“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you; sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
This is tough language here. Paul seems to soften a bit a couple of verses later, but that’s just an appearance. This is what Paul really means. When it comes to the fruits of sin in our lives–and they are manifold well beyond the list Paul offers here–it is not enough to put them aside or turn our backs to them or knock them off their perch or anything else like that. We must actively put them to death. We must kill them completely and not allow for even the slightest chance that they will get up again. Read the rest…
“Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Much of the judgment heralded in the prophets is tough to read. It is gloom and doom that sometimes seems to roll on for pages without reprieve. But, if there’s anything we can take from all of this today it is this: Our choices have consequences. Read the rest…
“Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Genuine, heart-felt repentance is tough to do. It requires a couple of things that we are pretty loathe to give. It requires first a recognition that we have done something that was not right. It was wrong, not in an abstract way, but in a way that was deeply personal for us and also for the other people who were affected by it. This is tough in and of itself. Often, when we have gotten caught doing something wrong we recognize the abstract, but not the personal. We are inconvenienced by the attention to our misdeeds, but not truly sorry we did it. This is the politician’s apology. In other words, we are more sorry that we got caught than that we did whatever it was we have been caught doing. Read the rest…
The great thing about God’s story, is that it doesn’t end after the second act. In this third part of our series, The Big Story, we finally get to relish the joy of the third act: Redemption. God’s efforts since the fall have been focused on this one goal. Read on to see how this played out…
The Good News
Let’s start this morning with some trivia. What do Return of the Jedi, Rocky Balboa, AntwoneFisher, Les Misérables, and Iron Man 3 all have in common? They are all stories of redemption. In Return of the Jedi the exciting climax of the movie comes when Anakin Skywalker—Darth Vader—returns from the “dark side,” saves the life of his son, Luke, and puts an end to the evil of The Emperor. In Rocky Balboa, the washed-up, old fighter proves to himself and the world that he still has what it takes when he comes out of retirement and goes toe-to-toe with the reigning heavyweight champ, Mason “the Line” Dixon. In Antwone Fisher a young, emotionally broken soldier finds healing and wholeness through the help of a committed counselor, his girlfriend, and the family he never knew he had. In Les Misérables, the thief, Jean Valjean, is given a second chance at life by a gracious Catholic priest and commits the rest of his life to serving and saving those who were in the same dire straits in which he once found himself. Finally, in Iron Man 3, Tony Stark at last discovers what’s most important in life and commits himself to using his genius and resources to make the world better. Read the rest…
“…for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the foundation of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
When we reject the One True God, we make two mistakes. We turn from the one source of life in this world. And, we turn toward something that is by definition not a source of life. More directly, it is a source of death. When we turn from God toward something else, we are necessarily turning toward nothing. We are rejecting what is in favor of what isn’t. This is never a good trade. So why do we make it? Read the rest…
The Nexus 