Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure

Excluded from Heaven: Matthew 7:21-29

Published January 7, 2026 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 7:21-29 (GW)

²¹“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who does what my Father in heaven wants. ²²Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we force out demons and do many miracles by the power and authority of your name?’ ²³Then I will tell them publicly, ‘I’ve never known you. Get away from me, you evil people.’

²⁴“Therefore, everyone who hears what I say and obeys it will be like a wise person who built a house on rock. ²⁵Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not collapse, because its foundation was on rock.

²⁶“Everyone who hears what I say but doesn’t obey it will be like a foolish person who built a house on sand. ²⁷Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and struck that house. It collapsed, and the result was a total disaster.”

²⁸When Jesus finished this speech, the crowds were amazed at his teachings. ²⁹Unlike their experts in Moses’ Teachings, he taught them with authority.

Read Matthew 7:21-29 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Out of all the challenging things Jesus told the crowds while He preached during His life on earth, I cannot think of a passage that is more sobering in how it depicts the final judgment. At the beginning of this passage, which is Jesus’ closing words in His famous “Sermon on the Mount”, He shares a very sad truth.

Jesus starts out by saying, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who does what my Father in heaven wants.” (v. 21)

We might think Jesus will then tell us what God the Father really wants – but He doesn’t. Instead, Jesus tells us some things that these people will claim to be things that God wants: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we force out demons and do many miracles by the power and authority of your name?’” (v. 22)

While prophesying, casting out demons, and performing miracles are all positive things, Jesus is telling us in this verse that these are not at the heart of what God the Father wants from us. Instead, in His farewell to this group of people who don’t get access to the kingdom, Jesus hints at what God really wants: “Then I will tell them publicly, ‘I’ve never known you. Get away from me, you evil people.’” (v. 23)

The two things that define this group is that they are evil, and that Jesus doesn’t know them. While everyone alive has sinned, by calling a group of people evil, Jesus is drawing our attention onto their actions and the focus of their lives. These people are moving in a direction that is counter to God’s will. They might think they are moving towards God, but the god they have chosen is not God the Father – or even His Son Jesus.

By saying that He has never known them, Jesus draws our attention to the absence of a personal relationship. If these people joined a religion that claims the name of Jesus or Christ, they would have joined a religion for only social reasons – and perhaps “fire insurance”. But they stop their faith at simply showing up to church on occasion; they think that attendance equals a relationship.

Having a relationship with Jesus is so much more than a two hour event one day a week. Jesus wants to be so much closer to us than just some guy who is also at a place that we are at occasionally (i.e. church). Jesus wants to walk with us through all seven days of our week; He wants to help us with the challenges we face each day; and He wants to lead us into being more like Him – and more like the person God originally created us to be. When we are reflecting Jesus, we truly can say we know Jesus and that He knows us!

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Two Types of Prayers: Matthew 6:5-13

Published January 6, 2026 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Matthew 6:5-13 (NCV)

⁵“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward. ⁶When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.

⁷“And when you pray, don’t be like those people who don’t know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing, thinking that God will hear them because of their many words. ⁸Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. ⁹So when you pray, you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,
may your name always be kept holy.
¹⁰May your kingdom come
and what you want be done,
here on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us the food we need for each day.
¹²Forgive us for our sins,
just as we have forgiven those who sinned against us.
¹³And do not cause us to be tempted,
but save us from the Evil One.’ [The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.]

Read Matthew 6:5-13 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

In all the things Jesus talked about, none was probably more close to His heart than when He talked about prayer. While He left heaven and became human to be closer to us, prayer served as His main connection back to the Father in heaven.

This means that when Jesus turns the focus of His teaching onto the subject of prayer, He wants us to pay extra close attention to a few things. When Jesus was walking the earth in the first century, there were two types of people who prayed, and Jesus makes a clear distinction about what type we should be: “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward. When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.” (v. 5-6)

In Jesus’ teaching, the hypocrites are those who pray for the attention of people rather than the praise of God. Jesus all but says that God ignores these prayers. Jesus tells us that whatever praise they receive from those who witness their prayer will be their only reward.

However, Jesus contrasts these hypocrites with what we might simply call the “secret-prayers” – those people who keep their prayers to God between them and God. While I doubt these people would never pray in public, they would only do so if asked or if the situation called them to do so. The number of public prayers would be minimal when compared to the number of private prayers in the lives of these individuals.

It is this second type of person who God wants us to be. This type of person intentionally places focus on their personal relationship with God when no one is watching and builds the foundation of their life on that relationship with God. What we do when no one is watching determines what we will ultimately be when the spotlight shines on us.

God tells us that those who do things for human approval only receive human approval as their reward. Instead, God rewards what we do for Him in secret. When we focus on Him over what others think, we will be rewarded by the only One who can give us the “reward” of a lifetime – i.e. the reward of eternal life!

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Flashback Episode — Introducing Jesus: John 1:1-18

Published January 5, 2026 in Audio Journal Entries

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As we begin another year looking at the gospels, this year we are focusing in on John’s gospel, and for many people, John’s gospel might be the most powerful of all the gospels in the Bible. I am certain that while we will try to cover as much as we can during the time we have this year, we will barely scratch the surface of what John’s gospel shares about God, about Jesus, and about how much the Godhead loves each of us.

To begin our year in John’s gospel, let’s first look at how John opens his gospel record, because in this introduction, I suspect that we can find some amazing truths about God and about Jesus.

Our passage is found in John, chapter 1, and we will read this introduction from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1, John begins by telling us:

¹In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was already with God in the beginning.

³Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.

⁴He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity.

⁵The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it.

Pausing our introduction briefly here, I want to draw attention onto how John frames Jesus as the source of all life and light. According to John, Jesus was the key to the creation of this world and Jesus is our Source of life.

While it might be easy to spiritualize this detail away by focusing forward onto what Jesus would do for us through His death on the cross, John’s big point here is that there wouldn’t have been a human race for Jesus to die for if Jesus hadn’t created us.

Reading this introduction to John’s gospel amazes me, because from how John frame’s Jesus’ role in creation, Jesus willfully created the reason He would face the cross. While we might think that God the Father created the world and humanity, and then sent Jesus to clean up the mess sin made, John’s introduction frames Jesus being our Creator and the rest of this gospel frames Jesus as our Redeemer as well. Jesus is the reason every human is alive because Jesus is our Creator.

However, John’s introduction isn’t finished yet. Continuing in verse 6, John tells us that:

⁶God sent a man named John to be his messenger. ⁷John came to declare the truth about the light so that everyone would become believers through his message. ⁸John was not the light, but he came to declare the truth about the light.

⁹The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹He went to his own people, and his own people didn’t accept him. ¹²However, he gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him. ¹³These people didn’t become God’s children in a physical way—from a human impulse or from a husband’s desire to have a child. They were born from God.

Pausing again, as I read how John frame’s Jesus’ purpose for coming into the world, John tells us Jesus “gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him.” To clarify this idea, John tells us this isn’t a physical change, such as from a human impulse or husband and wife relations, but a spiritual one. We could conclude that when we believe in Jesus, God adopts us into His spiritual family.

This detail is significant when we read the next portion of John’s introduction, specifically the portion we will end with. Picking back up in verse 14, John continues sharing by saying:

¹⁴The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth.

¹⁵(John declared the truth about him when he said loudly, “This is the person about whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’”)

¹⁶Each of us has received one gift after another because of all that the Word is. ¹⁷Laws were given through Moses, but kindness and truth came into existence through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. God’s only Son, the one who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known.

Let’s stop reading here because John has emphasized some big ideas that I don’t want us to miss. In the last portion of verse 14, John tells us that God the Father’s glory, which He shared with Jesus, is a “glory full of kindness and truth”.

John tells us that we receive amazing gifts and blessings because of who Jesus, also known as “the Word”, is and because of who we are to Him. While God blessed the world with His law through Moses, God revealed His kindness and truth through Jesus.

This detail is incredibly important for us to pay attention to. John tells us that God’s glory is full of kindness and truth, and John has already set the stage with an invitation given to all humanity to become adopted into God’s family. If we are to accept this invitation into God’s family, we should also expect that we will be transformed into reflecting God’s glory in the world around us. God’s glory does not judge, put down, or condemn others. God’s glory shines the light of kindness and truth.

I believe the order of these words is important. While some people might think that truth should come before kindness, it is very easy for truth to be shared outside of the context of kindness and for the hearer of the truth to interpret it in an unkind way. This is why I believe John wrote kindness, or grace, first.

Instead of the age-old cliché of loving the sinner while hating the sin, we should love the sinner first, before sharing the truth that God loves the sinner regardless of their sin. Too many sinners have their identity wrapped up in their sins, and hating the sin is seen in their eyes as hating the sinner, regardless of what we might say.

However, God loved us while we were actively sinning against Him, and we can know this to be true because Jesus came to die for us. God put kindness and grace first, before challenging us with the truth that God sees us as more valuable than our actions, our potential, and our sins. God’s glory is filled with kindness and truth, God’s glory is seen in Jesus, and as followers of Jesus, we are called to reflect this glory as well.

Truth shared in an unkind way is more damaging than simply being kind and extending grace. Jesus modeled kindness towards sinners, and He was kind and gracious towards all who understood they were sinners before calling them out of their sin.

Jesus modeled this gracious attitude towards us, because whether we like to admit it or not, we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s ideal. The sooner we realize that we are not any better than anyone else, the sooner Jesus can transform our lives with His glory, kindness, and truth!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to reflect God’s glory by being kind to everyone God has brought into your life. Choose to give people the benefit of a doubt and to extend grace even if grace isn’t what we deserve. We give others grace and kindness because God has blessed us with His grace and kindness.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and move closer to God in your life. The best way to learn what God is like is by opening the pages of your Bible and looking at Jesus. Jesus came to show us what God is like, and how much He loves each of us.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Flashback Episode: Year in John – Episode 1: As John opens his gospel, discover how he takes us back to the beginning, and how Jesus is more than simply our Redeemer and friend. Through John’s introduction, discover the invitation we have been given, and how we can reflect God’s glory in our lives like Jesus did in His.

He Hears Our Prayers: Luke 1:5-25

Published January 2, 2026 in Written Journal Entries

Focus Passage: Luke 1:5-25 (NIV)

⁵In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. ⁷But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

⁸Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. ¹⁴He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. ¹⁶He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”

¹⁹The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

²¹Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²²When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵“The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Read Luke 1:5-25 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

After Luke begins his gospel with a formal greeting, instead of sharing Jesus’ back story and His birth story, Luke goes even further and chooses to focus on the birth of Jesus’ forerunner in ministry, John the Baptist. While John’s birth is not as miraculous as Jesus’ birth, it was a birth that God did have His hand in.

While reading this event, a phrase jumped out at me that has important implications for everyone who has chosen to include prayer as part of their lives. When Zechariah entered the temple to burn incense, he realized he was not the only one in that inner room of the temple – an angel appeared to him standing beside the alter. “When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.” (v. 12-13)

While we are quick to move through this story and get to the promise of the angel, and Zechariah’s doubt, too often we miss a key phrase at the beginning of the angel’s message. After calming Zechariah’s nerves as much as possible by saying, “Do not be afraid,” the very first part of the angel’s message is, “Your prayer has been heard.” (v. 13)

This is important, because all too often, when we pray, we may wonder or doubt if God really hears us. If God chooses not to answer us, or if He determines that the time isn’t right for us to receive a response, we may wonder if God really has heard us. It is in this first part of the angel’s message to Zechariah that each of us can see that God really does hear our prayers. It was years, and maybe even decades that this elderly couple had prayed for a child, and perhaps they had long since given up now that they were old.

But whether our prayer was spoken 5 minutes ago or even 5 years ago, God has heard it, and He has been working (and perhaps waiting for the right time) to give us the best possible answer for us. God hears our prayers, and He answers them at the perfect time and in the perfect way from His kingdom perspective – the perspective that results in the greatest number of people being saved for eternity.

Zechariah’s prayers didn’t fall on deaf ears. Instead, God was waiting for the perfect time to give him an answer.

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