“Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (CSB- Read the chapter)
At the end of the last post I started talking about what we do in light of the fact that we have this assurance of life after death as followers of Jesus. Paul goes there next too.
Read the rest…
“So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
The Lord is a father and the people of Israel were His children. (He’s also a bridegroom and they were His bride which is kind of an odd mixing of metaphors, but both are nonetheless appropriate at different times to describe our relationship with Him.) When they refused to stay on the path down which He was leading them, He disciplined them. What this summary description of how the rest of the book of Judges is going to go reveals is that once the people were settled in the land they struggled mightily with faithfulness. Read the rest…
In this final part of our Esther teaching series, Stand Up: How to Fight Injustice, we are reminded that since injustice never sleeps, we can’t either. Over the course of this conversation I offer four ways we can make sure our lives are always ready to fight injustice. Keep reading to find out what they are.
Keep Standing
Last weekend was the annual Relay for Life Walk event. While it has gotten pared back a bit over the years, the original vision for the event was for it to last for a full 24-hours. One of the original slogans that accompanied the all-night walk was that we could walk throughout the night because “cancer never sleeps.” The big idea here is that cancer is always on and so we must be also. We must be ever vigilant to halt its life-stealing advance. Because it never takes a day-off, we can’t either. This kind of militaristic sentiment works for a while, but eventually people start to get tired. Sometimes the very advances to which their support of cancer research has contributed allows some folks to relax a bit and let up on the pressure. It’s tough to stay motivated to support a single cause for a long period of time. Read the rest…
“When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously. Then these men came by agreement and found Daniel making petition and plea before his God.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Daniel had been doing this three times a day in this same place for years. This time, though, had to feel a bit different. This was the first time he knew he was actively breaking the law by doing it. And yet, the place and the pattern were both well-worn in his life. At the time to which he was very much accustomed, Daniel got down on his knees in front of the window in his upper room and prayed. Shortly afterwards–as he knew would happen–he was arrested and hauled before the king. Read the rest…
“Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me!” (ESV – Read the chapter)
Do you listen to God? I don’t know about you, but I can pretty easily find myself in a rut of talking to God a lot, but not stopping to listen very often. I can get into a pattern of reading God’s word every day because I’m supposed to (especially as a pastor!), but not paying very close attention to what He might want to say to me through it. Let’s just call it what it is: Listening to God is tough. Read the rest…
The Nexus 