January
1: A New Year Brings Opportunity! (Harold Vaughan)
2-8: Hope for the Family (Jack Palmer)
9-15: Making Memories (Tom Palmer)
16: The Value of Time (Jeff Kahl)
17-22: Gideon (Harold Vaughan)
23-29: Knowing and Doing the Will of God (Tom Palmer)
30-31: Faithfulness (Jack Palmer)
February
1-5: Faithfulness (Jack Palmer)
6-12: Favorite Scriptures (Tom Palmer)
13-17: Joy (Harold Vaughan)
18-24: Prayer (Jack Palmer)
25-28: Youth (Harold Vaughan)
29: Saving Trust (Harold Vaughan)
March
1-7: Getting Started in Family Ministry (Tom Palmer)
8-14: Kindness (Rick Johnson)
15: Don’t Miss God’s Glory (Jeff Kahl)
16-21: Keeping the Lord in the Lord’s Day (Tom Palmer)
22-25: Revival (Harold Vaughan)
26-31: God’s Glory (T.P. Johnston, Jr.)
April
1: God’s Glory (T.P. Johnston, Jr.)
2-8: Steps to Personal Holiness (Tom Palmer)
9-15: Encouragement (Jack Palmer)
16-22: Authority (Craig M. Scott)
23-29: Lessons from Nature (Tom Palmer)
30: Souls for Christ (Jeff Kahl)
May
1-7: Psalm 145 (Ken Varney)
8-15: Obedience (Harold Vaughan)
16-22: Finances (Tom Palmer)
23-29: God’s View of Family Living (Jack Palmer)
30-31: Spiritual Warfare (Stanley W. Long, II)
June
1-5: Spiritual Warfare (Stanley W. Long, II)
6-12: Biblical Separation (Tom Palmer)
13-19: The Ten Commandments (Debbie Vaughan)
20-26: The Ten Commandments 2 (Debbie Vaughan)
27: Keep Everyone Working (Jeff Kahl)
28-30: Lessons from History (Tom Palmer)
July
1-4: Lessons from History (Tom Palmer)
5-11: Knowing Our God (T.P. Johnston, Jr.)
12-18: Adversity (Harold Vaughan)
19-25: Family Answers to Prayer (Tom Palmer)
26-31: Worship (Jack Palmer)
August
1: Worship (Jack Palmer)
2-8: Let’s Be a Barney (Tom Farrell)
9-15: God-Pleasing Life (Tom Palmer)
16: Revival (Robert Booth)
17-23: Service (Rick Johnson)
24-30: God’s Formula for Family Success (Jack Palmer)
31: Resting in God (Stephen Vaughan)
September
1-7: The Word (Craig M. Scott)
8-14: Parent-and-Child Relationships (Tom Palmer)
15-21: Praise (Harold Vaughan)
22: Time to Wise Up (Jeff Kahl)
23-29: Facing the Future (Jack Palmer)
30: Valuable Treasure (Harold Vaughan)
October
1-8: It All Adds Up (Tom Palmer)
9-13: Positive Commands (Harold Vaughan)
14-20: Protecting Our Family (Jack Palmer)
21-27: Our Great God (T.P. Johnston, Jr.)
28: Learn to Control Your Emotions (Jeff Kahl)
29-31: Example (Harold Vaughan)
November
1-4: Example (Harold Vaughan)
5-11: Friendship (Tom Palmer)
12-18: God’s Greatness (Jack Palmer)
19-25: Conscience (Craig M. Scott)
26-30: Happiness (Harold Vaughan)
December
1-2: Happiness (Harold Vaughan)
3: Learn to Love (Jeff Kahl)
4-10: Sorrow and Suffering (Tom Palmer)
11-17: Blessing (Harold Vaughan)
18-24: Christmas (Jack Palmer)
25-31: Sovereignty of God (T.P. Johnston, Jr.)
January 2
Is There Hope for the Family?
Scripture Reading—Psalm 42 Give special attention to verses 5 and 11.
Many are wondering if there’s hope for the family because of the decline of family values in our 21st century society. Fifty years ago, no one would have been able to conceive of the devastation to family life that’s now common in America. In a 1999 issue of Time Magazine, an article titled “Beyond the Year 2000” states the following:
We are fast becoming a homeless race. We are born in hospitals, raised in daycare, married in church, vacation at resorts, entertain friends in restaurants, die in hospitals, and are buried from the funeral parlor. To thousands of families, home is simply a place where family members resort for a minimum of sleep, a quick bite to eat, and wait their turn to use a family car.
What a sad commentary on our way of life! If we listened to historians, sociologists, and media, we would wonder if the family, as we’ve known it, is on the way out. Thank God, we don’t get our information from those voices. The Bible is our source of encouragement and direction.
In today’s Scripture, we hear the cry of the spiritually desperate (vv. 1-2), downhearted (v. 6), and disillusioned (vv. 9-10). And that could well describe many of God’s people these days. But in the midst of it all, the psalmist knows where to find hope—“Hope thou in God” (vv. 5, 11). With the divorce rate in excess of 50 percent, the future of the family doesn’t look good. We must keep looking up because God is our only hope.
This week, we’ll be looking at biblical reasons there’s hope for the family, even during these difficult days. Yes, we need God to revive our families. He’s more than ready to do His work if we’ll submit to Him.
Prayer Time: Pray this verse. “Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?” (Ps. 85:6, emphasis added). Whenever we see revival, we always find rejoicing!
—Jack Palmer
February 17
Three Cheers from Jesus!
Hip! Hip! Hooray! Hip! Hip! Hooray! Hip! Hip! Hooray!
We often use these words to honor people or to celebrate an event. Sometimes people say things like, “Three cheers for so and so.” Then they shout the chorus: “Hip! Hip! Hooray!”
On three occasions, the Lord Jesus encouraged His followers with words of cheer.
“Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee” (Matt. 9:2b). Sweeter words have never been spoken! Jesus spoke these words to a sick man as he lay on his bed. Jesus said that our sins are blotted out; they are gone. The word Gospel means “good news.” The best news a person could receive is hearing that his sins are covered. If our sins are forgiven, we can be of good cheer!
“Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid” (Matt. 14:27b). The ship was tossing to and fro on the stormy sea. The disciples were scared. When they saw Jesus walking on the water, they were terrified and thought he was a ghost. “But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” David had many enemies, yet he had learned to say, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee” (Ps. 56:3). If we believe the Bible, then we know Jesus is with us and will keep us safe from all harm. We can be of good cheer, too!
“Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33b). Jesus told His disciples that trouble was coming. Then He gave the following reassuring words: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” The word cheer means “to have courage.” No matter what we’re facing, we can take heart in knowing that Jesus has triumphed over the world. Surely we can take courage in Him.
As God’s children, we are blessed to have three cheers from Jesus!
Prayer: “Thank you, Lord, for giving us courage, confidence, and a covering for our sins!”
—Harold Vaughan
April 2
Be Ye Holy—and Repent
Scripture Reading—Psalm 51:1-10
David was guilty! He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong person, and doing the wrong thing. Second Samuel 11:27 says that “the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” His adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah, were secret sins; but God knew about them. Nathan the prophet exposed the scandal in the palace when he confronted David about his sin. Under God’s conviction, David declared in 2 Samuel 12:13, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan followed David’s simple confession by saying, “The Lord also hath put away thy sin” (v. 13). David could and would be clean before God again. Some people are afraid to confess their sin to God because they fear they’re letting God in on a secret. For this reason, they allow their life to remain contaminated and corrupted by unconfessed sin. David’s sins were severe, but he refused to blame, defend, or explain them away.
Human beings hate to admit wrongdoing. Just watch the typical toddler try to talk his way out of something he did wrong. He didn’t touch the birthday cake—or so he says. Yet there’s icing all over his face. He didn’t write on the wall, he says, but there’s marker on his hand. The evidence is obvious, but fallen human nature causes us to struggle with being honest about our sin.
David was a man who enjoyed God. Just read the Psalms. Yet in Psalm 51, he didn’t enjoy God. He was guilty of sin, and he knew it. Rather than making excuses, he sought in this prayer to be holy, as pure as God is, by agreeing with God about his sin. Needless to say, David soon knew the excitement and enjoyment of the God he’d known before.
Application: Read 1 John 1:8-10. What two events occur when we say we have no sin?
—Tom Palmer
