Latest Thoughts of the Day

Acts 1:15

1/25/2026

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

Peter had denied Jesus three times, but Jesus had publicly restored him when He asked him three times if he loved Him. Peter’s natural leadership qualities were recognized and employed by Jesus, and Peter took the initiative at this time to lead them in choosing a successor for Judas Iscariot. Some have pointed out that it occurred before the Holy Spirit was given. But we see God’s wisdom in using the occasion to outline the qualifications of an Apostle for us. Those who want to affirm apostleship in the church today must either ignore this passage or change the meaning of the word “apostle”. We see here, even before Pentecost, the guidance that the church was given by its living Head. We see the care and love of our Lord Jesus.

John 1:15

1/24/2026

John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This is he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me, because he was before me.

John grew up around Jerusalem, but mostly in the wilderness. Did he ever meet his cousin, Jesus, who lived a hundred miles away in Galilee? If so, it would be on a visit of Jesus' family to the Temple on festivals. But he did not recognize Jesus as Messiah until the Spirit stirred him to a public revelation of the fact, at about the time that Jesus’ public ministry began. Now he saw the Son of God for who He was, and he declares that this is the One he had been talking about. Did John know that he was six months older than Jesus? In any case, it didn’t matter. He who was from of Old was Jesus.

Luke 1:15

1/23/2026

...for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

Zechariah is hearing these words from the Angel Gabriel as he stands before the incense altar in the holy place of the Temple. He will not be able to speak them to anyone for nearly a year, because the words he is about to say to Gabriel will bring on the judgment of silence until they are fulfilled. But, no doubt, in his months of silence, he wrote down what the angel had said, that Luke may one day be able to record it for us. And the words of the angel became parental instructions for Zechariah and Elizabeth, as this miraculous child was born. The child’s anointing came at the voice of Mary, mother of Jesus.

Mark 1:15

1/22/2026

...and saying, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe the gospel."

Jesus needed to undergo the formal temptation of the devil and John the Baptist needed to be removed from the scene for Jesus to seize the day and announce the coming of His kingdom. And the challenge that He presented as He began His preaching ministry was that men must repent and believe the gospel. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is no way for men to save themselves. There is no way for anyone to understand anything Jesus will teach without turning from your own way of doing things and doing it His way. Repent and believe is Jesus’ way of teaching, and it will continue to be until we get to heaven. No need any for more repentance there—only Jesus!

Matthew 1:15

1/21/2026

...and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan the father of Jacob,...

This Jacob was the grandfather of Joseph, the husband of Mary. We know that Joseph and Mary were poor people because they could only afford doves as the sacrifice when Jesus was presented to the Temple. And carpenter was certainly not an exalted societal position. But all these men were significant because they descended from Abraham and on the way down, through David. The Jews were keeping track of the line of David because they expected the Messiah to descend from that line. All the records were lost when Titus destroyed the Jewish Temple in seventy A.D. But they were not needed anymore because Jesus had come. Great numbers of Jews will receive their Messiah one day, but it will be the One who has already come. It will be Jesus.

Malachi 2:1

1/20/2026

And now this admonition is for you, O priests.

The book of Malachi begins with challenges to the people concerning their attitude of heart as they bring their offerings to God. If they had treated an earthly ruler with such disrespect they would have felt the force of his indignation. They have not taken seriously who God is and how their offerings come across as they offer them to Him. In 2:1 God turns His attention to the priests and challenges them concerning their part in generating the attitude that God detests in the people. If they continue dishonoring God, they will be despised by those from whom they sought esteem. We have seen the like in our day. As clergy have lost respect for God people have lost respect for them. Help us, Lord, --people and leaders alike—truly and from the heart to honor Jesus.

Haggai 1:15

1/19/2026

...on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.

For sixteen years the people who had returned from Babylon to rebuild the temple puttered around with getting themselves settled and organizing their own affairs, as the work of God lay almost unbegun. Haggai was raised up with a special anointing of the Spirit of God to inspire a coalescence of attitudes among the people that moved them actually to give themselves as a people to accomplish their grand purpose. Haggai notes the day that all these things clicked. Do we have important projects and goals that never seem to get off the ground? Are we distracted from things we are called of God to do? May that same Holy Spirit stir us deeply to give ourselves to the work of God! May we mark the day the people coalesced to serve Jesus!

Zephaniah 1:15

1/18/2026

That day will be a day of wrath a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.

On the day that God holds men accountable for their sin and pours out His unrestrained wrath, we break our vocabulary with its description. Zephaniah gathers one picture after another to shake us with the picture of the most dreadful and complete destruction. Most judgments are tempered with relief and ebbing, lest we be absolutely and utterly swept away; and mercy glimmers around the edges of most every judgment of God. But Zephaniah takes away all relief and displays the wrath of God trembling before us. King Josiah as a young man took this seriously, and instituted a national cleansing and return to God. May men in our day recognize God’s wrath and flee to Jesus!