Temptation is a struggle that humanity has been at war with since the beginning of time. Temptation changed our world from a perfect paradise with no sin and no pain to a broken world full of flawed people. It was a result of the first human succumbing to the pressure of temptation that there hasn’t since been a single human capable of fully breaking free from the grasp of sin – constantly giving in to temptation, and consistently turning away from God and rejecting His love.
Until Jesus.
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 3, they failed massively, and their failure brought misery upon the entire earth (not to say that anyone else, if put in the same situation, wouldn’t have eventually made the same choice and given in to temptation). When Christ was tempted, on the other hand, he triumphed. His victory over temptation was a victory over Satan, bringing hope to all humanity for a day when we can be free from the bondage of sin. For a day when the world is not only set back to the state it was in at the beginning of time, but a state unfathomably better. Under Adam we were slaves to sin, but through Christ we have been set free.
As broken humans living in a broken world, we are just as susceptible as Adam to the call of evil, and temptation lurks all around us. But just as we have the failure and weakness of Man within us, we also have the hope and grace of God through Christ who sets us free. We have the power to overcome, and to stand firm in our identity as a child of God as Jesus did in the wilderness.
-Isabella Osborn
Reflection Questions
What 3 things did the devil use to tempt Jesus in Luke 4? How did Jesus respond to each temptation?
What are your 3 biggest temptations? How can you use the same power Jesus used to overcome these temptations? Think specifically.
Do you more often see yourself as a child of Adam (and all humanity), or a child of God?
In today’s reading, the last portion has a major theme : “the son of.” The author guides us from Jesus all the way back to the earliest days of history with “the son of Adam, the son of God.” The names and numbers of generations here differ from the names and numbers in Matthew 1. It seems Matthew was proving a point about the care and concern of God. Luke is being historically accurate. But this really isn’t the point. What’s interesting about Luke 3 is that this theme doesn’t begin in verse 23. Instead, it begins in verse 2, and grows throughout the passage.
John is the son of Zechariah. (V.2) We all know this. Why does the author repeat it? Because we need to have sons in mind. We know who John’s parents are and where he comes from. In preaching a baptism of repentance, John is calling for a radical life change. A change in both action and status. More on that in a moment.
In verse 7, John says to his listeners “you brood of vipers.” That is a claim of THEIR parentage, and not a nice one. They were “sons of snakes.” For those who desire to follow John, he calls us to account in how they live. Moreover, John basically explains that he isn’t talking about our physical, biological parents. Having Abraham as your biological ancestor, no matter how good Abraham was, does not mean that a person can escape condemnation. Instead, there needs to be a change in every person’s life. It seems our parentage is determined by how we share our abundance with the less fortunate. Who our “fathers” are is determined by whether we play fairly, by the rules of life and the laws of the land and by finding contentment in our lives.
In verse 21, Jesus goes to “fulfill all righteousness” by being baptized. In that moment, the Holy Spirit descends and a cloud says “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
A couple thoughts to pull you through the day :
Jesus is a real man, with a real family, a real history, who lived in a real time and place. A bunch of names (like at the beginning of the chapter) and a genealogy (like at the end) shouldn’t make us glaze over, but perk up. Luke isn’t trying to confuse his audience. He is situating this story in time and place. This is decidedly not the fairy tale “once upon a time” but something much more like “December 8th, 7pm, in Granger, IN, at Jake’s home, while he types in his pajamas.” These names should ground the story in the real world more.
John calls out his hearers and says “Don’t trust in your parentage.” For me, that hits home. I had believing grandparents on both sides, and a mom and dad who raised me in the church and encouraged me to love God. I can’t ride their coattails. It’s not about what they did, but what I do. But maybe, John’s warning for you could be a word of comfort: nothing that came before holds you back. Did your family not pass on morals, or pass on morals that were detrimental? Did you not know the state of your parents’ souls because you didn’t really know your parents? Do you love your parents but couldn’t imagine living the way they do? Then you are not bound to be like them. We are all called to cast aside our parentage as a source of confidence or weakness, and come before God as ourselves.
John talks about repentance and changing our actions. When we do so, we no longer have snakes for parents. But who is our parent then? I think the hope is what we are introduced to in John 1:12-13 “12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Those who believe in the name of Jesus are able to call God their father. John’s talk of righteousness must be understood in light of Jesus. You are a sinner saved only by grace, and you cannot save yourself. But if you trust in the name of Jesus, you can be saved. This Christmas season, we are reminded of the great and awesome gift of Jesus the Messiah. Do you trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? If you have, then in response to HIM making you a child of God, you can and must live a righteous life.
In some sense, every human is a children of God. If Adam is “the father of us all”, and he is “the son of God” we are in a sense, children of God. This however, does not mean that every person is saved. If we live like children of the devil, we truly are children of the devil. These are not my words, but the words of Jesus in John 8. This does truly mean that when we hear the statements this time of year about the “brotherhood of man” and “we are all one”, those statements are true. Instead of filling us with warm fuzzies, let it move us to speak to our brothers and sisters about salvation from dead actions, harm and pain to love, grace and hope that can only be found in Christ Jesus.
May you today, see the reality of Jesus in this Christmas time.
May you let go of familial pride or shame and come to God only and forever through Jesus.
May you become what you were meant to be, a son or daughter of God through righteous action and salvation in Jesus, and may you share your salvation with the world.
So for one final time this season from me :
Merry Christmas!
– Jake Ballard
Jake Ballard is pastor at Timberland Bible Church. If you’d like to hear more from him, you can find Timberland on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TimberlandBibleChurch/ ) and on Instagram (https://instagram.com/timberlandbiblechurch?igshid=t52xoq9esc7e). The church streams the Worship Gathering every Sunday at 10:30. Besides studying and teaching God’s word, he is raising three beautiful children with the love of his life, loves Christmas, Harry Potter, Christmas, Board Games, and Christmas. He is also going to be teaching New Testament Survey II, which is available from Atlanta Bible College with their ABC4U program (https://www.atlantabiblecollege.com). If you’d like to reach out to talk Bible, talk faith, or talk about your favorite Christmas Song (and why Mariah Carey sings it), look Jacob Ballard up on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jacob.ballard.336 ) or email him at jakea.ballard@yahoo.com. God bless you all!
Reflection Questions
What do you think John may have learned from his father Zechariah, whom we met back in Luke 1?
Look again at John’s message in Luke 3, what do you think he might tell you if you asked him the same question the crowd, tax collectors and soldiers asked, “What shall we do?”
Do you see yourself as a child of God? Why or why not? What does it mean to be a child of God? What privileges and responsibilities come with the position?
Tending sheep, especially overnight, was a pretty thankless job, and took a toll on a lot of those who did it. Shepherds were not very well thought of by those who had more respectable agrarian jobs, or those who worked in the city.
But God chose them to be the first ones to know the messiah is born. They saw him in the manger after the angels made their Christmas announcement!
Old people who spend their days alone can sometimes be weird.
In fact, some of the best people are the old weird people who spend most of their time in prayer to God. The family of Jesus are accosted when they take him to be consecrated on the eighth day. Simeon and Anna may have been well respected, but they were still both older, and both a little weird.
But God chose them to be among the first to share the message of the Messiah. They spoke the message, Simeon ready for death, knowing the Messiah had come!
The story of Jesus is full of unexpected moments like this. You didn’t see shepherds shouting out with joy, speaking to all who would listen. You didn’t see Simeon and Anna stopping families to talk on the way to the temple. You didn’t see a twelve year old boy going toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow with the religious scholars of the day.
But God chose these moments, these people, these places, to give us a clue that in the rest of Luke we’re going to see unexpected moments.
With the familiarity of the passage at Christmas, it may seem common place. But as you read Luke 2 today, remind yourself again just how radical *and strange* the birth of Christ was. May you find comfort in the fact that no matter if you are
Old
Young
Weird
Normal
Or even stinky
God is choosing you to believe in Christ this Christmas. It is up to you to choose to believe.
-Jake Ballard
Reflection Questions
What do you find most surprising in Luke 2?
Do you believe in Christ? How will that change your day, season and life?
Does that really need an explanation? What’s not to love about a time of year where we get to celebrate Jesus? Celebrate the Messiah who is and brings us hope, peace, joy, and love? Celebrate with cookies and pies and presents and parties? It is a joyous time of year, both for the cultural wrappings and baggage, (which is fine*!) but also for the Church traditions, teachings, giving, serving, and singing!
The story of the birth of Christ, however, doesn’t begin in the Hill Country of Judea, as much as Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas would have you believe. Instead, Luke, author of the most chronologically accurate account of the life of Christ**, brings us farther back than Matthew, and tells us about the announcements of coming births of John and Jesus to their respective mothers.
To be fair, today’s reading is 80 verses long! That’s long! I want to give you rapid fire thoughts and questions as the devotion for today:
Theophilus means in Greek “Friend of God.” While there may have been a person who commissioned the work from Luke, it could also be a title. Are you the friend of God to whom Luke is writing? Do you need to hear an accurate, orderly account of the life of Jesus to know with certainty the things you have been taught?
Both Zechariah and Mary respond to Gabriel, the messenger angel, with a similar question: How can this be? However, there are a few differences. Zechariah is a older man, a husband, a priest, that is a leader of the people, working in the temple. Mary is a young woman, unmarried, virginal, still probably in the house of her mother and father until her time to be wed to Joseph had come. Gabriel (but really, God) expected Zechariah to comply, to say “Lord I believe” and to follow through on the promise of God. Mary growing up in an agrarian society, would know that in her current state, babies would be impossible to come by.
When God announces his plan to you, do you trust that he will follow through? How much of him have you seen? Are you overlooking miracles? However, know that he isn’t mad when you ask him how to accomplish the (what appears to be) impossible. You too may just need the Holy Spirit to do the impossible. Are you willing to say “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled”?
A quick note, without a question, is that John, in the womb of Elizabeth, responded to the Messiah. Elizabeth thinks her baby is a person before he is born.
Final thought – Both Mary and Zechariah sing their joy to God. Take some time today and ponder what song you would sing if you could sing it. The lyrics don’t have to be perfect or rhyme. Their doesn’t need to be a meter, or pitch. But what would you sing to God to give him glory? Or, find a song that shares your heart, and sing that to God, thinking of all the blessings he has given you.
No matter the song in your heart, starting today, have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
-Jake Ballard
* The wise men weren’t at the manger, but that’s OK! Use that to teach people about Jesus!
**In the author’s correct and very humble opinion.
I am very much into reading the Bible literately; that is, as the literature of the book dictates. The Gospels demand to be read literally: Jesus did not convince people to share their food, but multiplied the fish and the loaves on two separate occasions. However, poems and parables are full of symbolic imagery; no one should say that Jesus meant the rocks would ACTUALLY sing (though he could make them) or that the trees have hands or that the mountains have throats. (Isaiah 55:12)
Revelation is Apocalyptic literature, meaning it is full of metaphor and symbolism. A dragon chases a woman into the wilderness when the women instantly grows wings and flies off to safety… we aren’t seeing something that will play out *literally*. Be assured, poetic imagery is just as true as “literal history”. God wins… that’s not a metaphor nor a feeling, but a fact. But there won’t be a woman on a beast, but a city full of imperial power eaten by her own pride, gluttony, lust, and sin.
We can see the metaphor and symbolism in the last 2/3 of the chapter this morning. The city has twelve gates, twelves angels, twelve tribes, twelve foundation stones, each a different costly stone, twelve apostles. The city is a cube, 1200 stadia (in the Greek) long, wide, and tall. The walls are 144 cubits thick. Notice how often twelve is used! Even the length is 12*1000 and the thickness is 12*12! How should we read and interpret the clear metaphor and symbolism we see in the last part of Revelation 21 could be an interesting puzzle.
However, that’s not the most important thing. Moreover, it’s not my favorite verse in the Bible.
Revelation 21:1-8 does not produce in me a desire to pick apart metaphor and symbolism. I readily admit that I am constantly trying to understand the Bible based on genre, but I can’t help but read 21:1-8, as not only a literal description of the beginning of forever, but I lose any “objectivity” and place myself in the text. I see the brilliant shining holy city of God, the promised home for all believers, big enough to fit us all, dead and living, coming down from heaven. A loud voice calls out that we are promised that God will be with us, be our God, we his people, and he will dwell among us. I watch as God himself, with something like the hands of a father who has worked in a field, radiating strength, calloused from work, yet gentle to touch his child, reaches out, and he cups my head in his hands. He uses his thumb to wipe the tears (of joy? Sorrow? Relief?) from my eyes. He pulls me into a hug.
I am home at long last.
While I encourage you to study and understand the Bible always, to question it and pull at it, because it is strong enough for our hardest probing because the truth has nothing to fear… I want you to believe it’s true. It is true that God will take the time to wipe our tears away. Mine, yours, and all those who believed, from the distant past to the far future. The resurrection will lead to life eternal, and we will drink from the spring of the water of life. I will be with my Father, because God will be my God and I will be his son. But I will also be with my father, my mother, my grandparents, those who have been with me along this journey of life but have died. And the entire family of God will be raised to life, all those who have been faithful. One day, death, mourning, crying, and pain will be no more. There is a new order of things; all is life, joy, shouting, and pleasure!
“East Wall, Middle Gate.”
I have a good friend whose family and friends know that this is the meeting place in the New Jerusalem. What a powerful way to believe in the truth of Revelation. That’s the kind of faith my favorite verses in the Bible should engender in us. We are so confident in the love, power, and promises of God we have a plan to meet as a family (all of us brothers and sisters) in the new Jerusalem.
May your faith never waver, may your hope never falter, and may you stand among those who have overcome in the new heavens and new earth.
See you at the East Wall, Middle Gate.
-Jake Ballard
Reflection Questions
Revelation is a hard book. Sometimes, when trying to figure a book out, we can forget to read the message. How can you live into the truth of Revelation today? Instead of trying to figure it out, how can you rest secure in the knowledge that one day God will fulfill all his promises and all things will be made new?
Do you have a favorite verse of the Bible? How does it help you grow in faith? Ask God to put someone in your path who needs the message in your favorite Bible verse and then share it with them when God puts them in your path.
The title of this post is unassuming. Two words: a noun, the subject, and a verb in the future tense.
I am in the business of speaking, teaching, training, sermonizing. And sometimes (less often than I’d like to admit) I may have a sermon that God uses in spite of all my failures and faults. But if I were to have all the power of the greatest speakers, the powerful conviction of Billy Graham, the clarity and precision of Andy Stanley, the dedication of pastors from Martin Luther to Martin Luther King Jr. and beyond, more than a thousand eloquent sermons could not compare to the truth of the future of the world summed up in these two words.
God wins.
I don’t want to take away from that truth, but I do want to flesh it out a bit.
In the earlier parts of Revelation, the beheaded souls have been calling out from beyond the grave to the God who will give them justice (Rev. 6:9-11). God promised the victors that they would have reward upon reward (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 21). When God wins, those who placed faith in God above even their own lives have the incredible promises. For time out of mind (1000 years) they will reign with Christ, they will not be hurt by the second death. While the language of two resurrections is not common in the rest of the NT*, the truth is that they are SO ASSURED of their salvation its as if they cannot possibly be brought to judgment. The joy of this resurrection is that we who are powerless, weak, poor, and oppressed will one day win, be victorious and live forever with God and his Christ, because God wins.
And Satan can’t win. The dragon’s wings are clipped, and the serpentine body is prepared for the flames. In this world, God has power to throw the serpent of old, the devil and Satan, and bind him for 1000 years. During that time, his temptation and power are cast down. In the end, the devil who deceived the world was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. This is a threat and a promise. Moreover, Satan KNOWS this is his end. The battle between God and Satan is not a cinematic, climactic masterpiece. There is no worry about who will win. Satan is not trying to win, because he can’t. He IS trying to make YOU LOSE, because that is a possibility. But God will help you overcome sin, fight temptation, and come through faithful. God can protect you from the defanged, declawed, clipped-wing dragon, because God wins.
In some sense, part of the glory of God, part of his winning, is allowing humans to choose their outcomes. God allows people to determine their final state. While we are only and forever able to be saved by the glory and grace of God, God both does not force his salvific will upon us and does not preclude us from choosing him. God gives people what they desire. The books are opened; the dead are judged. Christ is our hope (Col. 1:27), our peace (Eph. 2:14), our resurrection and life (John 11:25). If any person has rejected Christ, what have they done but rejected peace with God and people? Rejected hope of eternal life? Rejected the resurrection and the life? God gives them exactly what they demanded. God doesn’t put up with those who were rebellious against him in this life. Because…
God wins.
No ifs, ands, buts.
No amount of persuasive words will make it less true.
No force of hell can stop Him, not a dragon or an atheist.
The promise is true:
God wins.
– Jake Ballard.
* There are hints of two resurrections in the rest of the NT, but nowhere is it explicitly stated like here in the apocalyptic work of Revelation.
Reflection Questions
How significant is the phrase “God wins” to you? To elaborate, in what areas of your life are you losing? Temptation and sin? Suffering and pain? Anxiety, depression, stress? What would it mean for you to stop trying to fix it all yourself, and let God win, allowing him to be victorious where you haven’t been yourself?
In the ultimate sense, Satan is powerless. While we might be attacked, tormented, and tempted by evil today, that is not the way the world will be forever. How does it make you feel to know that all evil and wickedness are going to be overcome by the power of God? Will you allow God to protect you, so the battle is one-sided in your favor today?
There is no peace, hope, resurrection or life without Christ. Have you given him control of your life, allowing him to be your savior and lord?
If you can remember way back to November 21, we read about a rider on a white horse, the first of the “four horsemen of the apocalypse” in chapter 6. The four horsemen constitute the opening section of the “chronology” of Revelation. (If we can call it that. Revelation is in part so fascinating because it loops around, runs back to creation, brings us to the time of Christ, and then thrusts us into the future again!) In chapter 6, the horseman was conquest, the personified human impulse to dominate and subjugate others. The horsemen collectively are personifying human evil with the brakes cut. Humanity is allowed to get as bad as it will get, and then God steps in, in judgement.
But today, the same imagery of a person on a white horse is used, with VASTLY different purposes. The one who rides the horse does come to conquer, but his name is faithful and true. His motivation and goal is righteousness. Then we see him: eyes of fire, head full of crowns, a mystery to all except God himself, drenched in the blood that saves, the Word made flesh. Christ, magnified, glorified, empowered and regal, comes to take the crowns from the world leaders that are his by birth, his by death, and his by resurrection. He truly is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
I recreate so much of the language to encourage you to stop and read 19:11-16 – and actually, the whole chapter while you are at it. This is the Christ we are called to serve, recognize, praise and adore. This is the Christ who comes again, for the second time. When first he came, why we celebrate Advent and Christmas, he was born in a lowly stable with a manger for a bed. He comes the second time riding the warhorse, not lying where it feeds. At Christmas, he was born to a young woman and her husband-to-be and raised as a refugee in Egypt. At the second coming, he will be bringing together those who follow him from every corner of the world, and setting his people up tall, not refugees and sojourners but citizens of the world made new. At Christmas, only shepherds (and magi, but not really) came to him and gave him gifts and bowed down to the king. At his second coming all will bow to Christ, highly exalted and magnified above every name and above every power.
May we praise and adore the Christ who came and is coming again.
Jake Ballard
Questions
We need to reexamine our view of Jesus. Jesus was a child born to the poor, oppressed and disposed. Jesus was a meek and mild suffering servant. But Jesus IS and WILL be Lord over all. Jesus IS and WILL be king of kings and lord of lords. Do you give him the worth and honor due him?
As you celebrate Jesus’ first coming, how can you put more focus on his second coming?
Babylon is often a generalization of those who are against God. As the Revelation is getting closer to the end we see the time when all of those that are against God will soon see their end.
Two things stood out to me in this chapter:
The first was in vs. 4 –
“Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her.”
Revelation 18:4 NLT
John 17 tells that we are not of the world, but like Christ, we are sent into it. The everyday world we live in is surrounded in the evil described in these last chapters. Although we are surrounded by it, we cannot be a part of it.
Here we are being called away. Another reminder to not be like those who have made the life choices to be against God. We shouldn’t take part in sin and if we do, we already have a clear picture of the punishment in store for the enemies of God.
The second is on that punishment in vs. 6 –
“Do to her as she has done to others. Double her penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for others, so brew twice as much for her.”
Revelation 18:6 NLT
We all have been told at some point to do unto others as we would have done to us. Jesus gives us this golden rule in Matthew 7 as he encourages us to love others as he did. Here we see the fruition of just that. Have done to you as you have done unto others but further in a double measure.
This should really make you think. How would I be treated if it was based on how I have treated others?
We are called out of the world to avoids it’s punishment and we will ultimately be judged on our actions and how we treated others.
Act like the world and we will be treated as the world. Act like Christ and we will be treated like Christ. One situation is accepted and loved temporarily while ending with eternal consequences. The other is temporary consequences with eternal rewards. We are given that choice and unfortunately many choose the one that is easier and convenient now while giving up a much greater reward that we get to see in the upcoming chapters.
-John Wincapaw
Reflection Questions
When reading Revelation 18, which verses stand out to you most? How is Babylon described?
Are there areas of your life where you are acting more like the world/Babylon than you are acting like Christ? What changes should be made? What loving warnings can be given to those living against God now?
“How would I be treated if it was based on how I have treated others?”
I once heard a preacher ask the audience, “Does anyone enjoy sinning?” As one who enjoys asking questions like this from the pulpit, my interest was piqued. You are faced with an internal dilemma – be honest and vulnerable or give the church answer that you think is the right answer. (I am always looking for the honest answer.) He followed up that question by telling everyone, “Of course you do. Why else would you do it?” Temptation would not be tempting if it was not desirable.
Sin has it’s appeal. It is tempting. Abstaining can be difficult at times.
In chapter 17, John is carried away by the spirit with an angel. He is taken into the wilderness where he sees the great prostitute. This prostitute has stolen the attention of all the people of the world. As he describes her, we see all the things that the people of this world crave after: power, prestige, wealth and attention.
John stared at this with complete amazement. The angel asked in vs 7 – “Why are you so amazed?”
All that this prostitute offers is temporary and ultimately leads to destruction – yet like John, we can stare in amazement.
We need to heed one of John’s other writings.
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”
1 John 2:15-17 NLT
Do not get caught up in the pursuit and temptations of this world. For the prostitute, the beast and all those that fall into their temptation will be destroyed and eternally separated from God.
-John Wincapaw
Reflection Questions
What are you amazed by when you read Revelation 17? What questions do you have? What is the greatest “take-away” or lesson from Revelation 17?
How would you describe the woman on the beast and what she represents?
How often do you consider the eternal consequences of your choices? Would it be easier making wise choices if you thought of it more often?
Oddly enough, as I read through Revelation 15, I thought of so many Disney movies. No, not the fictional characters or the talking animals. Instead, the random break out in song no matter what else is going on or crazy circumstances that they are in.
We are given the picture of the angels holding the plagues that would complete God’s wrath – and then take a look to the left, a song breaks out and all those that were singing had harps that were given to them by God. Timing seems pretty odd with the upcoming events about to take place.
They are singing 2 songs – both redemption songs. One like the one that Moses sings after He had freed them from slavery in Egypt and the other a saving from death and destruction He provided through Christ. These songs are giving God glory and praise for what He has done.
It doesn’t matter what is happening around them, the singers have reason to sing. They have been saved by an amazing conquering God. We too have reason to sing. It may seem weird to break out and sing at random moments but I think that is a glimpse of the kingdom. We will sing praises to the God that is worthy to be praised.
The angels are about to spread the plagues and the redeemed are singing to their God.
Not to make light of these events foretold, but our world at times may feel like a plague is upon us. We still have reason to sing. Never miss an opportunity to sing praises to our God. Don’t let the distractions of this world get in the way of our ultimate purpose; to worship the one that sets us free.
-John Wincapaw
Reflection Questions
How can you practice giving God praise and glory even in the midst of scary, overwhelming or unknown circumstances? How can you bring glory to His name in the midst of your activities?
How does music help us display our emotions?
Create a short (or long) song of praise to God, using the song of Revelation 15 as inspiration. What do you praise Him for? Do you fear Him as well (Revelation 15:4)? Why?
Seek Grow Love 