The 260 Journey

Day 3 Today’s Reading: Matthew 3 A little brother was jealous that his older brother was getting water baptized and he wasn’t. As his father instructed the older brother on what it meant and how special it was, the little guy left the room in tears because he wasn’t being baptized. His father followed him to find out why he was so upset. When the father asked the four-year-old what was wrong, the little boy said, “I want to be advertised too with my brother on Sunday.” When you get water baptized, you get also get advertised. It is a public declaration. It announces to everyone who you are following. But it doesn’t make you a Christian any more than saying that a wedding ring on your finger makes you married. My wedding ring doesn’t make me married, but it shows people that I am married. The ring is a symbol. And baptism is a symbol. To make it anything more than a symbol is dangerous. Water baptism, whether a spoonful or a tankful will never save anyone. But it is an important second step in our faith journey. Being water baptized differentiates the serious from the casual follower of Jesus. As Max Lucado says, “Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers.” Some call them ordinances of the church, but really, communion and water baptism are mini-dramas of salvation using props—water, bread, and wine. Something very special happens every time one of these mini-dramas take place: they are not just events in the life of the church among believers; they are sacred moments for God to speak to us. That’s what happened to Jesus. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17) God spoke after Jesus was water baptized: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God confirmed family. God confirmed His love. And so when we participate (practicing obedience), we do it because we love God (the motive of our obedience) and to hear God speak to us. God responds, “I love you too.” We all need that Voice out of heaven to speak to us. We live in a world crowded with voices all shouting at us: • You are not good enough! • You are not skinny enough! • You are not good looking enough! • You don’t make enough money! • You are not married! • You don’t have kids! Those voices label you over what I’m not. And yet God tells us, You belong to Me and you are greatly loved. We need to listen to and hear the Voice that Jesus heard at His baptism. As Steven Furtick writes, “The voice you believe will determine the future you experience.” God’s voice is where our identity is found and the searching stops. We can be assured that God’s voice tells us that He loves us and that He is pleased with us. The biggest temptation today is to seek an alternative identity to who God created us to be. We see it in the ways we answer the question, Who am I? • I am what I do—my job and career define me. But when I get old and can no longer do a job and I retire, I lose my identity. • I am what others say about me—people’s words about me have power, especially who is saying it. So I’m good when the talk about me is good, but I lose my identity when it’s negative. • I am what I have—I have a degree, health, good parents, good children, good salary, and security. But when I lose any of those things, I lose my identity. When we participate in the mini-dramas of salvation, we answer the identity question by hearing and embracing God’s voice. He says, You are God’s beloved. Heaven says that about you today. One of my dear friends reminds us, “There’s nothing you can do that will make God stop loving you because there was nothing you did that made God start loving you.” And Proverbs 3:6 tells us: “Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track” (MSG)—because you are His beloved.

Day 2 Today’s Reading: Matthew 2 Obedience to God is such a powerful tool. Obedience to God will always keep you one step ahead of the enemy. Obedience to God brings you blessing. And it brings protection and puts you in the right place at the right time—exactly where God wants you to be. When we don’t obey God, we withhold from ourselves all that God has in store for us. An old friend, Joy Dawson, said this: “Disobeying God is the same as telling Him to hold back all of the blessings that come with obedience. That is not only stupidity, it’s insanity.” We find this idea of being obedient to God in today’s Scripture reading. Jesus has been born, which is epic. But what happens after the Christmas story is epic as well. The magi were heading to the place where Jesus was. They’d come to worship Him and to bring Him gifts. One of my favorite descriptions of their arrival is in verse 10 in the Message paraphrase: “They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!” Think about that. “They were in the right place. They had arrived at the right time.” I want a life like that. I want to be in the right place—at the right time. We only get there one way: by being obedient to God. Too many of us, though, believe we can handle things on their own. As John Maxwell said, “Most Christians are educated way beyond their level of obedience.” I know many people who are (education) smart but not (obedient) wise. Education smart is good and helpful, but it isn’t the same as obedient wise. You can’t become obedient wise through education. When you are wise, you will be at the right place at the right time. And wisdom comes from obedience. Joseph shows us this truth. After the magi leave, Joseph has a dream: After the scholars [the magi] were gone, God’s angel showed up again in Joseph’s dream and commanded, “Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay until further notice. . . . Joseph obeyed (Matthew 2:13, MSG). What happens next is monumental! King Herod, who learned about the Messiah through the magi, when they initially arrived in the area, commanded that every little boy two years old and younger who lived in Bethlehem was to be murdered. Here is the reality: Obedience to God keeps us one step ahead of the enemy. Think about it. Herod wanted to kill Jesus. Before that happened—first God gave Joseph a dream that told him to leave. And then—second—Herod sends his men on a killing spree. Because God called Joseph to obedience before Herod’s plan was enacted, and because Joseph obeyed, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were able to flee Bethlehem and find safety in Egypt. It was a forty-mile journey for the new family. So they were forty miles ahead of death and destruction, because God is always a first responder. But we have to obey to reap the benefits. As Brother Andrew said, “Whenever, wherever, however You want me, I’ll go. And I’ll begin this very minute. Lord, as I stand up from this place, and as I take my first step forward, will You consider this is a step toward complete obedience to You? I’ll call it the Step of Yes.” I have experienced this truth in my own life. I have watched it happen with a simple apology. I said something I should not have and the Holy Spirit convicted me and called me to go to that person and apologize. Conviction was my dream. And that apology kept that relationship forty miles ahead of the enemy’s narratives to harm it and kill it. Obedience keeps you and me forty miles ahead of death. Jesus said this about our enemy, the devil: “The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy” every child of God (John 10:10, msg). That’s his mission and his Herod-like plan every day. Obedience to God keeps us ahead of any steal-kill-and-destroy agenda. And when we are one step ahead, we are always in the right place at the right time.

Day 1 Today’s Reading: Matthew 1 The whole of the New Testament starts with today’s reading in Matthew 1. This is the story of stories—and it starts off all wrong. Most adventure stories begin with the wondrous “Once upon a time” so we know we’re in for something truly amazing. That’s the way the New Testament should begin, right? After all, what is more adventurous and exciting than the story of salvation, redemption, hope, and the keys to eternal life? Instead, Matthew starts his book of the same name with a genealogy. Why in the world would he do that? Because this story is not a fairy tale; this story is true. And he wants you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is true. The greatest story ever told starts like a phone book, a long list unpronounceable names. But this is important: Those names tell us that Jesus is real and that He can be traced. This is Jesus’ ancestry.com. What makes this list amazing is that some names in this long list belong to people who had sketchy pasts. Not only did Jesus associate with liars, cheaters, adulterers, murderers, and prostitutes—as we’ll see throughout the Gospels—but Jesus had them in his lineage. And Matthew didn’t even attempt to cover it up! Why does that matter to you and me? Because it shows from the outset that Jesus wants to associate with all of us. No matter what we’ve done or have become, we aren’t beyond His love or reach. I know this is true. Throughout my years of ministry, I have seen hardened prostitutes changed. Too often prostitutes feel irredeemable because their past holds so tightly to them. And yet, no one shows a way out of a past like Rahab, the prostitute who shows up in Jesus’ lineage. Her story is epic, and we see her name in that long list of names in Matthew: “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse” (Matthew 1:5, AMP). This is the Rahab from the Old Testament book of Joshua whose act of saving Hebrew spies got her inducted in Hebrews’ hall of faith (see Hebrews 11:31). She hid them, and when they returned Joshua and the Hebrews conquered Jericho when the walls came crashing down, the only family they saved was Rahab’s. Jesus is associated with a prostitute. Would you expect anything less? Not only was she saved, but she married a Jewish man. Let’s reread Matthew 1:5: “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse.” Salmon and Rahab had Boaz, who married Ruth—of the Old Testament book of Ruth. Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed who had a son named Jesse. And Jesse had a son named David. Not just any David. “Jesse was the father of David the king” (Matthew 1:6 , AMP). Guess who was the great-great grandmother of King David? Rahab, the prostitute, the harlot. A quick thought for today: Almost every time Rahab’s name is mentioned, in both the Old and New Testaments, it says, “Rahab the harlot.” How would you like that, if every time someone said your name, they included with it the worst season of your life? Can you imagine that the worst season of your life is your label and tag line connected to your name? What if it looked like this? (I’ll use my name so I don’t indict anyone!): Tim the thief. Tim the embezzler. Tim the adulterer. Tim the baby aborter. Tim the wife beater. Tim the divorcee. Tim the porn addicted. Tim the alcoholic. Tim the road rager. Tim the unemployed. Think about what label would be after your name. For Rahab, “harlot” connects the past to her. If time heals all wounds, then we wouldn’t need God. Time is not that strong, but God is. There is only one place in the entire Bible where “harlot” or “prostitute” is removed from Rahab’s name: It’s when her name is connected to Jesus in Matthew 1. The only way the past lets go of us is when it is confronted with a future in Jesus. When you are connected to Jesus, the future is bigger and greater than your past. Rahab had a huge past. And could have easily driven her life by the rearview mirror, but something happened to her. She got a windshield bigger than her past. She got Jesus. It’s always easier to drive forward using the windshield than the rearview mirror. With Jesus, we can look ahead and no longer be held back by the labels of our past

Day 260 Today's Reading: Revelation 22 Growing up in my house, if you heard Mom or Day say, “Don’t make me say it again,” you knew that was a clear warning—repetition was a warning. A warning that meant I wasn’t listening to what they said the first time. It could be anything from “Clean your room” to how I said something to my sibling, not heeding the first warning shot would always call for the finale, “Don’t make me say it again.” Today’s chapter closes with repetition. We’ve finally made it to number 260, the final chapter of the New Testament—Revelation 22. What a journey it has been. As the New Testament closes, the apostle John speaks the same words three times. I believe because we forget how important they are. He quotes Jesus in verses 7 and 12: “I am coming quickly.” Then he says it one final time: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (verse 20). Repetition is always a warning for those who do not take it seriously. Repetition also means we weren’t listening the first time, that we did not think it important enough to pause and ponder. Thus John is shooting us one last warning shot before the New Testament closes. One of the ways the early-church Christians greeted and said goodbye to one another was to say, “Maranatha.” That Aramaic word means “The Lord is coming” or “Come Lord Jesus.” What a great challenge for us today to find a way to keep the quick coming of Jesus ever before us. A gardener for a large estate in northern Italy gave a tour to a visitor. He showed him through the castle and the beautiful, well-groomed grounds. The visitor commended him for the beautiful way he kept up the gardens. He asked, “When was the last time the owner was here?” “About ten years ago,” the gardener said. “Then why do you keep the gardens in such an immaculate, lovely manner?” “Because I’m expecting him to return,” the gardener said. “Oh, is he coming next week?” “I don’t know when he is coming,” the gardener replied, “but I am expecting him today.” In chapter 22, Jesus uses in the last chapter of Revelation the title He used in the first chapter of Revelation, “I am the Alpha and the Omega” (verse 13). He is the beginning and the end. Why does He use these two words or, actually, two letters? Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Jesus is saying that He was there at the beginning of everything and He will be there at the end of everything. And now Jesus is really stressing the Omega part here. This is the ending for human history as we know it—judgment, hell, and heaven. God only is Alpha and Omega. We are omega. That means we live forever beyond this life. In Unveiling the End Times in Our Time, Adrian Rogers said this about our omega part: When God created you with a soul, body, and mind, He made you in His image. You could no more cease to exist than God Himself could cease to exist. For all time, your soul will exist somewhere—either in heaven or hell. You have a life to live, a death to die, a judgment to face, and an eternity to endure either in heaven or in hell. And you will not miss hell and go to heaven unless you are twice born. Because He is coming quickly, we must be ready, so the omega part is ready. In Chicago many years ago, there was a nightclub called “The Gates of Hell” that was right downtown. Down the street from this nightclub was a church called Calvary Church. The story goes that a young man wanted to go to that nightclub one evening, so he asked a stranger on the street, “Can you tell me how to get to The Gates of Hell?” The stranger replied, “Go right past Calvary and you’ll come to the Gates of Hell.” You can’t get to hell without going past calvary. God made it possible for all humanity to avoid the gates of hell. Stop at Calvary, and you will be ready for the coming of the Lord. Charles Spurgeon preached something powerful more than a century ago, but it is still so important for us to heed today: “At first He came as an Infant of a span long. Now He shall come—“In rainbow wreath and clouds of storm,” the Glorious One. Then He entered into a manger, now He shall ascend His Throne. Then He sat upon a woman’s knees. . . . Now earth shall be at His feet and the whole universe shall hang upon His everlasting shoulders. Then He appeared the Infant, now the Infinite. . . . A stable received Him then. Now the high arches of earth and Heaven shall be too little for Him. . . . “Where now the carpenter’s smock? Royalty has now assumed its purple. Where now the toil-worn feet that needed to be washed after their long journeys of mercy? They are sandled with light. . . . Where now the cry, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but I, the Son of Man, have not where to lay My head”? Heaven is His Throne. Earth is His footstool. . . . “Blind world, open your eyes while the thunderclaps of judgment make you start up in terror and amazement and look about you. His eyes are like flames of fire and . . . His head and His hair are white like wool, as white as snow. . . Bad men weep and wail because of Him. Good men cry, “All hail!” . . . Let us suppose again the the Judgment Day has come and let us challenge the world to treat the Savior as it did before. “Now, then, Crowds, come and drag Him down, to hurt Him from the hill, headlong! Step forward, you Pharisees, and tempt Him and try to entangle Him in His words. Herodians, have you no penny now, that you may ask Him a difficult question to entrap Him? . . . Sadducees, have you no riddles left? . . . Smite Him on the cheek you soldiers . . . Set Him once more in the chair and spit in His face. . . . Have you not an old cloak to cast about His shoulders again? . . . Have you no songs, no ribald jests, and is there not a man among you that dares, now to pluck His hair? . . . “He was righteous at His first coming. . . . He shall be righteous at His second coming with the righteousness of supremacy. He came to endure the penalty, He comes to procure the reward. He came to serve, He comes to rule. “He came to open wide the door of Divine Grace, He comes to shut the door. He comes not to redeem but to judge. Not to save but to pronounce the sentence. . . . Oh, Jesus! How great the difference between Your first and Your second Advent!” He came then in poverty, and now He will return as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Maranatha. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Day 259 Today's Reading: Revelation 21 Kimutchi will always have a place in my heart. She was a prostitute from the streets of Detroit who I led to the Lord. It was one of our initial conversations that forever has marked me. She used to call me Father Tim. She came to our church one day and said, “Father Tim, can you pray for me? I’m having a tough week.” “Sure, Kimutchi,” I told her. But as I began to pray, she quickly interrupted me. “No. You can’t pray. I have no money.” I was puzzled. “What do you mean you have no money?” She proceeded to tell me that certain pastors in town would charge her $25 a prayer and then would give her a Bible passage, which she’d use for playing the lottery numbers. It was a religious scam, much like the indulgences during the reformation, which Martin Luther railed against. I explained that what they had been doing was wrong. Then I took Kimutchi to Matthew 7:21, which says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Her eyes grew wide with amazement. “That’s how you do it?” she said. “I never knew what that meant.” When Kimutchi said that, she did not mean the meaning of the verse. She meant the actual numbers on the top of the page. She did not know that “7” meant the chapter and “21” meant the verse. Then she told me over and over, “Give me one I can look up.” Then, “Give me another one.” We took a journey through the Scriptures together until she finally asked me, “Father Tim, if I give my life to Jesus, I won’t have to be on the streets any longer? I won’t have to sell myself any longer? And when I die, I won’t have to cry every day like I do?” And that’s when I took her to today’s chapter—a chapter that came to mean everything to a prostitute. Here’s Kimutchi’s final passage that she looked up and saw the numbers 21 and 1 in Revelation: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5) This is heaven. This is our reward. This is the climax of history. No more wars, no more pain, no more tears, no more funerals. No more cancer, no more taxes, no more racism, no more bills, no more rent, no more need for health insurance. Because God has made all things new. Once when the great Scottish preacher and writer, George MacDonald, was talking with his family, the conversation turned to heaven. At one point, one of his relatives said, “It seems too good to be true.” To whom MacDonald replied, “Nay, it is just so good it must be true!” It is just so good it must be true. That is heaven. That’s the place I wanted Kimutchi to know existed. And what makes heaven amazing is that “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” God does that. It’s said that an Eastern Orthodox monk said these profound words about heaven: “For most Christians heaven is envisaged as a kind of postscript, an appendix to a book of which life on earth constitutes the actual text. But the contrary is true. Our earthly life is merely the preface to the book. Life in heaven will be the text—a text without end.” Heaven is the text, not earth. C. S. Lewis’s last words, The Last Battle, which ends the seven-book series of The Chronicles of Narnia, reiterates the monk’s thoughts: And for us, this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them, it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now, at last, they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before. They were beginning chapter one. It was the beginning of the real story. Lewis got it. The monk got it. I need to get it. Heaven is the text, not earth. Listen to how the apostle Paul speaks about heaven: “There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:18, MSG). Kimutchi got saved and stopped using her prostitute name and went back to using her given, Diane. She ended up marrying a deacon at another church who had a lawn mower retail shop. My last conversation with her on the phone was when she had only months to live because AIDS had set in from years of selling her body on the streets. This precious ex-prostitute is now in heaven. And in a place where she doesn’t cry any longer, and all her pain is gone. The words on the page have now become a reality to one of my favorite people in Detroit. When I get to heaven, I will receive much joy when I see the face of Diane (formerly Kimutchi). Her face will be dry—dry from tears.