Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
December 16 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 Year
2 Plays56 seconds ago
Happy Hanukkah! If you would like to watch the 2025 Hanukkah service from the Messianic Jewish congregation I attend, you can find that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ5AT87INFU&t=5385s
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 finish reading the Book of Hebrews with Chapters 12:1-5, 7-12, 14-16, 18-19, 21-28, and 13:1-9, 12-20, and 23-24.
Today the author of Hebrews will encourage us to think of life as though we are running a marathon race. A marathon is a very long race and life is the longest race we will run. We need to be unshakable in our faith, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, and remember that there is always a bigger picture than just what we are experiencing in this moment or even the entire day. We need to trust God's training process, believing that God is working good into everything that is going on, the same way we saw that He worked good into everything we have been reading about in the Bible this year. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, so we know that He is faithful and will always be with us. While He is with us we can trust that He is working good into everything while training us to know right from wrong and sinless, like He is, so we can be light in the world.
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, if 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!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Greetings
00:00:03
Speaker
Shalom to you, everybody. Today is the reading for December 16th. It's also the third day of Hanukkah. So I want to wish you a great deal of peace and hope that you are being the light in the world, just as this menorah is shining in the as a light in the dark.
Overview of Day by Day Kids Bible
00:00:24
Speaker
Well, thank you for joining me as we go through our Day by Day Kids Bible, written by Karen Henley. We are going to be completing the book of Hebrews today with chapters 12 and 13. And I am just loving it. The book of Hebrews is a wonderful book.
00:00:41
Speaker
I just really love it. Well, if you are using your bookmarking commitment calendar, it's time to get that out. It's time to get that sticker ready because we're about to hear the Bible today.
00:00:57
Speaker
We are almost finished reading the Bible. I say that frequently, but I just can't believe it. we We are doing it. Thank you so much for joining me this year as we do that.
Gratitude for Dedicated Readers
00:01:10
Speaker
Especially, thank you to Julie, and thank you to Pearl, and Jedi, and Forest, and Diamond. Thank you so much for following along all year long. and reading the entire Bible here with me.
00:01:27
Speaker
This was a great big book, and you stuck with it. You even watch when mom is busy, and you turn it on, and you you are taking initiative.
00:01:37
Speaker
That is so important in your walk with God, to be sure that you are taking that time. You have taken this event very seriously, and I could not be more proud of all of you for this amazing accomplishment that you have done this year.
Future Projects and Technology Use
00:01:54
Speaker
I also want to thank, oh my goodness, I can't remember how to pronounce your name. Zakiya, I think is how we say it. And I want to thank you for praying for me as as I look to God's guidance for my transition into the next year.
00:02:10
Speaker
Thank you so much. I've been remembering your prayers for me and I really appreciate them. And I wanted you to know that they have had effect. I am coming into Vision for next year's event, and I could not be more excited.
00:02:27
Speaker
I am going to be looking to have a recordings, podcast recordings, I guess we can call them, and video recordings here, of um topics on ways to apply our faith, kind of like what we've been doing a little bit this year. But I will have a topic, and then I will talk about it. And these will be topics that God has given me to to talk about.
00:02:52
Speaker
And they will help us learn how to make lasting lifestyle changes in our spiritual life. So I'm very excited to get going on that next year. God has been giving me topics and I've been doing so much thinking. And today he actually guided me toward an app that I can use to finally take down audio notes so I can make recordings. I know back in the day we used to use a voice recorder, but then I need to be able to see my notes too, not just rewind them and listen to them. I just need to be able to speak them. And we have technology for that now.
00:03:32
Speaker
And so I was able to do that today, even on my phone. And the last couple of days, I've been able to get some topics written down as well as as the Lord leads.
00:03:43
Speaker
So thank you so much, Zakiya, for your prayers on that. I have been meaning to thank you for the past couple of days. But today I really had you on my mind ah as God was making a lot of ideas ah come forward.
00:03:58
Speaker
So I am very excited about next year as well. but Well, let's head into our reading and pick up where we left off yesterday.
Faith and God's Timing
00:04:10
Speaker
Now, as we read yesterday, we were we were learning about faith and the great amount of faith that the people in the Bible that we have read about had. And we talked about how faith looks in our own lives. And I wanted to add a little bit to my my witness statement yesterday when I was talking about the example of of where I am utilizing faith in my life. And I was talking about the timing and just waiting and being patient for God's timing while I wait for um our vehicle to be paid for for the damage.
00:04:47
Speaker
But you know what? I was for thinking to today. i was i did not remember yesterday. We know we can't remember everything all the time. But I was remembering again today what a blessing it was that God worked so much good into that accident.
00:05:04
Speaker
there were There were just so many things. um One, it was just a great I could see so many different things. You know, I don't want to go into all of them, but i because I don't want to take up a lot of time for that. But God was working good into all of it. and And I was actually glad to be rid of the car.
00:05:26
Speaker
It was getting to the point where it was needing more stuff. And, you know, cars are not an asset. They are a liability. And so they always cost you money. They don't make you money.
00:05:39
Speaker
ah You might use it to get to work, but the car is not making you any money. So it was at the point where that vehicle was really, i was tired of the liability from it. And so it was actually a blessing because it happened before we had to pay the registration.
00:05:56
Speaker
So we did not need to come up with money for registration. And it was um just really a blessing. i was actually quite pleased that we got rid of the vehicle also because God provided for that as well.
00:06:10
Speaker
When I was frustrated that it was not being taken away ah because the policy could not afford to remove our vehicle. I was, of course, first very irritated by that because then I had to deal with it.
00:06:23
Speaker
But I trusted God to that he was going to work good into it. And he did. He worked good into it. And I found a place that was able to come and pick it up. And then otherwise we would have had no money for the car yet. And so they took it away and they paid us for the car.
00:06:44
Speaker
and And I was able to pay some bills with that money. So it was really quite a blessing. So even things that look bad, We need to have faith that God is going to work good into them.
Summary of Hebrews Chapter 12
00:06:58
Speaker
And I am just seeing it so much in my own life that ah I just I wanted to encourage you again to have faith in things as and it will come into play with our conversation today with our reading as well.
00:07:13
Speaker
That while we cannot always see the good that is going to come out of it, as we talked about yesterday, the people in the Bible, they didn't get to see the promises that God had made. They just trusted that God would fulfill his promises. And he did.
00:07:29
Speaker
He brought Jesus. It wasn't for a very long time, but he did. And he honored the promise that he made way back in the beginning to Abraham.
00:07:40
Speaker
That's a long time it seems like to wait for a promise, but we need to remember that God's timing is not like our timing because God is forever. He always has been here and he always will be here.
00:07:53
Speaker
And it can be harder for us because we are what we call finite. But despite the fact that we are finite, which means that we do not live forever in our physical body, we will be finite when we get to our spiritual form.
00:08:07
Speaker
Isn't that amazing? we will eventually live forever. So that's awesome. Now, we did not always exist. So we don't have that in common with God, but we will exist forever with him in heaven.
00:08:23
Speaker
And so we need to be able to trust that that God is working good into everything, even things that seem like they are bad. like when my husband had his stroke.
00:08:34
Speaker
Who would have thought that would have been a good thing? But God worked a lot of good into that event, and it actually strengthened our marriage as one big thing. So leaving off with that thought, we're going to enter into today's reading, where we talk about the fact, it says, our author in Hebrews says in chapter 12, there are people all around us.
00:09:01
Speaker
These people are like a big cloud of people and they have seen it all. So let's toss away the things that keep us from moving on.
00:09:12
Speaker
Let's get rid of sin. It's so easy to get mixed up in sin. Life is like a race. So let's run for the race that God has made for us.
00:09:26
Speaker
Let's keep on running no matter what. And let's keep looking at Jesus. We would call that keeping our eye on the prize.
00:09:37
Speaker
And that's where it fits in with yesterday's reading. We're talking about, when we talk about faith and having faith that God will work good into it, we are looking at the big picture.
00:09:51
Speaker
Life is not a sprint. It is a marathon. So we don't want to grow tired of doing good. We don't want to get tired of waiting for God to do things.
00:10:04
Speaker
We need to remember that we are doing what is called playing the long game. And that's what the author of Hebrews is describing to us here. Life is like a race.
00:10:16
Speaker
So let's run the race that God has made for us. And let's keep on running, no matter what. Let's keep looking at Jesus. Our faith started with him, and he will help us keep our faith all the way.
00:10:34
Speaker
Jesus saw the joy that was waiting for him, so he kept on going, even to the cross. He didn't care that it made him look bad.
00:10:45
Speaker
When it was all over, he sat down beside God, and he is sitting at the king's right side. Jesus himself was looking at the big picture.
00:10:57
Speaker
He kept his eye on the prize. And guess what? Our salvation was the prize that Jesus was looking toward.
00:11:10
Speaker
Jesus told us that very few people would be willing to give their own life to save a good person, a righteous person. But who would so who would take their life and give it to somebody who was not a good person?
00:11:27
Speaker
Jesus came and and saved us from our sins while we were still naughty, while we were still sinners. There was nothing that could change that fact. If he had waited for us to not be sinners anymore, he would still be waiting.
00:11:42
Speaker
But he didn't. He kept his eye on the prize that even while we were still separated from God, he was when it was willing to go all the way to the cross for us because our salvation was his end goal to reconcile us with God.
00:12:03
Speaker
So think about Jesus. Many sinful people were against him. And think about him so you won't get tired. Think about him so you won't give up.
00:12:17
Speaker
You have been fighting against sin, but you haven't lost any blood over it. And don't forget Solomon's wise saying that will help you feel better.
00:12:29
Speaker
It calls you children. My children, know that it is important when God trains you. Don't give up when he points out something you did wrong.
00:12:44
Speaker
Fathers train their children. Everybody is trained in some way. So if you're not trained, then you would not really be God's children. We've all had human fathers.
00:12:58
Speaker
We looked up to them when they trained us. And God is our father of our spirits. So it's even more important to let him train us.
00:13:10
Speaker
Our fathers trained us for a while, and they did it in the way they thought was good. But God trains us so that we can be sinless like he is.
00:13:23
Speaker
That's very important concept to remember. God disciplines us because he is training us. He is training us to be sinless.
00:13:34
Speaker
He is training us to know and do and know the difference between right and wrong and to choose to do what is right. Not because we have to, but because we understand that it is the best choice.
00:13:51
Speaker
We know what it feels like when we see somebody about to do something that we know is going to hurt them. or it could be hurting them right now. And we want to tell them to stop and we might tell them to stop. This is not a good idea. This is foolish. Look what you're doing to yourself. And yet they do it anyways.
00:14:11
Speaker
It hurts us when we see people making these kinds of mistakes. How much more so does it hurt our Father in heaven when he sees us making choices to to do sinful behaviors, to engage in them, to repeatedly engage in them, and to keep choosing sinful behaviors rather than choosing the right decisions?
00:14:40
Speaker
It hurts him even more than it hurts us when we see somebody doing something that we know is hurting them or will hurt them when they do it. And then to see them do it and see them get hurt anyways, despite the fact that you told them not to do it.
00:14:59
Speaker
God hurts even more when we make those bad decisions. So we need to think about God. And remember that when we are being trained, it may not seem fun and it might be hard.
00:15:13
Speaker
But later, later we see the good that it does. People who have been trained know and do what is right. They have shalom.
00:15:27
Speaker
So make your arms strong. Make your knees strong. And try your best to live in shalom with everyone. And try not to sin.
00:15:40
Speaker
People who live in sin won't see God. Make sure nobody misses God's kind love. And don't let anger grow and get you into trouble.
00:15:52
Speaker
It can hurt many people.
00:15:55
Speaker
Make sure that nobody sins with sex. Make sure no one turns away from God. You have not come to a mountain that you can touch.
00:16:07
Speaker
You have not come to a mountain burning with fire. You have not come to the dark or to fog. You haven't come to the storm.
00:16:19
Speaker
You have not come to cut to the call of a horn. That happened when Moses went up the mountain. And Moses said, I am shaking with fear but you have come to God's land.
00:16:36
Speaker
It's the Jerusalem of heaven, and it is the city of the living God. You have come to thousands and thousands of angels.
00:16:48
Speaker
They are meeting together, and they are full of joy. You have come to Jesus' church, and the names are written in heaven.
00:17:00
Speaker
You have come to God, and he will judge all people. You have come to the spirits of people, and there these are people who are right with God.
00:17:15
Speaker
He has made their hearts clean and spotless. You have come to Jesus. He is in the middle between us and God.
00:17:28
Speaker
Making the new promise work. Don't turn away from the one who is talking to you. On earth, God told people what was coming.
00:17:40
Speaker
They did not listen, so they got into trouble. Now God is telling us from heaven what is coming. What if we don't listen? Well, then we are going to get into trouble too.
00:17:55
Speaker
Long ago, God's voice made the earth shake. Now he makes us another promise. I will shake the earth one more time.
00:18:07
Speaker
But I won't just shake the earth. I will shake all of space too.
00:18:15
Speaker
Our writer of Hebrews is referring to the book of Haggai, chapter 2, verse 6. He is quoting that when he said that.
00:18:26
Speaker
And then he the writer of Hebrews goes on to explain, God says one more time. That means he is he will get rid of whatever shakes.
00:18:38
Speaker
If something can shake, that means that it's not firm. Things that don't shake can stay. We have a kingdom that will not shake.
00:18:51
Speaker
So we should thank God. We should worship him and tell him how great he is and tell others how great he is. We should wonder at his greatness.
Lessons on Love and Empathy
00:19:05
Speaker
God is's like a burning fire.
00:19:11
Speaker
Keep loving each other and love like a family. Don't forget to welcome people that you don't know because some people have welcomed strangers and they didn't know that they were really welcoming angels.
00:19:26
Speaker
Remember people who are in jail and feel bad for them as if you were in jail too. We call that having sympathy or empathy for people.
00:19:38
Speaker
Remember people who are hurting and feel bad for them as if you were hurting too. There's more empathy. It's important to be empathetic towards one another.
00:19:52
Speaker
People should show how special it is to be married. They should have sex only with the one that they are married to, because God will judge people who sin with sex.
00:20:05
Speaker
Do not love money. Be happy with what you have. God has given us a promise. He says, i will never leave you.
00:20:17
Speaker
So we say what the psalm says. God helps me and i won't be afraid. What can people do to me? Remember your leaders because they told you God's word and think about how their lives would will turn out and try to have a faith like theirs.
00:20:39
Speaker
Imitate their faith.
00:20:43
Speaker
Jesus is the same today as he was yesterday. He will always be the same. Do not follow strange teachings.
00:20:54
Speaker
Special foods cannot make our faith strong. Our faith gets strong from God's kind love.
00:21:03
Speaker
Jesus died outside the city. That is how the leaders showed that he was not important to them. But let's follow Jesus anyways.
00:21:15
Speaker
It's all right for people to think that we're not important. Cities here on earth don't last. But Jesus' is heavenly city does last.
00:21:26
Speaker
That is where we are headed.
00:21:31
Speaker
Let's keep giving God a gift of praise. Let's tell who he is. Don't forget to do good things. Share with other people.
00:21:43
Speaker
do you hear that, kids? Share. we need to share with one another. Do we hear that, grownups? Sometimes we grownups think that once we have something and we grow up, we think we don't have to share anymore. We think it's ours.
00:21:58
Speaker
But we need to share things because everything we have comes from God. That's very important. We need to remember to share The author of Hebrews is not talking to little kids.
00:22:13
Speaker
He is talking to grown-ups. Share with other people. Be good sharers. God likes those kinds of gifts.
00:22:25
Speaker
If it makes God happy, shouldn't we want to do it?
00:22:32
Speaker
Obey your leaders and let them lead you. They watch over you. They have to answer for what happens to you. So obey them.
00:22:43
Speaker
And that way they will be happy with their work. Their work won't be too hard for them. If their work is too hard, then that is not good for you.
00:22:57
Speaker
Pray for us. We are sure that we are living the right way. We want people to be able to look up to us. So pray that I can come back to you soon.
00:23:10
Speaker
God is a God of shalom. He made Jesus come back to life again. Jesus is like the main shepherd, and we are his sheep.
Conclusion of Hebrews and Author Speculation
00:23:25
Speaker
Timothy is out of jail now. He may come to see me soon, and then we will both come to see you. Tell all of your leaders hello, and say hi to all of God's people there.
00:23:38
Speaker
God's people here in Italy say to tell you all hello.
00:23:44
Speaker
And the author did not sign his name at the end of the letter. So we don't know who wrote it. i think it was not Paul because Paul has said in each of his letters, this is the way I sign my name.
00:23:59
Speaker
This is how I include my letters. So it could have been Apollos or somebody else. We don't know. But we do know that they were in Italy when they wrote that letter and sent it to the Hebrew people.
00:24:15
Speaker
And that's why it's called Hebrews. And that is the end of our reading today. Well, I hope that you enjoyed the reading today and finishing the book of Hebrews.
00:24:28
Speaker
There is so much good information in there today. I really loved it. I wanted to give us some thoughts on this idea of a marathon training.
00:24:40
Speaker
When people compete in the Olympics, no matter what event they are competing in, they have to keep their eye on the goal. They have to keep going. They have to keep pushing. They have to keep working really hard. They can't just get close to the finish line and then stop or slow down.
00:25:02
Speaker
They have to keep pushing as hard as they can because they are in a competition. Now, we are not competing against one another. But the idea is is the same, is that, for instance, in a race, which is what our author is comparing it to, we have to keep running.
00:25:23
Speaker
You're never going to make it to the end of the race if you stop. And not only that, but every person who is competing has a coach.
00:25:35
Speaker
They take their coach with them. They don't just dismiss the coach because now they're at the Olympics. Athletes take their coaches with them to the Olympics.
00:25:47
Speaker
And the coach still coaches them. Wouldn't you think they know how to run by now? Or that they know how to do gymnastics? The coach is there for many reasons, not just for training.
00:26:01
Speaker
The coach gives feedback. The coach gives encouragement. And guess what? Our Father in heaven is the one who trains us.
00:26:11
Speaker
He is training us to be sinless like him. Our big Bible says holy. Our God is training us. And we never stop training.
00:26:23
Speaker
Even though we may think we're at the Olympics. This is the big game. This is the big race. This is the big one for all time. I'm going to take home the gold. Go for the gold. Go for the gold. Go for the gold.
00:26:39
Speaker
The gold is the treasures in heaven where it neither rust nor moth destroy. We need to keep our eye on Jesus.
00:26:51
Speaker
He is the greatest treasure. And we need to remember to keep God, our coach, with us. He keeps training us all the way to the end. We never stop spiritually growing.
00:27:04
Speaker
We shouldn't. We may stop physically growing, but spiritually, we never stop growing. We always need training from God.
00:27:15
Speaker
And he will continue to train us until the day he brings us home. Because we are not going to reach perfection here on earth. We have to keep working at it.
00:27:27
Speaker
And he gives us encouragement with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a comforter. He gives us strength to keep going through Jesus.
00:27:38
Speaker
And he trains us. He teaches us right from wrong. So we can make the right decisions. And it's tough along the way. That race is tough. It's hard. It's long. It seems to go on forever. The longer we live, the longer the race.
00:27:54
Speaker
But we are not to grow tired from it. He will strengthen us and keep us going. We just need to continue to have faith that there is a bigger picture than what we can see in this race.
00:28:09
Speaker
We know that that prize is far off. We don't know the day or time that we will reach our end goal. Only God knows the number of our days. So we need to keep pushing on, remembering that there is a big picture.
00:28:25
Speaker
And we've been learning about the whole big picture this year as we've read through the Day by Day Kids Bible.
Big Picture Perspective and Spiritual Battles
00:28:31
Speaker
This Bible has given us a great learning lesson in how to view the big picture in everything we are reading.
00:28:41
Speaker
We didn't get lost with the forest because of all the many trees. We are keeping in mind that there is a big forest and that all the actions that we take are little bits of the race that are going to keep us going forward.
00:28:58
Speaker
Everything that we do, we are strengthening ourselves. We are strengthening not just ourselves, but we learned recently that it actually strengthens the entire body.
00:29:09
Speaker
When we are getting stronger individually, the whole body is growing stronger collectively. That's big picture thinking.
00:29:21
Speaker
We need to remember that there is a bigger picture even than what we can see. Because we are fighting spiritual battles. These are not just physical battles. These are spiritual battles.
00:29:33
Speaker
So the wins that we are making here are actually bigger because they are spiritual battles. We are overcoming sin. We are overcoming spirits that want to hurt us, that want us to make bad decisions.
00:29:52
Speaker
Everything we do as is bigger than we could ever imagine it to be. And we need to keep that in mind because it can be difficult to see the big picture and take a step back when we are living microscopically in the in the present.
00:30:10
Speaker
But we can do it. And I know you can too.
00:30:15
Speaker
So that's our reading for today. i hope that you are encouraged and will remember the big picture as you go forward, not just this year, but as you continue to learn and grow in God's word all throughout your life.
00:30:31
Speaker
I have a prayer that I wanted to include for us today that comes out of the book of Hebrews chapter 13. But before we do, i would like to encourage you today to click your light button. It looks like a thumbs up. It looks like a heart. It looks like a follow, a share, a subscribe if you have not done so already.
00:30:51
Speaker
And we when we do that, it helps us to spread the word about reading God's word. We are the light in the world. Just like our menorah here reminds us with the center light, the Hamash.
00:31:06
Speaker
I think I mispronounced it yesterday. i was so tired. I think I called it the Shamash, but it's a Hamash. Like you can spell Hanukkah with a CH and it's still pronounced Hanukkah, not Chanukkah. This is the Hamash light.
00:31:22
Speaker
It is Hebrew for servant. This is the light that serves. It lights each of the lights along with it. And if one blows out, it is ready to serve again, to relight the light that has gone out.
00:31:41
Speaker
Just like Jesus, he is the servant. He is our servant light. He keeps our lights burning. He is what causes us to be the light of the world because it is his light that is shining through us.
00:31:59
Speaker
So much symbolism. I love it. And while that was not the original intent of Hanukkah, to consider Jesus as the Hamash, we know that everything has greater purpose and greater meaning.
00:32:15
Speaker
And I am so thankful to be celebrating the Festival of Lights. And I'm thankful to have it available to show and share with you.
Hanukkah's Symbolism and Closing Prayer
00:32:24
Speaker
So one of the main phrases for Hanukkah is a remembrance is to be the light in the world.
00:32:31
Speaker
In a world of darkness, be a light.
00:32:37
Speaker
I'm going to pray over us today before we conclude our daily reading.
00:32:45
Speaker
And this is found in the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 20. verse twenty And it says, and i'm gonna ah I'm going to paraphrase a little bit. I'm going to modify it just slightly for for our reading today.
00:33:00
Speaker
I don't want to make it too long because we do have younger viewers. and I don't want it to be too complicated. Now may the God of Shalom make you complete in every good thing to do his will.
00:33:21
Speaker
accomplishing in you what is pleasing in his sight through Messiah Jesus. To God be the glory forever and ever.
00:33:35
Speaker
Amen.
00:33:38
Speaker
Thank you for joining me to- today. I will see you next time.