Daily Lesson for November 17, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 17 verses 24 through 27:

24 When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?’ 25He said, ‘Yes, he does.’ And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?’ 26When Peter said, ‘From others’, Jesus said to him, ‘Then the children are free. 27However, so that we do not give offence to them, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.’

It is stewardship season in many churches and a time when we are outright asking for money.

As I told the church Sunday, after nearly 20 years in ministry I'm less skittish when it comes to asking for money now because, for one thing, the congregation pretty much expects it, and, two, because the church -- which I believe in -- does need money.

But it's also easier for me to ask for money these days because I have given up the appeal to obligation, which, whether heavy-handed or soft, is always a form of guilt-tripping and spiritual coercion.

Jesus was not into the Temple's coercive techniques. He believed going to the Temple was a free right of all God's children -- and note in the Lesson today Jesus does say, childREN -- plural. That means not just Jesus, but all have a right to come and belong without pay -- like in a family.

The Temple is expensive. We're always working on ours, because after 70 or so years it's always falling apart. We do need people to give.

Jesus had Peter to give. Peter paid with his profession -- fishing. A coin was found in the mouth of the fish. There's always a coin or two to be found to be made in whatever it is we do. Those who give that coin to the church are much appreciated.

But still, the children really are free. We're free to give and free not to give. When we truly believe we are free then we're free indeed; and we're free to let others be free as well.

Embrace this.

Embrace it for yourself. Embrace it for your neighbor. And embrace for your preacher whose charged with talking about all this too.

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

Daily Lesson for November 16, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 21 verses 5 through 7:

5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ 6Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.'

We are coming to the end of the Liturgical Year. Sunday is the last Sunday of this year and the week following Thanksgiving we will begin the new year with Advent.

This morning's reading is a reminder of God's presence in both beginning and also end. God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. And God wants us to know -- really know -- this so deeply and so assuredly that God said, God demanded, "Write it down."

Write it down that the end is coming, but that God will be there. Write it down that God will not forsake or abandon us. Write it down that God knows and is the last word -- the final Amen.

There will be water in the end. And there will be water in the next beginning. The first drink was a kind of water made for us by life itself. The last drink will be a swab from someone who loves or at least cares for us. All in between, there is water on the way.

Do not be afraid, beloved. Do not fear the future. Do not fear your past! The journey is long and arduous, and we have fallen many times. But we have not failed.

And more important, God has not failed us.

These are the last days. The Penultimate week. Sunday is Christ the KIng. He will stand before Pilate. But He will not bow, or beg, or shudder.

Neither shall we. But we shall drink with the one who is, and was, and will be in the kingdom that is to come.

Write it down.

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

Daily Lesson for November 15, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 17 verses 5 through 7:

5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’

Fear cannot be the final word.

To fear is human. It is understandable. And it is necessary.

We fear God. We fear the future. We fear snakes. And we know there are plenty snakes out there.

But though we, like the disciples, might feel overwhelmed by it all -- overwhelmed by our own sin, overwhelmed by our own anxieties, overwhelmed by our sense of insufficiency, overwhelmed by the thought of whatever tomorrow may bring -- Jesus comes and lays his hands upon us and tells us, "Do not be afraid; get up and get going."

He is not afraid. He has so much to face. Darkness sets in upon him. So much is set against him. But He believes in God; and He is up and He is going.

We believe in God. Let us also believe in Jesus, and in his words, "Get up, and do not be afraid."

Let us find the courage to get up and go with Him, so that He doesn't have to walk into this valley; and neither do we.

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

Daily Lesson for November 11, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 16 verses 5 through 12:

5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6Jesus said to them, ‘Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ 7They said to one another, ‘It is because we have brought no bread.’ 8And becoming aware of it, Jesus said, ‘You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? 9Do you still not perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11How could you fail to perceive that I was not speaking about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!’ 12Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Here is a lesson on how to interpret the times.

Jesus is warning his disciples not to fall for the distractions and the evasions and all the shenanigans of the political leaders in the capital.

"Beware," he says, "of their 'yeast'."

Yeast puffs up. It makes big adoo. It makes a lot out of absolutely nothing.

"Don't be distracted," Jesus is saying. "Don't believe the headline. Don't buy into the party line."

I think he would have said, "Never, ever trust the name of a bill on a ballot in Texas."

Yeast. Fluff. Active agents of distraction.

"Beware," Jesus says, which means it's okay not to believe everything we read and hear.

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

Daily Lesson for November 11, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 15 verses 30 through 38:

30Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, 31so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ 33The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ 34Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ 35Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 38Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.

The feeding of the 4,000 has been said to be just another version of the feeding of the 5,000; but that is not so and there is more to the story than simply a re-telling.

Jesus feeds the 5,000 on the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee. 12 baskets of bread are left over -- 12 being the symbolic number of the tribes of Israel. The point being there is enough for all Israel.

But then after the 5,000 are fed Jesus has the encounter with the Syrophoenician woman whom I wrote about yesterday. She, a Gentile, is at first refused by Jesus. But she begs for her child to be healed, saying "Even the dogs get the scraps that come from the table."

It is after this then that many are brought to Jesus to be healed, and they praise the God of Israel -- implying they are Gentiles.

Then, immediately after that, the 4,000 are fed. This time there are 7 baskets left over -- 7 being the symbolic number of the nations which were run out of Israel when the 12 tribes came in.

I hope this excites you as much as it does me! The point is that there is enough, for all of Israel and for everyone else too, and that Jesus' healing, and feeding, and provision is for everyone. In his ministry there is salvation for all!

I tell you, sometimes a little Bible study can really pay off. And it can open our eyes to see everything and everyone in a whole new way.

"And they ate; and they were filled."

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

Daily Lesson for November 9, 2021

 Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 15 verses 21 through 28:

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 2Today's Da2Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ 26He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 27She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

This morning's Lesson is very famous story, mainly because it gives rise to debate around Jesus' mindset and perspective on foreign peoples.

I for one embrace the idea that Jesus' understanding of his mission and ministry expanded even as his understanding of the universality of God's love expanded. The Bible says, Jesus "grew in wisdom and in stature". Why would we think he ever stopped growing?

As for the woman in this story, she is a model of maternal love and sacrifice.

Just before this scene Jesus has had a spat with the Pharisees about his eating with unclean hands. He told the Pharisees that it is not what goes into the body that makes one unclean, but what comes out -- hatred, anger, jealousy, etc.

What comes out of this woman is love; and she is willing even to eat what the dogs eat for the sake of the child she loves. This is true love, which has so obviously come out of this foreign woman, and begs Jesus to open his heart and his mind to love universal.

"I'm not ashamed to beg for mine." That is what a mother I know said to me when she was asking for help covering medical costs for her child in need of a surgery.

Love is not ashamed. Love will do what is necessary. It will even beg with the dogs if it has to.

And love will break even Jesus' heart -- for good.

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

Daily Lesson for November 8, 2021

 Today's Lesson comes from Nehemiah chapter 9 verses 1 through 3:

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with dust on their heads. 2Then those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. 3They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth part of the day, and for another fourth they made confession and worshipped the Lord their God.

Tonight I am joining with the Fort Worth Circle of Clergy in hosting a talk on Faith Perspectives on CRT. It is important to know what CRT is, what it is not, and why it is used as tool for teaching in some upper level classrooms.

It is a part of our shared Faith traditions to understand the ways in which our histories shape us as a people. This morning's Lesson has the Jews in Nehemiah's day examining the law, recounting the history, and confessing the sins of its ancestors.

It is important that we give an account for where we are and how we got here. It is important that we understand how law and history and the mistakes and also evils of the past continue to have consequence in our present.

A link to the CRT event is shared below.

Dr. Altheria Caldera, a member of Como First Baptist Church here in Fort Worth and Professor of Education at Howard University in Washington, DC will be our presenter; and I will moderate a discussion to follow her presentation.

I hope you can come and learn with us so that we can all better understand how we got here so that we can determine -- as Dr. King said -- "where we go from here".

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

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