The promises of God are a cornerstone of our Christian spirituality. These beautiful statements from the Lord serve as a beacon of hope and guidance for us in every aspect of our lives (for fuller description, click on image above).

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder, John 1.43-51
The early disciples recognized that they had discovered the one of whom Moses in the Law wrote and the prophets spoke about, who is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. He is the Son of God, the King of Israel, and the Son of Man, the only means of open communication with heaven. He is the Ladder of God, the sole way of access for humankind to know God, John 1.43-51.

Our Focus Today
God selects unlikely people from unexpected places to accomplish his ultimate intentions, John 1.46.

Invocation
Thank you, Lord, for the reality of the upside-down Kingdom! You have elected to choose the poor and the weak, the small and the unlovely, to expand your Kingdom in this fallen world. Give us wisdom to embrace your upside-down ethic and rule of life, and to see your choice of the Nazarene as supreme proof of that truth! Amen.

Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father,
And to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:
As it was in the beginning,
Is now, and ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, amen.

Chronological Scripture Readings for Today
These Scriptures allow us to read through the entire Bible in one year in chronological order.
Wednesday: Numbers 7

God selects unlikely people from unexpected places to accomplish his ultimate intentions, John 1.46.

Reflection
The Kingdom of God is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, whose person and work did not follow the glamour and power of the world. His choice reveals to us that God selects unlikely people from unexpected places to accomplish his will, for his glory alone. This is the principle of kingdom life and ministry.

Claiming God’s Promise Today
How should we respond to the truth that God selects the unlikely and unlovely to accomplish his kingdom will today?

Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, The Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God,
Begotten of the Father before all ages,
God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God,
Begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father,
through Whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became human.
Who for us too, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried.
The third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and His kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life-giver,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Who together with the Father and Son is worshiped and glorified.
Who spoke by the prophets.

We believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sin,
and we look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the age to come. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.

Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Benediction
Thanks be to you, O God, for Your Kingdom’s transformative reality! Despite the fact that this world rebelled against you, you in your sovereign choice elected to expand your rule through the poor, the weak, the small, and the unlovely. Grant us the heart to live by this upside-down perspective. Make us more and more like your Son. Amen.

Scripture Memory
John 8.12 (ESV): Promise — God’s Light Shall Shine
¹² Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Book Reading and Reflection
“As you read through the Old Testament, you are literally studying your own family story, your own roots, your own spiritual ancestors. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and David are all truly our older brothers in God’s family. . . . For an overview of the divine love story that encompasses the lives of these figures, let’s describe briefly the promises God made—and fulfilled—for each one of them:

• God called Adam to share in his blessing in the covenant of marriage with Eve (see Gen. 1.26-2:3), and promised to deliver them from sin through the promised “seed” by crushing the head of the diabolical serpent tempter (see Gen. 3.15).
• The Father pledged to Noah to keep him and his household safe through the flood, and then promised never to wipe out the human family that way again (see Gen. 9.8-17).
• God promised Abraham the Promised Land where his natural descendants might be blessed as a nation, and then a kingdom, until eventually all the families of the earth would be blessed through him and his seed (see Gen. 12.1-3; 22.16-18).
• The Lord used Moses to lead the twelve tribes of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, and to ratify a national covenant that made them a holy nation (see Exod. 19.5-6), called to occupy the Promised Land of Canaan as their inheritance (see Exod. 3.4-10).
• God covenanted with David to build a worldwide kingdom, by establishing an everlasting throne with the son of David, who was destined to rule—with divine wisdom—over all the nations, united as a royal family in their common worship of the heavenly Father within his house, the Jerusalem temple (see 2 Sam. 7.8-19).
• Finally, the Father kept all of his previous promises by the gift of his Son, Jesus, who bore all the curses of the previously broken covenants—in order to ratify the New Covenant—in the self-offering of his flesh and blood that permanently binds all of us together, both Jews and Gentiles, in one universal divine family: the one holy, catholic and apostolic Church (see Matt. 16.17-19).”

~ Hahn, Scott, A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God’s Covenant Love in Scripture. Servant Publication, Ann Arbor, MI: 1998, electronic edition, locations 371 and 376.

God’s Light Shall Shine, John 8.12
I am the light of the world, he who walks with me will not walk in darkness, John 8.12.

Let God Arise! Focus
The Beloved Son of the Father, Mark 1.4-11.

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