Month: October 2017

Digging in Deeper: Galatians 2:11

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“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” (ESV – Read the chapter) ‬‬

Two things really stand out here to me. One is obvious, the other is not so obvious. First the former. It took a lot of courage for Paul to call Peter out for his obvious deviation from the Gospel. Peter was clearly wrong, most everybody there knew it, but nobody wanted to say anything until Paul spoke up.  Because it was Peter.  Would you have wanted to call Peter out for this? Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Isaiah 42:6-7

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“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Israel was always intended to serve as an invitation to the rest of the world to come and be a part of the people of God. They were to be a light for the nations. Unfortunately, they never quite managed to do that with anything resembling consistency. They got close under David and Solomon, but never other than that. Read the rest…

The “One” Syndrome

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This Sunday as we continue our series, Marriage Myths, we started unpacking the first myth: The soulmate myth.  Our culture says that when we find our soulmate, everything about our life will be on the up and up from there on out.  The truth is something entirely different than that…and a lot better.  Keep reading (or listening) to find out what this is.

The “One” Syndrome

So, my boys were watching the movie Frozen again the other night.  And I’ll admit it: I sat there and watched a lot of it with them.  After all, I set it to record…for them of course.  Okay, I’ll go ahead and admit it: Frozen is a good movie.  It’s actually pretty unique as far as Disney princess movies go.  Now, at one level it’s just like all the rest.  But at another level it’s very different.  It does something no other Disney movie I can think of does.  Again, though, for most of the movie you wouldn’t know it. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Galatians 3:7

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“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This idea was always one of the hardest things for first century Jews to get their minds and hearts around and it still isn’t widely appreciated today.  The Jews of Paul’s day understood the designation “the children of Abraham,” the thing that most gave them their identity, to be a genetic one.  Now, no, they didn’t think of it in exactly those terms as they hadn’t been invented yet, but the observation is true nonetheless. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Psalm 107:6, 13, 19, 28

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“Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

This refrain echoes four different times in this Psalm.  “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.”  This was the God they served and the people of Israel experienced it over and over and over again.  They found themselves in all kinds of trouble, most of which was of their own making.  Each time they fell headlong into the mess and from the perspective of the moment, it looked like they were going to be goners. Read the rest…