60IN60 Day 27 - Sat Dec 2

It's Day 27 and we're in John 12.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 10 - Rather than taking the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus as clear evidence of Jesus' divinity, the Pharisees instead plan to kill Lazarus. Crazy blindness. How often do I miss out on God's power and direction because I've decided ahead of time what I will do?

Help:
- Verses 7-8 - This is not an excuse to neglect the poor, but merely a statement that the present situation they found themselves in was an unusual one that merited the expensive sacrifice.
- Verses 20-26 - Jesus doesn't seem to directly answer their question. What's going on? If I had to summarize it, I would say that what Jesus had in mind is something like this: it's good that they want to talk to Me, but the time for talking is behind now and instead it's the time for My to pursue the action of going to the cross.
- Verse 25 - What does this mean? It means that rather than always pursuing what I want as the vision of my life, instead I need to be willing to pursue what God is calling me to do in order to see His abundant life. I have to "die to self" and instead of living for what I want, I live for what Jesus instructed.
- Verse 40 - This does not mean that God forced them into their blindness. It means that they were intentionally rejecting what He was saying (see verse 20-26) and so He gave them over to their desires, which resulted in spiritual blindness.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 26 - Fri Dec 1

It's Day 26 and we're in John 11.

One reason to be in the Bible regularly? It helps you avoid nonsense. There are so many different ideas out there today about God. It's important that we base our image of God on who He said He is, not what other people wish He was. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 5 - He loved them. Not "He put up with them," but He loved them. For some reason that just kind of hit me anew: that He doesn't just put up with us - He loves us.

Help:
- Verse 26 - He means that we will never die spiritually.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 25 - Thurs Nov 30

It's Day 25 and we're in John 10.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 28 - We are sometimes so focused on the blessings that He gives us in this life that we fail to recognize what an enormous gift this is: eternal life!

Help:
- Verse 16 - "not of this sheep pen" - We know from the book of Acts that this is a reference to the fact that Jesus intended this salvation to extend to the Gentiles (i.e. the non-Jews; i.e. us). Down through the years, various cults have tried to use this verse to argue that He was referring to them.
- Verse 17-18 - This is a reference to His death and resurrection.
- Verse 34 - This is an obscure verse. I have not found an interpretation yet that satisfies me, but I'll keep looking.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 24 - Wed Nov 29

It's Day 24 and we're in John 9.

As you read, listen for where God wants to speak to you. What jumps out to you? What speaks to situations you're dealing with right now? 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 16 - The inability to see what was right in front of them is amazing. It's so easy to get focused on the way that we think God is required to act (according to the rules we've made up for Him in our religion) and miss out on things He's doing that are outside that.

Help:
- Verses 2-3 - It was widely taught by the Jewish leaders that all tragedy came directly from the sin of that person (or maybe their parents). Jesus denies that idea.
- Verses 6-7 - Why did Jesus do the healing this way? We don't know. He does healings in different ways: sometimes instantaneous, sometimes having someone go wash in a pool, sometimes total, sometimes in stages, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately. The main thing I draw out of that is that Jesus works His miracles differently in different situations. That means the miracle that He does in your life today is not necessarily the way He's going to do a miracle in my life tomorrow.
- Verse 34 - Again, the Jewish leaders presume that this man had to be a terrible sinner because he had been blind. They believed his sin (or his parent's sin) had caused it. Jesus denied that idea.
- Verse 39 - What does this mean? He saying, "I've come into the world so that those who think they can see - I'm looking at you, religious leaders - will discover their actually spiritually blind, and I've come that those who know they're spiritually blind - like the tax collectors and prostitutes - will have a chance to gain spiritual sight."

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 23 - Tues Nov 28

It's Day 23 and we're in John 8.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Verse 31 - Such an important idea: it's not just saying we like Jesus that makes us a disciple, but that we "hold to [His] teaching." That is, that we live out what He told us to do.

Help:
- Verses 58-59 - The phrase "I AM" was one of the names that God chose for Himself in the Old Testament. When Jesus said this, He was claiming to be God. To His enemies, that was blasphemy (because they didn't believe that He was God) and worthy of stoning.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 22 - Mon Nov 27

It's Day 22 and we're in Esther 10.

We have lots of excuses for why we don't read the Bible: "I'm too busy," "I don't know where to start," "I tried it once and got confused," "I just never got around to it." I hope "60IN60" helps you to be able to overcome those excuses and experience a rewarding time in the Word. 

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing really jumped out to me today.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.

60IN60 Day 21 - Sun Nov 26

It's Day 21 and we're in Esther 9.

Where God Spoke To Me:
- Nothing really jumped out to me today.

Help:
- Verses 1-2, 16 - Obviously there was a significant anti-Semitic sentiment within the kingdom. The Jews have to defend themselves.
- Verse 13 - They were already dead. Being hanged was just to make a point.

If you want to read the chapter online, here's a link.

If you have a question or comment, email me at butcher@ymail.com.