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December 22 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
12 Plays8 days ago
If you would like to download my FREE calendar for keeping track of your commitment to read the Bible every day, you can find that on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/pages/read-the-bible-in-1-year
Monthly memberships to support this event can be purchased on my site, here: https://www.inthefamilywaycoaching.com/offering_packages
Today we will begin continue reading the Book of Revelation, Chapters 3 and 4.
In today's reading we will continue to read the letters that Jesus sent to the seven churches of Asia. In today's reading Jesus tells us that he is here and it is like he is standing at your door and tapping on it, calling for you. Jesus asks us to open the door of our hearts and let Him in so that He can be with us and we can be with Him!
In our discussion for daily application we will talk about God's love for us- that He does not want to see anyone die, but wants to invite EVERYONE to come to Him through Jesus. We need to be sure we are witnessing to others so that people know that God loves them and that Jesus is standing at the door to THEIR heart, tapping on it, waiting for an invitation to join them!
If you enjoyed today's reading and feel like God has lit YOUR light please click the LIGHT button (it looks like a thumbs up or a heart) and consider subscribing to or following my channel, you have not done so already done so.
If you know someone who might be interested in reading the Bible with me this year please SHARE today's reading with them! It's never too late to join in! Let's help this event grow and together we can spread the word about reading God's Word!
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Transcript
Introduction and Commitment
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome back everybody. Today is December 22nd. We are here for our daily Bible reading through the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley. Thank you so much for joining me again, whether you are watching on video or whether you are following along on your podcast.
00:00:21
Speaker
You are doing an amazing job. Keep it up. We are dedicated and committed to finishing the Bible this year and it is an amazing accomplishment.
Revelation Chapters 3-4 Overview
00:00:32
Speaker
If you are bookmarking your days on our bookmarking commitment calendar, it's time to get that out and get your sticker ready or whatever you're using to cross off those days because we're about to hear the Bible today.
00:00:49
Speaker
We are going to be reading in Revelation chapter 3 and 4 today. And today we are going to be completing the letters that Jesus has for the seven churches of Asia and that John has written down to be able to give to them.
00:01:05
Speaker
And then we are going to be seeing Jesus's invitation. Jesus loves everybody and God does not want anybody to die, but he wants everybody to come to saving knowledge of him and his son and to receive salvation so that they can have eternal life with him.
00:01:28
Speaker
There is no one that God doesn't want a to see there in heaven. He loves everybody so much that he sent Jesus. And today we're going to be seeing the invitation that we are probably very familiar with, with Jesus standing at an open door. Well, at first the door is closed. He says, it's like I am tapping on your door. Let me in.
00:01:54
Speaker
Jesus wants us to welcome him into our lives. It's not just one and done thing where we receive salvation and then we don't see or hear from him ever again.
00:02:05
Speaker
We receive the Holy Spirit and then we have him in our lives forever. Jesus tells us that he will never leave us.
Jesus's Message to the Churches
00:02:14
Speaker
He will never turn away from us. That's what forsake means. It means to turn away from us. And he says he will be with us even to the end of the age.
00:02:27
Speaker
So let's open up and read today out of Revelation 3 and 4.
00:02:36
Speaker
Jesus says to write this to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is from the one holding God's seven spirits.
00:02:47
Speaker
He holds the seven stars. He says this, I know what you do. People say you are alive, but you are dead in spirit.
00:03:01
Speaker
Wake up your spirit. There is part of you that still has some life, but it's about to die. So make it stronger.
00:03:12
Speaker
To God, what you do is not all good. So remember the teaching you heard. Obey it. Change.
00:03:24
Speaker
And stop doing what is wrong. Start doing right. What if you don't wake up? Then I will come to you the way a robber does.
00:03:38
Speaker
And you will not know when that will be. but a few people there have clean hearts. And they walk with me. They will be dressed in white.
00:03:51
Speaker
They have done what is right, so they can be with me. Keep following me, no matter what, and then you will be like them.
00:04:05
Speaker
You will dress in white, and I will never take your name out of the book of life, and I will tell my father and his angels about you. Do you have ears Then listen to what the Spirit tells the churches.
00:04:25
Speaker
Write this to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.
00:04:31
Speaker
This is from the one who is sinless and true. He holds King David's key. And when he opens something, nobody can close it.
00:04:43
Speaker
When he closes something, nobody can open it. That's actually a quotation from Isaiah.
00:04:52
Speaker
Here is what he says. I know what you do. See, i put an open door in front of you. Nobody can close it.
00:05:05
Speaker
I know you're not very strong, but you keep following me and you keep believing. There are some people who say that they are Jews, but they lie.
00:05:18
Speaker
They are from Satan's worship place. I will make them bow down at your feet. And I will make them agree that I loved you.
00:05:33
Speaker
Jesus loves us. That is so wonderful. You obeyed me. You waited quietly and kept believing in me.
00:05:45
Speaker
So I will save you from the trouble that is coming. Everyone on earth at that time will have hard times that test them. I am coming soon.
00:05:58
Speaker
Hold on to what you believe and then nobody will take away your crown. Keep following me no matter what and then you will be like strong posts in God's worship place and you can live there forever.
00:06:17
Speaker
That is another quotation from the Old Covenant. I will write God's name on you, and I will write the name of God's city.
00:06:28
Speaker
It is the new Jerusalem, and it will come down from God in heaven. That's also another quotation from Isaiah in the Old Covenant.
00:06:40
Speaker
Do you have ears? Then listen to what the Spirit tells the churches.
Vision of the Heavenly Throne
00:06:48
Speaker
Write this to the angel of the church in Laodicea.
00:06:54
Speaker
This is from the one who says yes by keeping his promises. He says yes by telling the truth about what he has seen. And he has rules. He rules over all God made.
00:07:09
Speaker
And here is what he says. I know what you do. You are not cold and you are not hot. I wish that you were hot or cold, but you are in between, not hot and not cold.
00:07:27
Speaker
So I am going to spit you out of my mouth. Jesus is referring here to their faith. They are neither on fire for God, nor are they dead.
00:07:40
Speaker
They're not cold. They are lukewarm. They are not growing or or reversing, reverting. They're just lukewarm.
00:07:52
Speaker
And so when water is just lukewarm, you just want to so you just spit it out of your mouth. If it was hot, then you would have a hot drink. And if it were cold, then you would have a cold drink.
00:08:05
Speaker
But they are neither hot nor cold. And so they are lukewarm. And that's the blech temperature. It's neither hot nor cold. So Jesus says, i am going to spit you out of my mouth.
00:08:20
Speaker
You say, I'm rich. And I worked to get lots of riches. I don't need anything. You don't know that you are broken down.
00:08:33
Speaker
And people should be feel sorry for you. You are poor. You cannot see and you have no clothes. Here's what I tell you.
00:08:46
Speaker
I have real gold for you. Come to me and you can be rich. I have white clothes that you can wear.
00:08:59
Speaker
I can make your eyes see. I point out what is wrong for people I love. And I train them in the way that is right.
00:09:11
Speaker
So change, feel it strongly in your heart and start doing right. I am here.
00:09:23
Speaker
I am, it's like I am standing at your door and tapping on it. I am calling for you. Hear my voice and open the door of your heart.
00:09:39
Speaker
I will come in and I will be with you and you can be with me.
00:09:48
Speaker
Keep on following me no matter what and then you can sit with me where I rule as king. Follow me like I kept following my father.
00:10:01
Speaker
I sat down with my father and I sat where he rules as king. Do you have ears? Then listen to what the spirit tells the churches.
00:10:19
Speaker
Then I, John, looked up and there was a door in front of me. It was in heaven and it was standing open.
00:10:30
Speaker
the same loud voice talked to me again. Come up here, it said. I will show you what has to happen after this.
00:10:43
Speaker
And suddenly my spirit was meeting with God's spirit. And I saw somebody sitting on the king's throne. It was in heaven. And he looked like beautiful, shiny green and red stones.
00:11:00
Speaker
A rainbow fanned out from where he sat and it glowed like a shiny green stone. 24 other king's chairs were around where he sat and one leader sat on each of these thrones.
00:11:19
Speaker
The leaders wore white clothes and they had gold crowns on their heads.
00:11:27
Speaker
Flashes of lightning came from where the king sat. Thunder rolled and boomed. Seven lamps blazed in front of the king.
00:11:40
Speaker
They were God's seven spirits. There was a shiny sea in front of the king, too. It was clear and it looked like glass.
00:11:53
Speaker
Four living beings were in the middle around the king. They had eyes all over them. They had eyes in front and eyes in back.
00:12:07
Speaker
One living being
Invitation to Eternal Life
00:12:08
Speaker
was like a lion and the next was like an ox. The last one was like a flying eagle and the living beings each had six wings.
00:12:22
Speaker
They even had eyes under their wings. These living beings always call, Holy, holy, holy God is clean, sinless, and holy. He power.
00:12:39
Speaker
He holy. He lived He lives now. He live. he lives now he will always live
00:12:53
Speaker
The living beings tell how important the king is. They show his greatness and they thank him.
00:13:05
Speaker
Then the 24 leaders bow down in front of the king. They worship the one who lives for forever and ever. They put their crowns down in front of him.
00:13:19
Speaker
The leaders say, You are our Lord and our God. Nothing is better than you. Your greatness shines.
00:13:31
Speaker
And we show how important you are. You have power. You made everything. You wanted to.
00:13:43
Speaker
So all things were made. They are what they are because of you.
00:13:53
Speaker
And that is the end of our reading today. Wow. John Spirit got to be up there meeting with God's spirit.
00:14:05
Speaker
He saw amazing, wonderful, beautiful things. Did you recognize the creatures from Daniel's vision? I think it was Daniel. it was either Daniel or Jeremiah.
00:14:17
Speaker
I know I read that this morning, but I've forgotten the name. Those beings were seen before. They even have eyes underneath their wings. They are incredible.
00:14:32
Speaker
God is there in heaven. He rules as king over everything. And rightfully so, the beings, the seven spirits, and the 24 leaders are worshiping him.
00:14:49
Speaker
And we also need to worship God and recognize him as king of everything. Not just king of the earth, but king of our lives.
00:15:01
Speaker
We don't have kings down here really anymore. We have leaders and we have presidents. And there might be the title of a king such as in England.
00:15:12
Speaker
But it is very rare that people bow down to other people. And worship them. We should not be worshiping people anyways. But we bow down to God and we worship him and acknowledge that he is king of everything.
00:15:32
Speaker
And even though he is king. He is holy. He is sinless. Not just because he wants to be. He chooses to be.
00:15:44
Speaker
He is the great I am. He is love. He doesn't do anything wrong. He loves everybody.
00:15:56
Speaker
Does he get angry? Yes. But he does not act out of anger and sin when he is angry with us. Any judgments that are given are justified because he is fair.
00:16:12
Speaker
He is perfectly fair. So he is not unfair.
00:16:20
Speaker
Jesus is inviting us to be with him today. He says that he will be with us and we can be with him.
00:16:31
Speaker
We've been learning about that this year. We are one with Jesus. And that is part of the invitation that when we receive the salvation for our sins and he cleans us, we become one with him and he becomes one with us.
00:16:50
Speaker
And so this is an invitation. It's an invitation for all people to be able to come to him. God says that the people who were not called my people will be my people.
00:17:04
Speaker
And my his house will be a house of prayer for everyone. God does not exclude anyone. He wants everybody to come to him.
00:17:15
Speaker
And we come to him only through Jesus. Jesus is like the open door. He is the one who gives us access to God.
Personal Relationship with God
00:17:27
Speaker
Without Jesus, we do not have access to God. Jesus says that he will give us a white robe to wear, a white outfit to wear, and that he will never take our name out of the book of life.
00:17:45
Speaker
We need to keep following him no matter what. He told each one of the churches as well that he knows what they do. He is the one who sees our hearts.
00:17:58
Speaker
He doesn't just see what is on the outside. He knows us on the inside. And he wants us to love him like he loves us.
00:18:11
Speaker
So our daily application today is that we need to have, we need to make sure that we have stepped through that door so that we have that relationship. Being one with someone is ah is a relationship.
00:18:24
Speaker
He is not just something or someone we worship. He becomes one with us and we become one with him. We receive God's Holy Spirit.
00:18:38
Speaker
This is an amazing invitation. It is so special and we don't want to give that up by turning away and not remembering our first love or by doing things that are wrong deliberately, defiantly.
00:18:55
Speaker
We need to remember that he has conquered sin so we can conquer sin and we can come to him and stay with him. When Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, he told them that nothing, no one could snatch us out of his hand, out of the father's hand.
00:19:17
Speaker
No one can take us away from him. We are his forever. So let's be sure we have walked through that door and let's invite others to walk through that door too. He says to have an open heart so he can come in. Oh, that is so wonderful.
00:19:36
Speaker
Well, I hope that you feel that God has lit your light and that you are joyful today to know these things. Even in the book of Revelation, Jesus is welcoming people to come to him before we get to the judgments parts.
00:19:53
Speaker
o Those are going to be tough. Jesus says that that will be a time of testing of everyone's faith who is here on earth. But we must hold strong no matter what.
00:20:07
Speaker
We have to remember to hold strong and to never leave him just like he never leaves us. Let's see the way he puts it today.
00:20:17
Speaker
he The way he put it on both of both of the letters, both of the days of letters. Keep following me no matter what. We will even be able to sit with him where he rules as king.
00:20:31
Speaker
He gave us that example. We need to be sure we are following Jesus's example. There is so much good stuff in this book of Revelation already. We could just, we could talk on and on about it. and But we need to remember that this is, ah we're getting the big picture.
00:20:49
Speaker
And our big picture is that Jesus is coming to everybody and he wants everybody to come to him. So we need to encourage others as well to come to Jesus.
00:21:01
Speaker
We need to be his witnesses.
Engagement and Next Session Invitation
00:21:04
Speaker
Well, thank you for joining me for today's daily reading. If you feel that God has lit your light, I would like to ask you to click that light button out there. The one that looks like a thumbs up or it looks like a heart or it looks like a share and a follow, a subscribe.
00:21:20
Speaker
And together, when we click those light buttons, we are helping for this event, for today's reading and every day's reading to pop up in more feeds so that they can subscribe have the opportunity to hear this, that God would speak to them and give them encouragement as well through his Holy Word and his Holy Spirit, and that they would come to him.
00:21:44
Speaker
Thank you for helping me every day to spread the word about reading God's word. I love that. Thank you. Well, I hope you have a very blessed day, whatever day you have gotten around to watching or listening to today's daily reading out of the Day by Day Kids Bible. And I am looking forward to reading tomorrow with you as well.
00:22:05
Speaker
So I hope that you join me for tomorrow's reading as we read chapters five and six to- tomorrow. Have a great rest of your day and I will see you next time.