“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
There are two ideas in Jesus’ words here that are absolutely essential to understand if we are going to do life well during our time on earth. The first reminds us that how we live now matters. The second reminds us of our desperate need for grace. We’ll tackle one this morning, and one on Monday morning. Read the rest…
“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Promises like these in the Old Testament are encouraging almost beyond words. To find ourselves in the midst of a truly difficult season–especially one in which we are reaping the bitter fruits of time spent sowing unrighteousness in our lives and the lives of those around us–and to encounter these kinds of reassurances to a people who were in just that kind of a situation, gives us hope that the mess doesn’t need to be our end either. But in this hope and encouragement that God is for us, these promises were intended to accomplish something even more important. Read the rest…
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
At first read, this is a pretty far-out there claim for Paul to make. I mean, as far as an objective fact goes it is totally false. He was not crucified with Christ. As far as we know, he was not anywhere nearby when Jesus was crucified. More than that, given where he was theologically then, he would have been part of the crowd cheering on the event. He would likely have been glad to have been able to drive the nails into His hands and feet himself. So what does he mean? Read the rest…
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
If you are a follower of Jesus, you have the Spirit of God living within you. Reflect on that for a minute. The power and presence of the God who created the universe is dwelling within you. That’s a pretty game-changing idea.
If you are a follower of Jesus and you don’t know where to go in life, you need merely to look inside of you. And I don’t mean that in some kind of a new-agey way as if you were somehow divine yourself. Rather, I mean this in the sense that if you are a follower of Jesus, you have within you the Spirit who can answer your questions. Now, He may answer by telling you to go and consult with His word and other believers, but you can at least start there. And His answers will not often come in the ways or times we would most prefer given our druthers, but they will come. We can count on it.
“Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” (ESV)
As much as many would like and have even tried to argue this is the case, one of the things the Bible does not teach is a kind of tit-for-tat giving arrangement whereby every time we give something, God gives back to us in equal amounts. Any preacher or teacher who has said otherwise is a snake oil salesman in disguise. But… Read the rest…
