Greers Chapel United Methodist Church

06/18/2026

Thursday, June 18

OT: Deuteronomy 13:1-18 NT: Acts 4:1-37 Ps/Prov: Proverbs 7:1-27

S Scripture

Acts 4:20 — "for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard."

O Observation

Peter and John have been arrested for healing the lame man and preaching resurrection. The authorities tell them to stop talking about Jesus. And they say what they say: we can't stop. Not we won't, we can't. They're not being defiant for defiance's sake. They're just telling the truth. What they've experienced is not containable.

A Application

I think about what it would mean for my testimony to feel that way. Not I should talk about Jesus more, but I literally cannot help it because what I've experienced is too real. I've had seasons of ministry where I felt that urgency and seasons where I've felt more like someone reciting lines I've memorized. I want to get back to the uncontainable kind. That starts with actual encounter with Jesus, not just with content about him.

P Prayer

Lord, fill me back up with what I've actually seen and heard from you. Let my testimony be something I can't not say, not something I feel obligated to say. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to write down one specific thing I have personally seen God do, something I’ve witnessed, and sit with that today.

06/17/2026

Wednesday, June 17

OT: Deuteronomy 12:1-32 NT: Acts 3:1-26 Ps/Prov: Proverbs 6:1-35

S Scripture

Acts 3:6 — "But Peter said, 'I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.'"

O Observation

A man who has been lame his whole life is begging at the temple gate. Peter and John don't have money. Peter says it plainly: silver and gold I do not have. But here's what I do have, and then he heals him. What Peter offers isn't what the man asked for. It's better. It's what he actually needed.

A Application

I've felt the weight of not having what people seem to need, the money to fix things, the staff to do things well, the programs that bigger churches can run. But Peter's word here is a gift to me. I don't have silver or gold. What do I have? The name of Jesus. That's not a consolation prize. That's everything.

P Prayer

Lord, let me give what I actually have rather than apologizing for what I don't have. I have your name and your presence and your Word. Let that be enough. Use it. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to stop comparing my ministry's resources to what other ministries have and start asking: what do I have that I'm not fully using?

06/16/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Tuesday, June 16

OT: Deuteronomy 11:1-32 NT: Acts 2:1-47 Ps/Prov: Proverbs 5:1-23

S Scripture

Acts 2:4 — "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability."

O Observation

Pentecost. The disciples are all together and the Spirit comes like wind and fire and they begin speaking in languages they didn't know and people from all over hear them in their own tongue. It's the reversal of Babel, the scattering becomes a gathering, the confusion becomes understanding. The Spirit shows up and everything changes.

A Application

I've been in campus ministry and local church ministry long enough to have seen genuine moves of the Spirit and to have tried to manufacture them. The difference is unmistakable. You can tell when something is genuinely happening and when you're working very hard to make it look like something is. What I take from Acts 2 is that this is God's work. My job is to be in the room, to pray, to cultivate the conditions. But the wind blows where it will. I can't generate Pentecost.

P Prayer

Come, Holy Spirit. Come in ways I can't script or predict or take credit for. Fill the people I lead. Do what only you can do. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to pray specifically for a genuine move of the Spirit this week. Not a good program. Something real.

06/15/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Monday, June 15

OT: Deuteronomy 10:1-22 NT: Acts 1:1-26 Ps/Prov: Proverbs 4:1-27

S Scripture

Acts 1:8 — "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

O Observation

Jesus' last words before the ascension. His disciples are still asking about the restoration of the kingdom and he redirects them, it’s not your timing to know. What you do know is this: power is coming, and you will be witnesses. Starting where you are and moving outward to the ends of the earth. The great commission isn't just instructions, it's a trajectory.

A Application

I think about my Jerusalem. It's Magnolia, Arkansas. It's Greers Chapel and Lewisville and the SAU campus. That's where it starts. I'm not called to start somewhere impressive. I'm called to be faithful here, in this particular place with these particular people. The ends of the earth is God's problem. My job is to be a faithful witness in my Jerusalem and trust that the trajectory does the rest.

P Prayer

Holy Spirit, come with power. Not for spectacle, for witness. Make me someone who can say truthfully that I have seen what you have done. And let that testimony matter in my specific places. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to think about my Jerusalem today, who is right in front of me, and be present to that rather than looking past it for something bigger.

06/14/2026

06/14/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Sunday, June 14

OT: Deuteronomy 9:1-29 NT: John 21:1-25 Ps/Prov: Proverbs 3:1-35

S Scripture

John 21:17 — "He said to him the third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?' And he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.'"

O Observation

Three denials, three questions. Jesus doesn't pretend the betrayal didn't happen, he comes back to it three times, one for each denial. And each time Peter affirms his love, Jesus gives him something to do: tend my lambs, shepherd my sheep, feed my sheep. Restoration isn't just forgiveness. It's re-commissioning.

A Application

This is what pastoral ministry looks like when it's honest about failure. Peter failed spectacularly. And Jesus doesn't disqualify him, instead he puts him back to work. I've been Peter more times than I want to count. And every time I come back to this passage I'm reminded that the invitation into ministry doesn't depend on a clean track record. It depends on love. Do you love me? Then feed my sheep. That's enough.

P Prayer

Lord, you know I love you. Even when it doesn't look like it, even when I've denied you in the ways that Peter denied you. Put me back to work. Let love be the qualification. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to ask myself honestly today: do I love Jesus, or do I love the work of ministry? There's a difference and it matters.

06/13/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Saturday, June 13

OT: Deuteronomy 8:1-20 NT: John 20:1-31 Ps/Prov: Proverbs 2:1-22

S Scripture

John 20:16 — "Jesus said to her, 'Mary!' She turned and said to him in Hebrew, 'Rabbouni!' (which means Teacher)."

O Observation

Mary is weeping at the empty tomb. She thinks someone has taken the body. She talks to the risen Jesus without recognizing him. And then he says her name. Just her name. One word and she knows exactly who it is. The resurrection announces itself to her as a personal address.

A Application

I think about the moment of recognition. Not argument, not evidence, not systematic theology just her name in his voice. I've had moments like that. Moments where everything else was noise and confusion and then something happened that felt exactly like my name being called. Those moments don't follow a formula. They come when they come. I want to stay close enough to Jesus that when he says my name, I recognize it.

P Prayer

Jesus, speak my name into whatever place I can't see clearly right now. I want to recognize your voice when I hear it. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to pray today without an agenda, just listening. Seeing what comes.

06/12/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Friday, June 12

OT: Deuteronomy 7:1-26 NT: John 19:17-42 Ps/Prov: Proverbs 1:1-33

S Scripture

John 19:30 — "When Jesus had received the wine, he said, 'It is finished.' Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

O Observation

The last word from the cross in John is tetelestai. It is finished. Not I give up, not I've failed, finished. Completed. The work is done. He bows his head deliberately. This is not a defeat, it's an accomplishment. The mission is complete.

A Application

There's something I need to hear in those two words that I don't always receive well. It is finished. Not by me, not by my effort or faithfulness or ministry output. The work of redemption is complete. I tend to act like I have to keep earning what's already been purchased. Like the cross needs my assistance. It doesn't. What Jesus accomplished is done. My job is to receive it and live from it, not to supplement it.

P Prayer

Jesus, it is finished. Let that be enough. Let me rest in what you've done rather than trying to add to it. Thank you for completing what I never could have. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to name one place where I've been acting like I need to earn something that's already been given to me. And I'm going to say out loud: it is finished.

06/11/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Thursday, June 11

OT: Deuteronomy 6:1-25 NT: John 18:28–19:16 Ps/Prov: Psalm 150:1-6

S Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 — "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."

O Observation

Moses is giving the people their instructions as they prepare to enter the land. And he starts with this, the Shema. Not a list of rules but a declaration of identity and a command that flows from it. There is one God, and he is ours, and we belong entirely to him. Love him with everything you have.

A Application

I say this in worship sometimes, in different forms. I teach it. And I wonder if I actually live it or just know it. With all my heart, all my soul, all my might, that's not a partial claim. I'm aware of how much of my heart goes to things that aren't God. Approval, security, the sense that things are working out. This is the first commandment, the great commandment. It doesn't compete with anything else. It comes first.

P Prayer

Lord, you are God and there is no other. I want to love you with everything I have, not just in theory but in how I actually spend my attention and energy today. Reclaim whatever in me isn't yours. Amen.

06/10/2026

S.O.A.P.Y Daily Journal:

Wednesday, June 10

OT: Deuteronomy 5:1-33 NT: John 18:1-27 Ps/Prov: Psalm 149:1-9

S Scripture

John 18:11 — "Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?'"

O Observation

In the garden, when the soldiers come to arrest Jesus, Peter draws his sword and cuts off someone's ear. He's trying to protect Jesus the way Peter would protect someone. And Jesus stops him, tells him to put it away. “This is the cup the Father has given me.” The suffering isn't a mistake to be averted. It's the path.

A Application

I have a Peter tendency. When hard things approach, conflict, loss, a difficult situation in my life, my instinct is to reach for the sword. To manage, control, protect, fix. Sometimes what's needed is something different. Sometimes the cup has to be drunk. Not every hard thing is an enemy to be repelled. Some of it is the path God has given, and my job is to walk it with Jesus rather than try to fight my way out.

P Prayer

God, help me know when to act and when to receive. Give me the discernment to tell the difference between something I'm supposed to fight and something I'm supposed to walk through with you. Amen.

Y Yield

I'm going to sit with a current hard situation and ask honestly: am I reaching for my sword when I should be trusting the path?