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April 30, Sunday————————–ACCOUNTABILITY FINAL DAY
An audio recording of the following reading is available below.
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Pray and Go — Our reading for today follows directly what we read yesterday. In the last verse of chapter 9, Jesus challenged His disciples to “pray earnestly to the Lord … to send out workers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:38). In the very next verse (Matt. 10:1), Jesus answered that prayer by commissioning His disciples to go into the harvest themselves on a short-term mission trip through Galilee. When we pray for God to do something for other people, He often calls us to be the answer to our own prayer. Jesus was multiplying His ministry by sending out His 12 disciples to do the same things He had been doing. The task given to the disciples had two main functions: miracles and message. The message remains the same today: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (v. 7). “Today is the day of decision.” All that has already been given to us in the Bible is sufficient to bring any individual to a saving knowledge of Jesus. We must be a part of making that message known.
ACCOUNTABILITY FINAL DAY! If you have not yet reported for this month,
please let me know your reading status today at accbibleread@gmail.com.
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May 1, Monday
An audio recording of the following reading is available below.
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Committed to the Challenge — Jesus’ instruction to His disciples for their short-term mission trip is extended in today’s passage for all His disciples and for all times. There are two primary themes in His commission for the Church. The first is challenge. The Christian life was destined to be more than internal peace and joy because it would also include external persecution. As Jesus was resisted and hated, so we will receive opposition that is ultimately directed at Him. We are “as sheep in the midst of wolves” (v. 16) who will be opposed by legal and religious systems (“the courts … their synagogues”—v. 17) and divided within our families (v. 21). Being a Christian is really a challenge. The second theme is commitment—a commitment to be vocal about our faith, being one who “confesses Me before men” (v. 32). Since that boldness will cause divisions with unbelieving members of one’s family, there must be a commitment to keep Jesus as a priority over loved relatives: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (v. 37). That is radical commitment. It also involves placing Jesus as a priority over comfort: “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (v. 38). The cross is a symbol of suffering. The purpose of this commitment to the challenge is not only to be “the one … who will be saved” (v. 22), but also to be molded into the likeness of Jesus: “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher” (v. 25). To be like Jesus is both our goal and our reward.
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May 2, Tuesday
An audio recording of the following reading is available below.
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Some Rest! — After returning from their mission trip in Galilee, the Twelve needed rest. Now they understood what Jesus went through day after day in teaching the crowds and healing individuals. Many of us are like those pre-experienced disciples, not being fully aware of how draining the ministry of our church shepherds can be. They need rest and our encouragement. Would you write a note of encouragement to one of them today? The text doesn’t tell us what Jesus did while His disciples were gone; perhaps He just rested. The time-away period that was planned for the Twelve was short-lived. They probably didn’t even get to rest in the boat, since they were rowing and managing the sails. The spiritually hungry sheep saw where they were going, however, and beat them to their retreat spot. Here we see the repeated feelings of Jesus for the crowd: “He felt compassion for them … and He began to teach them…” (v. 34). His compassion was based on their spiritual need. They needed to be pointed to God, whereas their spiritual leaders merely pointed them to man-made rules.
May You Run and Not Be Weary – YouTube
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May 3, Wednesday
An audio recording of the following reading is available below.
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Abundant Provider — Yesterday, we read about Jesus’ compassion for the crowd because of their spiritual need, being sheep without a shepherd. Today, we see that He also had compassion for their physical needs. They were hungry, both spiritually and physically, and Jesus cared about both. We also see Jesus as a challenger in this paragraph, asking Philip how they could feed all the people who had traveled a long distance to their retreat spot. He asked this question “to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do” (v. 6). This shows the supernatural knowledge of Jesus. He knew He would multiply the five loaves and two dried fish even before Andrew told Him that a boy had brought this, probably as his lunch. Although Jesus had never multiplied food before, as far as we know, He knew that He could do it. That also reveals His supernatural power. Jesus could do anything because He is God. He is still providing spiritual and physical food for us today … with baskets of leftovers!
The Lord Will Provide – YouTube
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May 4, Thursday
An audio recording of the following reading is available below.
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Waiting for the King — The very large crowd fed by Jesus, through the multiplication of the bread and fish, saw this event as not only a miracle, but also a “sign,” an attesting miracle that pointed to something greater. Their conclusion was that Jesus was “the Prophet” promised by Moses: “THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BROTHERS” (Deut. 18:15). They felt that their mission was to “take Him by force to make Him king” (John 6:15). Jesus, however, was not swayed by popularity. He knew who He was and why He had come to earth. He would later say to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). His first coming was to introduce the spiritual “kingdom of God” that would change individual lives and form the Church. His Second Coming will bring on the worldwide physical kingdom of the Millennium. As we see the world’s kingdoms fighting and crumbling today, we also might want to say: “Come and be King, now!” Timing is everything, and when the time is perfect, He will return to be the final King.
Come, Thou Almighty King – YouTube
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May 5, Friday
An audio recording of the following reading is available below.
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Worthy of Worship — We saw yesterday that this crowd of people wanted to take Jesus by force to make Him king, but today we read that He simply “sent the crowds away” (vv. 22, 23). I would have liked to hear what He said to those excited people. He showed powerful leadership. Then, He isolated Himself for prayer, which lasted from “evening” (v. 23) to “the fourth watch of the night” (v. 25), a span of at least nine hours. He prayed while the disciples rowed in the storm. Then, He took a shortcut across the lake, walking on the water. This, like feeding over 5,000 people from a lunch bag, was an unheard-of miracle. It terrified the disciples (v. 26). Only the infinitely powerful God could do this. After Peter’s brave but brief experience of also walking on the water, they got into the boat and the wind abruptly stopped. Another dramatic miracle. After seeing all of this, it was appropriate that the disciples worshipped Him, saying, “You are truly God’s Son!” (v. 33). Only God could do what they had experienced. Put yourself in that scene. Would you have been willing and able to pray for nine hours? If you were Peter, would you have suggested to Jesus that you wanted to walk on water, too? If you would have seen the wind stop abruptly as soon as Jesus got into the boat, would you have worshiped Him, too? Yes. As we read about the wonderful teaching, leadership, and miracles of Jesus in these kinds of passages this year, let’s take time after finishing each one to worship Jesus. He is God!
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May 6, Saturday
An audio recording of the following reading is available below.
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The Work of Believing — This passage is a good example of the confusion that can arise between literal and figurative language. Jesus was speaking mostly figuratively, and His audience was interpreting it literally. The crowd had seen Jesus’ divine signs of multiplying bread and miraculously appearing in Capernaum, yet they asked, “What then do You do for a sign so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?” (v. 30). They had already seen all the signs and works they needed for believing, but they were not satisfied. Jesus told them, “…you have seen Me, and yet do not believe” (v. 36). The crowd asked another question about work: “What should we do, so that we may work the works of God?” (v. 28). Jesus’ answer was that the only “work” they needed to do was to believe: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (v. 29). These people wanted daily physical bread, like manna, but Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (vv. 35, 48), the first of seven “I am” statements in John. He was the eternal, spiritual bread, which was far more valuable than physical bread. When Jesus told them they had to “eat” His “flesh,” they wanted to know how (v. 52). They were stuck in their literal world, and Jesus’ answer remained in the spiritual realm. “Eating His flesh” was also the “work” of believing, becoming intimately related to Him. They needed to see that the miraculous signs were showing that He was sent from heaven by the Father, and they should have believed and put their wholehearted trust in Him.
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Such a powerful song on Monday. Loved it!
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