, you need to be aware of two challenges facing My early followers in Ephesus. The first issue involved disciples of John the Baptist and My apostle Paul. John was both My cousin and My predecessor in preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. John had gained a huge following before I started the primary part of My earthly ministry. Many people were baptized by John as they turned their lives from sin (as they repented) and got ready for My coming. Many who never heard the full story of My coming and the full good news about Me were baptized (Mark 1:4-8). In Ephesus, Paul met a group of these disciples who had been baptized by John. They had a fundamental gap in their understanding: they knew nothing about the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s connection to spiritual rebirth, to the gospel, and to baptism (John 3:3-7; Acts 2:36-39; Titus 3:3-7). Paul taught the importance of the Spirit: But you do not live in the flesh. You live in the Spirit, assuming, of course, that the Spirit of God lives inside of you. The truth is that anyone who does not have the Spirit of the Anointed living within does not belong to God. (Romans 8:9) So Paul taught these disciples of John in Ephesus the truth about Me and the Spirit and then baptized them. Paul then laid his hands on them, and they received the Spirit in a demonstrable way just as Jews did at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21; Acts 2:32-39), Samaritans did after Philip’s ministry (Acts 8:14-17), and Gentiles did with the conversion of Cornelius and his household (Acts 10:34-48). In this same way, the Holy Spirit also made clear that the people in Ephesus who had been baptized by John had become My disciples. A second issue was the challenge that demonic power represented for faithful disciples in Ephesus. Not only was Ephesus one of the Mediterranean world’s four largest cities and an important port, but this city was also the most important banking center in the Mediterranean world. When you think of banking centers in your world today, you think of financial institutions. However, Ephesus was an important banking center for Asia Minor because of the many temples, the places where money was exchanged, held, and connected to religions. Ephesus was a huge place where eastern cultures, western cultures, and ancient magical spiritual practices collided. Pilgrims came from all over the world to receive healing, to have demons cast out of people they loved, and to connect to spiritual powers of all kinds. In addition to preaching and teaching, Paul did all sorts of miracles showing My power at work through him. The people of Ephesus needed to know I was more powerful than the false gods and demons they worshiped. If Paul’s great miracles were not enough to convince them, the confrontation of demons with the sons of Sceva demonstrated that My power was stronger than the demons and could not be manipulated! This story, both humorous and sad, should serve as a reminder to you of what Paul said to the Ephesians when he wrote to them later: Finally, brothers and sisters, draw your strength and might from God. Put on the full armor of God to protect yourselves from the devil and his evil schemes. We’re not waging war against enemies of flesh and blood alone. No, this fight is against tyrants, against authorities, against supernatural powers and demon princes that slither in the darkness of this world, and against wicked spiritual armies that lurk about in heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:10-12) I want you to realize today that when I sent the Holy Spirit to you at your conversion, I sent you Our — Father, Son, and Spirit’s — presence and power. My victory over sin, death, and demons was won in the cross and the resurrection and gives you spiritual power. While you live in a world where sin, death, and demons influence many things, these forces no longer have power over you and can no longer control you if you follow Me (Colossians 1:9-13). Verses to Live The challenge for believers in Ephesus revolved around Our spiritual power — My disciples had it and there were impostors aligned with demons who didn’t have that ultimate power. My disciples demonstrated through their lives and their actions that I have the power over all demonic forces and that the Holy Spirit gives My disciples confidence not to live in superstition and fear. While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul’s overland journey brought him back to Ephesus. He encountered a group of about a dozen disciples there. Paul: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers? John’s Disciples: We’ve never heard about the Holy Spirit. Paul: Well then, what kind of ceremonial washing through baptism did you receive? John’s Disciples: We received the ritual cleansing of baptism that John taught. Paul: John taught the truth — that people should be baptized with renewed thinking and turn toward God. But he also taught that the people should believe in the One Whose way he was preparing, that is, Jesus the Anointed. As soon as they heard this, they were baptized, this time in the name of our Lord Jesus. When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them in the same way the original disciples experienced at Pentecost: they spoke in tongues and prophesied. For three months, Paul continued his standard practice: he went week by week to the synagogue, speaking with great confidence, arguing with great persuasiveness, proclaiming the kingdom of God. Once again, some members of the synagogue refused to believe and insulted the Way publicly before the whole synagogue community. Paul withdrew and took those with him who had become disciples. For the next two years, he used the public lecture hall of Tyrannus, presenting the Word of the Lord
Today’s Verse – Deuteronomy 8:17-18
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. —Deuteronomy 8:17-18 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… What do we have that wasn’t given to us? Nothing. It came either by God’s generous grace, an unexpected blessing, a disciplining hardship, a providential opportunity, or our good health. And when we stand before the throne of judgment, what will be our claim to grace? Only God’s generous and loving gifts to us through Jesus. This grace has made us pure, holy, and whole! Nothing we possess, accomplish, or buy can give us such a claim. Only God’s generosity, grace, mercy, and love can bring heaven’s greatest gifts to us. As the famous Doxology leads us to sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!” My Prayer… We thank you, dear Father, for your wonderful and extravagant blessings. All that we have, all that we are, and all that we ever hope to be exists only because of the mercy and grace you have lavished upon us. We thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Caring for the Family of Believers
Note from Jesus Dear Child of the Father, You live in an interconnected world more than any other human beings in the history of planet earth. You can travel quickly by air, sea, and land. You can speak to people on the other side of your planet by phone or over the internet. You can rally people for great causes through social networking, special funding tools, and circles of online friends. For you, the world is an interconnected place. So I will share with you a great disappointment that I have: those of you who have much seem so reluctant to share it with your brothers and sisters who have so little. Please remember what My apostle John said so many years ago: We know what true love looks like because of Jesus. He gave His life for us, and He calls us to give our lives for our brothers and sisters. If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need, is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? My little children, don’t just talk about love as an idea or a theory. Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love. (1 John 3:16-18) One problem is that you have not put in the effort you should to learn about the needs of others. Unfortunately, your preachers, elders, pastors, and other leaders have not been as diligent as they should in informing you of the needs that exist. They also have not been as diligent as they should be in calling you to share with and care for your brothers and sisters who are in need in your own area and in other parts of the world. But today, I want you to know that I have called you to share My message and care for others! You have brothers and sisters who are enduring great atrocities because of their faith. They have been tortured, beheaded, crucified, mutilated, sold into sexual slavery, raped, and imprisoned. Help them. Use your governmental system to cry out for justice and protection. Research organizations that help those in My church who are persecuted. In addition, well-trained and passionate evangelists and church planters have opportunities to take My message to many places all over the world. Support these messengers. You can encourage and build up churches in other areas and in other nations when you go on vacation or travel for business, so don’t forget to assemble with believers when you travel. Bless them and encourage them by sharing your offering with their congregation. Go on mission and service trips. Connect with other churches wherever you go and give them encouragement and financial support. You have brothers and sisters who are hungry and who need medical care. Support programs and people that are ministering to these needs and get involved yourself. When you see the elaborate and comfortable places rich Christians have built for themselves, I want you to remember two things. First, I want you to think about your poor and suffering brothers and sisters in other places and how monies that have gone into buildings could have been used to bless them. Second, while some of these buildings can be marvelous tools of outreach, I want to remind you that every building will one day be nothing more than rubble. However, every lost person who is saved and every brother and sister in need who is helped is eternal. Each is someone who will share with you in My glory. Think about these things and invest wisely in growing My kingdom! My earliest followers were generous with each other and offered hands-on care to each other. Today the final reading from Paul’s letter you call 1 Corinthians is among the passages below. As you read these verses, let them remind you of the generosity of the early Christians. I want you to let the Holy Spirit touch your heart with great generosity for those in need in your own spiritual family — both those who are geographically near and those who live in places far from you. Verses to Live Your verses today come from several places in the New Testament. The first verses are from Galatians and relate to Paul’s meeting with key leaders in Jerusalem. Those leaders recognized his ministry to Gentiles but requested that he and his fellow missionaries help the poor in the Jerusalem church. The other passages show Paul responding to this request and encouraging Gentile churches to participate. The last passage, from a later letter to the Corinthians, holds up the Macedonian churches as an example to the Corinthian church and to you: be generous, excel in the grace of giving to the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ. This kind of generosity offers tangible love to those in need who are part of your spiritual family. As a result of a revelation, I returned to Jerusalem 14 years later; and this time Barnabas and Titus accompanied me. When I arrived, I shared the exact gospel that I preach to the outsiders. I first shared God’s truth privately with those who were people of influence and leadership because I thought if they did not embrace the freedom of my good news, then any work I had done for Jesus here and any in the past would be spoiled. … When James, Cephas (whom you know as Peter), and John — three men purported to be pillars among the Jewish believers — saw that God’s favor was upon me to fulfill this calling, they welcomed and endorsed both Barnabas and me. They agreed that our ministries would work as two hands, theirs advancing the mission of God among the Jews and ours toward the outsider nations, all with the same message of redemption. In parting, they requested we always remember to care for the poor among us, which was something I
Today’s Verse – Matthew 8:16-17
When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to [Jesus], and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.” —Matthew 8:16-17 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… How does Jesus feel about us when we feel tormented by evil and unfairness? Does he really long to touch our broken bodies when we are sick or have problems? First, when we look at Jesus in the dusk of early evening as he touches the untouchable, we know! Second, when we look to the cross and see Jesus in anguish, we can be confident that he knows and cares about our pain, death, and humiliation. There is also a third place to look: The future when we see him, and he touches and wipes away every tear from our eyes and ends sorrow and death forever. We will then share in his glory and joy for all eternity. We trust Jesus’ grace in our earth-bound existence as mortals, but we know it only in parts and pieces. However, the Day will come when we will know it fully and will experience the ultimate healing and deliverance of Jesus in our immortal bodies (1 Corinthians 13:9-12; 1 Corinthians 15:35-58). Video Commentary… ToGather Worship Guide | More ToGather Videos My Prayer… Holy and Righteous Father, until I realize and experience your Day of ultimate grace, I trust your love and mercy will sustain me through the grace of Jesus, my Savior, and your Son. In his name, Jesus of Nazareth, I pray and hope. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Our Glorious Future
Note from Jesus Dear Follower, Resurrection is coming. I will return for those who belong to Me. At My coming, everyone who belongs to Me will be given an immortal body. Just as you have carried the body that has been part of your human existence and that is mortal because of Adam’s rebellion against the Father, you also will be transformed because of My victory over death. You will have an immortal body far more glorious than you can fully imagine. My resurrection from the dead is the assurance of your resurrection. My glorious body after My resurrection is the assurance of your glorious body after your resurrection. I know you would like to know all the details about life after death. Let it be enough to know that when you are My disciple, the Holy Spirit Who is alive in you ensures that you will never be separated from Me and that your resurrection is assured (Romans 8:32-39; 1 Corinthians 15:21-26). When death claims your physical body, you come to be with Me (Philippians 1:19-24; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8). Then, when the Father says it is time, I will return and change all who belong to Me to have immortal bodies to share in the resurrection and reunion (Philippians 3:20-21). You will share in the glory of all that the Father has promised you. Your future existence in this immortal state is impossible for you to grasp fully now. Paul helps you catch a glimpse of this glorious future by using an example from your earthly existence. A seed that you place in the ground is not particularly beautiful. It is simple and earthy. But when it is placed in the ground and dies to its current existence, a transformation happens that is a part of a new life. The seed germinates, grows, and becomes something glorious. The seed is not glorious when compared to the flower of the fully-grown plant. Your physical bodies, though marvelously made, are just a seed compared to the glory of the new bodily existence that you will enjoy with Me when we share in glory together. Death is an intruder that wounds hearts. However, when someone you love and who is My disciple is separated from you by death, remember that death is not only My enemy but that I also have ultimately defeated death and its power. While death may separate you for a short time from those you love, My resurrection ensures your resurrection and your reunion with all those who are Mine! So, no matter what your earthly life throws at you — how it disappoints you, wounds you, beats you down, or discourages you — I have defeated death. Death will not have the ultimate victory over you. Death will not determine the ultimate outcome of your life. You are Mine! Your future glory beyond death is in My hands! Transformation, reunion, victory, and a life in glory are your future! Verses to Live The following words come from what many people have called the resurrection chapter of the Bible. Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to know that because I was raised from the dead, they will also be raised from the dead. Please, take the time to savor Paul’s words. Dwell on them. Let them give you hope. Commit the phrases that mean the most to you to memory for those times when you need them most. Remember, your faith in Me is not wasted, and your hope in Me is not in vain! Now if we have told you about the Anointed One (how He has risen from the dead and appeared to us fully alive), then how can you stand there and say there is no such thing as resurrection from death? Friends, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then even the Anointed hasn’t been raised; if that is so, then all our preaching has been for nothing and your faith in the message is worthless. And what’s worse, all of us who have been preaching the gospel are now guilty of misrepresenting God because we have been spreading the news that He raised the Anointed One from the dead (which must be a lie if what you are saying about the dead not being raised is the truth). Please listen. If you say, “the dead are not raised,” then what you are telling me is that the Anointed One has not been raised. Friends, if the Anointed has not been raised from the dead, then your faith is worth less than yesterday’s garbage, you are all doomed in your sins, and all the dearly departed who trusted in His liberation are left decaying in the ground. If what we have hoped for in the Anointed doesn’t take us beyond this life, then we are world-class fools, deserving everyone’s pity. But the Anointed One was raised from death’s slumber and is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death. (1 Corinthians 15:12-20) Now I know what some of you are thinking: “Just how are the dead going to be raised? What kind of bodies will they have when they come back to life?” Don’t be a fool! The seed you plant doesn’t produce life unless it dies. Right? The seed doesn’t have the same look, the same body, if you will, of what it will have once it starts to grow. It starts out a single, naked seed — whether wheat or some other grain, it doesn’t matter — and God gives to that seed a body just as He has desired. For each of the different kinds of seeds God prepares a unique body. Or look at it this way: not all flesh is the same. Right? There is skin flesh on humans, furry flesh on animals, feathery flesh on birds, and scaly flesh on fish. Likewise there are bodies made for the heavens and bodies made for the earth. The heavenly bodies have a different kind of glory or
Today’s Verse – Romans 8:15
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” —Romans 8:15 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… God is so holy, so mighty, so awesome, and yet he bids us to call him “Abba Father.” Abba is a term of endearment, familiarity, dependency, and love used by Jewish toddlers to address their fathers. Many Jewish families continue to call the father in the family “abba,” no matter their age or their abba’s age! Through the incredible gift of his Holy Spirit to us, God has given us this ultimate gift of availability, love, companionship, protection, and mighty care. The eternal and almighty God invites us to approach him as our “Abba Father.” Our God, our LORD, the Sovereign ruler of heaven’s armies and Creator of the universe, is also our Abba! My Prayer… Abba Father, thank you for being so close yet so mighty, so accessible yet so holy, so tender yet so trustworthy. Thank you, dear Abba, for allowing me to come to you as your loving child. I pray in Jesus’ name and through the Holy Spirit’s powerful intercession. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Out of Phase
Note from Jesus Dear Servant of the Lord, Yes, I have called you My sibling, My beloved, and My friend. I have even called you a child of the King of Glory and a child of your Father in heaven. Today, however, I call you a servant of the Lord. When Lord is used in your Bibles in all capital letters, the translators are referring to YHWH — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. YHWH is Our name in Hebrew and is sometimes translated as “I AM” in English Bibles (Exodus 3:14). I could call you a bondservant or even a slave rather than simply a servant. These terms are tough ones and speak of hard service, but they indicate that I do want you committed to being a servant even when hardships are involved. Remember I demonstrated being a servant when I washed My disciples’ feet in the upper room (John 13:1-17) and in many other ways. My ultimate demonstration of being a servant was when I died for you on the cross. To be a servant like I demonstrated in My birth, life, and death, you must serve willingly. My earliest servants were not forced to minister and sacrifice. I called them to follow Me. By grace, I invited them into the Father’s family. Each accepted his or her role as a servant voluntarily. Each saw the life I lived on earth and chose to follow Me. Each recognized My example and chose to serve others. (Of course, there were some who gave the appearance of following Me but actually rejected Me.) I came to this world as a servant. I gave up heaven’s glory for mortality. I left heaven’s safety for human vulnerability. I stepped down from the throne of glory for the shame of a cross. I did it to serve the lost and also to serve you (Philippians 2:5-11). Those who led My followers after My ascension were also servants. They completely changed their lives. Many give up their lives in death because they followed Me to do My work in the world and serve lost humanity. Their lives were molded into the character and compassion of My life. Each of My apostles, except for the one who gave his heart to Satan (John 17:12), followed My example and was a sacrificial servant. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he had to defeat their false sense of self-importance. He had to confront their pride in believing that they had fully arrived spiritually. He had to help them understand that they had missed My greatness and had sunk into selfishness and worldly ambition. So after spending what now comprises three chapters in your Bibles trying to teach them that they had missed the mark on greatness, Paul then turned to examples. He pointed to his own life. He directed the Corinthians’ attention to the example of My original apostles. He reminded them of the example of his beloved son in the faith, Timothy. All of these lived for Me and for others, not for themselves — so much so that Paul could say: For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5 NIV) Paul directed the Corinthians to think about the people in his examples because those people all had one thing in common: each of them was a servant. Paul held them up as examples because their lives were much more like My life than they were like the lives of the so-called “super-spirituals” who were causing problems in Corinth. The things these “super-spirituals” boasted about themselves were exactly opposite to the things they saw in Paul’s life, in Timothy’s life, in the apostles’ lives, and in My life. Since I AM the prime example of spirituality, it wasn’t Paul who was out of phase with greatness, but the prideful Corinthians! As the Corinthians’ “father in the faith,” Paul wanted them to awaken from their arrogant stupor of pride. He wanted them to follow My example and the example of My emissaries. He wanted them to turn away from gratifying their own egos. You also need to recognize that greatness is not found in things that build your ego. Greatness is not found in status, wealth, a certain spiritual gift, high position, lofty titles, worldly prestige, or any earthly achievement. Verses to Live Since greatness is not found in human accolades, then where is true greatness found? What are the qualities of greatness in My kingdom? What does it really mean to be a servant? Look at the list of things that were true of My emissaries (apostles) in the verses below. They faced these hardships out of love for Me. They risked their lives to share the Father’s grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit with those who were lost. This concerted effort is true greatness — greatness, as I repeatedly said and demonstrated in My earthly ministry, that is found in those who are willing to pay the price to serve others for Me! Rather than power brokers, think of us as servants of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, caretakers of the mysteries of God. Because we are in this particular role, it is especially important that we are people of fidelity and integrity. It makes little difference to me how you or any human court passes judgment on me. I even resist the temptation to compare myself to the ever-changing human standard. Although I am not aware of any flaw that might exclude me from this divine service, that’s not the reason I stand acquitted — the only supreme judge, our Lord, will examine me in the proper time. So resist the temptation to act as judges before all the evidence is in. When the Lord comes, He will draw our buried motives, thoughts, and deeds (even things we don’t know or admit to ourselves) out of the dark shadows of our hearts into His light.
Today’s Verse – Hosea 8:14
Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has fortified many towns. But I will send fire upon their cities that will consume their fortresses. —Hosea 8:14 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Please note: We chose these verses over a decade ago. Each reference this year corresponds to its date — 8/14/2024 became Hosea 8:14. This method challenges us to hear verses we often ignore and calls us to adjust our lives and priorities to align with God’s teaching. In prosperity, God’s people left the LORD. They followed the cultural gods around them and engaged in the immorality of that world. The northern tribes, known as Israel at that time, became secular and pagan, like those around them. They lived immoral lives, forgot to care for the poor, overlooked the foreigners among them, cheated widows, mistreated the fatherless, and took advantage of the powerless (Amos 5:9-15). God’s prophets, Amos and Hosea, denounced these vices. God saw and knew their sins. The Sovereign LORD wanted the northern tribes of Israel to recognize they had caused their coming destruction. Their hard hearts and their repeated refusal to live with God’s character (Deuteronomy 10:14-22) led to their obliteration. As Christians, part of God’s chosen people and his holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:9-12), we must heed the warning of Israel’s history. Our lives must portray his values, our hearts must display his compassion, and our hands must do his will, or our claims are meaningless, and our future is tenuous. We must seek the LORD and live, not all the false props of pseudo-religious practices that ignore the heart of God (Amos 5:1-27). My Prayer… Father, forgive us, for we have sinned. Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. We have too often looked the other way and ignored social, judicial, and racial injustice. Empower me, dear LORD, empower us to truly be your holy people, bound together by our faith in Jesus — not by our race, age, nationality, political preferences, or socioeconomic status. Please connect us back to you and to each other through our praise and our actions that exemplify your character and grace to our divided and often hate-filled world. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
You Don’t Have to Have an Apostle
Note from Jesus Dear Disciple, I appointed My apostles as My emissaries to the world. I commissioned them to take My message everywhere to everyone. The original apostles, except for Judas, of course, had all seen Me alive after My resurrection. They knew with certainty that the Father had raised Me from the dead. I entrusted them with authority to lead My early church. They mentored others to speak My message. They did signs and wonders to confirm their message about Me. My apostles were a special group. That being said, I want you to realize something that is very significant to your faith. You don’t have to have a living apostle personally teach you for you to have received the truth. Living thousands of years after My resurrection and after the death of the last of My apostles, I know there are times when you long to be able to witness Me do miracles and teach the crowds. I know you would love to know an eyewitness and an apostle personally. But, dear child of the Father, you need to be confident that you have received and believed the truth. The apostle Paul made clear what this message of truth is when he wrote the Corinthians: Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I preached to you when we first met. It’s the essential message that you have taken to heart, the central story you now base your life on; and through this gospel, you are liberated — unless, of course, your faith has come to nothing. For I passed down to you the crux of it all which I had also received from others, that the Anointed One, the Liberating King, died for our sins and was buried and raised from the dead on the third day. All this happened to fulfill the Scriptures; it was the perfect climax to God’s covenant story. Afterward He appeared alive to Cephas (you may know him as Simon Peter), then to the rest of the twelve. If that were not amazing enough, on one occasion, He appeared to more than 500 believers at one time. Many of those brothers and sisters are still around to tell the story, though some have fallen asleep in Jesus. Soon He appeared to James, His brother and the leader of the Jerusalem church, and then to all the rest of the emissaries He Himself commissioned. Last of all, He appeared to me… (1 Corinthians 15:1-8) Paul reiterated these same basic principles when writing to the Christians in Rome about the gospel and baptism: Did someone forget to tell you that when we were initiated into Jesus the Anointed through baptism’s… washing, we entered into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through this baptism into death so that just as God the Father, in all His glory, resurrected the Anointed One [Jesus Christ], we, too, might walk confidently out of the grave into a new life. To put it another way: if we have been united with Him to share in a death like His, don’t you understand that we will also share in His resurrection? We know this: whatever we used to be with our old sinful ways has been nailed to His cross. So our entire record of sin has been canceled, and we no longer have to bow down to sin’s power. A dead man, you see, cannot be bound by sin. But if we have died with the Anointed One, we believe that we shall also live together with Him. So we stand firm in the conviction that death holds no power over God’s Anointed because He was resurrected from the dead never to face death again. When He died, He died to whatever power sin had, once and for all, and now He lives completely to God. So here is how to picture yourself now that you have been initiated into Jesus the Anointed: you are dead to sin’s power and influence, but you are alive to God’s rule. (Romans 6:3-11) Paul emphasized that this message, this good news, should not be compromised by anyone. This simple message is still the gospel that you must believe in your day. It does not need some special new novel knowledge, fresh revelation, or deep philosophical additions to make it true, relevant, and effective. What makes My message trustworthy in every generation is the content of the message. However, people in the first century struggled with this gospel being so simple and clear, just as some struggle to accept it in your day. This struggling was a problem for the people in My church in Colossae. Paul had not preached the gospel there. They heard the message from one of their own, a man named Epaphras. Since he was one of them, he was no one special in their minds. Some false teachers inserted themselves into My church in Colossae. They taught certain forms of asceticism (denying the body and only eating certain foods), celebration of some days as more special than others, and worshiping angels, and they claimed to have secret wisdom that was necessary to be a spiritual person. Since the Colossians had not received their message from an apostle, they thought maybe they hadn’t heard the whole gospel. They were being persuaded away from the gospel Epaphras had taught them. Paul specifically addressed the problem this way: Make sure no predator makes you his prey through some misleading philosophy and empty deception based on traditions fabricated by mere mortals. These are sourced in the elementary principles originating in this world and not in the Anointed One (so don’t let their talks capture you). (Colossians 2:8) I want to warn you about the same kind of danger. There is a dangerous hunger in the fallen human appetite for something new and secret. Satan and his false teaching partners prey on people using this fallen appetite. Don’t be misled by the faddish practices endorsed by