“And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The most important verse in all of the Old Testament as far as Judaism is concerned is Deuteronomy 6:4. It is called the Shema, the Hebrew command “listen,” because that’s the first word. It goes like this: Read the rest…
This week we got back on track with our series, Hard Sayings. One of the things Jesus made fairly abundantly clear over the course of His ministry is that following Him isn’t something to which we can get by with giving merely a cheap lip-service. The hard saying we examined together yesterday morning makes this even clearer than most. Too often we rely on serving Jesus to cover up for not knowing Him well. That won’t cut it. Keep reading to see why.
Knowing Jesus
Think back with me for a minute to your bedroom growing up. What kind of stuff did you have in it? Specifically, whose poster did you have on your wall? Was it an actor? A musician? A sports star? Who was it? How much did you know about this person? Were you a casual fan or a full-blown disciple in the model of the Beliebers? It is not at all uncommon for young people to have someone they idolize. A lot of young, aspiring basketball players today want to be the next Steph Curry. Baseball players look up to Aaron Judge—literally, since he’s a giant. Singers want to be the next Arianna Grande or Miranda Lambert or Taylor Swift. Read the rest…
This past Sunday we began a new teaching series called Hard Sayings. For the next few weeks we are going to be examining some of the hard things Jesus said to see if we can’t make some sense out of them. We’ll see if perhaps even though they are hard, they’re also just as important for us to know as some of the easier things like, “For God so loved the world…” Stay tuned in the weeks ahead as we journey together to see that everything Jesus said is important…even if we don’t like the way it sounds at first.
Steep Rates
What are some of your favorite sayings of Jesus? Just shout them out as you think of them if you are willing. As I was sitting writing this a few stood out to me: “I am the good shepherd;” “I will be with you always, even to the very end of the age;” “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest;” “Do not be anxious about your life;” “For God so loved the world…” “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do;” “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it;” and there are probably more, but these are what came to mind first. Those are all really nice and encouraging sayings. It would be great if the things Jesus said were pretty much limited to these kinds of things. You know what I’m talking about: things such as, “I love you,” “I’ll take care of you,” “I’ll give you eternal life,” and the like. Read the rest…
“Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in his city in Gilead.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Most of the Judges receive some kind of a summary statement that the people sought the Lord for the extent of their leadership and then turned away from Him afterwards. Jephthah just gets this note that he died and was buried in Gilead. This is a reflection of the continued decline in the spiritual state of the people. They cry out to God for help, but don’t even both to turn to Him when He answers. They are reaching a dangerously low point. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. Read the rest…
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
We recently purchased a new house–our first. We are pretty excited about it still. Before we could move in, there was quite a bit of work to do including taming the jungle the previous couple of owners had allowed to grow up in the backyard. With some excellent and most appreciated help from several of the men in our church, we got that and whole lot of other work finished. Read the rest…
The Nexus 