Tag: The Revelation Devotional

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Do You Know the Story of Before Jesus Was Born? Advent 8

Gospel Medley Writer's Block: My Experience

Do You Know the Story of Before Jesus Was Born? Your Advent day 8 gift is here! Today, I give you an excerpt from The Gospel Medley. The excerpt will tell you what happened in the days before Jesus was born.

This is all part of my 25 days of Advent gift-giving to you until Christmas.

You can open this gift before Christmas! Watch the video excerpt below.

For your gift giving plans, The Gospel Medley is on sale today and tomorrow (click here). I have two more books on sale: The Revelation Devotional (Click here) and Zombie Detective. (Click Here). You can get them all for 66% off the retail price.

Check out my past Advent gifts listed below

My Undead Mother-in-law chapter 1 icon
  1. Advent Day 1 – Over 90 Free Books Today – The First Day of Advent

2. Advent Day 2 – Get Your SciFi and Fantasy Books on Sale Today – Advent 2

3. Advent Day 3 –Get Your Free Copy of Secret Supers in Space – Advent 3

4. Advent Day 4 – Secret Supers Versus Zombie Turkeys – Who Will Win? – Advent 4

5. Advent Day 5 – What You Don’t Know About Zombie Turkeys – Advent 5.5

6. Advent Day 6 – What’s A Zombie Detective? .99 for Advent 6.5

7. Advent Day 7 –My Free Audiobooks for Advent 7 & More

Do You Know the Story of Before Jesus Was Born? Grab Your The Gospel Medley Excerpt!

You can get The Gospel Medley print book here. Click to download.

Grab an ebook here.

And get a hardback copy here.

Finally, you can get an autographed book from me here!

Do You Know the Story of Before Before Jesus Was Born?

In this excerpt from the Bible. I combined the four gospels into The Gospel Medley. What does it say happened before Jesus was born?

The Birth of John the Baptist

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The Gospel Medley back cover

Luke 1:57–80
57 Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified His mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of the father. 60 His mother answered, “Not so; but he will be called John.”

61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” 62 They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.

63 He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” They all marveled.

64 His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of
Judea. 66 All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?”

What Happened Before Jesus? The Prophesy of Zecharias


The hand of the Lord was with him. 67 His father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying,
68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people; 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David 70 (as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets who have been from of old), 71 salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us; 72 to show mercy
towards our fathers, to remember His holy covenant, 73 the oath which He spoke to Abraham, our father, 74 to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve Him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.”

The Prophecy Continues

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The four icons of the four gospels

76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dawn from on high will visit us, 79 to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

80 The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

What Happened Before Jesus? Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem

Luke 2:1–39; Matthew 1:25
1 Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; 5 to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him
as wife, being pregnant.

Continue reading Do You Know the Story of Before Jesus Was Born? Advent 8
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My Devotional Book–Where Did THAT Come From?

Disabled Superheroes

My Devotional Book–Where Did THAT Come From? You’ve known me as Andy Zach, a comic scifi and fantasy author. Where did this Bible devotional come from? Written by Jeffry Smith? Who’s he?

It came from thirty plus years ago. ‘Jeffry Smith’ is my nom de plume for non-fiction.

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The book began as a Bible study on the book of Revelation. I was tired of reading all the interpretations and arguments over what it meant. I was just focused on on thing: what did it say?

Going through the book verse by verse, writing every statement down, I got what the book was actually saying.

The first two verses took me like a half an hour or more.

Why?

Look at the verses:

 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, 2 who testified to God’s word and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

I broke these verses up into these statements:

  1. This (entire book) is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
  2. Which God gave Him. (Jesus got the book from God the Father).
  3. To show to His servants (Christians are the servants of Jesus Christ.)
  4. The things which must happen soon. (Future events, from the point of view of John, the writer.)
  5. Which He sent and made known by His angel. (Jesus used His angel or messenger to send this message.)
  6. To His servant, John. (John is called Jesus’s servant. He received this book.)
  7. Who testified to God’s word and of the testimony of Jesus Christ. (This is what John wrote)
  8. About everything that he saw. (This testimony is about his visions from God.)

Whew!

TLDR Version – My Devotional Book

This kind of analysis is too complicated for most people. So I made it simpler. Here are the first two verses in the devotional:

January 1 – Revelation 1:1-2

This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, 2 who testified to God’s word and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.

What is the origin of the book of Revelation?

How did John get the book of Revelation? Through which Persons did the Revelation pass?

What is the purpose of the Revelation?

Who is the intended audience of Revelation?

What is in the Book of Revelation?

Prayer: Thank You, Almighty God, for giving us the book of Revelation, directly from You through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thank You for using Your created angels and sons of men to spread Your truth through all the world. Amen.

God gives us the name of the book: the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He gives us the topic, things which must happen soon, and shows the provenance of the book as the knowledge flows from His throne through Jesus, to His angel, to John, and then to the whole church.

My Devotional Book – What You Need to Know

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The four icons of the four gospels. Also in Revelation 4.

The first and key point is, if you’re interested, it’s on sale at 70% off. Click here to get yours.

I also have autographed copies. Click here to grab your autographed copy!

What is this site? It’s my Square site. What’s that? It’s my OFFICIAL SALES website. I sell you my autographed books at LESS than Amazon AND include free shipping.

How can I do that? I cut out Amazon.

Amazon takes a 30% commission on each sale. It then deducts the printing cost of each book. That leaves me with 30% of your money.

But Square takes a 1% commission. I get most of your money even though you are paying less. That lets me:

  1. Pay for shipping for you
  2. And then pay for taxes for you
  3. Finally I pay for printing the book for you

My Devotional Book – Part 2

So how did this study go from a personal Bible study to a published devotional?

Revelation Devotional back cover Get My Latest Book Autographed
The Revelation Devotional back cover

After I completed the study, it lay in its handwritten version for years. Then I typed it up on my computer, where it resided for more years. Then I decided to make it into a class about Revelation.

I decided I would skip any interpretation and just teach what the book said. That became an eight week class of hour and a half sessions, going through all twenty two chapters.

Teaching the class at my church and then at Bradley University helped me refine it.

My students demanded another book of Revelation class covering the interpretation of its symbols.

So I created a class covering all the symbols in the book, showing how they were used elsewhere in the Bible

Get My Latest Book Autographed – The Story Behind the Book Part 3

Gospel Medley Writer's Block: My Experience Get My Latest Book Autographed
The Gospel Medley cover. Click to get

By this time I was pretty familiar with the book of Revelation, forty years after I started studying it. How’d it become a book?

Publishing my first Bible help, The Gospel Medley, encouraged me to try writing a The Revelation Devotional. Reading Timothy Keller’s The Songs of Jesus devotional about the book of Psalms inspired me. Also, one of my friends, Leslie McKee, also wrote a devotional, Hope Amid the Pain. She also edited my book.

Note that I use a different name for my two Bible help books, Jeffry Smith. That’s my non-fiction name. Andy Zach is my fiction name.

We look a lot alike.

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On The First Day of Christmas – I Give You A Jesus Excerpt

Gospel Medley Writer's Block: My Experience

On The First Day of Christmas – I Give You A Jesus Excerpt – Christmas Day 1. Advent is over and now we’re on to the Twelve Days of Christmas. Traditionally they run from December 25 to January 6. Your first Day of Christmas gift is here! It’s NOT a partridge in a pear tree. Rather, it is the story of Jesus’s birth pulled from all four gospels. I pull this as an excerpt from The Gospel Medley.

Check out my 24 Advent gifts listed below

Your Twenty-Fourth Literary Gift
The Gospel Medley back cover
  1. Advent Day 1 – Get Your Free Copy of Secret Supers on Advent Day 1

2. Advent Day 2 – Grab Villain’s Vacation for 67% Off, For Advent Day 2

4. Advent Day 4 –Three Free Excerpts from Three Secret Supers Books – Advent 4

5. Advent Day 5 – Get Your Free Copy of My Most Popular Book–Advent Day 5

6. Advent Day 6 – Three Free Zombie Detective Excerpts – Advent 6

7. Advent Day 7 –Meet My Undead Mother-in-law My Gift for Advent 7

8. Advent Day 8 – Paranormal Privateers Is Your Wildest Ride — Get Your Excerpt

9. Advent Day 9 – Oops! You Get Double Gifts for Advent Days 9 and 10 – My Mistake

10. Advent Day 10 – Double Posts Double Your Gifts – Advent 10

11. Advent Day 11 – Laugh At Four Free Audiobook Excerpts – Advent 11

12. Advent Day 12 – Four More Free Audiobook Excerpts for Advent 12

Halfway to Christmas!

13. Advent Day 13 – Your Thirteenth Gift of 25 Gifts – For Advent Day 13

14. Advent Day 14 – Get Your Glimpse of the Future – Advent 14

15. Advent Day 15 – Get Your Fifteenth Gift of 25 Gifts – For Advent Day 15

16. Advent Day 16 – Two Free Books Last Day’s Today – Advent 16

17. Advent Day 17 – Get Your Free Video Book Excerpt! Advent 17

18. Advent Day 18 – Get ANOTHER Free Video Book Excerpt! Advent 18

19. Advent Day 19 – Here’s Your Third Free Video Book Excerpt! Advent 19

20. Advent Day 20 – Try Your Fourth Free Video Book Excerpt! Advent 20

21. Advent Day 21 – Grab Your Fifth Free Video Book Excerpt! Advent 21

22. Advent Day 22 – Free Video Book Excerpt of My Undead Mother-in-law! Advent 22

23. Advent 23 – Zombie Turkeys Versus My Undead Mother-in-law! Advent 23

24 Advent 24 – What Happened Before Jesus Was Born? Advent 24

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On The First Day of Christmas – Grab Your The Gospel Medley Book Excerpt!

What’s The Gospel Medley? It’s the four books of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, blended together chronologically as one story. There are no scriptures missing and no scriptures repeated.

You can get The Gospel Medley print book here. Click to download.

Grab an ebook here.

And get a hardback copy here.

Finally, you can get an autographed book from me here!

On The First Day of Christmas – What Happened When Jesus Was Born?

This excerpt from the Bible. I combined the four gospels into The Gospel Medley. What does it say happened the day Jesus was born?

The Birth of Jesus


Luke 2:1–39; Matthew 1:25
1 Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. 2 This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; 5 to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him
as wife, being pregnant.

Your Twenty-Fourth Literary Gift On The First Day
The four icons of the four gospels

6 While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them inthe guest room.9
25 He [Joseph] named him Jesus.

On The First Day of Christmas – What Happened? Part 2

8 There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. 9 Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

10 The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people. 11 For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.”

13 Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God, and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, among men of good will.”

On The First Day of Christmas – What Happened? Part 3

15 When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16 They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough.

9 The word used for “inn” in the Authorized Version is kataluma in Greek. It appears in Luke 22:11 and Mark 14:14 as well as here in Luke 2:7. In the other two passages, the Authorized Version renders it as “guest room.” Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, with Hebrew, Chaldee and Greek Dictionaries gives the definition as “lodging place, guest chamber, inn.” Since Joseph had relatives in Bethlehem, he and Mary likely stayed with them instead of in a rented room. For a rented room in an inn, Luke used the Greek word pandocheion in Luke 10:34. For these reasons, the phrase “guest room” is used (https://www.amazon.com/StrongsExhaustive-Concordance-Chaldee-Dictionaries/dp/B000AMQT0S/).

17 When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. 18 All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had
heard and seen, just as it was told them.

Continue reading On The First Day of Christmas – I Give You A Jesus Excerpt