Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
December 25 Daily Reading- Read the Bible in 1 year
11 Plays4 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 continue reading the Book of Revelation, Chapters 9 and 10. We will also re-read Revelation 3:19-22, Hebrews 12:4-11, and 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 in understanding today's reading and daily application.
Today's reading and discussion will continue the theme of what we spoke about yesterday- God is so gracious and forgiving. Even during the difficult times on earth that we are reading about in Revelation God is disciplining the people on earth in order to grieve them into seeing their sinful behavior, with the goal that people will turn to Him and Jesus for salvation. We will look at several passages in the Bible that we have read this year as we understand and remember the big picture of how God uses discipline to cause us to want to confess our sin and seek His forgiveness, with the goal to restore us to Himself! We will be encouraged today that that although discipline is painful, it actually serves to remind us that GOD LOVES US! If He did not love us He would not bother to discipline us, the same way our physical fathers show(ed) their love for us by disciplining us.
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 already.
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
Christmas Greetings and Reflections
00:00:03
Speaker
Merry Christmas, everybody. Today is December 25th. Together, you and I, we are here for our daily Bible reading through the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley.
00:00:15
Speaker
And I hope that you have had the most wonderful Christmas that absolutely went beyond what your hopes and expectations were.
Personal Experiences of Gratitude and Blessings
00:00:24
Speaker
as compared to any other time.
00:00:27
Speaker
Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year and I love it. It can be so stressful, but then on the day when people are opening their gifts or when you're visiting with family or whether you're enjoying good food or whether you're just thankful that God stopped the the rain so that it didn't flood your house.
00:00:45
Speaker
ah Like me. ah It can just be ah just a wonderful time of the year to be remembering God and Jesus and all that they do for us and the ways that they show their love for us and that we are then capable of showing our love for others as well.
00:01:05
Speaker
I have shared in the past, and if you have not been here for that long, then you may not have heard me talk about the fact that where I live in San Diego, I live in the like a country area, and it can flood.
00:01:17
Speaker
And it has flooded, and usually into my bedroom because it is a lower portion of the house. Because ah before we bought the house, it was a bedroom garage. conversion from a part of the garage. So it sits lower than the rest of the house. And ah when we have a lot of rain that overflows from the natural creek and the watershed, the water direction that goes beyond the property behind mine,
00:01:44
Speaker
it ah will come up and then eventually flood into my bedroom. And God has protected me this year and last year for a a couple of years. They tend to happen seasonally every couple of years. But God has protected me in the past couple of times. And even when it did flood, it was not nearly as bad as it could have been. And I was very thankful for that.
00:02:09
Speaker
And this past year, when we have ah been under threat of flood, I have prayed for just the right amount of rain. And God has blessed me with honoring that prayer and granting it to me so that we have not experienced great amounts of rain where I am, but just the right amount.
00:02:30
Speaker
And we have historically flooded on Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving, and on Easter. So ah holiday times can be rather stressful for me. but As we deal with other things and then as well as excessive amounts of rain.
00:02:47
Speaker
But God was so good this year. And while I saw that there were many areas that did experience a lot of flooding in California, it did not affect my
God's Blessings and Centrality in Life
00:02:59
Speaker
area. So I am just very grateful and I wanted to share that experience.
00:03:05
Speaker
Praise for God. And because this has been a very good day for me for having a Christmas day, not having to deal with rain. It was actually sunny and bright. And we had lovely weather with all of the windows and doors open.
00:03:19
Speaker
So um I feel very blessed this year in many ways. from God. And i am just very grateful for all of those many blessings. So I hope that you also have experienced a great deal of blessing from God this year as as you have been growing in Him.
00:03:37
Speaker
And I feel like we have had greater blessings because we have been making Him the most important one in our lives. That makes a difference.
00:03:48
Speaker
God, I feel like God has put a seal and that he protects us. And we've learned that this year, that God does that. that he knows our hearts. And i i love that.
00:04:01
Speaker
I love that he's been drawing us to him and teaching us and keeping us very close to him so that we may experience these blessings that he has for us. So I hope that your Christmas has been exceptional and also full of a great deal of blessing that you have readily recognized as blessing from our Lord.
00:04:21
Speaker
And i want to say a shout out to Suzanne. i hope that as well that your holiday was absolutely amazing and wonderful and blessed. Thank you so much for wishing me a happy holiday this year. I saw that just before getting ready to do the recording today. And so I rep replied to your comment, but I appreciate you taking the time to interact with me and to give me that lovely shout out and wishing blessing for my my holiday.
Commitment and Salvation Discussion
00:04:48
Speaker
So thank you for that. And I hope yours was awesome as well.
00:04:53
Speaker
Well, guess what time it is now? It's time to take out our bookmarking commitment calendar. If you are crossing off those days with your sticker or your pen, your pencil, your crayon, your marker, whatever you've got going on, it's time to get it out.
00:05:07
Speaker
It's time to cross off that day because we are going to hear the Bible today.
00:05:18
Speaker
Yesterday we talked about as our daily application that only God and Jesus are able to save us. That there is no other name given under heaven through which we can receive salvation other than Jesus. And that God is so gracious and loving that he wants no one to end up with eternal death, but he wants everyone to come to him and receive eternal life and salvation and forgiveness through Jesus. Today we are going to be continuing along that line as we read and see again God's faithfulness and his his love for for people. We think of discipline as being a difficult thing and and it can be something that when we we don't enjoy.
00:06:08
Speaker
And we have been reading this year, such as in Hebrews, ah where Paul tells us... Well, actually, Hebrews, we don't know who wrote that one. um But in Hebrews, we we read that... "...in our struggles against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
00:06:29
Speaker
And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son?" It says, my son do not make light of the lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastens every one he accepts as his son Now, we know that this is referring to the Israelite people who are already followers of God, but God is gracious and he wants to lead us into repentance. Even those who do not yet know him.
00:07:09
Speaker
Consequences are meant to bring people into reconciliation, into repentance, into being back together with God.
00:07:21
Speaker
Verse 7 goes on to say in Hebrews chapter 12, Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as his children.
00:07:34
Speaker
For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined, then you are not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who have disciplined us and we respected them for it.
00:07:50
Speaker
How much more should we submit to the Father of Spirits and live? They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in His holiness.
00:08:09
Speaker
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Understanding God's Discipline
00:08:24
Speaker
When God was preparing to exile the Israelite nation from Israel and send them into the other lands, it was not something he enjoyed doing.
00:08:35
Speaker
It was something that hurt him. and We read about that. God gave every opportunity for the people to repent, to turn back away from their sins, to be sorry that they had sinned and to confess that so that they could be restored to him in their relationship.
00:08:53
Speaker
But they did not choose to do so. And so there were consequences. But God said that the purpose was that he was then going to have a remnant for himself.
00:09:04
Speaker
He was going to restore the people. So the people who survived and lived through the exile, those who were going to be able to return, would be a people who sought God with all of their hearts, with all of their minds, with all of their soul. And that is the purpose of God's discipline.
00:09:28
Speaker
So we see the consistency. God has always told us, and we will read this in today's reading as well. He doesn't do anything without telling us about it first.
00:09:40
Speaker
He doesn't give discipline without first warning us that we need to turn back. Because there's an old saying that people have, ah not that not that God has given us, that this hurts me more than it hurts you. And we often say that when we're giving a consequence to our child.
00:09:59
Speaker
It hurts us to have to discipline you. it It hurts us. And even in the church, we are meant to discipline. And it hurts us to have to do that. It's not something that we derive pleasure from.
00:10:13
Speaker
and God does not derive pleasure. just like he did not derive pleasure even when he destroyed the world with the flood. And so much so that he said he would never do that again.
00:10:25
Speaker
and he gave the rainbow as a sign of that promise. But he warned Noah that it was coming. So we have a historical basis that we see that God has warned everybody that these things would happen because his goal is that people will repent, will turn away from their sins, and will choose to do good.
00:10:47
Speaker
We see also that even in as we begin the book of Revelation, it starts with those same types of warnings from Jesus. Jesus sent a letter to each of the seven churches in Asia, and he was giving them opportunities to correct their behavior.
00:11:06
Speaker
He wanted them to fix what they were doing wrong. And Jesus told us, I'm going to go back and read it. I've bookmarked several of my readings here so that I can go back to them.
00:11:21
Speaker
Jesus, when he was speaking to church of Philadelphia, he so oh, actually, this one was from, write this to the church in Laodicea. Jesus says, I point out what is wrong for the people I love.
00:11:38
Speaker
I train them in the way that is right. So change, feel it strongly in your heart and start doing right. Now, interestingly, Jesus said that right before he said, i am here.
00:11:54
Speaker
It's like I am standing at your door and tapping on it. I am calling for you. Hear my voice. Open the door of your heart and I will come in.
00:12:07
Speaker
and i will be with you and you can be with me. Keep on following me no matter what. And then you can sit with me where I rule as king.
00:12:20
Speaker
Follow me like I kept following my father. i sat down with my father and I sat where he rules with king as king. Do you have ears?
00:12:32
Speaker
Then listen to what the Spirit tells the churches. So while this message was specifically given to the church who was already a believer,
00:12:43
Speaker
We know that that message is still true for those who are not yet believers. Jesus stands at the door and is knocking. He wants to come in.
00:12:55
Speaker
And so we see that this is still going on in today's reading when we pick up in Revelation 9 and 10. That as we get to the opening of the, or not the opening, we've already had the opening of the scrolls of the seals of the scroll.
00:13:12
Speaker
but we are now on the seven trumpets that are being blown, which were ah opened by the seventh seal. And as he as he releases additional consequences, we are seeing in today's reading that God's goal was still for people to see that they were doing wrong and to be sorry for their sins and turn to him.
00:13:39
Speaker
That is God's goal. God loves everybody and he is looking for everybody to come to repentance, even through consequences. So while God is giving discipline to the earth,
00:13:54
Speaker
It is because he loves people and he still wants us to come to him. So if you are experiencing, if this is being listened to in the future, because you never know how how long these things are going to stay around on YouTube where they can be found or on Pandora or on iHeartRadio. This is on Spotify and Amazon Music. So I don't know where God will let this be heard or when, but I wanted to be sure and leave these encouraging messages.
00:14:24
Speaker
For those in the future, like a time capsule, to know that when we you are experiencing these things on the earth, God wants you to turn to him.
00:14:37
Speaker
I have one other verse I wanted to read here out of 2 Corinthians chapter 7, where Paul was writing to the church in Corinth.
00:14:54
Speaker
and he he was giving them ah he was he was acknowledging their sins he was giving them a rebuke and he was telling them what they needed to do and as that was in his first letter and he saw that they responded to that so i'm going to read that both out of our version and then out of the big bible paul says that i am happy i says i am not happy because you were sad but I am happy that your sadness led you to change and do right.
00:15:30
Speaker
See what being sorry in a godly way has done for you? You want very much to be clean and good, and you are upset by sin. It scares you.
00:15:43
Speaker
You want very much to do what is right. That's the goal of discipline is so that we can be afraid of sin and instead change and do what is right. I'm going to read that out of our big Bible because it is pretty awesome. i It's very, it's just, it's little a little richer. It has a little bit more to it.
00:16:12
Speaker
Paul says, even if i made you grieve with my letter i do not regret it though i did regret it for i see that that letter grieved you though only for a while as it is i rejoice not because you were grieved but because you were grieved into repenting for you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief it produces death.
00:16:55
Speaker
So with these understandings in mind, we are learning the big picture this year. So I wanted us to remember that big picture before we head into Revelation chapters nine and 10 and have the idea in mind as we read that we are looking at the big picture of God looking for restoration.
00:17:19
Speaker
God is looking for people to be restored to him. He's not just simply wiping out the whole earth like in a flood like he did. And he said he wouldn't do that again. And he's not.
00:17:31
Speaker
See, the difference is that God did not send a lot of warning to a lot of people for the flood. He told Noah, he says he went through the earth and he could find no one.
00:17:45
Speaker
He found Noah. So in that day, he did not issue a lot of worldwide oh um warning.
00:17:57
Speaker
And now he is always making sure to do that. He wiped everything out. And just as Jesus said, he said in the days leading up to the flood, the people were marrying and giving in marriage and eating and drinking. And it will still be the same way when he comes again.
Revelation's Messages and Warnings
00:18:15
Speaker
but it doesn't need to be. Because God has given us lots of warning ahead of time, the same way he did before he exiled the Israelites before he did that.
00:18:29
Speaker
So here we go. That's a long preamble to our reading today, but I wanted us to have understanding of of what we are reading today so we can have the proper light in which to receive it. Because remember, we don't want to get bogged down by all of the details. We're not going through every tree in the forest. We are getting an aerial shot and a big view of of ah what is going on and understanding why things are happening.
00:19:01
Speaker
I'm going to remind us what we read yesterday, where paul ah not paul sorry John heard an eagle flying in the air, and it called out loudly, how terrible, how terrible for you people on earth.
00:19:17
Speaker
The next three angels are going to blow their horns. The fifth angel blew his horn, and then i saw a star,
00:19:28
Speaker
It had fallen out of the sky and it was on the earth. The star had a key and the key was for the tunnel into the bottomless pit.
00:19:42
Speaker
The star opened the bottomless pit. Smoke came up out of it and it was like smoke from a huge fireplace. The smoke made the sun and the sky dark.
00:19:58
Speaker
Big grasshoppers called locusts came out of the smoke, and they came down onto the earth. They had power like earth scorpions, and they were not allowed to hurt grass, plants, or trees.
00:20:14
Speaker
But they could hurt hurt people who did not have God's seal. Remember yesterday we read that no one was going to be hurt until God's angel went out and put a seal on 12,000, one 12,000 from every 12th tribe for a total of 144,000 people.
00:20:35
Speaker
So those people had the seal.
00:20:40
Speaker
They could not hurt the people who did not have, they could hurt people who did not have God's seal. Sorry about that. They could not kill the people, but they could make them hurt for five months.
00:20:56
Speaker
And the pain was like scorpion sting. When all of this happens, people will want to die, but they won't be able to.
00:21:08
Speaker
The locusts looked like horses who were ready to fight. They wore something on their heads that looked like golden crowns. and their faces looked like people.
00:21:21
Speaker
And their hair looked like women's hair. They had lion's teeth, and they had vests over their chests. These looked like iron.
00:21:33
Speaker
The locusts flew, and their wings sounded like horses and chariots. They sounded like thundering horses running out to fight. They had tails like scorpions.
00:21:46
Speaker
They had stings like scorpions. And their king was the angel of the bottomless pit. That is the first terrible thing.
00:21:59
Speaker
Our Big Bible calls that the first woe. The other two woes are still going to come. The sixth angel blew his horn.
00:22:12
Speaker
And then a voice spoke. It came from between the corners of the gold altar. Four angels are tied up at the Euphrates River.
00:22:23
Speaker
Let them go, said the voice. And so it happened. The four angels had been waiting for this time.
00:22:35
Speaker
They went out and they killed some of the people on earth. I saw horses and their riders. I heard that there were 200 million of them.
00:22:48
Speaker
It was like a dream, but i was awake. The vests that the riders wore were red, dark blue, and yellow.
00:23:00
Speaker
The horses' heads looked like lions' heads. Fire, smoke, and yellow acid came out of their mouths.
00:23:12
Speaker
Some people were killed by that fire, smoke, and yellow acid. And the horses' power was in their mouths and tails. And their tails were like snakes.
00:23:27
Speaker
Their tails had heads so they could hurt people.
00:23:32
Speaker
The rest of the people were not killed by these. They were still not sorry for their sins. They did not stop worshipping bad spirits.
00:23:44
Speaker
They worshipped gold, silver, metal, stone, and wood idols. These idols cannot see or hear or walk. The people did not stop killing.
00:23:57
Speaker
They did not turn away from sinful magic. They did not stop using sex in a wrong way. They did not stop stealing.
00:24:13
Speaker
Then another strong angel came down from heaven. He was wearing a cloud. a rainbow was above his head, and he looked like the sun.
00:24:26
Speaker
His legs looked like posts of fire. He held a small roll of paper called a scroll and the paper was open in his hand.
00:24:39
Speaker
The angel put his right foot on the sea and he put his left foot on the land. He shouted so loud, it sounded like a roaring lion. And then seven thunders talked.
00:24:56
Speaker
And when they talked, I was going to write, but a voice from heaven said, don't write it down. Close and lock what the seven thunders said.
00:25:10
Speaker
Then there was the angel with his feet on the land and the sea, and he held up his right hand. He made a promise in God's name.
00:25:22
Speaker
Now God lives for forever and ever. He made the sky and all of the space and everything in it. He made the earth and everything in it.
00:25:35
Speaker
He made the sea and everything in it. And so the angel promised in God's name. There will be no more waiting, he said.
00:25:48
Speaker
The last angel will blow his horn and then God's mystery will be done. It will be just like he told his prophets.
00:26:01
Speaker
Then the voice from heaven said to me, go, take the roll of paper from the angel. So I went to the angel and I asked him to give me the roll of paper.
00:26:15
Speaker
He said, take it, eat it. It will make your stomach feel sour. but it will taste as sweet as honey in your mouth.
00:26:27
Speaker
I took the small scroll of paper and I ate it. It did taste as sweet as honey in my mouth, but after I ate it, my stomach felt sour.
00:26:40
Speaker
Then a voice said, you must tell God's plans again. We call that prophecy. Tell God's plans for people, nations, languages, and kings.
00:26:57
Speaker
John was told that he must prophesy again. And
Repentance and Reflection in Faith
00:27:01
Speaker
that is the end of our reading today.
00:27:09
Speaker
So I hope that you had a understanding as as you heard what we read today from Revelation 9 and 10, that we have the... angel who was the fifth angel who blew his horn and big grasshoppers called locusts came out of the smoke that he opened from the bottomless pit and those big locusts were a discipline a consequence the people were not even allowed to die from the pain that they were in they would want to but they would not be allowed to
00:27:46
Speaker
It was reminds reminds us of Job when his friends said, why don't you just curse God and die? and he said, no, like I won't do that. And so he was allowed to experience pain, but he was also brought back into restoration with God after God spoke with him.
00:28:10
Speaker
God is looking for the people to repent. we read that some people were killed by the fire, smoke, and yellow acid that were coming out of the horses' and the riders' mouths.
00:28:24
Speaker
But there were people who were not killed by these, and they still were not sorry for their sins. So although they are met with consequences and discipline for their sinful behaviors, these are not righteous people, I want to point out. These are not people who are trying to do right.
00:28:46
Speaker
These are people who are sinning and they are choosing to sin. They are refusing to come to God. And we know that there will be people who are stubborn. We read about it right here, that throughout all of the discipline, they do not want restoration with God.
00:29:05
Speaker
I know I've heard some people say that, well, if if God allows this to happen, I don't want anything to do with a God like that. God is love and his ways are pure.
00:29:18
Speaker
He is not doing anything out of hate or malicious intent. No discipline is is enjoyable while it's going on. It's painful. But remember, we have been learning that the purpose of discipline is to train us to turn from sin and to do what is right.
00:29:40
Speaker
That is the goal. God is still waiting for people to come to him. He is looking, he's giving them opportunity for them to change their ways.
00:29:53
Speaker
Jesus is standing at the door and tapping, asking to come in of our to the door of our hearts. And people will still be stubborn. They are not accepting God's discipline.
00:30:06
Speaker
So we want to learn from this and be mindful that when we ourselves experience discipline, that we remember that the purpose of discipline is that we change our ways, that we turn away from the things that we are doing wrong so that we can have our relationship restored, whether it is with our parents, whether it is with our church, whether it is with another believer, or whether it is with God.
00:30:35
Speaker
whether it is with Jesus. The point of discipline and is to be restored, to give us godly grief so that we will be sorry for sin and turn back to God.
00:30:51
Speaker
That is the goal. And we want to be mindful of that, not in judgment of one another, because we have been learning this year that discipline is meant to be godly.
00:31:02
Speaker
It is not meant to be done with the intent of hurting one another, but it is meant to build one another up. God is looking to build us up when he when he gives us these consequences.
00:31:16
Speaker
God wants us to be restored to him. Discipline is meant to build one another up, not tear one another down. God is not looking to tear people down.
00:31:28
Speaker
That is not his intent. His goal is to bring restoration and salvation and eternal life. Now, if that's not building up, I don't know what is.
00:31:39
Speaker
To experience forgiveness of sins. If that's not building somebody up, I don't know what is So when we are talking with people, we want to be sure that when we are telling them about God's love, that we remind them that that the discipline that God is sending, it is not to tear down, but to build up, to build up his kingdom, not to tear it down, but to love and to restore.
00:32:12
Speaker
So I hope that you are both concerned for people that are choosing not to be restored and to pray for them. We are meant to pray for others. We've learned in Revelation that our prayers are a sweet smell to God.
00:32:29
Speaker
So we should also remember people to pray for them when they are being stubborn, like I pray for my daughter. She is so stubborn. She wants to be willfully disobedient and disrespectful. And it's difficult for me, but I have to remember to pray for her.
00:32:46
Speaker
And I am so thankful for those who are praying also for her. And I am grateful that those prayers are a sweet smile to God.
00:32:56
Speaker
So as we think of those who are being stubborn, and are being willfully sinful, let us remember to pray for them. And ah so that our prayers will be a sweet smell and that hopefully they will turn and repent and that we can also pray for one another. If
Applying Spiritual Lessons to Life
00:33:17
Speaker
we are having difficulty in reconciliation with a family member, which can be something that we are reminded of during these holiday times, or whether it is a friend that we need to be reconciled to or anybody else, another believer.
00:33:38
Speaker
So I hope that you are encouraged and that you feel that today's daily application is absolutely relevant in your daily life as well. I am enjoying our growth and our learning this year, and I hope that you are too.
00:33:53
Speaker
I know God has been growing me all throughout this year, and I trust that he has been growing you as well, as all of God's word is inspired by God and is useful for teaching and correction.
00:34:05
Speaker
But most of all, for reconciliation with God with and to train us up so that we are prepared to do every good work that God has for us to do.
00:34:18
Speaker
God has such a big picture in mind for us. We don't want to miss out on that. So thank you again for joining me for our daily reading out of the Day by Day Kids Bible written by Karen Henley.
00:34:32
Speaker
As always, I would like to encourage you to click that light button. You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. And together we are shining with Jesus's brightness right through us as we are meant to be the light of the world.
00:34:49
Speaker
let's not try and hide that light under a bowl. ah We are a city on a hill and nothing can hide us. So let's click our light buttons so that we can encourage others to see the event and want to hear God's word so that they too may be encouraged and to know what God has written for us to know because he doesn't do anything without telling us about it.
00:35:11
Speaker
And that is so gracious of him. I hope that you will join me for tomorrow's daily reading. And until we meet again, i hope you have a very blessed day and have a continued enjoying enjoyment of our Christmas holiday season as we remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.
00:35:32
Speaker
See you next time.