Week 51 | Zeal For Your House Has Consumed Me

Week 52 | This is the End!

Congratulations! Merry Christmas! What a great week of readings to end the year! This week, we conclude the reading of the ENTIRE BIBLE!!! Well done, good and faithful ones! The more I’m in the Bible, the more ingredients God has to work with in how He speaks to my heart.  Can you yield to God in this uncomfortable moment that you didn’t choose? This week’s theme is: “Humble yourself before God and He will exalt you.” From the end of Acts and Paul’s shipwreck en route to testifying in Rome, to the end of the world in Revelation, through the completion of the wall around Jerusalem and the restoration of worship in Nehemiah, to Esther being raised up to save her entire people group, and Malachi’s last words to Israel before the 400 years of silence—every book this week is a story of letting God be glorified in less than optimal circumstances. Each story draws us back to repentance and purity of faith and worship to the Lord Jesus Christ!  Malachi challenges Israel with questions, prompting them to consider the state of their hearts towards God. He’s going to purify the priesthood. This book is a call to return to worship and tithing in faith and truth.   Esther chooses to step into becoming an intercessor for her whole nation, when she just thought she was going to be queen.   Nehemiah gave all to see his nation restored, and before long, they returned again to idolatry!   Revelation leaves John in the vision of the Glorious King Jesus, the New Jerusalem, the faithful servants, and the Lord’s announcement that He is coming soon!   And lastly, Paul has already lost his life so many times that he has little fear in facing whatever lies ahead to testify of Jesus in Rome. Next week begins Week 1 even though it’s the last week of December. Keep going. Don’t stop now. The Word is coming alive inside of you!  Scripture Readings: Tier One—NT: Acts 24-28, Revelation 15-22 Tier Two—OT: Nehemiah 10-13, Esther 1-10, Malachi 1-4  Jubilee Southern California    Website: http://jubileechurch.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jubileechurchca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jubileechurchca X: https://www.x.com/jubileechurchca/ To Give text "Give" to (747) 233-4107 [https://tel] or visit https://www.jubileechurch.org/give Steve Dittmar’s Books:https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Dittmar/e/B00JAB8UMU School of Jubilee:youtube.com/schoolofjubilee Jubilee Company Worship:http://jubileechurch.org/jcw

Week 51 | Zeal For Your House Has Consumed Me

What’s your life worth? Steve and Diana discuss how Paul is so ready to lay his life down for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ being preached. He has lost all to gain Christ.   Nehemiah has let the grief of the state of his nation overtake him and it’s threatening his own life in court. But he will also lose all to see the restoration of his people and the wall of his city. Both Paul and Nehemiah face huge opposition and pressure to the point of risking their very lives. Is our own life or our assignment from heaven more important? What compels us past comfort and convenience? Each book in this week’s readings brings us back to the value of faith, of worship, of devotion to the living God, and that life unto ourselves is unto our own destruction. At times, Scripture can feel like it’s mocking us because we are so far from being able to accomplish what we are reading. But if we allow it to be a door to discovery, the Spirit brings us along, even in our fumblings, to see Jesus and to become like Him.  If you find yourself crazy busy this week before Christmas, you can listen to the Scriptures read to you daily on our Jubilee app.  Jubilee Southern California    Website: http://jubileechurch.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jubileechurchca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jubileechurchca X: https://www.x.com/jubileechurchca/ To Give text "Give" to (747) 233-4107 [https://tel] or visit https://www.jubileechurch.org/give Steve Dittmar’s Books:https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Dittmar/e/B00JAB8UMU School of Jubilee:youtube.com/schoolofjubilee Jubilee Company Worship:http://jubileechurch.org/jcw

Week 50 | Expansion in the Face of Persecution

The Church will grow! Steve and Diana discuss the chaos of the new church of Jesus Christ developing. Miracles are happening! Many are coming to faith! And persecution is already alive and well. One minute the Gentiles are worshiping Paul and Barnabas as Gods for the healing of a lame man, and next, they want to stone them. Stephen is stoned to death for preaching the truth of Christ and the Jews’ betrayal of Him. We are a fickle people—we want to worship something or kill it.  Then comes the argument of how Gentiles can be saved by Jesus alone, or must they be circumcised? But the apostles maintained hearts of devotion and reasoned with them, “It seemed good to us AND to the Holy Spirit.” The church is established in truth, but must remain rooted and grounded in Love. In Revelation, we see the glorified Christ. Jesus is now our great High Priest, making intercession for us. More than anything, Revelation is about the coming again of the glorified Christ, ruler of all the earth. Rather than just focusing on trying to predict when the end times will occur, perhaps approach it from a different point of view. Read the letters to each church and ask Holy Spirit to search your own heart in each one. “Where am I in this church, Lord?” Then take each of the chapters where there is worship in the throne room and find yourself among the saints and angels worshiping Him.   We go into the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in Ezra and then start back into the Prophets through the end of the year.   Every work of God will face resistance. It’s in the pressure that faith is chosen and it builds within us, or we turn to our own ways. God will always give a call to repentance and door of escape. May this be a season of re-capturing our hearts and returning to the Lord.  Scripture Readings: Tier One—NT: Acts 12-17, Revelation 1-7 Tier Two—OT: Ezra 3-10, Haggai 1-2, Zechariah 1-8 Jubilee Southern California    Website: http://jubileechurch.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jubileechurchca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jubileechurchca X: https://www.x.com/jubileechurchca/ To Give text "Give" to (747) 233-4107 [https://tel] or visit https://www.jubileechurch.org/give Steve Dittmar’s Books:https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Dittmar/e/B00JAB8UMU School of Jubilee:youtube.com/schoolofjubilee Jubilee Company Worship:http://jubileechurch.org/jcw

Week 49 | Zeal Can’t Hide Your Motives!

Steve and Diana discuss the beginning of the Christian church and how the Holy Spirit immediately establishes that Truth is Important! The greater the Light, the greater the accountability.  What you can do in the Outer Court will get you killed in the Inner Court. The event with the immediate deaths of Annanias and Sapphira results in the fear of the Lord throughout the Church, and then miracles follow.    Simon the Sorcerer is rebuked for thinking he could buy the power of God, and it’s revealed that his heart is full of bitterness and iniquity. Our zeal can’t cover our motives.   Again, it’s about the heart: Paul’s zeal was in direct opposition to the God he believed he was serving until He encountered Him in a totally disarming and humbling moment. But that moment led to his maturing, which then led to his dismantling the exact structure of Law he was initially trying to defend!   When the Light shines on us, it reveals what’s already inside of us. Full disclosure means nothing hidden, and it begins when we believe in the resurrection, because Jesus paid for all my darkness. The essence of our spiritual maturation lies in our ever-increasing capacity to know the glorious Son, Jesus Christ.   Chronicles is a great reflection of how it goes when we have a heart that diligently seeks Him versus our own ways. Israel wasn’t necessarily always turning from the Lord. They oftentimes were just adding to the Lord. And the priests often became lazy. Hezekiah repents for the sins of Israel, and prays for God’s mercy to allow them to move the day they celebrate Pentecost (they couldn’t get the priests ready in time). God hears his prayer, forgives their sin, and heals the people. They experience a time of peace as they remove the ungodly altars and practices. But then there are more wicked kings throughout the next 130 years, even with Josiah, the good and faithful king, in the middle. We are a funny (and foolish) people.   Scripture Readings:  Tier One—NT:  Acts 1-5, 1 John 1-5, 2 John, 3 John, Jude  Tier Two—OT: 2 Chronicles 30-36 Jubilee Southern California    Website: http://jubileechurch.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jubileechurchca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jubileechurchca X: https://www.x.com/jubileechurchca/ To Give text "Give" to (747) 233-4107 [https://tel] or visit https://www.jubileechurch.org/give Steve Dittmar’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Dittmar/e/B00JAB8UMU  School of Jubilee: youtube.com/schoolofjubilee Jubilee Company Worship: http://jubileechurch.org/jcw

Week 48 | Failure is the Door to Glory

Steve starts this week’s podcast with Psalm 56:3. When I feel fear, it’s a sign that it’s time to trust. By placing ourselves in the Word of God when we are in fear, it will lead us into faith through great trust (in His power and not our own ability to save ourselves). If we don’t know the Word of God, we will follow fables about Jesus. When we are not constantly in the Word, fables become our primary doctrine. And we add-on things to Jesus’ salvation, which will destroy us rather than save us.   This is Peter’s week: John 20-21, Acts 1-4, I Peter and II Peter. We walk his journey of failure and being called back by Jesus in the same manner as he was at first. Once Peter massively fails Jesus, he returns to who he was before he met Jesus: a fisherman with empty nets. When we are face-to-face with our failures, if we don’t return to the Lord, we will return to ourselves in the lie of separation from Him. Yet, in His sovereignty and mercy—“I’ve prayed for you, Peter, that your FAITH WILL NOT FAIL, AND WHEN YOU RETURN, strengthen your brothers.”—the Lord is right there waiting to restore Peter into his calling and inheritance, “Follow me.”   Peter’s experience of Jesus (eating, living, breathing with Him for 3 years) did not give him the capacity to confess Christ before a servant girl. In Acts 3, it was the Holy Spirit  Who brought the Word of God forward with power through Peter to witness to the resurrection of Jesus, which is declared in Scripture. And Peter who failed miserably without the Holy Spirit in-dwelling, becomes the father and discipler of the new Church of Jesus Christ in I and II Peter.    The Word shows me ME. It reveals my heart in the mirror of Who Jesus is. It calls me out of darkness (my own self-deception) into His glorious light (the sanctification of Jesus).   We are to reflect Christ, not through our gifting, but through our submission. We need to be born again…again.   Scripture Readings:  Tier One – NT: John 20-21, Acts 1-4, 1 Peter 2-5, 2 Peter 1-3  Tier Two – OT: 2 Chronicles 22-29 Jubilee Southern California    Website: http://jubileechurch.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jubileechurchca/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jubileechurchca X: https://www.x.com/jubileechurchca/ To Give text "Give" to (747) 233-4107 [https://tel] or visit https://www.jubileechurch.org/give Steve Dittmar’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Dittmar/e/B00JAB8UMU  School of Jubilee: youtube.com/schoolofjubilee Jubilee Company Worship: http://jubileechurch.org/jcw