As Paul journeys toward Jerusalem, he takes time to encourage believers along the way—especially the elders from Ephesus. In his farewell, Paul reminds them of his example: a life of humility, courage, and faithful teaching. He says, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (v. 27) and testifies, “I do not account my life of any value…if only I may finish my course…to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (v. 24).
His words are heavy with love, urgency, and warning. Wolves will come. The church must be alert. But through it all, God’s grace will sustain and build up His people.
🎯 Theme: Being faithful to the end testifies to the gospel of the grace of God.
🌀 Reflection: Are you living with gospel urgency—serving, teaching, and finishing your race with joy? What part of Paul’s example challenges or encourages you most?
💬 Mission Challenge: Write down or pray over your personal mission—to live and speak the gospel. Ask God to help you “not shrink back” but keep pressing forward.
God’s Word is powerful—and when it goes forth, it exposes false religion, transforms lives, and causes real spiritual upheaval. In Ephesus, the gospel disrupts both demonic activity and economic idolatry. New believers burn their magic books (v. 19), and the name of Jesus is exalted. As the chapter says, “the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily” (v. 20).
But not everyone celebrates. Paul’s ministry sparks a riot led by those whose profits were threatened. The gospel still challenges idols—whether carved in silver or hidden in the heart.
🎯 Theme: The Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.
🌀 Reflection: Is there anything you’ve been holding onto that competes with the Lordship of Jesus? What needs to be surrendered so His Word can prevail more fully in you?
💬 Mission Challenge: Share your testimony this week with someone—even briefly. The gospel that changed Ephesus is still changing lives.
God opens doors, builds His church, and brings the right people at the right time. In Corinth, Paul meets Aquila and Priscilla, receives encouragement from the Lord (vv. 9–10), and sees both Jews and Gentiles believe and be baptized (v. 8). Even through opposition and legal pressure, the gospel moves forward.
Later, we meet Apollos, a gifted speaker with partial knowledge—until Priscilla and Aquila graciously guide him in the truth. God uses Paul the builder and Apollos the encourager (1 Cor. 3:6). Everyone has a role in the mission.
🎯 Theme: Do not be afraid – Jesus is with you and has many people in a lot of places.
🌀 Reflection: Are you more like Paul, Priscilla, or Apollos in this season? How can you faithfully do your part in strengthening others?
💬 Mission Challenge: Find a way today to encourage someone in their spiritual growth—share a Scripture, pray with them, or send a kind word.
From Thessalonica to Berea to Athens, Acts 17 shows how different people respond to the same gospel. Some oppose it (v. 5), some examine it eagerly (v. 11), others mock it (v. 32)—but some believe (v. 34).
Paul reasons from the Scriptures (v. 3), explains the gospel in the marketplace (v. 17), and proclaims the one true God before philosophers at the Areopagus (vv. 22–31). His message climaxes in the resurrection of Jesus, the assurance that judgment is coming and that salvation is available to all who repent (v. 30).
🎯 Theme: God now commands all to repent, for He has fixed a day of judgment.
🌀 Reflection: Which group in this chapter do you most relate to—skeptical, searching, or surrendered? How can your heart remain open to the truth?
💬 Mission Challenge: Share one verse or truth from today’s reading with someone you know who is curious or questioning faith.
The gospel reaches Europe in Acts 16—and God’s sovereignty is on full display. The Spirit closes some doors and opens another through a vision (vv. 6–10). In Philippi, the Lord opens Lydia’s heart (v. 14), casts out a demon (v. 18), shakes a prison (v. 26), and saves a jailer and his household (vv. 30–34).
Paul and Silas, beaten and imprisoned, choose to pray and sing (v. 25). Their pain becomes a platform for praise and a witness that leads to salvation. Even injustice becomes an opportunity to defend the gospel and protect the young church (vv. 37–40).
🎯 Theme: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
🌀 Reflection: Where might God be using closed doors or unexpected circumstances to lead you or shape your witness?
💬 Mission Challenge: Encourage someone facing hardship today. Share how God has worked in your life during difficult seasons.
Acts 15 records the Jerusalem Council, where the early church had to answer a crucial question: Is Jesus enough? Some said Gentiles had to follow the law of Moses to be saved, but the apostles stood firm—salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone (v. 11, Ephesians 2:1-10).
The result? A joyful affirmation of the gospel and practical steps to preserve unity between Jewish and Gentile believers. Even when disagreements followed (vv. 36–41), the mission continued. Grace held them together and moved them forward.
🎯 Theme: Salvation is by grace, not by burdening others with the law.
🌀 Reflection: When differences arise, do you fight for grace and unity? How does the gospel shape your convictions and your conversations?
💬 Mission Challenge: Encourage someone in your church family today—especially someone different from you. Affirm your shared hope in Jesus.
The Holy Spirit came with power, just as Jesus promised, filling the believers and birthing the Church. Peter boldly preached Christ crucified and risen, and the Spirit moved—three thousand believed, repented, were baptized, and joined the family of faith. What followed was a Spirit-shaped community: learning, praying, sharing, worshiping. The Church was alive—and the Lord kept adding to it, day by day (v.47). That same Spirit still empowers, convicts, and unites us today.
🎯 Theme: Jesus was crucified according to God’s plan – but God raised Him!
🌀 Reflection: Are you making space for the Spirit and the Word to shape your daily life and church family?
💬 Mission Challenge: Share a truth from today’s chapter or offer to pray for someone today—just like the early Church, let Jesus be seen through your words and actions.
Sunday is the Lord’s Day – Resurrection Sunday, and I am excited!
The original resurrection Sunday, when Jesus walked out of the tomb alive and well, is the day that changed everything.
Why? How?
At the heart of the Christian faith is one message – the proclamation of the gospel message – that Paul calls “of first importance – a message that holds the power to give life, forgive sin, and secure eternity with Jesus:
“…Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures….”
This is not just an inspirational story or some religious tradition. It is the true, good, victorious news that Jesus died for sinners like us, was buried in a borrowed tomb, and rose again just like the Scriptures said He would.
Yes, Jesus died for our sins – taking our punishment and paying our sin debt.
Yes, He was buried – truly dead, wrapped in grave clothes and laid in the silence of the grave.
But praise God, HE IS RISEN!
When the women arrived at the tomb that first Resurrection Sunday morning, they heard the words that still echo throughout history:
Jesus always – ALWAYS – keeps His word. And His resurrection proves it. It proves His power over sin and death. It proves His identity as the Son of God – as God incarnate. It proves that all who trust in Him can have a living hope, an unshakable promise of eternal life.
This Sunday at Christ Community, we’ll gather not just to remember an empty cross or to commemorate an empty tomb. No, we’ll gather to worship our risen and resurrected King! We’ll sing “King of Kings” and “Holy, Holy, Holy (Jesus Reigns)” because Jesus is alive and reigning even now, interceding on behalf of those He saves at the right hand of the Father. We’ll celebrate our “Living Hope” and declare that “Ain’t No Grave” able to hold Jesus or those He gives eternal life!
John is going to open the Word of God and point us to our resurrected Lord and King, our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
All in all, we’ll embody the truth of the beloved hymn “Because He Lives”. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because He lives and we know that He holds the future in His hands, life is worth living. Jesus has changed everything because He lives!
So, come and worship. Come and believe. Come and rejoice in the Savior who died, who was buried, and who rose again – just as He said.
Most Sundays, we list out the Scriptures and songs we’ll use in our worship gathering to help people prepare their hearts. These posts are typically titled “Songs for Sunday”.
Here are our Scriptures and songs for Sunday, April 20:
1Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” 8 The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”
The Original Context
Isaiah spoke these words to Israel during a time of spiritual renewal, casting a vision of God’s heart for the nations. In contrast to the idea that Israel alone was God’s chosen people, Isaiah announced that foreigners who loved and followed the Lord were welcomed into His house.
This radical promise highlighted something about God’s covenant: His salvation was never meant for Israel alone because God was gathering worshipers from every tribe and tongue to find joy and belonging in His presence. His temple was never meant to be a barrier but a beacon.
Fulfillment in Jesus
When Jesus entered the temple in the final week of His life, He saw that its courts – meant for Gentile worshipers – had been turned into a marketplace. In righteous anger, He drove out the merchants and quoted Isaiah 56:7 in Matthew 21:13:
“My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.”
Jesus was restoring the temple to its true purpose. And ultimately, He became the new and better temple (John 2:19-21). In Him, all who trust and follow God, all who confess Him as Lord and believe in their hearts He is risen from the dead – regardless of background or nationality – are brought near (Romans 10:9-13, Ephesians 2:11-22).
Hope for Today
Jesus is still gathering outcasts. He is still welcoming foreigners. He is still saving sinners. And He is still building a house of prayer for all peoples.
If you’ve ever felt like an outsider – too far off, too broken, too different, too sinful, too shameful – know this: there is room for you in God’s house. The joy of His presence is not reserved for some select few who have it all together or who have the right genealogy, but offered to all who come to Him through Christ.
This Holy Week, let your prayers rise in confidence and hope. Jesus has not merely opened a way for people to come to Him, He IS the Way (John 14:6), and He prepares a place for Him in His Father’s house for all He saves (John 14:2-3). If He has saved you, you belong there; you are home with Him. And through Him, your worship is welcomed with joy.
As we walk together through Holy Week, I invite you to journey not only through the events that led to the cross and the empty tomb, but also through the ancient promises and prophecies that pointed us there long before Jesus ever entered Jerusalem. This devotional booklet is titled He Who Promised is Faithful because that simple truth, drawn from Hebrews 10:23, is an anchor for our hope in Jesus:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
The Scriptures you’ll find in these pages are not just poetic and prophetic – they are promises kept. Each Old Testament passage reveals something about God’s heart, His holiness, and His plan. And every one of them finds its “Yes” and “Amen” in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). The writers of the New Testament didn’t treat the Old Testament as merely background noise – they believed it testified to the coming Messiah, fulfilled in Jesus, and still speaks to us today.
These brief devotions are here to help explain and illuminate those texts, like the leaders in Nehemiah 8:8 did when “they read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and…gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”
My prayer is that you will not stop at the devotions, though, but be drawn into God’s Word and asking His Spirit to open your eyes to the beauty of Jesus in all of Scripture. And as you do, remember what this Holy Week ultimately points us to: not just events of the past but the glorious promise of what is to come – of Who is coming again.
So open your Bible. Read slowly. Marvel at God’s goodness. Let the promises fulfilled in Christ strengthen your faith and stir your worship as we prepare to celebrate the resurrection and long for His return.
You can click the links for each day’s podcast episode or devotion or download a copy below:
📖 Revelation 3:7–13We’re back!After a few months off, The King is Coming returns in 2026 with one of the most encouraging letters in Revelation — Jesus’s message to the faithful church in Philadelphia. In a world filled with opposition and weakness, Jesus opens a door no one can shut.In this episode, Keith Harris and Jamie Harrison explore:✔️ Jesus’s identity as the Holy One, the True One — God Himself✔️ What the “key of David” means and how Jesus alone opens and shuts✔️ The debated phrase “I will keep you from the hour of trial” — and how to read it biblically✔️ Why “little power” doesn’t disqualify faithfulness✔️ How being kept through the trial glorifies Christ’s strength in us✔️ What it means to be a pillar in God’s presence foreverThis church had no rebuke — only encouragement. And Jesus’s call still stands today: “Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” (Revelation 3:11, ESV)🔗 Missed earlier episodes in the series? You can click here to catch up and listen from the beginning.✍️ If you’d like to see a written version of this podcast, complete with footnotes and cross-references, you can find it here.
Just Keith Harris 