DailyPBJ Devotionals

DailyPBJ
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  • CHRISTIANITY
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PBJ (Pastor Brian Jones) reads scripture followed by a brief devotional about that scripture passage.

Episodes

  1. JAN 30

    Matthew 22

    The parable about the wedding banquet, here in verses 1-14, is about Israel's rejection of Jesus as Messiah. God the Father invited them to the wedding banquet and everything was ready (vv. 1-4) but Israel was too busy with their own stuff, even getting angry enough to persecute and kill some of God's servants, the prophets (vv. 5-6). God judged Israel for rejecting the Messiah. Verse 7 is a veiled prophecy of judgment and it was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. After judging Israel, God turned his attention to inviting us, the Gentiles through the gospel message (vv. 8-14). Notice, though, that even though all the "bad as well as the good" (v. 10) were gathered into the wedding banquet, each guest still needed an outfit appropriate for a wedding (vv. 11-12). Jesus did not explain what that meant other than verse 14's statement that, "...many are invited, but few are chosen." That statement does not explain the image of the wedding clothes and how it relates to the parable. As God's revelation continued to unfold in the New Testament, we can see clearly that the wedding clothes Jesus referenced in verses 11-12 refer to the righteousness of Christ that God credits to us by grace. When someone puts faith in Christ, God begins to treat that person as if he or she is as righteous as Jesus Christ is, even though that person is not. If you are a Christian, Jesus's perfect life clothes you like a garment. His atonement on the cross was applied to you when you trusted in him, washing all your sins away. But the perfect life of Jesus Christ was also gifted to you, covering your imperfections and making you acceptable in the sight of God. You and I have a long way to go before we will actually be righteous in the sight of God. God is working on us to make us righteous people but we are still unrighteous in many ways. Nevertheless, you and I still belong at the wedding feast because we are covered by the righteousness of Christ. This is why you don't need to worry about "losing your salvation." You didn't earn your salvation in the first place. It was given to you by God. You can't lose the garment of Christ's righteousness any more than you can lose the shirt on your back. If you're someone who struggles with feelings of assurance in your faith, let this passage encourage you. Trust in the gracious gift of Christ, not your own performance.

  2. FEB 2

    Matthew 23

    Read Matthew 23. Today’s reading continued to chronicle the life of Christ during the week of the crucifixion. Yesterday, we read that the religious leaders took turns trying to discredit Jesus by attempting to stump him with hard questions. Jesus turned every question back on the questioners and made them look foolish. So, Jesus was on defense in that chapter and refused to allow his opponents to score any points at all. Here in Matthew 23, Jesus went on offense, warning his audience about the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and teachers of the law and urging his audience not to live like these religious leaders. Jesus was very specific in his complaints about the hypocrisy of these groups. He criticized them for: not practicing what they preach (vv. 1-4). doing everything for show, not from sincerity (vv. 5-12). being an obstacle to God’s kingdom rather than a guide to it (vv. 13-15). finding loopholes in God’s laws to exploit for their own selfish ends (vv. 16-22). being scrupulous about obedience to the technicalities of the law while completely ignoring the moral and ethical commands of the law (vv. 23-24). appearing squeaky-clean on the outside while being morally degenerate on the inside (vv. 25-28). honoring the prophets that their ancestors killed while persecuting the prophets and teachers Jesus sent and was sending to them (vv. 29-36). Let's focus on verses 5-12. Although the religious men of his culture loved the accolades of great honor that were customarily given to them (v. 7), Jesus commanded his followers not to give titles and honor to our leaders (vv. 8-11). He could not have been clearer that Christian leaders are to be servants who serve in humility (vv. 11-12); consequently, he strictly forbid us from putting titles on each other. Despite what Jesus clearly said, Christian leaders for centuries have demanded certain titles: Bishop Youknowwho, Pope Whatshisname, Cardinal Soandso, Saint Bernard, and even “Father”-- the very title Jesus said not to use (v. 9). Though the elders here at Calvary felt it was important for me to be called “Pastor,” I’ve always been more comfortable just going by the name my parents gave me. Even though I have an earned doctorate, I never tell anyone to call me Dr. Jones and this passage is the reason why. We call Paul “the Apostle Paul” but he never called himself that; instead, his letters began with his first name, "Paul" (Rom 1:1, 1 Cor 1:1, 2 Cor 1:1, etc.) I think we should be careful about using titles in light of this passage, but the command here is less about whether you call me “Pastor Brian” or just “Brian” and more about whether I serve the Lord in order to get honor and respect from you. The Pharisees and teachers of the law wanted the social status that came from being a religious leader (vv. 5-7). They did not view themselves as servants to their disciples but as princes who taught but also demanded much from their followers. We are not immune to this temptation. Some people seek to be elders or deacons or teachers in the church because they want the respect of the people of the church. Jesus called us to remember that spiritual leadership is about service, not about self. May God help all of us to cultivate the servants heart that Jesus commanded and modeled for us, no matter what title people apply to our names or what positions of authority we occupy.

  3. FEB 3

    Matthew 24

    When I was in high school, I had a youth pastor whose father was a fire fighter in Detroit. Right around Christmas time, they were called to a house fire. When they arrived, one person in the family was missing. She had made it out of the house with the rest of the family but went back inside to try to retrieve something. She never made it out. They found her body a few feet from the door. In her arms she was holding an Intellivision--a video game console they had gotten for Christmas. If your house were burning, what would you try to rescue from it? If your family was safe, the answer should be "nothing." But we are physical creatures and we get attached to physical things. The disciples showed this when they pointed out how great Herod's temple was (v. 1). But Jesus told them not to get too attached to it because it would be completely destroyed one day (v. 2). Later on, when describing the same attack on Jerusalem, Jesus told them, "Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house" (v. 17). Instead, they should get out of the area as fast as they could (vv. 15-16, 20). Material things are great and we need them. The problem isn't that we enjoy material things or own material things or appreciate something that is well-designed and well-built. The problem is that we can be tempted to value material things too much. When your material possessions (vv. 17-18) or your house of worship (vv. 1-2) or even your own life or acceptance by others (v. 9) matter more to you than serving God, you are not a believer. It is "...the one who stands firm to the end [who] will be saved" (v. 13). But even if we have genuine faith in Christ that will stand the losses and tests of trials, we still can be tempted to get attached to material things. The antidote to that kind of materialism is remember that this world is not our home. While we live in this world, our citizenship is in Christ's eternal kingdom. So, we should live this life expecting the return to Christ to establish his kingdom as described in verses 36-51. How is your focus today? Are you focused on paying the bills, upgrading your lifestyle, and having more and better things? Or are you living for eternity--investing your time and money in things that will not be torn down, like Herod's temple eventually was?

  4. FEB 4

    Matthew 25

    DailyPBJ Devotionals

  5. FEB 5

    Matthew 26

    During this final week before Jesus's death, the Bible tells us he had a predictable daily schedule. During the day he taught in the temple and people showed up early to hear him At night, he left the city of Jerusalem and climbed the nearby hill called the Mount of Olives where he spent the night with his disciples. See Luke 21:37-38 for these details. Here in Matthew 26, Jesus was in Bethany which is on the Mount of Olives. After teaching all day in the temple, he was enjoying a meal in the home of "Simon the leper" (v. 6). In verse 7 we were told that a woman came and anointed his head with some "very expensive perfume." This made Jesus's disciples angry and they complained that, if she wanted to do something good with the perfume, she should have sold it and given the money to the poor (v. 9). Jesus defended the woman's actions (v. 10), calling what she did "a beautiful thing." Caring for the poor was and is important to Jesus but so is loving him. Some acts of worship are extravagant, so seemingly wasteful that they invite criticism. But when they come from a heart of love for God out of a desire to serve and please God, they are beautiful, not wasteful. Solomon's temple was meticulously designed, built with the utmost skill, and lavishly furnished. God does not need physical buildings; he wants his people to worship him from the heart in truth, not necessarily in the finest places. But worship from the heart can cause people to do unusual things. The musician who practices and practices in order to play his or her part perfectly, not just adequately, is doing "a beautiful thing" if he or she does it for Jesus. So is the church that gives sacrificially to build a church building that is beautiful, not just good enough. The same can be said for a teacher who labors to study the word in depth and thinks about the best words to describe and illustrate and apply what God's word says. What is the best thing you have--the best skill you have? Is is making money? Is is singing or playing a musical instrument? Is it encouraging others? Is it teaching? Is it making meals? Is it decorating or making art? Do you show your love for Christ in the way that you use the best thing(s) that you have? Are you willing to sacrifice--extravagantly, even--not to impress others or because you feel like you should but just to do "a beautiful thing" for God?

  6. 6D AGO

    Matthew 27

    Read Matthew 27. At the end of Matthew 26, Jesus faced a religious trial. The religious leaders of Judaism investigated and convicted Jesus of blasphemy (vv. 63-65). By admitting that he was “the Son of God” (v. 63b) Jesus agreed that he shared God’s nature, making himself equal with God. Here in chapter 27, Jesus was handed over to Pilate to face a criminal trial. It was against Jewish law to claim to be God but it was not against Roman law to make that claim. The accusation against Jesus pivoted, then, from his claim to be the Son of God to his claim to be the Christ (or Messiah)--the King of the Jews (vv. 11-12). Rome took a claim like that seriously because Caesar, the Roman king, did not want nations which were under his authority, like Israel, to rebel. It was blasphemous to claim to be the Son of God; that could get you excluded from the synagogue and the temple. It was treasonous, however, to claim to be the King of the Jews. That charge was brought against Jesus so that the Romans would put him to death. Pilate, however, was skeptical. Verse 18 says, “For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.” Their prosecution of Jesus was to protect their own interests as Jewish leaders. Pilate even called them out for wanting to kill an innocent man (vv. 23-24). Consider how chilling that is: The religious leaders of Judaism preferred to take an innocent man’s life over losing some of their influence and power over the Jewish people. The sinful desire for power caused a few ungodly religious men to put the Son of God, the King of Israel, to death. But although it was their desire and decision to kill him (v. 25), all of it happened under the grand plan of God to buy us out from our slavery to sin and death. Christ died to atone for sins. The tearing of the curtain in the temple that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place (v. 51) showed that Christ was offering himself as the once for all sacrifice for human sins. The temporary resurrection of Jewish believers testified to his power to give new life (vv. 52-53). This is why Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection are so important to our faith. Because Jesus died, we can have new life because he took the penalty for our sins. Those who should have accepted and welcomed Jesus put him to death. By his death, God gave us new life so that we accepted and welcomed Jesus as our Savior and Lord. So, let’s serve him today through the power and new life he gave us.

  7. 3D AGO

    Matthew 28

    Read Matthew 28. The resurrection of Jesus is one of the hardest things in the Bible to believe. You may have seen someone resuscitated but you've never seen someone who has been dead for days and embalmed for burial get up out of his or her casket. I think about this sometimes when I attend a funeral or a visitation. It would be a distressing thing to witness a bona fide resurrection. God knew it would be difficult to believe and he knew that it would be easy to fabricate a believable story to explain the disappearance of Jesus's dead body. What is more likely? What is easier to believe--that someone actually rose from the dead or that someone stole a dead man's body, buried it out in the desert where it would never be found, and then claimed that he rose from the dead? The question answers itself. So, here in Matthew 28, Matthew recorded the cover up that the enemies of Jesus concocted to explain away his disappearance (vv. 11-15). But he also recorded the appearance of Jesus to the women (vv. 1-9). Then he recorded the promise Christ made to meet with his disciples in Galilee (v. 10) and then his meeting (v. 16) and his final words to them (vv. 17-20). All of these appearances were designed to provide evidence that that the resurrection is true. The followers of Jesus didn't just say, "Trust us; he rose from the dead even though only one or two of us saw him. Instead, he made several appearances, some of which are not even recorded here in Matthew, so that there would be an abundance of witnesses who would see him alive and well on planet earth. But it takes an act of faith to believe in the resurrection. There is an alternative explanation (vv. 11-15) and it is easier to believe that than it is to believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead. But he did rise from the dead because his resurrection was necessary for our salvation, for our spiritual power, and to prove that Christ is, in fact, the Son of God. Don't doubt the resurrection of Jesus and don't shy away from talking about it to others, even though it is hard to believe. The resurrection of Jesus is true and essential to everything we hold dear as Christians. Our hope for eternal life rests in the truth of the resurrection and Christ, by rising from the dead first, shows that God can and will raise the dead.

  8. 2D AGO

    Hebrews 1

    Read Hebrews 1. [Note: the schedule I put together for reading through the New Testament does not go consecutively through the New Testament books. It moves around so that there is some variety in our readings. That's why we're not starting Mark today even though we finished Matthew yesterday.] One of the challenges to our faith comes in the form of "pluralism"--the idea that every religion leads to the one and only God. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6), so we believe that Christianity is the exclusive way to God. That's not a popular idea, as you know. Even Christians, at times, have speculated that God might save people outside of Christianity in nations or tribes where there is no Christian witness. Hebrews 1 provides some important information that explains why pluralism is wrong. It is true that God has spoken throughout human history "in various ways" (v. 1). The writer of Hebrews, though, wants us to know that "in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son" (v. 2a). Christ, the Son of God, is uniquely qualified to reveal God to us because he is, according to verse 3, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being," Being God himself, Jesus could reveal God to us as no other person or angel ever could (vv. 5-14). Furthermore, Christ has "provided purification for sins" (v. 3), something that no other man, religion, revelation, or spirit being can do. It is impossible, then, for any other religion to save someone or reveal God to anyone because there is only one God and Christ is the only one capable of revealing him and reconciling us with him. Despite the pressures we feel from pluralism, we must maintain our conviction that Christ is the only way to God. If we give up (or just get careless) about this truth, it will weaken every conviction we have as Christians and kill our motivation to spread the gospel message.

  9. 1D AGO

    Hebrews 2

    Read Hebrews 2. Yesterday’s reading in chapter 1 emphasized to us that Christ is superior to angels. Like, really superior--he’s the Son, they are just servant-messengers. That does not mean, however, that angels are unimportant. Far from it; the end of chapter 1 said they are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (1:14). Today’s reading in chapter 2 picked up on that truth and told us to be careful not to drift away from Christ. Verse 2 of chapter 2 told us why we should be careful not to drift away: Angels may not be as great as Jesus, but look at the kind of judgment people faced when they ignored the message angels brought. [Think here of Sodom and Gomorrah.] So verse 3 told us, if God punished people who disobeyed the message of angels, what will he do to those who ignored the salvation that Jesus taught us about? The answer is that he will punish us with even greater severity. Verses 3b-4 told us that the message Jesus taught was also validated by “those who heard him” (aka, the Apostles) and “signs, wonders, and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the gospel is not a made-up idea and the threat of punishment for ignoring the gospel is not empty. Instead, God provided plenty of proof that Jesus’ message was valid; that proof consisted of the eyewitnesses of his life and teaching and the miracles Jesus did to authenticate his message. Beyond the threat of punishment, though, there is great blessing for those who do believe the gospel and follow Jesus Christ. Verses 5-8 tell us that God is going to take us who believe the gospel in this life and make us rulers in his kingdom to come. Although it hasn’t happened yet, Jesus provides the evidence that God will bless us. This evidence is described in verse 9; Jesus was humiliated to death on our behalf, but now has been raised to glory and honor. Speaking of Christ’s humiliation, the author of Hebrews wants us to know that everything Jesus suffered was to bring us into God’s family. And, despite our sins and rebellion against God, “Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (v. 11). His willingness to call us his brothers and sisters stems not from anything we did to become worthy; it comes from his atonement for us on the cross (v. 9, 14, 17-18). So don’t turn away from Jesus. Even if the cost becomes high and we experience persecution for Christ, don’t turn away from him. Turning away from him means eternal punishment but trusting him means enjoying the acceptance and fellowship of being Christ’s family as well as the promise that we will reign with him in his kingdom. It is true that following Christ can be painful and costly in this life but that cost is so temporary and so cheap compared to what Christ did to redeem us and compared to all that he offers us in him. So don’t be discouraged today if your faith costs you something in this life. Instead, let that cost strengthen your faith in Jesus because of the promises he’s made to us.

  10. 13H AGO

    Hebrews 3

    Read Hebrews 3. An observant Jewish person will have deep reverence for some of the heroes of what we call the Old Testament. I'm thinking here of people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua, Samuel, David, and others. Of course, Moses would be on that list, too. As the man God used to deliver Israel from Egypt and through whom God gave the Law, Moses is heroic to all of God's people, whether Jewish or Gentile. And the Jewish believers, who read this letter called Hebrews first, certainly had a strong respect, even reverence, for Moses. There is nothing wrong with having a faith-hero and Moses is a good one to have in many ways. A problem develops, though, when a hero of the faith becomes more real to us than Jesus himself is. Despite all his virtues, Moses was merely a man. The author of Hebrews wants his readers to love Jesus more than they love Moses. He urged them in verse 1, then, to "fix your thoughts on Jesus." Every good quality that Moses had, such as his faithfulness to God's work (v. 2), Jesus has in greater abundance. If the Jewish Christians held Moses in greater esteem than they held Jesus, then they were admiring the house more than the ingenuity of the builder (vv. 3-6). If these believers turned away from Jesus to return to a Christ-less form of Judaism (vv. 6-19), then they would miss the eternal promised land just as the Jewish people who followed Moses out of Egypt missed the Canaanite promised land. You probably don't think about Moses more than Jesus. That was a greater temptation for the Jewish readers of the book of Hebrews than it is for us. But you might be tempted to follow some other Christian leader more closely than follow Jesus. If there is a pastor or author or teacher or Christian parent who contributed powerfully to your conversion, growth, and discipleship, you might follow that person more closely than you follow Jesus. That's dangerous because even godly people are still human. They can fall or just disappoint you. Jesus never will. Is there someone you love and follow so closely that everything he says or does is, to you, what a Christian must say or do? Are you in danger--or guilty--of respecting the house more than the builder (v. 3)? That is a subtle but real form of idolatry. Love your mentors and appreciate all that they've done for you in Christ. But follow Jesus and worship him alone. He's the only one worth following and worshipping, and he is the only who can get you safely to God's eternal promised land.

  • 10 Episodes

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About

PBJ (Pastor Brian Jones) reads scripture followed by a brief devotional about that scripture passage.

Information

  • Creator
    DailyPBJ
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    10
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 DailyPBJ
  • Show Website
    DailyPBJ Devotionals