Daily Lesson for August 31, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 14 verses 66 through 72:

66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came by. 67When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’ 68But he denied it, saying, ‘I do not know or understand what you are talking about.’ And he went out into the forecourt.* Then the cock crowed.* 69And the servant-girl, on seeing him, began again to say to the bystanders, ‘This man is one of them.’ 70But again he denied it. Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean.’ 71But he began to curse, and he swore an oath, ‘I do not know this man you are talking about.’ 72At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.

The denial of Christ itself was no mortal sin. Yes, it was sad and shameful, but how could we have expected Peter to have done otherwise? In such a position, with the Sanhedrin police just yards from the fire, and his Lord in the brig, what choice did Peter have if he wanted to save his life?

Let he who would have done any different become the next martyr.

Peter's real sin was the sin of arrogance. It was the sin of overconfidence. It was the sin of pride, and self-assurance, and self-sufficiency. Peter really expected more of himself, which means that either he did not know himself or that he did and was overcompensating.

Truly I tell you, we will not be saved by our own faith or courage. We are saved by Christ's.

We follow as far and as faithfully as we possibly can; but woe unto them who denies that they too have a breaking point, and no reason to pray that they not be led into temptation nor delivered from evil.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for August 30, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from James chapter 2 verses 1 through 4:

My brothers and sisters,* do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?* 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’,* 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

When I was in high school I got tickets to a Texas Tech football game and took three of my friends, who all happened to be black.

Before the start of the game, as I had gone to the restroom and to buy snacks, a woman and her husband showed up in the seats next to our and demanded to see my friends' tickets. Of course, I had the tickets in my pocket in the restroom.

When I returned my friends told me what was going on and how she had demanded that they vacate their seats, going so far as to say she was the owner of the tickets to their seats and had them in her own pocket!

The couple was white, my friends were black. And it was the first time the reality of racism really hit home for me. I burned with indignation.

I pulled out the tickets from my pocket. "How bout them apples," I said. Or something like it.

Looking back, I probably wouldn't show her the tickets today. For what right did she have?

What right do white people have to decide who has to prove they belong?

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church.

Daily Lesson for August 27, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 14 verses 27 through 31:

27And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all become deserters; for it is written,

“I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered.”

28But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.’ 29Peter said to him, ‘Even though all become deserters, I will not.’ 30Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ 31But he said vehemently, ‘Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And all of them said the same.

It was all of the disciples who deserted Jesus.

Usually, we think mainly of Peter solely, and his denial of Jesus in the firelight outside the cell.

But Peter was only questioned because Peter dared to follow Jesus the farthest. The rest fled. Or, as the Lesson says today, they scattered like sheep.

Every year during the Lenten season, I say we are seeking to follow Jesus as far and as faithfully as we possibly can.

Yet, there is truth that no one could follow all the way. For the Creed says, only Jesus "descended into hell" to save the lost.

Let us be gentle with ourselves, little flock. We stumble, and fall, and out of fear or fatigue we stop short.

Yet grace abounds.

And all is grace . . .

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for August 26, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 14 verses 17 through 21:

17 When it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.’ 19They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, ‘Surely, not I?’ 20He said to them, ‘It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread* into the bowl* with me. 21For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’

Jesus was destined to die, but not because it was the will of God that Jesus be sent to die. Jesus was sent from God to show us how to live, but we rejected him.

So, the destiny.

When it became clear that Jesus would be rejected, Jesus embraced his fate. He laid his own life down; it was not solely taken from him. This made him more than a victim.

Judas, too, was destined to betray Jesus; but it was not that Judas had no choice.

He, too, had will. He, too, made his own decisions. His guilt was his own.

I do not understand the mystery of free will and human destiny. It is a mystery hidden with God.

But in the mystery I do know the Scripture is true:

"For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!"

What will be will be, but that doesn't mean we don't make our own choices and seal our own fate.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for August 25, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 14 verses 3 through 10:

3 While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. 4But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way? 5For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her. 6But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. 7For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. 8She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. 9Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

10 Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.

Why the hostility?

Why the antipathy?

Was it because the one with the alabaster jar was a woman?

Is that the hidden reason why so many were so offended by her actions?

And what of Judas? Why his betrayal?

What about his quest for the perfect blinds him to the good?

How could he allow his concern for the care of poor turn so twisted?

Why his contempt? Why his secrecy?

What about this woman, and her kindness set Judas off in such contempt?

There is more than meets the eye here. There is more to Judas than we can know or understand.

There is more to us than we often know or understand.

What we do know is that Judas tried to betray Jesus with a kiss.

But Jesus told him to do what he came to do.

Rev. Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for August 24, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 13 verses 28-29, 32-37:

28 ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he* is near, at the very gates . . .

32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Beware, keep alert;* for you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

There is no way to hasten the stage or age of life. We wait for it and we watch, but it comes on its own time. God comes in God's own time.

Our task is not to know the times or seasons of what is next. Our task is to be faithful in the present of what is now. For as has been said, we are in the "eternal now".

The watchman keeps watch. The doorkeeper stands ready. The servants wait, and hope, and go about their daily tasks.

The times are in God's hands; but today is for our seizing.

Let us make the most of what we've been given today, even as we await the blossom of the fig in what could be tomorrow.

We never know; we just keep the lamps trimmed and burning . . .

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily lesson for August 23, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 5 verses 15 through 21:

15 So Bathsheba went to the king in his room. The king was very old; Abishag the Shunammite was attending the king. 16Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king, and the king said, ‘What do you wish?’ 17She said to him, ‘My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying: Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne. 18But now suddenly Adonijah has become king, though you, my lord the king, do not know it. 19He has sacrificed oxen, fatted cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the children of the king, the priest Abiathar, and Joab the commander of the army; but your servant Solomon he has not invited. 20But you, my lord the king—the eyes of all Israel are on you to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his ancestors, that my son Solomon and I will be counted offenders.’

I was speaking with someone yesterday about the importance of leaving a will, and here this morning the Scripture pops up with David about to die and his intentions for the throne not being clear.

A will makes things clear. So, too, do directives for end of life care and funerals. The only thing worse than arguing over who will speak at a funeral is the argument over whether or not it is okay to remove life-sustaining care to a loved one. As a pastor, these things are excruciating to watch and try to counsel/mediate.

So, some pastoral advice. Write a living will. Make it plain and let everyone in the family know where to find it.

Also, let everyone know what's in it. It's not good to leave surprises.

David did express his wishes at the end. But, really, it was too late. He was actually on his death bed.

We need to get our loved ones ready for what will happen before it happens.

Death is hard enough for those left behind; let's try to make it a little easier.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for August 20, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Mark chapter 12 verses 35 through 37:

35 While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, ‘How can the scribes say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36David himself, by the Holy Spirit, declared,

“The Lord said to my Lord,

‘Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet.’ ”

37David himself calls him Lord; so how can he be his son?’ And the large crowd was listening to him with delight.

This is a most interesting scripture to me.

The leaders in Jerusalem made much of heredity and the rightful claim to the throne of David.

But Jesus seems less interested than his followers -- even his Bible-writing followers -- to prove heirship. He is not looking to ascend to the throne of David. That is too small, and the station too low.

David was a deeply flawed and never quite fully penitent murderer. He was also a sexual predator. These are difficult, but true facts.

Jesus saw those facts in clearer light than everyone who wanted to put Jesus on David's throne. Jesus certainly saw the facts clearer than most of my Sunday School growing up!

Jesus said, "The kings of this earth lord it over the people' yet they call themselves the 'friends of the people.' You shall not be like them."

David was a king of the earth. He did what kings do.

Jesus aimed higher. He wasn't content to be a son of David. He was Son of God.

And he called his followers to live and act like the children of God also.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daily Lesson for August 19, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from 2 Samuel chapter 19 verses 18 through 22:

Shimei son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was about to cross the Jordan, 19and said to the king, ‘May my lord not hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem; may the king not bear it in mind. 20For your servant knows that I have sinned; therefore, see, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.’ 21Abishai son of Zeruiah answered, ‘Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?’ 22But David said, ‘What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should today become an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?’

There is a very powerful story about Mandela inviting his former prison guard on Robbin Island to attend his inauguration as President of South Africa.

I hope heaven is like that story, and like the one we have in today's Lesson, where King David, returned to the throne, lets bygones be bygones with his political enemies.

I do hope heaven is like that, because I believe Jesus is like that.

Earth could also be more like that also, if we were more like it as well.

Forgive, friends. For there is no good future without it.

Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.