Tag: The Scriptures

Mother and daughter reading The Great Adventure Book with illustrated scenes above

The Big Picture of the Bible

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I’m hopefully planning to write a review of the latest Marvel series, Visionquest, next week. This week has been all over the place for me. So, I’m going to share another blast from the past today. This is the first of a four-part series I preached several years ago looking at the story of the Scriptures from 30,000 feet. We often dive deeply into the nitty-gritty details of the Scriptures in sermon and Bible studies, but in doing that, we sometimes forget that the Scriptures really are all one cohesive story that points to Jesus. This series was all about making sure we have that in mind whenever we go to them to receive what God’s Spirit has to share. Enjoy!

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Woman holding books while a masked guest offers a goblet in a library

Are You Paying Attention Yet?

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“My son, obey my words, and treasure my commands. Keep my commands and live, and guard my instructions as you would the pupil of your eye. Tie them to your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your relative. She will keep you from a forbidden woman, a wayward woman with her flattering talk.” (Proverbs‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

With three chapters now left in this opening section of Proverbs, one of the themes we have seen over and over again is this strong exhortation for the reader to heed the counsel and command of the writer; for the son to heed his father. Inasmuch as this is Solomon writing to his own children, though, we can receive all of this as our heavenly Father’s attempt to pass along His divine wisdom to us. So then, how can we actually receive His wisdom? Let’s talk about some ways.

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Older woman and man walking with young girl hand in hand on a forest path at sunset

The Worth of Wise Counsel

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“My son, keep your father’s command, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching. Always bind them to your heart; tie them around your neck. When you walk here and there, they will guide you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; when you wake up, they will talk to you. For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.” (Proverbs‬ ‭6‬:‭20‬-‭23‬ ‭CSB‬‬ – Read the chapter)

I once saw a magnet on somebody’s fridge that made me chuckle. It said, “Ask a teenager while they still know everything.” The idea is one that is certainly familiar to anybody who has navigated the journey of parenting. The confidence of ignorance that youth invites is a potent draught. Nobody at that age wants to listen to the counsel of their parents. Even as we grow, though, we don’t get much better at taking sound advice. To do that means acknowledging that we don’t know everything, and for most of us we are loathe to do that. Solomon’s wisdom here is something all of us could benefit from. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Romans 15:4

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“For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A famous preacher generated some national controversy a few years ago for saying that believers today need to unhitch themselves from the Old Testament. His choice of words seems like it was intended to be provocative…and it worked. He generated a firestorm of responses, some thoughtful, others, not so much. Language choice aside, I think he was right in the main. We are not liable for keeping the old covenant laid out in the Old Testament. But then what’s the point of the Old Testament? Paul gives us an important clue here. Let’s take a look.

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Morning Musing: Romans 1:8-10

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“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world. God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about his Son — that I constantly mention you, always asking in my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

On rare occasions I have the opportunity to preach somewhere other than my church. When this happens, I don’t approach the message the same way as I do with the people I know and preach to every week. Instead, I try to stay more generalized in my focus and encouraging in my tone. No one wants to get scolded by a stranger. Paul had never visited the church in Rome. As a result, he didn’t approach them with quite the same familiarity as he did the church in Corinth that he had planted and spent nearly two years pastoring. Today, tomorrow, and Monday, let’s take a look at how Paul greeted these people he had never met.

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