West Palm Beach church of Christ: Recent Episodes
West Palm Beach church of Christ
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. In our study of Romans we now come to Romans 9-11. These three chapters are considered the more difficult parts of this book. Volumes have been written about the meaning of these chapters. But are these chapters just deep theology and hard teachings that are reserved for intellectual academic studies? I think sometimes we can […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. “What then shall we say to these things?” (Romans 8:31). Romans 8 is a glorious chapter that has wrestled with the conflict between being children of God and experiencing suffering. The defining mark of the Christian is being led by the Spirit and no longer being led by the flesh. If we live according to […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Every year we are told to begin preparations because we live in south Florida. When June 1 rolls around we are told that we need to stock up on hurricane supplies. We need to have extra water on hand. We need to make sure we have batteries for flashlights and radios. Make sure your generator […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The apostle Paul is writing to Christians to encourage their faith to grow further and deeper. While the Christians in Thessalonica are doing well, he is urging them to excel still more (1 Thessalonians 4:1). We have noticed that Paul is looking at areas in the Christian life that might be easily overlooked when trying […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We left off in Romans 8 with a powerful proclamation about who we are in Christ. If we are living according to the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the flesh, then the Spirit testifies that we are sons of God (cf. Romans 8:12-16). We have received the spirit of adoption so that we […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We are in a series in which we are looking at how we have been called to more. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1 that these Christians in Thessalonica know how to walk and are living in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. But Paul instructs them to excel even more in being pleasing to […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Paul is writing to the Thessalonian Christians asking them and urging them to excel even more in living a life that is pleasing to God. Paul does not want these Christians to become spiritually stagnant. Paul does not want these Christians to experience a spiritual regression. He urges them to grow and to keep on […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We are in Romans 8 where Paul is teaching us how we can have the good life, the transformed life, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (cf. Romans 8:1). We have been set free from the law of sin and death and have been enabled to obey Christ. We […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. There has never been a sport in which a successful athlete has ever said that he or she does not need to practice any longer. Michael Jordan is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Yet he did not proclaim that he is such a great player that he did not need […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Romans 7 has proclaimed an important truth which is summarized in Romans 8:2. You have been set free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. The glorious words of hope are proclaimed in Romans 8:1. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” But the message of […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Job 42 might be the most confusing part of the book. You will notice that Job 42:10 reveals that the Lord restored the fortunes of Job and the Lord gave him twice as much as he had before. What are we supposed to make of this ending? Is the message that, after your trials, everything […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The book of Job has now come to its conclusion where the Lord is now giving the final word about how he runs the world and the reason for Job’s suffering. The Lord has appeared in a whirlwind and is speaking to Job from that whirlwind. In Job 38-39 the Lord has challenged Job to […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The book of Job reveals everyone’s opinions about the reason for suffering and how God runs the world. Job has challenged that God has not treated him fairly. He does not think that God has not been right toward him because Job has been blameless and upright. Job’s friends have an opinion that Job must […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have taken a break in our study of the gospel through the lens of the book of Romans. But we are returning to this wonderful book and we are going to see in Romans 7-8 the good life that God has promised to those who belong to Christ Jesus. Romans 7 is considered a […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Job has said many words that need to be addressed. Elihu is in the process of challenging Job on the words Job has said against God. Elihu has been defending God from what Job has said during the time of this trial. Elihu is speaking on God’s behalf (Job 36:2). Further, Elihu declares that he […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Does God care when we are suffering? Does it matter to God when are going through severe trials? When we are going through trials we can be tempted to wonder if God cares about what we are experiencing. We can look around and think that God simply has no concern about what is happening to […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Jehoshaphat was king over the nation of Judah. He walked in the footsteps of David, seeking the Lord and being his commands. But his association with Ahab, the king of Israel, has caused him to compromise. His faithfulness to the Lord was negatively impacted because he wanted to be connected to Ahab. Jehoshaphat was condemned […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Job has said many words that need to be addressed. In Job 32-33 Elihu responds to Job who has contended that God was silent throughout his suffering. God is not silent in suffering but is speaking through suffering. Trials are protective and corrective, not punitive, transforming us and moving us closer to the image of […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Have you ever had a strong start at doing something, only to give out a little bit later? Maybe you started a project and you were excited to accomplish the task. But then the project, for whatever reason, remains unfinished. Maybe you started something but then found yourself in over your head. So you stopped […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. For thirty-one chapters we have read about a lot of questions about suffering and the way God runs the world. The friends of Job have insisted that the way God runs the world is that the wicked suffer and the righteous do not suffering. Therefore, Job must have sinned. However, we know this is wrong […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Job has been proclaiming the need for faithfulness when suffering. In Job 28 we see Job proclaiming to anyone who will listen that the fear of the Lord is wisdom. Turning away from evil is understanding (cf. Job 28:28). The friends of Job believed they had come to Job with wisdom to comfort and correct […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We are going to look at the final lament of this book. Please open your copies of God’s word to Lamentations 5. As you are turning to the final lamentation, I want to remind of us the grief journey Jeremiah has taken his people through. Lamentations 1 encouraged the people to honestly express to the […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. There is a section in the book of Job in which we see Job moving away from arguing with his friends. We might falsely over summarize the book and think that the middle is just Job and his friends arguing with each other. But the discourses with each other end in chapter 27. Each of […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Why doesn’t the book of Lamentations end with Lamentations 3? Why not end on the high note of Lamentations 3? Why not stop at Lamentations 3:22-23? The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness! Why can’t we end on […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have been looking at the suffering of Job. We have noted that his suffering and pain have been extraordinary. Further, Job’s friends have come to comfort and show sympathy to Job. But rather than succeeding, they have been miserable comforters to him. We have also noticed that Job’s suffering has caused him to feel […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Lamentations 3 is a description on how to have hope while grieving. Jeremiah and the people of Judah are grieving and broken over the destruction of Jerusalem. It is a time of shock, loss, and anguish. We have seen in our study of Lamentations that grief is not a straight line. We saw the prophet […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The purpose of Job’s three friends coming to see Job was to offer him comfort and sympathy (cf. Job 2:11). The friends have had many things to say to Job by the time we come to Job 16. Job has not found his friends to sympathizers or comforters. Listen to what Job says: Then Job […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. There is a temptation when reading or studying the book of Job to want to get to the end of the book. We are people who just want to get to the bottom line. We will be tempted to cut out the middle of this book and run to chapter 38 where God shows us […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have been moving through the book of Lamentations looking at how the author of this book is teaching the people to grieve their suffering. Jerusalem has been destroyed. God had given the people over to the Babylonians because of their sinning against him. Even Jeremiah himself is having difficulties processing what he is seeing […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Job has lost everything. Job has lost his possessions and wealth. Job has lost his way of life. Job has lost his ten children. Job has lost his health. Satan has taken Job to the edge of his life, yet Job still breathes. Job’s wife has told Job that if God is not going to […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The book of Leviticus ends with hopeful instructions for the people. The message of Leviticus has been the message of holiness and atonement. God is holy and the people must therefore be holy. God will make the people holy through atonement and by giving them instructions to follow so that they can remain in fellowship […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The book of Leviticus is the manual for knowing how we can remain in fellowship with God. God has come down and the glory of the Lord has filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40). Now that God is among his people, directions must be given for how the people can dwell with him without being consumed […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The book of Lamentations takes the reader on a journey of grief. In our last lesson we introduced the concept that the people of God are frequently pictured as expressing their grief. More than one-third of the Psalms are considered psalms of lament and grief. The book of Lamentations contains five poems proclaiming grief on […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. How bad can your life get before you would challenge God and give up on him? How bad does the trial have to be before it would cause you to break? Satan is attempting to find out what it takes to break Job and his faith. We could read the first chapter of the book […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Please open your copies of God’s word to Job 1. In our message last week we notice the question of suffering. The question of suffering regards your motivation for serving God. Suffering asks the question if we serve God for God or if we have ulterior motives. Suffering shows if we serve God for his […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We knew something was wrong but we did not know what. After having two other children, we knew that there was something that was not quite right. Our concerns were dismissed but we knew something was amiss with our third child. We went to all kinds of specialists, trying to determine what was the cause […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We are beginning a new series called God In The Storm in which we are going to look at the key teachings about suffering and trials from the book of Job. I want to state at the outset of this series that it is not my goal to cover every verse in the book of […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have been looking at the regrettable decisions people made when they encountered Jesus. Imagine if you had the opportunity to hear Jesus teach. What would you think? Imagine if you had the chance to see Jesus perform a miracle. What would you have done? But I want you to imagine a slightly different opportunity. […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The prophecy of Jeremiah has been a book of failure. As we come to the end of our study of Jeremiah we are taking a moment to look back at the failure of the people of Judah. They have traded the Lord for things that are not gods (Jeremiah 2:10-11). They have exchanged the fountain […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have spending our time looking at the regrettable decisions people made when they encountered Jesus. Imagine that you had the opportunity to speak to Jesus. Imagine if you had the opportunity to see one of Jesus’ miracles. Imagine if you could ask Jesus one question. In Mark 10 we are going to read about […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have been looking at different encounters that people had with Jesus. In today’s lesson we are going to look at a group of people who started following Jesus. As we look at this group, I want us to think about this question. Is there a wrong way to follow Jesus? Is it possible to […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. As you open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 46, I want us to notice how this section of the book of Jeremiah begins. It simply reads, “The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations” (Jeremiah 46:1). The majority of the book of Jeremiah has been God’s gracious […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We are looking at the regrettable decisions people made when they encountered Jesus. Last week we noticed the person who interrupted Jesus’ sermon with his concern about receiving his portion of the inheritance. We are going to look at another encounter with Jesus. Open your copies of God’s word to Luke 4 and we are […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We are starting a new series for our new year called, Should’ve, Could’ve, Would’ve: Regrettable Decisions When Encountering Jesus. What we are going to study in this series are different people who were given the opportunity to speak to Jesus and consider their encounter and what we can learn from that discussion. Each week what […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. As we move into a new year, it is popular to make resolutions regarding how we will do things differently next year. A new year encourages us to think about having a fresh start, live different, and purpose to make some important changes in our lives. But we more importantly need to use this time […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. What gives us the strength to be faithful and trust God to the end? All of us want to be faithful of our whole lives. We want to be strong in our faith and even stronger as we come to the end of our walk with the Lord. But how can we trust him all […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Romans 6 is showing us how we are to live differently because Christ set us free from the power of sin. In the first lesson we looked at how we have died to sin and are to live a new life. Our baptism represents this change as we unite ourselves to Christ. In the second […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. How we look at our lives makes a big impact on the direction for our lives. We even use such illustrations in our culture to try to communicate that idea. For example, we will ask if a glass is half full or half empty. Obviously the answer is that both are true. But how you […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Romans 5 has proclaimed the powerful work of Christ to reverse our condition as we were under the power of sin. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). But Christ’s magnificent, saving work requires a response. In our last lesson we noted the apostle Paul teaching that our baptism means something. […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have been spending some of our evening lessons looking at how Jesus teaches and transforms Peter through the various discussions they have with each other. Jesus approached a man named Simon, called him to be an apostle, and changed his name to “rock” (Peter). Matthew 18 is another time when Jesus teaches Peter. The […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Romans 5 is to be a life-changing chapter. Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God (Romans 5:1). Through Christ we have access by faith into grace in which we stand (Romans 5:2). We rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:3). We rejoice in our sufferings because we […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. What do you think about? If you were asked to think about your typical day and consider your thoughts, what do you think about? What do you like to think about? What do you wish you had more time to think about? When you have down time in your day, what do you spend your […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. A sermon from Brent Kercheville. What do you do when God’s word is not your will? What do you do when God’s answer to your prayer is not the answer you wanted to receive from him? Jeremiah and the people have gone through great tragedy and judgment. The Babylonians have destroyed the city of Jerusalem […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. A sermon from Brent Kercheville. Three Challenging Commands (Philippians 4:4-6) There are places in the scriptures where God gives us commands that we can read quickly past and miss their importance and their difficulty in following. I would like for you to open your copies of God’s word to Philippians 4:4-6 and we are going […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have been studying the interactions that Jesus had with Peter through his ministry. We have noted that the one we know as Peter was born with the name Simon. Jesus gave Simon the name Peter which means rock. Throughout the gospel accounts we see Jesus teaching Peter and the […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have been looking at Romans 5 in which we read seven “much more” or “more than that” statements. The apostle Paul wants to show us what we have in Christ. In the first eleven verses of Romans 5 we learned that since we have been justified, we have peace […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The book of James gives a warning about a person who is double-minded. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. A sermon from Brent Kercheville. In our last lesson we began a series called Much More. In Romans 5 we read seven times where the apostle Paul makes a declaration and then tells us that we have even more than that (cf. Romans 5:3, 9, 10, 11, 15, 17, 20). We notice in our last […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We have been looking at how Jesus goes about transforming Simon into Peter through the different teachings and interactions Jesus has with his apostle. I would like for us to open our copies of God’s word to John 13 where we will consider another important interaction between Jesus and Peter. As we come to John […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. We are turning our attention to Romans 5 and our theme for this chapter is Much More. The reason for this theme is that this idea of “much more” is repeated throughout this chapter. Notice Romans 5:3 begins, “More than that” or “Not only that.” Verse 9 says, “much more” in the middle of that […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. What do you do when the battle is too big? It is easy to look at our life circumstances and our difficulties and think that the battle is too big for us. Depression and discouragement are not reserved for those who do not have a relationship with God. Even God’s people can grow weary and […]
A sermon from Brent Kercheville. The thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is a well-known chapter about love. It is a scripture that is often read from at weddings. It is a chapter that is frequently lifted of its context and treated as if this is a stand alone topic from the apostle Paul. But 1 Corinthians 13 stands in a […]
We are looking at the transformation of Peter and how Jesus moved him in his faith to become a faithful apostle. We are going to look at an important confession that Peter makes to Jesus before the other disciples. But it is not the confession that Peter is most known for making. Open your copies […]
We ended our lesson last time noticing that the apostle Paul is teaching that we must have the faith of Abraham to be able to receive the blessing of the gospel. The blessing of the gospel that came through Abraham is observed in Romans 4:7-8. “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose […]
Please open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 36. Before we look at this chapter, we need to consider the background of the prophecy we are about to read. About 17 years earlier, King Josiah was ruling over the nation of Judah and he initiated repairs to God’s temple. In the process of doing […]
Early in the scriptures, the Lord came to Abraham and made a promise. In Genesis 12:3 God promised to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” God confirmed this promise again in Genesis 22:18, “In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed […]
In our lesson this evening we are going to look at the way God cares for his people and the way God teaches his people. What happens when God blesses his people? Our response to his security and blessings is a critical component of walking by faith. Chapter 11 of 2 Chronicles begins by looking […]
One of the important characteristics needed to belong to the kingdom of God is humility. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The apostle Paul and the apostle Peter both taught that we are clothe ourselves with humility (Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 5:5). Paul also […]
We are in a series of lessons in which we are looking at how Jesus would transform a fisherman named Simon into the foundational apostle Peter. There are a number of times when Jesus speaks to Peter which becomes teaching moments to Peter, to the other disciples, and to us. Open your copies of God’s […]
When Jesus delivered his sermon while on the mountain, one of the things he proclaimed was that those who are blessed are those who are peacemakers (cf. Matthew 5:9). Part of the fruit of the Spirit is peace (cf. Galatians 5:22). The apostle Paul declared that we are to pursue what makes for peace and […]
As God tries to teach us about himself and what he expects from his people, sometimes he will use two events and set them next to each other so that we can compare and contrast the situations. As we come to Jeremiah 34-35 we are going to read about two groups of people who have […]
In our last lesson we looked at healing anger. We noted that quick anger is foolish, causes problems, shows a lack of restraint, and is contagious. The key of the lesson was to see that our anger is not accomplishing what we think it will accomplish. Rather, than helping us, our anger is destructive to […]
So if you have grown up on the pews, we are coming to an account that you might have learned about in your children’s Bible classes. It is the account of the nation of Israel dividing into two nations. The northern nation would be called Israel and the southern nation would be called Judah. One […]
We are returning to a series we began some time ago called Storm Proof. The book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom, written to help the readers live wisely. We spent some time going through the first couple chapters of Proverbs where Solomon gives various teachings about the importance of wisdom. The book of […]
We are spending time in this series looking at how Jesus transformed Simon into Peter. There are many events and many teachings in Jesus’ life where his effort it to teaching Peter and the disciples. One of those moments is recorded for us in Matthew 14. Jesus has just finished with a miracle of feeding […]
Please open your copies of God’s word to Acts 9:26. Our annual preaching theme last year was, “We, Not Me.” But there were more things that I wanted for us to talk about but we ran out of time last year. So I do hope to be able to come back to this series from […]
How do you deal with guilt? It is an interesting question to think about, especially in the context of our culture today. Right now our culture has made great efforts to erase feeling guilty about anything that we do. We are told that we should live with no regrets. But if you think about that […]
We are looking at some pictures of our atonement in our annual series which intentionally coincides with our study of Romans. In our last lesson we noticed the beauty of Jesus as our redemption. We looked at this in Romans 3:24. Even though all of us have sinned and all of us have fallen short […]
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV) One of our challenges while on earth is to understand the kingdom God has prepared for us. One of […]
Romans 3 is critical and transformational teaching about the work of Christ. We are in a section in which Paul profoundly proclaims what Jesus did that changed everything for us. Our theme for this year is Jesus Is: Pictures of Our Atonement. At the same time we have been looking at the book of Romans […]
We are starting this series that I am calling Becoming Peter. Now the point of this series is not that you would become like Peter, though that is a worthy goal. The apostle Paul proclaimed to the Philippians to imitate him in Philippians 3:17. We would certainly do well to imitate the apostle Peter and […]
What was the whole point of the Hebrew Scriptures? Why the Old Testament? Why have the patriarchs? Why have Israel? Why have the promises? What was the value? What was the point? Have you ever wondered these things? Why not just start in the Gospel of Matthew and go from there? This is where Romans […]
We are spending this month looking at James’ teachings on how to have authentic faith especially during trying times. James 1 tells us that God is using trials to make us mature and complete so that we lack nothing. Therefore, we must let steadfastness have its full effect. Further, James tells us that we need […]
We are starting a short series for our Sunday evenings in January called Authentic. The purpose of this series is to see how the scriptures picture how we can have a real faith and be real disciples. Now if you think about books in God’s word that give pictures of what faith looks like, James […]
Up to this point we have been reading about various prophecies of hope in what is often called “the book of consolation” in Jeremiah 30-33. But as we come to Jeremiah 33 God will do something different with Jeremiah. Rather than giving another prophetic message, God is going to have Jeremiah act out this particular […]
We have been looking at the book of consolation which is contained in Jeremiah 30-33 in which God is proclaiming to the people the future hope that will come when Christ comes. You can see throughout this section of Jeremiah that repeated promise that “the days are coming.” Messianic hope still exists for God’s people. […]
How do you know if you belong to God or not? How do you know if you are in a relationship with the Lord? One of Paul’s purposes in the book of Romans is to teach the answer to these questions. Since the wrath of God has been revealed from heaven and the gospel is […]
We are looking at a section in Jeremiah’s prophecy where God is proclaiming his message of hope and encouragement to his people. Though they will go into exile because of their sins, their future hope lies in the coming of the Christ. Sin is an incurable wound. There is nothing we can do and nothing […]
God’s Universal Truth (Romans 2:6) This paragraph begins with a jarring truth declaration: God will repay each person according to their works (Romans 2:6). This is a repeated declaration that is made throughout the scriptures. The psalmist states that this is true. Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to […]
When we look at the prophets we are often able to find sections when God turns his attention to speaking about a future hope for his people. For example, in the book of Isaiah we see a shift in chapter 40 when God through Isaiah starts proclaiming what the future will look like for his […]
In 2 Samuel 12 the prophet Nathan comes to King David after David had sexually sinned with Bathsheba and attempted to cover up the pregnancy by killing Bathsheba’s husband and marrying her. So Nathan must come to David with a story about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man had a very […]
Isaiah 40 is the proclamation of good news. God is giving words of comfort to his people so that they will stand on high mountains proclaiming, “Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40:9). Then Isaiah pictures the immense power and majesty of God. Isaiah 40 is to help us have the right lens of the Lord when […]
We are looking at Romans 1 in which the apostle Paul is teaching what happens to us as humans and as a culture when we fail to honor God and give him thanks. Three times in Romans 1 we are told that God gives us over to our sinful desires (cf. Romans 1:24,26,28). In the […]
First Kings 13 set the tone for the spiritual condition of the northern nation called Israel under the reign of King Jeroboam. Some time back we studied about a man of God coming to Jeroboam and pronouncing judgment for his sins. Jeroboam attempted to have the man of God arrested, only to have his arm […]
The year is 605 BC, the year of the Babylonian invasion by Nebuchadnezzar into the nation of Judah. This was the first of three invasions until Jerusalem was captured, the nation destroyed, and the majority of the people are carried away into captivity. Jehoakim is the king of Judah at this time and God is […]
We have a song in our songbook titled, “Where Could I Go?” The first verse talks about the difficulty of facing temptations. So then the question is asked, “Where could I go but to the Lord?” The second verse speaks about having good neighbors. But when my soul needs manna from above, where could I […]
We are coming to a text in God’s word that is full of controversy and resistance. But we should not be surprised by this because of what the apostle Paul declared earlier in Romans 1. In Romans 1:21 we learn that when we do not honor God and give him thanks then we will become […]
In Isaiah 40, the Lord speaks through Isaiah to his people to give them comfort. The greatest comfort you can ever have in this world is knowing God. No one cares about you more than God does. God wants the people to see him the right way. The people think that God does not care […]
In Romans 1:18-20 the apostle Paul has made a very important point regarding the gospel. No one has an excuse before God. There is no one in the world that can say on the day of judgment that they are excused from knowing God. Why? The reason why all are without excuse is because God […]
How do you look at God? When you think about God, what do you think about? What characteristics about God come to your mind? How you look at God will change everything about how you live your life and how you will live before him. For example, in Matthew 25 when we read the parable […]
The apostle Paul has begun his letter to the church in Rome by proclaiming to them the gospel. In the first six verses of Romans sets forward that the gospel is concerning the Son who descended from David and was declared to be the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead. […]
We are talking about how to have a heart for the city. In the lesson this morning we looked at the first seven verses of Jeremiah 29 where Jeremiah writes a letter to the exiles who have been captured and now living in Babylon. Jeremiah tells them how they are to live while in Babylon. […]
One of the consistent messages that Jeremiah has been proclaiming that has been recorded for us in our recent studies of Jeremiah is that the people who have been captured by the Babylonians are not returning soon. False prophets have been proclaiming that the captured people as well as the captured articles of the temple […]
The first day of the week has arrived. Mary Magdalene and the women came to the tomb and found the stone taken away. Rather than believing Jesus had risen from the dead, the women believe that the body has been moved. Peter and John also go to the tomb. But verse 9 tells us that […]
Jesus has explained that the cross is the history changing moment for the world. The cross is the judgment of the world, the neutralization of Satan’s power, the exaltation of Jesus as the Christ, and means by which the world can be drawn to the Father through Jesus. After saying these things, John 12:36 tells […]
One of the problems that Jeremiah is facing as a prophet of God is that there are so many false voices that are telling the people things that God did not actually say. We have seen in our study of Jeremiah many statements about the false prophets who are leading the people astray (cf. Jeremiah […]
We are looking at pictures of our atonement in our theme for this year. In our first lesson we considered the pictures that show Jesus as the one who will bear our sins, carrying them away far from us. Our sins have been cast into the depths of the seas and have been removed from […]
How do you think about God’s word? What is your attitude toward it? Psalm 19 gives an amazing declaration about how the righteous look at the word of God. They are more desirable than gold— than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb. In addition, your servant is warned […]
Our theme for this year is a focus on Jesus and what he did to save us. In particular, we are going to look at all of the pictures that the scriptures give to describe our atonement. There is not a single picture or single teaching describing the work of Christ. So what I wanted […]
In our last lesson we talked about overflowing in contentment. Discontentment leads to all kinds of problems in this life. Not only does it lead to problems in the present, it can also draw you away from the pain and pierce you with many sorrows (6:10). The apostle Paul teaches us another picture of how […]
Our theme this year, though disrupted by the coronavirus, has been the theme of Overflow. Jesus told his disciples that out of our hearts would flow streams of living water. So we have asked this question through the year: what flows out of us? It was not initially planned this way but two of the […]
We have spent a number of our lessons this year talking about how to have hope when crushed by trials, when hopeless because of suffering and loss, when feeling alone, and when tempted. All of these difficulties of life, from temptations and trials to sinning and being alone can cause us to be anxious. In […]
The first word in Matthew 6:25 is the word, “Therefore.” Before we can enter this paragraph about worry, we need to reconnect to the prior paragraph. In verses 19-24 Jesus told us to treasure heavenly treasures and not earthly treasures. Make your treasure in heaven and not on earth. This idea is going to lead […]
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will […]
It seems that there is so much to be anxious for in life. Work brings anxiety. Life choices bring anxiety. Family brings anxiety. ISIS and terrorism brings anxiety. The world is full of anxiety. Yet the scriptures are going to teach us how we can overcome and defeat anxiety. The apostle Paul is going to […]
We have been looking at this section in Jeremiah’s prophecy in which we see the Lord teaching how to have a heart for God. As we come to Jeremiah 25 we are coming to a chapter that most people are not going to be happy reading. We live in a time in our society where […]
Romans 1:16-17 is the thesis for this letter. Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. But then Paul continues by saying that in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. Romans 1:17 has so much written […]
I want to begin the lesson by hearing a promise that God makes: I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. (Jeremiah 24:7 ESV) God says that he […]
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel…” (Romans 1:16). It is a bold statement that I want us to think about as we begin this lesson. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. Do you feel ashamed of the gospel? We do not want to be ashamed but we can certainly be tempted to […]
Our culture has coined a phrase that we consider to be new. People will speak about “my truth.” I expect that you have heard this phrase used before. In fact, we are encouraged to speak “our truth.” You are told that you need to speak “your truth.” The idea is that there is something that […]
Listen to what Paul says: “I am a debtor…” (Romans 1:14). We do not want to be debtors. We do not want to have obligations. We try to free ourselves from every debt. But this is a good debt. Paul embraces the fact that he is debtor and it is understand the debt of the […]
There are many New Testament scriptures that speak about the glory of God as seen through the amazing work of our Lord Christ Jesus. But we can miss the depth of what those images and teachings are giving because we do not know intimately what the prophets were proclaiming. Often the New Testament assumes we […]
I want to begin the lesson today by asking an important question. What is the gospel? If someone were to come up to you, could you answer this question? If your neighbor asked you, “What is the gospel?”, what would you tell them? What exactly is the gospel? Now if you have grown up in […]
We are in a section in the prophecy of Jeremiah where we are learning about having a heart for God. In Jeremiah 20 we saw the terrible treatment of God’s prophet. Jeremiah is mocked, scorned, and verbally abused. His close friends seek revenge on Jeremiah because of his teachings. Jeremiah was arrested, beaten, and put […]
We are looking at how to fight against the temptations that our enemy, the devil, is using to attack our faith. Our enemy wants us to doubt God, doubt God’s love, doubt our relationship with God, and doubt that God cares for us. There are many, many doubts that the devil launches at us so […]
We are beginning a new series called A Heart For God. We are going to be looking at how to have a heart for God when life is particularly painful while trying to live for God. We would think that doing the right thing would keep us safe. We want to think that if we […]
We are looking at how to fight against the temptations that our enemy, the devil, is using to attack our faith. Our enemy wants us to doubt God, doubt God’s love, doubt our relationship with God, and doubt that God cares for us. There are many, many doubts that the devil launches at us so […]
The apostle John is writing to help Christians know if they have eternal life (cf. 1 John 5:13). John does not want anyone to be deceived regarding their relationship with God. He wants us to evaluate our walk so that we can know if we are walking in the light or if we are walking […]
We are looking at how to fight against the temptations that our enemy, the devil, is using to attack our faith. In last week’s lesson we observed the first step that the devil uses against us is doubt. Our enemy wants us to doubt God, doubt God’s love, doubt our relationship with God, and doubt […]
The apostle John is writing to help Christians know if they have eternal life (cf. 1 John 5:13). John does not want anyone to be deceived regarding their relationship with God. He wants us to evaluate our walk so that we can know if we are walking in the light or if we are walking […]
We are beginning a short series called Filters where we are going to talk about how to look at temptations properly so that we can overcome them. The apostle Paul claimed that there is no temptation that is unique to you. Listen what he taught in 1 Corinthians 10:13. No temptation has overtaken you that […]
The apostle John has proclaimed a glorious truth for us to hear. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are” (1 John 3:1 ESV). We have been placed into an amazing, undeserved relationship with the Father, being called his children. […]
The teacher of Ecclesiastes brings us to the final conclusions regarding his look at life. Remember that this book began with the teacher trying to determine what a person gets for all of his efforts in life. What is the gain? What is the advantage? What is the benefit? Do you get the payoff for […]
We are starting a new series this evening in which we are going to examine God’s love and how his love is to change who we are and how we live. Now it is important to remember the purpose that the apostle John has for writing his first letter. John says he writes these things […]
We are coming to the end of our series called Don’t Waste Your Life as the book of Ecclesiastes explores what is the gain and advantage for all your effort in this world. We are now coming to the concluding wisdom for life in the final chapters of the book. In Ecclesiastes 10 the teacher […]
We have noted how God has sent Jeremiah on some missions as a living parable to teach the people regarding their condition and what God is doing. We have seen Jeremiah use spoiled linen undergarments to show how the people have defiled themselves. Jeremiah was not allowed to be married or go to funerals, weddings, […]
We enter a new year full of new hope and high expectations. This year is going to be different. This year is going to be better. This year we are going to do what we did not get down this last year. This is going to be our year. But you also know that you […]
Our culture often wisely will emphasize the need to live a balanced life. Popular life coaches will speak to the need for not being excessive in certain areas of your life. But this is not a new idea. Rather, the need for balance in life is a biblical teaching that you find in the scriptures. […]
We are in a series called Flourish where we are looking what was preventing God’s people from having a flourishing, blessed relationship with their God. In this series we have seen that the people have ruined themselves because they have refused to listen to God, making them useless for God’s purpose (Jeremiah 13). The people […]
As we come to Ecclesiastes 7, the teacher is going to tell us the things that are better in life. The book has been attempting to determine what we gain for all of our work and effort on earth. What do we get for all that we put into this life? What is the advantage […]
God often would require strange activities from his prophets in order to teach the people to whom the prophets served. When we studied Ezekiel, we saw that he had to lay on his side for a year to get the people’s attention and to teach them what God’s word was. We already have seen Jeremiah […]
The teacher of Ecclesiastes has been giving his instructions so that we will not waste the time of our lives that God has given to us. The teacher has been trying to find out what gain we get from all of our effort and work on earth. So he is exploring different areas of life, […]
Please open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 15 and I want to begin our lesson by listening to the startling words of Jeremiah 15:1. Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and […]
We have been spending our time in a series called Don’t Waste Your Life where we are paying attention to the teacher of Ecclesiastes. He is looking at life and determining what is the gain or benefit for all the work that we do while on this earth. The point of each of these messages […]
We are starting a new series that is found in the midst of Jeremiah called Flourish. This comes from Jeremiah 13-19 where God is talking to his people about why they are unable to flourish as he people. Rather than enjoying God’s blessings, they are going to be put through judgment because they have failed […]
We have been looking at the teachings of Ecclesiastes to learn how to not waste the time of our lives that God has given to us. As we have noted sometimes the book of Ecclesiastes is misunderstood to be saying that everything is meaningless. But as we carefully look at Ecclesiastes 4 we will see […]
God has given his answer to the prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk has been praying to God about how he does not understand what God is doing in the world. It did not make sense to him. He has been crying out to God asking, “Why?” and “How long?” God did not give specific answers to these […]
We are in a series called Don’t Waste Your Life. The teacher of Ecclesiastes is examining a variety of areas in life to consider what is the profit or the gain in pursuing what the world says is valuable or important. What benefit do you have if you pursue what the world says will give […]
We have looking at the book of Habakkuk as a means of trying to understand what is going on in our lives and in the world when we do not understand what God is doing. Habakkuk has prayed to God about how he does not understand what God is doing and God has given some […]
There is something that humans tend to appreciate about seasons. Many people like moving to the autumn season and watching the leaves change and fall. People often will question how I can live in Florida because they say I do not get to experience the seasons. I tell them that we have seasons down here. […]
Habakkuk is a prophet who has been praying to God and Habakkuk does not understand why God has not been answering his prayers. Habakkuk has been crying out for help but does not feel like God is listening (Habakkuk 1:2). Habakkuk does not understand why he cannot see God acting. God then responds to Habakkuk, […]
In Ecclesiastes 2 the teacher is in the midst of trying to find out what can be gained by life under the sun. What do you get from all of your efforts in this world? What do you have to show for all the work you do in this life? In our last lesson we […]
Habakkuk is a prophet who has questions for God. He is looking around at the world, and in particularly, looking at his own nation and seeing wickedness and violence. Habakkuk is asking God why he does not do something about it. How long will he keep crying out to God and God will not respond […]
The teacher of Ecclesiastes is pursuing life attempting to answer the question found in Ecclesiastes 1:3. “What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?” What do we have to show for all that we do in this life? Now the point of these studies is not to […]
The apostle Paul is writing to these Christians so that they will focus on their manner of life being worthy of the gospel of Christ. One of the key characteristics of a life being lived for the gospel is unity and harmony among Christians. Philippians 2:1-2 records Paul’s plead to them that if Christ means […]
In the last paragraph the apostle Paul has described his joy in suffering. His joy came from knowing that the gospel was advancing through what he was experiencing. His joy also came from knowing that his faith was only being strengthened to bring about his spiritual deliverance. Paul spoke this way because for him to […]
We are at a point now where many disciples are turning away from Jesus. It is not just the hard-hearted people that are rejecting Jesus. Even disciples who have been following Jesus are turning away. Why these disciples turning away? What has happened to cause them to turn from following Jesus? We are going to […]
The day before Jesus fed 5000 with five loaves and two fish. The next day the crowds come back looking for Jesus and find him across the sea in Capernaum. But Jesus knows their hearts and declares that they only reason they seek him was not because they saw the signs and comprehended, but because […]
There are a group of books in the scriptures that we call the minor prophets. They are given this name because they are small prophetic books when compared to the size of the prophetic books like Isaiah and Jeremiah. But the messages in these books are very practical and very important to building our faith […]
We started this series last week called Don’t Waste Your Life. We are looking at the book of Ecclesiastes in which the teacher is exploring life and considering the bottom line. In Ecclesiastes 1:3 the teacher asked this question: What do people gain by all their toil under the sun? The teacher is looking at […]
Jeremiah is in the midst of questioning God. In Jeremiah 12:1-4 he has questioned what God is doing regarding the wicked. Jeremiah understands God’s righteous character which is why the flourishing of the wicked does not make any sense to him. Jeremiah’s questions are coming from a place of personal crisis. He has just found […]
Sometimes we can think as followers of Jesus that this would mean that we would not have any questions for God. Or maybe we think that we should not have any questions for God about life because we are supposed to walk by faith. But when you read the scriptures you will frequently see God’s […]
We have been looking at how Jesus fulfills the temple imagery that we have been reading about in these early chapters of 2 Chronicles. We have seen the glory of God in the temple and a forgiving God in the temple. We noticed in our last lesson that we are in the middle of a […]
So I have hit the age of life when I am supposed to have a mid-life crisis. This crisis does not happen when you are young because you look at life and think about all the time you have and all the things you are going to do. But then you hit the middle of […]
When we build important buildings, we have dedication ceremonies to inaugurate its completion. People assemble together and a speech is given to speak to the meaning and purpose of the building. When the construction of the Freedom Tower in New York City commenced, there was a dedication ceremony. The governor of New York proclaimed, “Let […]
John has been writing this letter so that its readers can know that they have eternal life (cf. 1 John 5:13). In particular, John has been helping us know if we are walking in the light or in darkness. John has given us various tests so that we can evaluate our faith and know where […]
Please open your copes of God’s word to 2 Chronicles 2 and we will be there is just a moment. There is an interesting and unique process that happens when you are preparing to have your first child. The pressing need is that the room has to be ready for the baby’s arrival. We need […]
We have been looking at how we can know that we have eternal life from the teachings of the apostle John. John wants us to have a confidence in our relationship with God so that we can have complete joy in Christ. The picture that the apostle John has given to us is that if […]
We have been spending our evenings looking at various people of faith in the scriptures to give us encouragement and hope to continue to follow our Lord and Savior. We have looked at Joseph, Jacob, and David most recently. For our next series I would like us to look at the life of Solomon as […]
John has proclaimed amazing words of encouragement and hope. In the second chapter of 1 John the author has declared that he is writing so that we will not sin. But if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. God has provided the defense attorney we need. Jesus […]
How do you handle being told that you are doing something wrong? How do you respond when someone is willing to confront and tell you that you are wrong? I think all of us would like to think that we always do things right. In fact, we might first want to show how the other […]
John is writing his letter so that his readers can know that they have eternal life (cf. 1 John 5:13). John is also writing so that his readers would experience complete joy as they have fellowship with God and the apostles (cf. 1 John 1:4). The name of this short series is Complete Joy: Live […]
We are completing our study of taming the tongue from James 3. James taught us at the beginning of chapter 3 that the tongue sets the direction for our lives. Use your tongue in righteous ways and this will set your life direction toward righteousness. Use your tongue in evil ways and this will set […]
John writes the book of 1 John so that Christians can know that they have eternal life (cf. 1 John 5:13). Not only this, but John proclaims that he is writing these things so that our joy may be complete (cf. 1 John 1:4). True joy and pleasures forevermore are in the presence of God […]
We are in short series on how to tame the tongue. In our last lesson we looked at the direction that the tongue provides. The tongue is like the bit in the horse’s mouth and like the rudder of a ship. The tongue has the power to set the direction for your life. Therefore, we […]
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13 ESV) Do you know that you have eternal life? The apostle John says that this is something you can know. You can know if you have eternal […]
Last year we did a short series from the book of James called Authentic in which we looked at the practical teachings James gives to Christians from chapter 1. It is my plan to come back to this book from time to time to listen to the wisdom and critical teachings James has for us. […]
Our theme for 2024 is We, Not Me. We have spent some time in the first part of this year looking more about how to think about each other over ourselves. But for the second half of 2024, Lord willing, we are going to lean and push into this theme even stronger than we have […]
Our theme this year is Hope Starts Here as we go to the scriptures to find hope in hard times. All of us need some hope especially after a year like 2020 and this year seems to just be 2020 part 2. We have talked about how to have hope after failure, when tempted, when […]
Our theme for 2021 is Hope Starts Here. After a year like 2020 we could use some hope as we go forward. Hopeless is a tough word and yet who has not felt some degree of hopelessness in their lives? Life can feel hopeless. We will speak about a hopeless situation. Without hope, life devolves […]
The scene at the burning bush ends. Moses has asked for the Lord to send someone else which kindled the anger of the Lord. It is time for Moses to go to Egypt and be the deliverer of God’s people by the power of God. But the narrative does not immediately bring us to Egypt. […]
In Exodus 3 we have seen Moses express two concerns about his calling to go and deliver the people of Israel from Egyptian slavery. The first concern was a humble recognition that he is a nobody. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (3:11). […]
How do you convince people to put their trust in the Lord? How do you convince people that the idols they are holding on to are empty and worthless? Even more, how do you convince God’s people to fully put their trust in the Lord? There are many places in the scriptures where we are […]
God through the prophet Jeremiah has been proclaiming the abominable sins that Israel has been committing. The prophet is broken because of the judgment that is coming against his people because of their sinning against the Lord. Sometimes we think of sins that are worthy of God’s wrath and judgment as just the “big sins.” […]
We have seen the book of 1 Chronicles highlight David’s desire to build a temple for the Lord. But the temple was to be constructed during a time of peace, representing the establishment of God’s kingdom. David was a man of war with enemies that constantly surrounded him (1 Kings 5:3). So God prevented him […]
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up […]
The book of Proverbs contains a significant section in which Solomon is giving instructions to his son for life. It is a natural desire for parents to want their children to succeed in life. Parents want their children to fail where they failed and to have an even better life than they might have experienced. […]
We have been looking at the life of David through the lens of 1 Chronicles. Israel would have known David’s life story, including his spiritual successes and spiritual failures. Up to this point in the book, the only recorded failure has been in Israel’s attempt to worship God. David noted that they did not seek […]
There are these moments in the book of 1 Chronicles where we are given a flurry of names or a number of consecutive short narrative accounts. It is easy to read 1 Chronicles 18-20 as a bunch of short stories without meaning to just keep moving on. But there is a reason for the Chronicler […]
If I were to ask Christians where they would want to improve in their discipline to the Lord, I would expect one of the commonly given answers to be the discipline of prayer. We are always looking for ways to improve our prayer life. Even the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray (Luke […]
I think that every person questions their purpose in life. Everyone seeks the meaning of life and what to know why he or she is here. Further, we try to do things in life that will give us fulfillment and satisfaction. Many times we think that we cannot find satisfaction because we do not have […]
One of the teachings that Jesus gave to his disciples was that it was necessary and important for him to go to the Father. You may remember Jesus telling his disciples that he must go away and where he is going they cannot follow. Why was it so important for Jesus to leave and ascend […]
We started our series on Discipleship a few weeks back and we are looking at what the apostle Paul says to the Galatians about what it looks like to follow Jesus. We began with Paul telling us that this is a winnable war against the sins of the flesh. Walk by the Spirit and you […]
…The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s […]
David’s desire was to assemble all Israel together in worship as God was coming to be with his people in Jerusalem. After a failed attempt to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 13), David has inquired of the Lord and brought the ark successfully to Jerusalem because he followed the instructions given […]
One of the key messages of the scriptures that the religious world seems to forget is that our first priority is worship. In 1 Chronicles, the first thing we see King David desiring to do after taking the throne and settling his kingdom is to worship the Lord. Our morning and evening lessons today are […]
The title of our lesson is, “Why We Don’t Repent.” Why don’t we repent? Why don’t we have radical repentance? But this is not a question that merely I am asking each of us. It is a question that God is asking. Listen to how God presents his case to his people in Jeremiah 8. […]
I have an important question for you as we begin our lesson today. What gives you confidence that you are right with God? What would you point to so that you know that you are in right standing with God? As you think about this, I would like for you to open your copies of […]
We noticed in the prior lesson that 1 Chronicles is quickly bringing us to the life of David. After moving through an important genealogy in which accounts of faithfulness and unfaithfulness are recorded to show the people how to move forward and remind them of their past. Moving forward with God means not breaking faith. […]
We have been looking at some common problems people experience in which they go through a deconstruction of their faith. This series is put forward as a way to help reconstruct the faith of those who are considering leaving God, leaving Jesus, leaving the faith, leaving the church, or leaving the scriptures. In our lesson […]
We are beginning a new series for these two months called Restoring The Fallen. One of the amazing pictures about God is that he did not send all of his prophets condemning his people for their wickedness, only to leave them forever. God sent his prophets and his people rejected God’s message. So the people […]
We are in a series called Deconstructing and Reconstructing Faith. My goal in this series to answer some of the questions that I have seen and heard people facing, which is moving people to consider leaving the Lord, leaving the faith, leaving the scriptures, or leaving the church. In this lesson I want to talk […]
We have the tendency to drown out noise that becomes loud and repetitive. Car alarms fall into this category. We hear a car alarm and after a few seconds we can ignore its sounds. You might have seen parents do this with their screaming or nagging children. The child is just yelling but the parent […]
We have been in a series called Deconstructing and Reconstructing Faith. Our effort has been to consider some of the common reasons people question their faith and walk away from God, Jesus, the scriptures, or the faith. As I noted in the first lesson, there is not any way for me to address every concern […]
When we were children, it was fun to pretend. I used to watch cartoons and pretend to be the characters that I saw in those cartoons. Halloween is a time for children to pretend to be something that they cannot be in real life. It is fun to be able to pretend. But Jeremiah has […]
We have been spending time in this series working through deconstruction. What I mean by deconstruction is that something happens that causes us to reconsider our Christian beliefs. I would like to remind us from the first lesson that we should always be rechecking our beliefs in light of the scriptures to make sure that […]
How do you forgive a person who has ruined your life? How do you forgive people who have spent their lives working harm and evil against you? We have a saying, “Time heals all wounds.” I don’t know that “heal” is the right word. Maybe the word “forgets” may be more accurate because once the […]
We are in a series in which we are looking at deconstructing and reconstructing faith. What I mean when I say “deconstruction” is that something happens in your life that causes you to reevaluate your faith and your understanding of Christianity. Then, sometimes that reevaluation leads to a complete abandonment of the faith. The reason […]
Joseph has revealed himself to his brothers in Egypt. The brothers have changed over the years and now are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of their brother, Benjamin. Joseph has invited his family to move to Egypt where Joseph promises that he can care for them during the famine. Joseph told […]
We are starting a new series today called Deconstructing and Reconstructing Faith. Right now there are many who have grown up in pews of various Christian denominations and churches who are going through a process that they call “deconstruction.” Brian Zahnd defines deconstruction as “a crisis of Christian faith that leads to either a reevaluation […]
Joseph’s brothers are back in Egypt to buy grain for the family due to the severe famine occurring at that time. Joseph enacts his plan to keep Benjamin with him. He has his silver cup placed in his bag and sends the brothers away, fully expecting the brothers to abandon Benjamin like they did to […]
Preparing To Return (Genesis 43:1-14) The famine continues in its severity over the earth. Pharaoh’s dream revealed that it would be a seven year famine that would wipe any abundance accumulating during the seven years of prosperity. The grain that Jacob’s son purchased in Egypt has run out as we come to Genesis 43. Jacob […]
I would like to draw your attention to Matthew 27. As you are turning, I want to make an important point as we begin this morning. This lesson is not delivered because of the time found on our calendars. Every Sunday we come together to celebrate and remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus […]
Joseph has experienced a major turn around in his life. What looked like a life ruined by his brothers hatred and jealousy has been dramatically reversed by God. Joseph went from prisoner to prime minister in a matter of moments in Genesis 41. At 30 years old, Joseph is running Egypt and only Pharaoh is […]
As we return to Matthew 27 we are in the midst of a horrifying scene. Jesus has been crucified and now hangs from the cross, suspended in the air by nails in his hands and feet. He has been crucified between two other criminals. The scene before us is a scene of shame and mockery. […]
We are looking at where God is in the midst of suffering. We are looking for these answers through lens of the life of Joseph. Joseph now finds himself in a prison but he is innocent. Joseph has done nothing worthy of being imprisoned. Nothing has gone right for Joseph in his life. Joseph did […]
The Mocking (Matthew 27:27-31) Jesus has been condemned by the crowd. Barabbas has been released to the people and Jesus has been scourged in preparation for his crucifixion. But it will not be as simple as going out to the place of his execution. The Roman soldiers now will take a turn with Jesus. The […]
What an unexpected turn of events Joseph has just experienced! Joseph is 17 years old and his older brothers hate him. They hate him so much that they want to kill him. But rather than kill him, they sell him to some passing traders, figuring he will not survive what is in store for him. […]
Tried By Pilate (Matthew 27:11-14) Condemned by the Sanhedrin council, Jesus is bound and led away to stand before Pilate, the governor of the region of Judea (Matthew 27:1-2). Now you have to appreciate what the Jewish leaders have to do to get Jesus before Pilate. Pilate is a Roman governor and would have no […]
We are beginning a new series today called God In The Midst of Suffering. One of the hardest aspects of trials and suffering is wondering where God is in the moment. It does not look like God is with us. It does not feel like God is with us. So we are going to spend […]
Jesus has been arrested and taken to the high priest where a trial has started. The trial is not a seeking of the truth. The trial is to find false witnesses that will give a false testimony about Jesus so that the ruling Jewish council can have him executed. All of the disciples abandoned Jesus […]
In Jeremiah 3 God is explaining why the people’s lack of guilt and shame has been a problem to the relationship. We noticed in our last lesson that God expects us to experience guilt and shame so that we will have clarity about what we have done, be genuine about our sin which then will […]
It is a secluded place in the darkness of the middle of the night. Jesus and his disciples are on the Mount of Olives. They have been told that they were all going to fall away tonight. Jesus has spent this time preparing with prayer. The disciples have spent this time sleeping. But now the […]
Open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 3. As you are turning to this place in the scriptures, I want to remind you about what the prophet Jeremiah is doing. God has called Jeremiah to preach to the nation of Judah, the southern nation that remained after Assyria destroyed the northern nation, Israel. Jeremiah […]
Jesus has designated that Judas will be his betrayer. After sending him away, Jesus has taken the Passover and reconstituted it into a new memorial in which the disciples will remember his body and his blood of the covenant. The disciples are instructed to remember his sacrifice and remember the effect of his sacrifice. It […]
We have been looking at the meaning of the blood of the covenant. Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, called his disciples together and instituted the Lord’s Supper as a permanent memorial. As we have been studying the scriptures we have been seeing that the blood of the covenant has a rich meaning for […]
In our last lesson we carefully considered the purpose and meaning of the memorial Jesus gave to us. In Matthew 26 we saw that Jesus is living during his final hours. During the Passover time Jesus gave a memorial so that we would remember him and what he accomplished for us. But before we move […]
We have been spending our time looking at the meaning of the blood of the covenant. The reason this is an important study is because Jesus proclaimed that when we take the cup in the Lord’s Supper, that cup is representing his blood of the covenant. We looked at the use of this term in […]
We are reading the last days of Jesus’ life on earth. The chief priests and the elders of the Jewish people have been plotting to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. However, they do not want to do this during the Passover to prevent an uproar from happening. But an opportunity has presented itself to […]
When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on the night when he was betrayed, he called for his disciples to remember him and proclaim his death until he returned. When Jesus took the unleavened bread, he said to his disciples to eat the bread, remembering that this was his body given for them. But then he […]
Matthew 26 begins the final act of this gospel’s recording of Jesus’ life. You see this in the first verse of Matthew 26 with the words, “When Jesus had finished all these sayings.” This is the fifth and final time that Matthew marks off his gospel in this way. Our setting is the final week […]
When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on the night when he was betrayed, he called for his disciples to remember him and proclaim his death until he returned. When Jesus took the unleavened bread, he said to his disciples to eat the bread, remembering that this was his body given for them. But then he […]
This is our final lesson on how to have a fresh, renewed faith for the new year. The Lord has been announcing important truths to the people about their spiritual condition. However, the people have questioned those declarations, not seeing their own sinful condition. The Lord has then given remedies for the people so that […]
We have been looking at how to have a renewed, fresh faith for the new year. Our text that we have been considering is from the prophecy of Malachi. God has making statements about the faith problems of the people. But the people are questioning everything God says because they do not believe they have […]
We have been looking at what a life of sin does to us from Jeremiah 2. The people had expressed the feeling that they were captured by their sins and it was hopeless to return to the Lord. In Jeremiah 2 God is describing to the people what their sins have done to them. We […]
We have been spending this month talking about how to have a fresh, renewed faith for the new year. Everyone likes the opportunity to restart. It is one reason we look forward to a new year. It is the chance to have a better year than the prior year. This is a time of year […]
We are looking at how to overcome sin addiction from the second chapter of Jeremiah. We are seeing this problem expressed in Jeremiah 2:25. Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry. But you say, “It is useless for you to try and stop me because I […]
We have been looking at how to renew our faith for the new year. We look forward to a new year in hope of having a better year. As we think about the upcoming year, we are looking at how we can have an improved, deeper faith for 2024 and we are looking at this […]
We are going to have a short series called Overcoming Sin Addiction and we are going to look at how to do this from the second chapter of Jeremiah. I would like you to take your copies of God’s word and turn to Jeremiah 2. The series theme comes from what God says through Jeremiah […]
We are in a series called Fresh Faith where God is exploring the people’s failures in their faith and telling them what needs to be different to belong to him. The people, however, have been surprised by this. They are questioning God throughout this prophecy. God has proclaimed his love for his people. Yet the […]
It is hard to believe how far people can fall in their lives. We are certainly able to watch it in the lives of celebrities who seem to have it all only to lose so much due to their foolish ways and sinful decisions. But this is not a problem that only afflicts those who […]
We are in a series called Fresh Faith where we are looking to how we can prepare ourselves for this coming new year to have the faith that God wants us to have and that we want to have. Our first step to a renewed faith is to see God’s love for you that he […]
We like to be in the majority. We like to be in the majority because we can think that this means we are on the right side. This is part of our culture war right now. There is a battle for the majority because the belief is if you have the majority, then you must […]
As we come to the end of another year our minds often turn to starting fresh in the upcoming new year. We like the idea of a fresh start. We like the idea of being able to start over. We want a new start and there is something about a new year that offers that […]
The Troubles (Judges 6:1-6) To appreciate what God is going to do for the people of Israel through Gideon, we have to see what is going on in their history. We are told at the end of Judges 5 that Israel had experienced a time of rest and peace from the surrounding nations for 40 […]
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV) Just slow down and think about what the apostle Paul taught as he came to the end of his first letter to the Thessalonian Christians. This is God’s will […]
Introducing Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1-3) It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. This is probably the only line I remember from the required readings of Charles Dickens in high school. Yet as I opened the book of Jeremiah and read the first few sentences, it was the first thing that […]
Matthew 24 ended with Jesus warning his disciples that they need to be ready for his coming in judgment. In last week’s lessons we saw that Jesus warned that his delay to bring judgment will tempt his servants to no longer stay awake and be ready and will tempt his servants to mistreat one another […]
We are continuing our study of Matthew 24 that we began this morning. But in this lesson we are going to dig deeper into these pictures that Jesus is giving about the coming destruction against Jerusalem and the temple. This is the context of the discussion for Jesus with his disciples. Jesus has condemned the […]
Matthew 24 is one of the most controversial and misunderstood passages in the New Testament. Any time there is a disturbance in the world, many run to this chapter to try to find answers. This comes particularly from verses 6-7 of Matthew 24. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that […]
Jesus is giving his final public sermon as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. In this final public sermon Jesus proclaims a series of woes upon the religious leaders. The first three problems that Jesus identified all had to do with their words not matching their actions. They would teach God’s law but not practice […]
So how do you have hope when you feel surrounded by darkness? What are God’s people to do with life seems hopeless and joy is dried up? God through his prophet Joel is proclaiming about what he was going to do for his people in the last days when the Christ would come. We noticed […]
We do not like fake people. We do not like to be around people that are insincere and are only wanting to put on a show. You might know people like this because you are able to truly know them while others are only able to see that same person’s public persona. Strangely, it can […]
A sweet reunion finally occurs. Jacob and all his family have moved down to Egypt. Genesis 46:29 records this sweet reunion between Joseph and his father who he has not seen for more than 22 years. Jacob and the eleven sons settle in the land of Goshen. Genesis 47 records the severity of the famine. […]
Joseph is the second in power over Egypt. Pharaoh has set Joseph as viceroy over Egypt and answered to no one but Pharaoh himself. God has taken Joseph out of the pit of 13 years of misery and suffering and has given him extraordinary power. Joseph is now around 40 years old. The seven years […]
It was the sermon that opened the floodgates to the kingdom of God. The apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost stood up with the apostles and preached a sermon that began something like this. “We are not drunk, as you all think, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel” (cf. Acts […]
So if you had a chance to ask Jesus a question, what would you ask him? The religious leaders are going to have their chance to ask Jesus a question. The Pharisees are going to ask Jesus a question and the Sadducees are going to ask Jesus a question. Unfortunately, they are not asking Jesus […]
We are looking at the prophecy of Joel as God gives a message to his people to show them that he is all that they need. Joel stands as a timeless message as God teaches us what we should do when calamity and disaster strikes. In the first chapter of Joel, we read about the […]
Jesus has been telling stories about what his kingdom is like. He has told a story about two sons and a story about farming tenants who refused to give the fruit of the land to the owner, which are recorded toward the end of Matthew 21. Jesus has one more parable to tell about the […]
The prophecy of Joel begins in a jarring way. There is no introduction. There are not dates, kings, or timeframe listed. There is no warm up regarding what is happening. We are simply dropped into the prophecy. This might be a key reason for why this prophecy is not frequently taught in its entirety. But […]
Hebrews 11 records a number of people who by faith received their commending. If you have grown up in the pews, you likely have heard some of the people who are listed by faith like Noah, Abraham, and Moses. But there are people listed who are commended for their faith but their faith appears to … By Faith Isaac (Hebrews 11:20) Read More »
We are picking up in the middle of a discussion that Jesus is having with the religious leaders in the temple at Jerusalem. Jesus has been challenged about his authority to cleanse the temple and teach the way he is. But the religious leaders have been dishonest, unwilling to answer Jesus’ question about John to … Matthew 21:28-46, The Heart God Receives Read More »
When you look at the life of Jacob it would be fair to say that his life has been a long, winding journey. We sometimes can read about the people of God and think that they had a straight, simple path to receiving God’s promises. But Jacob’s life has been far from a straight and … Genesis 35-36, Coming Home Read More »
In our last lesson we saw Jesus make a formal declaration of kingship in Jerusalem. He rides in on a donkey just like Zechariah prophesied the Messiah would do. His first act as the proclaimed king is to cleanse the temple. The temple was supposed to be the place where people drew near to God … Matthew 21:18-27, Kingdom Authority Read More »
There are texts in God’s word that are hard to read. There are scriptures like Judges 19-21 where we read about horrible, sinful people doing horrible, sinful things. It is hard to read such scriptures. We do not want to read about these awful things. But these kinds of awful things happen in the world. … Genesis 34, Defiled Read More »
We are returning to our series on Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Chapters 21-25 record the mounting rejection of Jesus as he proclaims the coming judgment on the city for their rebellion against God. We are going to spend the rest of this summer in this section of Matthew and this study … Matthew 21:1-17, Your King Comes Read More »
It is the final hours of Jesus’ life. A woman anointed his body with very expensive fragrant oil. Meanwhile, Judas, one of the twelve apostles, one of his close friends, has gone to the chief priests and has agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Jesus has instituted the Lord’s Supper with his … REWIND: Jesus Prayer 4: The Gethsemane Prayer (Mark 14:32-42; Matthew 26:36-46) Read More »
Last week we saw that praying aligns our will to God’s purposes. Praying the words “your name be honored as holy” means I have a responsibility to not discredit the name of my Father by my actions. Further, my concern will be that God’s purposes will be accomplished, volunteering to help expand the kingdom in … REWIND: Jesus Prayer 3: Our Daily Bread Read More »
Jacob has had quite a night. Messengers have told Jacob that Esau is coming to meet him with 400 of his men. Jacob believes that Esau is coming to take vengeance. He has split his traveling party into two groups in preparation for his attack. Jacob has prayed for God to rescue him from his … Genesis 33, How To Let Go Read More »
In our series looking at the book of Jonah we have seen the relentless grace of God on display toward his rebellious prophet. After preaching to the capital city of Assyria, Nineveh, God relented from the disaster he had proclaimed against them. God shows that he will relent if we will repent. Jonah knew this … Jonah 4:5-11, God Loves to Love Read More »
We are looking at how God is going to transform the character of Jacob. The beginnings for Jacob are not recorded in positive light. His name means that he is a swindler. His brother says that he is a cheater and a deceiver. Jacob has taken advantage of his brother to take the birthright from … Genesis 32, Struggling With God Read More »
Jonah has been on a journey with God. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach against it. Jonah has gone the other direction. But God has shown relentless grace toward his wayward prophet and in the third chapter of Jonah we see his prophet proclaim judgment on the city. The news of God’s … Jonah 4, Angry With God Read More »
In our last lesson we examined the implications of Jesus teaching us to address God as “our Father.” It conjures a beautiful picture of an intimate relationship between a child and dad. Have a conversation with God. There are not code words that must be said. We do not talk to him to be seen … REWIND: The Jesus Prayer – Part 2 Read More »
Introduction The need to improve our prayer life. I believe all of us need the encouragement to pray more and to pray better. We may be active our prayer lives but wonder if we are doing it right. Prayer is something that we need training in, as the disciples even asked Jesus to teach them … REWIND: The Jesus Prayer – Part 1: Our Father Read More »
We are beginning a new series from the life of Jacob, called Transforming Jacob. Jacob is a fascinating person and sometimes we do not look closely at his life because it is hard to understand what he is doing. Is Jacob a good guy or a bad guy? Is he doing right or is he … Genesis 25-31, When Your Past Is Trash Read More »
The third chapter of Jonah opens with these words: “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” In the first two chapters we read about Jonah running from God. He does not want to be God’s prophet. He wants to quit God and be done with it all. However, God has … Jonah 3, The God of Infinite Chances Read More »
The prophecy of Nahum ends with the Lord twice proclaiming some of the most terrifying words that you would never want to hear in your life. “I am against you.” The Lord says this against Nineveh in Nahum 2:13 and Nahum 3:5. The third chapter of Nahum is going to show us what this means … Nahum 3, Don’t Waste Your Repentance Read More »
The book of Jonah is about a gracious God trying to save his rebellious, stubborn prophet named Jonah. Jonah was told to get up and go to Nineveh to preach judgment to them. Jonah has rejected the word of the Lord and is determined to quit being God’s prophet. He goes down to Joppa, pays … Jonah 2, Embrace Grace Read More »
If you have grown up in the pews, you have heard about the gospel. The gospel simply means good news. But the New Testament writers assume that we know some of the pictures of what God means when he proclaims the good news to his people. There are many places where the prophets give pictures … Nahum 2, What Is The Good News? Read More »
Jonah is a prophet who was told to go up to Nineveh and preach to them. However, rather than obeying the Lord, Jonah has decided to quit his work. Jonah not only does not go to Ninevah, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, he has paid the fare, got on a ship going to … Jonah 1:4-16, Surrender to the Storm Read More »
Who is the Lord? The book of Nahum will speak to the nature and character of the Lord. The book of Nahum can be considered a sequel to the book of Jonah. Both of them are prophetic messages to Ninevah, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrian Empire was a vicious empire, considered one … Nahum 1, Who Is The Lord? Read More »
The book of Jonah is a different prophetic book. Most prophetic books record the words a prophet of God is proclaiming to a nation or people. Habakkuk is a unique prophetic book because it records a discussion between God and prophet. But Jonah is a completely different picture. The book of Jonah is a narrative … Jonah 1:1-3, Running From God Read More »
We are studying the great prophecy of Isaiah. Presently, Isaiah is declaring the glorious gospel message of how God will send a servant who will bring about the forgiveness of sins. But God wants us to appreciate this salvation message. God says that he is the only God. “There is no other God— there never … REWIND: I Will Not Remember Your Sins (Isaiah 43:22-44:5) Read More »
The seventh chapter of Judges records a great victory given by the Lord against the Midianites with only 300 men. The Midianites are set to flight. Gideon calls for other tribes to help capture some of the princes who were escaping. This should be the end of the account. We expect to read that the … REWIND: How Godly People Fall (Judges 8) Read More »
God records the actions and thoughts of various people in the scriptures so that we can learn from these people. We get to see that these are real people dealing with hard problems making real decisions. There are many people who walk by faith and we are going to study some of those people in … What Is Eternity Worth? (Hebrews 12:15-17) Read More »
We are in a series that we are looking at throughout the year called Help My Unbelief. In this series we are answering questions that people have about faith and the scriptures. One difficult area in the scriptures is understanding righteousness. Listen to some of the scriptures about righteousness: You therefore must be perfect, as … A Righteousness Not My Own Read More »
The apostle Peter wrote his first letter to Christians who were suffering for Jesus’ sake. Peter writes to encourage them to remain holy and live righteously during difficult times. I want to spend this lesson looking at how he ends his letter to these suffering servants. This book is intended to open our eyes and … There Is A Lion (1 Peter 5:8-11) Read More »
As we come to the end of Matthew 20, we are seeing Jesus’ ministry come to a close. Chapter 21 begins by telling us that Jesus has come to the Mount of Olives and to Jerusalem. Chapter 19 told us that Jesus had left Galilee and made his way to Judea, the region where Jerusalem … Matthew 20:17-34, Understanding Jesus’ Service Read More »
As the world shifts further into a stance against God, I wanted to do a series of lessons to help strengthen our faith and encourage our hearts to remain steadfast in this culture. The apostle Peter writes his first letter to Christians who are going through suffering because of their faith in Jesus. So Peter … Live Different (1 Peter 4:1-6) Read More »
We ended last week in the middle of a text where Jesus is teaching about receiving eternal life and inheriting the eternal reward. Jesus has knocked down the idea that there is something good we can do to have eternal life. The disciples were astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25). Jesus … Matthew 19:27-20:16, Understanding Jesus’ Reward Read More »
Listen to the words that Peter quotes from Psalm 34. “Whoever desires to love life and see good days…” (1 Peter 3:10). Now I want us to stop and think about what Peter just said as he quotes. Who doesn’t want to love life and see good days? It is a very inclusive question. Everyone … God Sees (1 Peter 3:8-17) Read More »
We are in a large section of Jesus’ teaching in which he is proclaiming hard sayings to teach people who belongs to his kingdom. He has said hard things about marriage such that his disciples drew the conclusion that it may be better not to marry. Jesus has said hard things about forgiveness. If we … Matthew 19:13-26, Understanding Jesus’ Offer Read More »
Ezekiel was given the task of preaching to a people who had been captured and taken into exile by the Babylonians because God was judging his people for their sins. But the people in exile were going to represent the future of Israel. Their children would be the future remnant to return to Jerusalem. The … Ezekiel 47-48, A New Temple With Life Read More »
Matthew 19 is a turning point for this gospel account of Jesus. The first verse of chapter 19 tells us that Jesus is leaving Galilee and going to Judea. Luke’s account proclaims that Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem. This will be the last time Jesus will go to the region of Judea and … Matthew 19:1-12, Understanding Jesus’ Marriage Law Read More »
The final vision given to Ezekiel is a vision of a glorious new temple filled with God’s glory. We noted in our prior lesson that this vision was never looked by the people in the scriptures as the instructions for building a new temple when they return to the land. The Lord was pointing to … Ezekiel 44-46, A New Temple With Holiness Read More »
We have been looking at the hard sayings of Jesus. As we come to the second half of Matthew 18, we encounter a hard saying of Jesus regarding forgiveness. Forgiveness is a difficult topic to discuss. It is much easier to tell other people how they need to forgive others than it is to do … Matthew 18:21-35, Understanding Jesus’ Forgiveness Read More »
As we come to the final chapters of Ezekiel, Ezekiel is going to have a vision for the new temple. Chapters 40-48 all depict a new glorious temple that the Lord will have for his people. Before we look at this vision, we need to consider where we are in the flow of the book … Ezekiel 40-43, A New Temple With Glory Read More »
Jesus has used the temple tax as a teaching moment to explain how the life of a disciple is one of submission. Jesus will submit himself to death by the Jewish leaders. Jesus will submit to the temple tax, even though he is free from it, because he does not want cause an obstacle to … Matthew 18:1-20, Understanding Jesus’ Humility Read More »
Submission is a word we do not like. We are a culture that believes that we should not yield to anyone. Instead, we need to stand up to people. We need to fight for our rights. We need to exercise our power. We need to show people who’s boss and that we cannot be pushed … Matthew 17:22-27, Understanding Jesus’ Submission Read More »
Ezekiel 38-39 have been the source of all kinds of interpretations and explanations. These two chapters contain prophecies about Gog and Magog, which we will look at carefully shortly. But the tendency of interpreters has been to explain this prophecy in light of current events. Gog and Magog have been interpreted as the Goths of … Ezekiel 38-39, Radical Rule Read More »
We have been looking at the hard sayings of Jesus that are found in Matthew 16-20. Matthew continues to record challenging words as he looks to develop faith and show what it means to be his disciple. In this paragraph, Matthew 17:14-20, Jesus says hard things that we are going to look at in today’s … Matthew 17:14-20, Understanding Jesus’ Faith Read More »
The Lord has been revealing through the prophet Ezekiel about what he will do for his people when the Spirit comes. These prophecies in Ezekiel 34-48 show the connection to God himself coming to his people and filling them with new life though they are spiritually dead because of their sins. I want to remind … Ezekiel 37:15-28, Radical Relationships Read More »
Matthew 17 records a stunning picture with a simple, yet important, message. As we come to Matthew 17 I want us to soak in the amazing picture and then consider what the point of the picture is. Notice the first two verses of Matthew 17 as our introduction to our study. We are told that … Matthew 17:1-13, Understanding Jesus’ Glory Read More »
We have been looking at the end of Ezekiel’s prophecy in which God is proclaiming what he is going to do for his people when the Spirit is poured out. The message began with the need for God himself to come and shepherd us so that we can have peace and rest (Ezekiel 34). Further, … Ezekiel 37:1-14, Radical Resurrection Read More »
We are looking at the hard sayings of Jesus that are found in Matthew 16-20. We are at a turning point in Jesus’ life in Matthew’s gospel account as we come to the end of Matthew 16. Look at what Jesus starts telling his disciples in Matthew 16:21. The Purpose of God (Matthew 16:21) From … Matthew 16:21-28, Understanding Jesus’ Death Read More »
The end of Ezekiel’s prophecy gives pictures of the God’s promise of the Spirit that will radically change his people and radically change the world. In Ezekiel 34 we saw that God has the heart of a shepherd for his people. God himself will come and shepherd his people, healing them and helping them because … Ezekiel 36:16-28, Radical Transformation Read More »
We are looking at the hard sayings and events in the life of Jesus, many of which are recorded in Matthew 16-20. Matthew 16:13-20 is an extremely controversial portion of scripture. It is a part of God’s word that has been twisted, misused, and misapplied in a number of ways. I am asking you in … Matthew 16:13-20, Understanding Jesus’ Kingdom Read More »
The end of Ezekiel’s prophecy gives pictures of the God’s promise of the Spirit that will radically change his people and radically change the world. In Ezekiel 34 we saw that God has the heart of a shepherd for his people. God himself will come and shepherd his people, healing them and helping them because … Ezekiel 35-36, Radical Inheritance Read More »
We are starting a new series within the Gospel of Matthew that we are calling The Hard Sayings of Jesus. Matthew 16-20 contain some of the hardest teachings of Jesus and some events in Jesus’ life that are hard to understand. Before we begin, I want us to think about this idea. Jesus did not … Matthew 16:1-12, Understanding Jesus’ Teachings Read More »
Psalm 97 begins with the declaration that the Lord reigns. The rest of the psalm tells everyone why it matters that the Lord reigns. What should it mean for how we live our lives when we understand that the Lord reigns? Sometimes people will flippantly make statements about the reign of the Lord, not realizing … REWIND: Psalm 97, The Lord Reigns… And Why It Matters Read More »
Call To Worship (81:1-3) Psalm 81 is another psalm of Asaph. In Psalms 79-80 we saw Asaph describing God’s wrath against Jerusalem and his plea for the “son of man” (the Messiah) to deliver the people. Psalm 81 begins with a call to worship. The first three verses call for Israel to sing aloud to … REWIND: Psalm 81, If Only You Would Listen Read More »
Ezekiel 34 is a turning point to the prophecies of this book. Ezekiel 33 recorded the fall of Jerusalem. A messenger who escaped from Jerusalem travels to Babylon and informs Ezekiel that the city has fallen to Babylon. Ezekiel’s messages proclaimed that this was going to happen. The good meat had not remained in Jerusalem. … Ezekiel 34, The Shepherd Comes Read More »
There are a number of things that keep people from God. One of the stumbling blocks that exists is God’s existence for his glory. The problem is that Jesus calls for people to forsake everything to follow him. Listen to what Jesus said: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of … The Problem of God’s Glory Read More »
We come to a section in Ezekiel’s prophecy where it is easy to want to skip over the messages. From Ezekiel 25-33 God proclaims judgments against all kinds of nations in these chapters. But we should want to read about why the nations are coming under God’s judgment. In each condemnation God explains the sins … Ezekiel 25-33, The Problem of I and My Read More »
The Proverbs are trying to show us why we need to listen to God’s ways and God’s wisdom. The first two chapters have explained that God has wisdom for all generations. God gives this to us so that we can have a skillful, insightful, and successful life before God in this world. Wisdom is only … Proverbs 3:1-12, Trust Read More »
God’s effort is to restore the hearts of his people back to himself. We have been reading through the book of Ezekiel and learning about how God was going to accomplish this restoration. God has been revealing the people’s sins but also showing the reason underneath the sinning that was happening in the nation. These … Ezekiel 23-24, Don’t Look Back Read More »
We are in a short series called Storm Proof as we look to the book of Proverbs to see what we can do to help prepare our lives for difficulties before they come. One of the key points we have observed is that God has to convince us that we need wisdom. I noted with … Proverbs 2, Pursue the New Read More »
The Sword Is Drawn (21:1-32) Ezekiel 21 begins by declaring that the Lord has drawn his sword against Jerusalem and against the temple. The sword has been removed from its sheath (21:3-5) and the sword is sharpened and polished for slaughter (21:8-12). The point God makes is that a person does unsheathe his sword and … Ezekiel 21-22, Repair the Wall Read More »
We are in a series called Storm Proof where we are looking at the Proverbs as God’s instructions for being prepared for life’s difficulties before they happen. We noted in our first lesson that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If we want to live skillfully, insightfully, and successfully before God … Proverbs 1:8-33, Preparation Needed Read More »
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20–21 ESV) Paul gives a beautiful picture. It is also a beautiful picture of … Ezekiel 19-20, Grace Abounded Read More »
We are starting today a short series of lessons called Storm Proof. The tag line is: Preparing for life’s difficulties before they happen. This is the essence of the book of Proverbs. The book of Proverbs has the purpose of preparing you for life’s hardships before the hardships happen. We understand this concept. Every year … Proverbs 1:1-7, Starts With God Read More »
There is a funny proverb that we have in our world today: excuses are like belly buttons; everyone has one. Making excuses is a common default way of thinking. When something happens, we make an excuse how it is not our fault. When we forget something, we make an excuse to show how it is … Ezekiel 18, No More Excuses Read More »
One of the characteristics of Jesus’ ministry is that he challenged the interest level of people who claimed to want help or claimed to want to follow him. When people said that they wanted to follow him, Jesus did not simply respond, “Ok.” Jesus would do something to see if the desire is genuine. In … Matthew 15:21-39, Come To The Table Read More »
We have been noticing how James is giving good counsel for how to have faith during trials and hardships. James has been telling us that God is at work in our trials. James began this chapter telling us that your faith is being tested to produce steadfastness so that you may be mature and complete, … James 1:22-27, Faith To Be Convicted Read More »
Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. (Matthew 15:13 ESV) I want us to think about this statement by Jesus before we get into our lesson today. Jesus says that any plant that was not planted by the heavenly Father will be uprooted. I hope we immediately have some … Matthew 15:1-20, Uprooted Read More »
We are spending this month looking at James’ teachings on how to have authentic faith especially during trying times. James 1 tells us that God is using trials to make us mature and complete so that we lack nothing. Therefore, we must let steadfastness have its full effect. Further, James tells us that we need … James 1:19-21, Faith When Angry Read More »
We have noticed in our study of Matthew that this gospel stacks historical accounts together to teach us important messages about who Jesus is and what it means to follow him and belong to his kingdom. In our last lesson we noticed the rejection of Jesus and John. John was killed for preaching that it … Matthew 14:13-36, Do Not Fear Read More »
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 NIV) James writes this book to strength the faith of believers who are experiencing trials. James has instructed us to let perseverance … James 1:12-18, Faith When Tempted Read More »
The Gospel of Matthew tells you when it is shifting to a new section of teaching. There are six sections in Matthew marked by five breaks in the text. The break is marked with words like what you read in Matthew 13:53, “When Jesus had finished these parables.” We have called our last series, “The … Matthew 13:53-14:12, No Honor Read More »
We are in a short series from James 1 as we look at how James teaches us how to have faith during trials. What does true faith do during times of hardship and suffering? In the first four verses of James 1 we read that we need to let steadfastness have its full effect so … James 1:5-8, Faith When Confused Read More »
What is God doing in the world? It is not too hard to look around at this world and wonder what God is doing. This can be especially troubling for Christians and their faith. The scriptures tell us that Jesus rose from the dead and took his rightful place at the Father’s right hand, possessing … Matthew 13:24-43, In The Weeds Read More »
New Year’s Day is a special day for people. We like the idea of a fresh start. We like the idea of moving forward from the past year and having the hope of a better year. We like the idea of improving ourselves, improving our condition, and improving our lives. This year is just going … Living Stones (Joshua 4) Read More »
We are starting a short series for our Sunday evenings in January called Authentic. The purpose of this series is to see how the scriptures picture how we can have a real faith and be real disciples. Now if you think about books in God’s word that give pictures of what faith looks like, James … James 1:1-4, Faith When In Trials Read More »
Today I want to give you a picture of Jesus and his kingdom from a couple of very short parables. During this time of year as people think a little more about Jesus in the world and in their lives, we want to have a full and correct view of Jesus. Jesus told parables to … Matthew 13:44-52, The Treasure Read More »
There are so many pictures in the scriptures where God is trying to show us who we are, where we have come from, and what God is doing about our circumstances. We are in a section of Ezekiel where God is sharing three pictures to show who we are and what God is doing for … Ezekiel 17, The Problem of More Read More »
We are in the middle of a teaching that Jesus is giving. In Matthew 13 we are reading Jesus proclaiming a series of parables. Jesus told a parable about a sower at the beginning of Matthew 13. The story he told pictured a sower casting seed on all kinds of ground. The sower was not … Matthew 13:18-23, Sower Responses Read More »
There are so many pictures in the scriptures where God is trying to show us who we are, where we have come from, and what God is doing about our circumstances. The apostle Paul even proclaimed that he prayed that we would “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:19). The love of … Ezekiel 16, Deliverance from Disgrace Read More »
How would you teach a crowd? The popularity of Jesus has continued to grow. We are told in Matthew 13:1 that Jesus is sitting by the sea and great crowds gathered around him. In fact, the crowds become so massive that Jesus gets into a boat that is nearby and sits in it. The whole … Matthew 13:1-17, Perplexing Parables Read More »
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:8 CSB) Peter’s concern is that the Christians he is writing to would become useless and unfruitful toward God. In general, no one wants to be useless. … Ezekiel 15, Useless Read More »
Wicked Rejection (12:38-42) It sounds like a reasonable request. “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” Jesus been performing miracles and signs. In Matthew 12:38 some of the scribes and Pharisees answered that they want to see a sign from Jesus. So what is the big deal? Why doesn’t Jesus simply perform a … Matthew 12:38-50, Rejected Read More »
So I’m telling you this, and I insist on it in the Lord: you shouldn’t live your life like the Gentiles anymore. They base their lives on pointless thinking, and they are in the dark in their reasoning. They are disconnected from God’s life because of their ignorance and their closed hearts. (Ephesians 4:17–18 CEB) … Ezekiel 12-14, Broken Read More »
“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36–37 ESV) This is quite a teaching from Jesus. It is a startling teaching when you think about it for … Matthew 12:22-37, Fruitful Read More »
Ezekiel has been in a vision seeing the sins that are going on in Jerusalem and in the temple of the Lord. Ezekiel has seen the leaders worshiping idols and graven images and weeping for idols in the temple complex (Ezekiel 8-9). In chapter 10 we watched the glory of the Lord leave the Holy … Ezekiel 11, When God Stays Read More »
It is painful to have people kick you while you are down. You already feel low. You are already hurting. Your mind is already spinning. You already feel like you can’t get any lower. But then someone comes along who you hoped would help you and they only make things worse. Job’s three friends fall … Matthew 12:15-21, Hope In His Name Read More »
Ezekiel 8-10 gives us one of the more shocking pictures of God’s activity with his people. We are going to see the Lord leave his temple and leave his people. Such a picture immediately causes us to ask, “What would make God leave his people?” God said to David and Solomon that he would put … Ezekiel 8-10, When God Leaves Read More »
There is a great temptation that exists when it comes to religion and godliness. There becomes a great temptation to just give me a set of rules. Just tell me what I need to do. Just give me the rules so that I know where I stand. We want the rules. It is easy for … Matthew 12:1-14, Something Greater Read More »
What does God want us to know about him? There are times when God is speaking with his people that he says, “You need to know this about me.” In Ezekiel 4-7 there is a staggering repetition made by the Lord to the people through the prophet Ezekiel. You will see this statement repeatedly made, … Ezekiel 4-7, You Will Know I Am The Lord Read More »
The prophecy of Ezekiel opens with a priest named Ezekiel living near the Chebar River in Babylon. He is there because God has used the Babylonian Empire to invade Judah twice up this point. The Babylonians have captured the nobles and the workers of the land in these two invasions. Even though Ezekiel and the … Ezekiel 2-3, Ambassadors of God Read More »
Who does not like the idea of rest? The word simply brings positive feelings within us. Rest always sounds good. I just want to have some rest. The reason rest sounds so good is because we are weighed down by the burdens of life. Life is full of difficulties and hardships. Jesus has come into … Matthew 11:20-30, Rest/Hope When Tired Read More »
We are starting a new series called A New Heart which will come from the book of Ezekiel. We are told in the first three verses of the book that Ezekiel is a priest who had been taken into exile in the land of Babylon. Though a priest, he is commissioned by God to be … Ezekiel 1, The Glory of God Read More »
Our greatest life disappointments frequently come from our life expectations not matching reality. We can have a vision of how we expect things to go in life. But when things do not go according to our plan or our vision, we become angry, disappointed, depressed, frustrated, and many other potential emotions. Expectations not meeting reality … Matthew 11:1-19, Not Offended Read More »
Earlier in this series we rid ourselves of the notion that God is the cause of all things that happen in this world. The scriptures remind us that Satan is very active in this world, working now in the disobedient. We also rid ourselves of the idea that everything happens for a reason. The scriptures … REWIND: Why Does God Allow Suffering and Evil? Read More »
In our first lesson of our series, “Don’t Go To Church,” we noticed that the first century Christians did not look at the church as something outside of themselves that they went to for an hour. We saw that Christians are the church. We noticed that the Christians immediately and joyfully joined together, spent time … REWIND: Don’t Go To Church: Gospel Driven Read More »
Jesus is giving his directions as he prepares to send his disciples to proclaim the good news of the kingdom in what we call the limited commission. We have noticed that Jesus sent his disciples compassionately because the people were lost, like sheep without a shepherd. We have also noticed that Jesus sent out his … Matthew 10:34-42, Sent Sacrificially Read More »
Jude has been writing this letter so that Christians would contend for the faith and stay within the lines that God had revealed through his word. Jude has emphasized through various examples that going outside the guardrails that God set in place will ruin your life and lead to eternal destruction. After warning and describing … Jude 17-25, Kept In The Faith Read More »
Jesus is sending out his apostles in a limited commission, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 10:6). Jesus shows his heart for the world as he looked upon the crowds with compassion because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (9:36). Matthew 10 is … Matthew 10:16-33, Sent Fearlessly Read More »
We are talking about guardrails in our short series from the book of Jude. Jude is the brother of Jesus who wanted to write to Christians about the common salvation that we share. But he needed to write to them to contend for the faith because people had crept in among them who were distorting … Jude 5-16, Perverting the Faith Read More »
The Gospel of Matthew is showing us who this Jesus is and what he has come to do. Matthew 9:35-38 sets the table for what we are going to read in chapter 10. What we are going to see is a beautiful, hopeful picture that can be found in Jesus’ mission. Not only this, but … Matthew 9:35-10:15, Sent Compassionately Read More »
Guardrails serve an important function in life. Guardrails are used to keep us from catastrophic accidents. They are used to keep us from falling off the edge and ending our lives prematurely. If you have ever been on winding roads, you have seen such guardrails. When the 540 freeway opened from Fort Smith to Fayetteville, … Jude 1-4, Contending for the Faith Read More »
We have a saying that when the cat is away, the mice will play. This modern proverb is a good summary for how the book of Nehemiah ends. We are told in Nehemiah 13:6 that Nehemiah had to return to Persia. Remember that Nehemiah was sent by King Artaxerxes of Persia to rebuild Jerusalem. But … Nehemiah 13, Crashing From Coasting Read More »
The Gospel of Matthew is showing us who Jesus is and particularly showing his authority and power over sins through the healings he is performing. We are going to look at four miracles that Matthew places together by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to reveal more about this Jesus. Matthew sets up these miracles … Matthew 9:14-34, New Life Read More »
How many times have you tried to start over with God? How many times as have you been convicted by the word of the Lord and knew you needed to change but nothing really happened? It is a common problem that we think about how we are going to be different and live different only … Nehemiah 9-12, All Things New Read More »
We are in the middle of a section of the Gospel of Matthew where the focus is on the power of Jesus to change lives. Chapter 8 has revealed the kind of faith that is needed to follow him. Jesus has the desire, authority, and ability to heal lives. But we are reading that there … Matthew 9:1-13, Mercy Read More »
The immediate problem with speaking about idolatry is that our natural reaction is to believe that idolatry is not a problem today. We look at life and we do not see anyone bowing down to idols. There are not idols in our house. When we think of idols we think of images made of stone, … REWIND: There’s A Scarecrow In Your Cucumber Field Read More »
It is always in times of difficulty when people look for heroes. No one is looking for Superman to save them when things are going well. But it is time of crisis when we expect heroes to lend a hand. In this series we are going to look at some heroes, who through their faith … REWIND: The Faith Foundation Read More »
In the book of Nehemiah we have been observing Nehemiah’s work and how he had the strength to do the work that God had given to him. In Nehemiah 6 we see that the walls of Jerusalem were completed in only 52 days. In spite of the intense opposition, Nehemiah showed great determination to complete … Nehemiah 7-8, The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength Read More »
This sermon is a continuation from last week as Matthew 8:18-34 is a single unit as Matthew wants to show us about having the faith to follow Jesus. We noticed that great crowds are following Jesus. They begin following after he preached what we commonly call, “The Sermon on the Mount.” In Matthew 8:18 we … Matthew 8:23-34, Faith To Follow – Part 2 Read More »
The sixth chapter of Nehemiah opens with three names that we have read before. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem are the leaders of the opposition against Nehemiah and the people. We first read about them in Nehemiah 2:10,19 as they jeered at the idea of the people rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls and were displeased that Nehemiah had … Nehemiah 6, Focus Read More »
Jesus has a great crowd following him. Matthew 8:1 reads that there were great crowds following him. Matthew 8:18 says that Jesus saw the crowd around him. But what is so interesting about Jesus and his work is that he is not content to have crowds follow him. Jesus is not interested in doing whatever … Matthew 8:18-22, Faith To Follow Read More »
We noticed in Nehemiah 3-4 revealed how the people had a mind to work in spite of the intense opposition they faced. There were people who refused to help. There were people who were insulting and discouraging. There were people who were causing confusion. There were people who were physically confronting them. There were people … Nehemiah 5, Treasuring God Read More »
Our theme for 2022 is Journey With Jesus. We are taking our journey with Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. Now that we are moving past the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew is going to record various accounts and events in the life of Jesus. One thing you will notice as you go through Matthew’s … Matthew 8:1-17, Be Healed Read More »
Nehemiah has come to Jerusalem to help repair and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was an important person in Persia being the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. Nehemiah inspected the situation in the city and then called the people of Jerusalem together to tell them his intentions to rebuild the city. He told them about … Nehemiah 3-4, A Mind to Work Read More »
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9 ESV) What the apostle Peter is doing in this letter is teaching how we live so … Follow Jesus (1 Peter 2:18-25) Read More »
What is your first response to disturbing news? When bad news comes to you, what is your initial reaction? We are going to look at these questions in just a moment. We are returning to our theme for our Sunday evenings in 2022 called Return, Rebuild, and Renew. For our theme we have looked at … Nehemiah 1-2, Prepare With Prayer Read More »
We are talking about how to have faith and practice our faith in a culture and society that rejects God. Peter is writing to Christians who are living in similar circumstances. How can you have faith when you feel the pressure of society? In our last lesson we looked at how Peter reminded us that … Do Good (1 Peter 2:13-17) Read More »
Our theme this year has been titled, “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross.” The goal of our theme is to look at the importance of the cross and how the cross changes everything about how we look at life. I hope that this series has changed how we think about the cross. In our lesson … REWIND: A Cross Life Read More »
Listen to what the apostle Paul says about Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, … REWIND: A Cross Attitude Read More »
The big question that arises in Genesis 38 is why is this event recorded here? Why does this story “interrupt” the flow of the Joseph narrative? You will notice in chapter 39 the narration returns to Joseph and continues with him until the end of Genesis. Some scholars reject this text by calling it an … REWIND: God Overcomes Our Sins (Genesis 38) Read More »
The concept of sin is being lost in our culture’s vocabulary and consciences. However, not only has the world lost the knowledge of sin, many Christians also have an incomplete understanding of what is sin… There are many places in the scriptures where God gives us a clear picture of the meaning of sin. Everyone … REWIND: What is Sin? Read More »
God declared in the first commandment that Lord is the only God and he alone must be worshiped. The first commandment focused on the object of people’s worship. The second commandment focuses on how people are to worship the Lord… You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that … REWIND: God Governs Worship (Exodus 20:4-6) Read More »
We are going to ask some of the difficult questions concerning faith, God, and the Bible in this series. Before we begin our examination, I want to urge every person to put away any preconceived notions or biases that you may have already formed and to be affected to a decision simply by the weight … REWIND: Why Should I Believe In God? Read More »
So how to do you end a book? Remember that the book of Acts began with Luke telling us that the gospel he wrote to Theophilus was “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” The implication is that the book of Acts is the continuation of Jesus’ work. The final chapters of the book … Acts 27-28, Seeing But Not Seeing Read More »
This morning we are kicking off a new series for our summer. After this summer series we will come back to the Gospel of Matthew and look at the next teaching chunk, in keeping with our theme this year, “Journey With Jesus.” Our summer series is called Faith In The Furnace. We are going to … We Do Not Belong (1 Peter 2:11-12) Read More »
Paul was on a mission. The mission was so important to him that he was willing to suffer all kinds of trials and mistreatments for the mission. This is why Paul is imprisoned right now. Paul was proclaiming Jesus in Jerusalem which enraged the Jews who then wanted to kill him. The apostle Paul is … Acts 25-26, The Mission Read More »
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who … Zechariah 14, Victorious Read More »
Listen to what the apostle Paul proclaims before the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem. “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” (Acts 23:1) I want us to think about those words. I have lived my life before God in all good conscience. In the text we are … Acts 23-24, Living in Good Conscience Read More »
Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the … Zechariah 12-13, A Fountain of Mercy Read More »
So how do you handle times when you are misunderstood? Being misunderstood can be a pretty frustrating situation. It can cause a lot of problems when you are misunderstood in your marriage, your family relationships, or friendships. Misunderstanding can cause a lot of problems and can cause serious divisions in relationships that have to later … Acts 21:17-22:29, Connecting to Others Read More »
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a … Zechariah 11, A Shepherd to the Doomed Read More »
Our local news is filled with messages about hurricane readiness. Our news is on a countdown to June 1 when we are considered officially in hurricane season. We will have a sales tax holiday on hurricane supplies to encourage people to get ready for the potential storms. The National Hurricane Center always gets on the … Acts 20:1-21:16, Are You Ready? Read More »
We have a saying that, “You can never go home again.” You have likely experienced why this expression exists. When I left San Diego for college in Tampa and returned to San Diego the next summer, life was not the same. My life had moved on. The lives of my friends had moved on so … Zechariah 10, Come Home Read More »
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If … Zechariah 9, Your King is Coming to You Read More »
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. (Matthew 7:13–14 ESV) Jesus ends his sermon … Matthew 7:13-29, More Than Words Read More »
If you have been to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World, there is an attraction called the Carousel of Progress. One of the great reasons that people ride it is because you can sit down in air conditioning for a 30 minute attraction. The ride looks at what life was like every couple of decades … Zechariah 8, Be A Blessing Read More »
The Sermon on the Mount can be so familiar to us that we can easily read what Jesus said in a quick manner and really miss the teeth of what he said. What Jesus said can almost be mentally cast aside because we have heard it so often. This is certainly the temptation for Matthew … Matthew 7:7-12, Knock and It Will Be Opened Read More »
The Question (7:1-3) God has concluded sending visions to his prophet Zechariah, showing the people the great things that lie ahead if they will return to him and build the temple. With the temple work underway, there is a question that arises among the people. They want to know if they should continue mourning and … Zechariah 7, Who Did You Worship Today? Read More »
It is one of the more famous verses in the scriptures. Many people know John 3:16 and they also know this verse, even if they do not know where it is located. “Do not judge.” Of course, this is not only taking the statement out of context, but it is also cut part of the … Matthew 7:1-6, Don’t Judge Me! Read More »
Zechariah 5-6 contains three visions and one picture that Zechariah is to act out. We have been noticing that the book of Zechariah is all about hope and encouraging the people to rise up and do the work that God has put before them. God’s continuous motivation for us to love him and follow him … Zechariah 5-6, Are You Building God’s Temple? Read More »
The first word in Matthew 6:25 is the word, “Therefore.” Before we can enter this paragraph about worry, we need to reconnect to the prior paragraph. In verses 19-24 Jesus told us to treasure heavenly treasures and not earthly treasures. Make your treasure in heaven and not on earth. This idea is going to lead … Matthew 6:25-34, Hope When Worried Read More »
There are many times in our walk with God that we are going to feel weak in the faith. We are going to feel weak in our service. We are going to feel weak in our worship. We are going to feel weak in life. We are not alone when we feel this way. All … Zechariah 4, Hope When Weak Read More »
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth (Matthew 6:19). Jesus is in the midst of showing us how we fall far from the standard God has set before his people. After warning about performing your righteous acts to be seen by people, Jesus then says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on … Matthew 6:19-24, What Is Your Treasure? Read More »
Why do you pray, if you pray? One of the things that Jesus is concerned about is praying in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. You will notice that in the middle of discussing the need for the people of God to practice their righteousness to be seen by God and not by … Matthew 6:7-15, Hope in Prayer Read More »
God is always showing us how much he loves us. The book of Zechariah is often a neglected book but found in its visions and images are pictures of how much God loves his people. The third chapter of Zechariah gives us an amazing picture of the spiritual problem and solution God provides for the … Zechariah 3, Hope for the Filthy Read More »
There are many times in life where we can feel like does not care about us. God can seem so far away when we are going through life’s struggles. The people in the days of Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah felt the same way. They had come back to do God’s work but it was not … Zechariah 2, Does God Care About You? Read More »
Chapters 6-7 contain a number of warnings regarding righteousness and spirituality. As Jesus talks to these religious people, he wants to make sure that we are not losing our way as we try to seek him and serve him. One of the great temptations humans face is wanting others to pay attention to us. We … Matthew 6:1-18, Secret Righteousness Read More »
The book of Zechariah is often neglected by Christians because of its complicated yet amazing visions that are found in it. The book immediately dives into eight consecutive visions and concludes with complicated visual prophecies. The problem is further exacerbated by the fact that we can struggle with seeing any relevance or practical application to … Zechariah 1, Has God Forgotten You? Read More »
In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is correcting the false teachings that circulated regarding the Law of Moses. What the teachers were doing in their day is something that we like to do also today. We take the commands of God and interpret them in such a way so that it … Matthew 5:38-48, Getting Righteousness Right – Part 3 Read More »
So how do you clean up a big mess? In particular, how do you clean up a big mess that you have created in your life? What do you do when you realize you have made a big mistake? This is what Ezra the priest walks into. In Ezra 7-8 we see Ezra leading a … Ezra 9-10, Broken Faith Read More »
We are in Matthew 5 where Jesus is teaching about the different ways that we relax God’s commands. The religious leaders in Jesus’ day were lowering God’s high standard to make it look like they were righteous. This is why Jesus declares the need for our righteousness to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. … Matthew 5:31-37, Getting Righteousness Right – Part 2 Read More »
I have heard this told to me many times. Maybe you have heard others say it to you. Maybe you have thought this or said it yourself. “I just do not see God’s hand in my life.” “I do not see what God is doing.” “I feel like God is not with me.” I think … Ezra 7-8, The Good Hand of God Read More »
We observed in our last lesson that Jesus set up this section of his teaching by warning about relaxing any of God’s commands. But Jesus does not simply tell everyone that their righteousness needs to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. Nor does he simply tell everyone to stop relaxing his laws. Instead, Jesus … Matthew 5:21-30, Getting Righteousness Right Read More »
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is setting up the parameters for belonging to his kingdom. Jesus is telling us how we can have a blessed life. The first picture of the blessed life is to live countercultural. The blessed life is being poor in spirit, mourning over sins, being meek, hungering for righteousness, … Matthew 5:17-20, Exceeding Righteousness Read More »
The final accounts in the book of Judges are not about the people God used to save Israel, but what happens when people do what is right in their own eyes. In Judges 17-18 we learned that doing what is right in our own eyes means that worship will no longer be God-centered, but will … REWIND: Right In Our Own Eyes (Judges 19-21) Read More »
The book of Joshua is the account of Israel by the power of God conquering the land of Canaan. Joshua is the leader of Israel after the death of Moses and successfully leads the people in conquering the land. The book of Judges picks up at the death of Joshua, as Judges 1:1 reveals. But … REWIND: Right In Their Own Eyes (Judges 1:1-2:5) Read More »
Ezra 4 concludes with these words. “Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia” (4:24). The people and leaders of the land are discouraging the people from building and are frustrating their plans (4:4-5). For … Ezra 5-6, Resisting the Resistance Read More »
Jesus has called people to enjoy the blessed life. However, the blessed life comes to us in a way that we would not expect. Jesus has called for his followers to live in an upside down kingdom that is countercultural to what the world proclaims to be the blessed life. God want to bless his … Matthew 5:13-16, Salt Life Read More »
God wants to bless his people. This is a common teaching that we see through the scriptures. God wants to be with his people and he wants to bless his people. Jesus even opens his sermon by talking about the people that God blesses. But God’s people can look around and wonder why God does … Haggai 2:10-23, I Will Bless You Read More »
It must have been strange and even shocking for the crowds to hear the words of Jesus’ sermon. See if your life experiences agree with these declarations. The poor in spirit are blessed. Those who mourn are blessed. The gentle are blessed. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed. The merciful are blessed. … Matthew 5:1-12, The Blessed Life Read More »
Do you ever feel disappointment by life? You might have had in your mind that things in your life would be different than where they are now. So what do you do with disappointment and discouragement? We can come to different seasons in our lives where we can be filled with disappointment. What we do … Haggai 2:1-9, Defeating Discouragement Read More »
I do not like daylight savings. There are a few reasons that I do not like daylight savings. The first reason is that when I get up in the morning it is dark. My body does not want to get up when it is dark. There is an intrinsic signal that is sent to the … Matthew 4:12-25, The Light of the King Read More »
We have been studying through the book of Ezra as we are trying to encourage our hearts to rebuild, renew, and restore the work God has given us to do. But in Ezra 4 we see the work stops because of the discouragement, the fear, and the threats that are being leveled against the people. … Haggai 1, Consider Your Ways Read More »
Why do we fail at temptations? Why are temptations so hard to have victory over? Temptations can be frustrating because it can seem like it is failure after failure. Sometimes it can even seem like there is no hope for success. One of the reasons we struggle with temptations is that we do not see … Matthew 4:1-11, The Temptation of the King Read More »
Ezra 3 ends on such a high note. The people rise up, even though they are afraid, and lay the foundation of the temple. The work is underway. The people are rejoicing. Some are shouting for joy and others are shouting with tears as they experience God in this moment, praising him as God is … Ezra 4, The Rise of the Resistance Read More »
It must have been one of the most startling moments in the life of John. In Matthew 3 we are told that John is in the wilderness, calling for people to make a break with their old way of living, and to repent because the king and the kingdom are about to arrive. People are … Matthew 3:13-17, The Baptism of the King Read More »
The Lord has stirred the heart of Cyrus who is the king over Persia, the world empire in 539 BC. The Lord has stirred him to decree for God’s people to be able to return to Jerusalem so they can build a temple. The significance of this event cannot be overstated. For God to call … Ezra 3, Fearless Read More »
The Gospel of Matthew is teaching us who Jesus is by recording the events about his arrival in the first four chapters. God promised through the prophets that he would send a prophet before the glory of the Lord arrived. Isaiah said it would be a voice calling the wilderness (3:3; Isaiah 40:3-5). Malachi said … Matthew 3:1-12, The Preparation of the King Read More »
Our Sunday night theme that our series will center on is Return, Rebuild, Renew. I believe we need this theme after what we have gone through with this pandemic. It is time to hit the reset button. It is time for us to find a new beginning. It is time to return, rebuild, and renew … Ezra 1-2, A Heart To Restart Read More »
Matthew has been showing us pictures of who the Savior will be and what his mission will be. Matthew 2 contains four prophecies that show the obscurity of the Christ. We looked at the first of these prophecies last week. The Christ was to be born in Bethlehem, a little town to be counted among … Matthew 2:13-23, The Obscurity of the King Read More »
This final chapter of Paul’s letter to Timothy, the final words we have recorded from the apostle Paul, hurts the heart to read. Paul is concluding his letter to Timothy about how to have faith during difficult times. As he concludes, Paul describes life as a race and wants to encourage Timothy to finish the … 2 Timothy 4, Finish the Race Read More »
The Gospel of Matthew is a presentation to the reader that Jesus is the king we need to save us from our sins and bring us near to God. God wants to live with his people. In Matthew 1:23 we see that in Jesus God is now living with us. New life and new hope … Matthew 2:1-12, O Worship the King Read More »
We all need encouragement especially in difficult times. We all need encouragement to continue in the faith especially during fearful times. Paul is writing to Timothy to strengthen his faith. This second letter to Timothy is an encouraging letter to make Timothy aware of life as a disciple of Jesus. Paul has encouraged Timothy to … 2 Timothy 3, Life in the Last Days Read More »
We noted in the genealogy of Jesus that there was a lot of scandals recorded in those names. But this is not going to be the end to the scandalous nature of Jesus’ beginnings. Yet these difficult beginnings are to give us hope and build our faith in our savior. Open your copies of God’s … Matthew 1:18-25, The Scandal of the King Read More »
So you are excited to read about Jesus. You open your copy of God’s word to the Gospel of Matthew and you are introduced with a long list of names. Who would start the good news of Jesus with a genealogy? Why do we have a sea of names and why do we have to … Matthew 1:1-25, The Hope of the King Read More »
How do you have faith in uncertain times? The first chapter and the first half of the second chapter have described pictures of what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus. We must not be ashamed. We must join in the suffering. We must use the gifts God has given to us. We … 2 Timothy 2:14-26, Approved Read More »
We have been talking about discipleship in this series from Galatians 5-6. Paul is teaching what it looks like to follow Jesus. But Paul gets to the heart of discipleship in this final paragraph as he ends his letter to the Galatians. Lots of people can look like disciples. But there is a right motivation … Transformed (Galatians 6:11-18) Read More »
We are looking at how to have faith in difficult times. Paul and Timothy were both facing difficult times and Paul is teaching Timothy how to have faith during fearful times. In the first chapter of 2 Timothy the apostle Paul has described how to endure as a servant of God. Paul has told Timothy … 2 Timothy 2:1-13, Remember Jesus Read More »
In our series on Discipleship we have been looking at the pictures the apostle Paul presents on what it looks like to follow Jesus. The big picture has been to walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Giving your life to the ways and teachings of God is … We Will Reap (Galatians 6:6-10) Read More »
Paul is writing to Timothy to encourage his faith. Suffering and hardships can cause our faith to be shaken. So Paul writes this letter to Timothy to strengthen his faith over the fear that he is experiencing. Paul tells Timothy that he knows and prays for Timothy and his sincere faith. Use the gifts God … 2 Timothy 1:8-18, Not Ashamed – Part 2 Read More »
As the apostle Paul has been talking about discipleship, he has spent the time talking about our individual walking with the Lord in Galatians 5:16-25. Paul has told us that the desires of the flesh and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to each other and that by walking by the Spirit means we … Together (Galatians 5:26-6:5) Read More »
We are starting a new sermon series this evening. In 2021 our theme has been on hope in hard times. We have been talking about the hope God gives us as we go through trials, suffering, and hardships. Our focus and theme for 2022 is going to be about growing and strengthening our faith. I … 2 Timothy 1:1-8, Not Ashamed Read More »
If you have grown up in the pews or been a Christian for a significant amount of time, you have likely heard about the fruit of the Spirit. You have probably heard lessons about the fruit of the Spirit. Often the approach to Galatians 5:22-23 is to talk about each of these characteristics and then … There Is No “S” (Galatians 5:22-26) Read More »
How do you end the telling of Israel’s history? The author of Kings started with the rise of Solomon and has described for us the complete failure of the nation. Solomon’s sins have trickled down until we have heard the Lord declare that Jerusalem will be wiped like a dish so that there will be … 2 Kings 23:31-25:30, Whispering Hope Read More »
We started our series on Discipleship a few weeks back and we are looking at what the apostle Paul says to the Galatians about what it looks like to follow Jesus. We began with Paul telling us that this is a winnable war against the sins of the flesh. Walk by the Spirit and you … It’s Obvious (Galatians 5:19-21) Read More »
The alternate title I had for this lesson is, “How To Live on a Sinking Ship.” But the title I went with for this message is “Light In Total Darkness.” The focus of our study is to consider how you are supposed to live as God’s people when the nation is doomed. What should God’s … 2 Kings 21:1-23:30, Light In Total Darkness Read More »
We have been in the midst of a series this year called Hope Starts Here. When we go through hardships and difficulties, we need some hope. In this lesson we are going to look at how to have hope in the wilderness. Why did Israel have to go through the wilderness after their exodus from … Hope In The Wilderness Read More »
We have been looking at the life of Hezekiah who is the best king that the nation of Judah ever had. He torn down the high places and trusted in the Lord. He kept the commands of the Lord and the Lord made him prosper. We left off with Hezekiah enjoying the benefits of trusting … 2 Kings 20, Glory’s Fall Read More »
We are beginning our series called Discipleship in which our text is going to come from Galatians 5-6. Sometimes when we talk about discipleship or following the disciplines of the Christian life, the discussion turns into all the things that you do to try to be a follower of Jesus. Lessons are given that tell … The Winnable War (Galatians 5:16-18) Read More »
What is love? It is a question that has been asked for centuries. People have written volumes of books on trying to explain love. If you Google the question, “What is love?” you will get thousands of different answers. One answer I found was this: “What is love? An intangible connection between two people that … REWIND: Love One Another (1 John 4:7-9) Read More »
At the end of 2006 we did a series of lessons called “Having the Good Life Now” where we examined the teachings of the Proverbs. I want to begin a new series today that is an extension of that series, looking at “Having the Fruitful Life Now.” This series will center around the characteristics taught … REWIND: Taking On God’s Character Read More »
It looks like all hope is lost. There are many times in life when it looks like all hope is lost. There is no chance for reversal. There is no hope for change. There is no way that we are going to get through this. This is where we are in the life of Judah. … 2 Kings 18-19, Take It To The Lord Read More »
This morning we are going to talk about the gods we make. We might immediately think that we do not make gods. We are Christians and we do not have any other gods. But one of the things Paul had to do while preaching the gospel was expose the gods that were in people’s lives. … Acts 19:8-41, The Gods We Make Read More »
I’m right. I know I am right. You cannot persuade me that I am not right. I wish everyone would realize that I am right. I know what I am talking about. I am smarter than most people around me and they would be far better off if they would listen to me. I am … Acts 18:1-19:7, Transitions Read More »
The books of 1 & 2 Kings have spent the majority of its time following the northern nation, Israel, after the kingdom divided in the days of Rehoboam. We have seen the emphasis on the ministries of Elijah and Elisha as they worked in Israel. But we have seen that Israel has not listened to … 2 Kings 14-17, When A Nation Falls Read More »
“Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher. “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!” What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth? (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 NET) The Common English Bible reads, “Perfectly pointless…. Everything is pointless.” Do you feel like life is like being a hamster stuck running on its wheel? You just wonder, … Hope When Empty Read More »
God has described the problem that is occurring with his people in the book of Zephaniah. Even though Josiah is the king (1:1) and even though he is making spiritual reforms, the people are complacent (1:12). They bow down to God while they are bowing down to false gods (1:5). They are worshiping God but … Zephaniah 3:8-20, God Delights In You Read More »
Can we know the unknown God? It is an important question to ask because we live in a time when most people think that God is unknowable. They say we cannot know if there even is a God and, if there is, then that God cannot be known or understood. This is often illustrated today … Acts 17:16-34, Knowing the Unknown God Read More »
There is probably no sentence we hate to hear more out of the lips of others than the words, “I told you so.” “I tried to tell you.” “I tried to tell but you would not listen.” But imagine if God had to say those words to us. He does. But before we get to … Zephaniah 2:1-3:7, I Thought You Would Listen Read More »
Please Note: Due to problems with the recorder this audio lesson was recorded from a lower quality, secondary source. The second half of the book of Acts is showing us these great pictures of God’s salvation. Acts 17 is going to show how God is saving his people and the kind of heart needed to … Acts 17:1-15, A Life Guided by the Bible Read More »
Complacent is an interesting word to think about. When do we experience complacency in life? We typically become complacent about things that we become used to experiencing. We become unconcerned and comfortable about something in our life. Sometimes we hear about a sports team becoming complacent after winning a championship. They are now satisfied and … Zephaniah 1, Complacent Read More »
We have been spending our year talking about having hope especially through difficult times. God wants us to have hope when we experience our hardships. We have talked about having hope after failure, hope in trials, hope when life does not go according to plan, hope when feeling alone, hope when anxious, hope when hopeless, … Hope When Health Fails (2 Corinthians 5) Read More »
We seem to gravitate to this time of the year. I think the reason that we gravitate to this time of year is that there is hope. We have hope for the new year to not be like the last year. We have hope that things could be different in the future. There are many … REWIND: Called To Hope Read More »
There was a long running program that was on while I was a child on ABC called Wide World of Sports. I loved watching the introduction to the show each week. The voice would describe the great athletes in the sporting world. Then, it would come to this part: “The thrill of victory….” The screen would … REWIND: Life’s Highs and Lows (1 Samuel 18-22) Read More »
It is the end of Jacob’s life. Genesis 49 records the blessings that Jacob gives upon his twelve sons. Verse 28 declares that Jacob blessed his sons “blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.” His final command was to be buried in the cave of Machpelah in the land of Canaan. Genesis 50 records … REWIND: God Meant It For Good (Genesis 49-50) Read More »
We begin a study called “God’s Grace To Overcome” and in this study we are going to examine God’s word concerning the life of Joseph found in Genesis 37-50. But I look forward to examining these scriptures in a different way than in previous times. It is easy to study the life of Joseph and … REWIND: When God “Ruins” Your Life (Genesis 37) Read More »
We have noticed many unusual scenes that surrounded the life of Elisha. We have seen miracles about healing waters, healing stew, a floating ax head, cooking oil that does not run out, healing leprosy, and raising son’s from the dead. Elisha’s life, ministry, and miracles have all been about God showing who he is and … 2 Kings 13, Resurrection Power Read More »
You never know the influence you may have on another person. You never know the impact you may make based on how you live your life. You never know who is watching and how your decisions may be affecting someone else. But we know this. Think for a moment about how many people have indirectly … Acts 16, Closed Doors, Open Hearts Read More »
Raising children is an interesting process that God has parents go through. What I have found interesting about having teenagers is how much of your power and influence wanes as each year goes by. The reason I find this interesting because all the work that you have done with your children is revealed during the … 2 Kings 11-12, Repent, Renew, Restore Read More »
These two men had been together for years. They had seen so much as they loved the Lord and worked together. When one of them was not trusted or believed by others, the other was right there defending him and encouraging him. They had traveled together all over the world. They had their ups and … Acts 15:32-41, How To Disagree Read More »
One of the attributes that we have seen in the writings of 1 & 2 Kings is that a picture will be given to us that will prepare for the events that follow. For example, we notice that Elisha caused an ax head to float for one of the prophets. Read by itself, it is … 2 Kings 8-10, Zealous For God Read More »
What does it look like to turn to God? In the book of Acts the apostles have been preaching the need for repentance. They have been calling for people to turn to God. But in Acts 15 a major controversy arises over what turning to God is supposed to look like? Now it was not … Acts 15:1-31, Turn Read More »
As we continue our look into 2 Kings we are seeing God showing how he is trying to save his people, offering them pictures of his redemption and his restoration, only for Israel to miss what God is doing and reject his offer. Elijah was dramatically rejected by Israel’s kings as well as the people. … 2 Kings 6:24-7:20, Unbelief Read More »
Our theme this year is Hope Starts Here as we go to the scriptures to find hope in hard times. All of us need some hope especially after a year like 2020 and this year seems to just be 2020 part 2. We have talked about how to have hope after failure, when tempted, when … Hope When Life Does Not Go According To Plan Read More »
One of the things that God is always trying to tell us is how much we are unable to see. In particular, we have looking at the nation of Israel in the books of 1 & 2 Kings and we have observed how Israel is unable to properly see God and their relationship with him. … 2 Kings 6:1-23, See Read More »
We are considering what the apostles and disciples preached as they went through the world declaring Jesus as Lord who rose from the dead. The attention of the book of Acts has its focus on the ministry work of Paul and Barnabas. They have been set apart by the Holy Spirit to travel through various … Acts 14, Through Many Hardships Read More »
Naaman has come to Elisha for healing by bringing a letter from the king of Syria, 10 talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothes. We noted in the last lesson that this amount could be estimated to be worth about 5.5 million dollars. Naaman, after getting past his anger, … 2 Kings 5:15-27, Undeserved Read More »
Like it or not, believe it or not, we all have certain expectations about life. All of us grow up with a perspective about the way our lives will go. We also all have a set of expectations about God. You are not alone in having such expectations. The fifth chapter of 2 Kings is … 2 Kings 5:1-14, Great Expectations Read More »
It is an easy answer to give when someone asks how you are doing. “I’m fine.” “I’m good.” But sometimes we really do not mean what we are saying. We feel like we are compelled to say we are fine when someone asks out of a courtesy even if we are not what we say … 2 Kings 4, All Is Well Faith Read More »
We have spent a number of our lessons this year talking about how to have hope when crushed by trials, when hopeless because of suffering and loss, when feeling alone, and when tempted. All of these difficulties of life, from temptations and trials to sinning and being alone can cause us to be anxious. In … Hope When Anxious Read More »
Have you ever wondered what could have been in your life? Different decisions in life can lead you to those “what could have been” moments? I went to school and obtained my accounting degree. What would life have looked like if I had done that? What could have been if I never left California? We … 2 Kings 3, What Could Have Been Read More »
Do you consider yourself worthy of eternal life? It is an important question that the apostles asked people to think about. We will come back to this question in a few minutes. As you think about that question, we have been going through the book of Acts and in chapter 13 there is a shift … Acts 13, Unworthy? Read More »
It is a scene that has caused a lot of wonder and a lot of confusion: Elijah being taken into heaven. Why does this happen to Elijah? Why does he not just live a normal life and die like all the other prophets of God? Why is there a special event surrounding the end of … 2 Kings 2, The Ascension Read More »
We have been looking at how we can move from being selfish to selfless. The problems in the Corinthian church arose because of their selfish thinking. They had divisions, jealousy, fighting, and strife all because they were putting themselves first rather than thinking about others. In our first lesson, we overviewed the book of 1 … Selfless Gifts (1 Corinthians 12-14) Read More »
We have been looking at the prophecy of Micah which helps us understand how to maintain faith while living in times of great wickedness. How can we maintain faithfulness in a broken world? In this final prophecy of Micah, he has declared what God wants in the first eight verses of chapter 6. God is … Micah 6:9-7:20, Who Is Like God? Read More »
This year’s preaching theme is called Hope Starts Here. After a year like 2020 we needed a year where we can see how God gives us hope in hard times. In our message today we are going to talk about having hope when life seems hopeless. Suffering often presents great challenges to our faith. We … Hope When Hopeless Read More »
So what does God want from his people? What is God looking for? Micah is a prophet who is telling the people that their sins have brought judgment upon them from the Lord. They have acted wickedly. They are clinging to idols rather than trusting in the Lord. They are oppressing other people. They are … Micah 6:1-8, What Does God Want? Read More »
We are in a series where we are talking about how we can be transformed from thinking selfishly to thinking selflessly. In our first lesson, we overviewed the book of 1 Corinthians and saw that the message is that life is not about me. God has ordered the world and salvation so that no one … Selfless Rights (1 Corinthians 8-10) Read More »
We are in the book of Micah as we want to listen to the voice of the prophets as we prepare to move through the events of 2 Kings. Micah is prophesying during that time, telling them why God is angry with them, what the people are supposed to do, and what God is going … Micah 3-5, A Shepherd Comes Read More »
We have been looking at Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians as he teaches these Christians how to move from being selfish to selfless. The problem in Corinth is that there are divisions among them (1:10), along with fighting and jealousy (3:3). These divisions and fights have come from them behaving selfishly and acting arrogantly … Selfless Bodies (1 Corinthians 5-7) Read More »
We have been spending our time considering the life of Elijah in the second half of 1 Kings. But I want to take a break before moving into 2 Kings and examine the message of the prophet, Micah. Micah is a prophet who proclaims his message at the same time as the prophet Isaiah. Micah … Micah 1-2, Break Out Read More »
We are talking about how to move from being selfish to selfless as God commands us to do as followers of Jesus. The Corinthian Christians had all kinds of problems in their lives and in the church because they were arrogant and selfish. When James wrote his letter, he asked these rhetorical questions: What causes … Nothing But Servants (1 Corinthians 1-4) Read More »
We noted at the beginning of our study that the break between 1 & 2 Kings is an arbitrary division. The Hebrew copies of the scripture keep these books as one but were later divided due to their size. The reason that this is important to note is so that you will not think that … 2 Kings 1, Did You Think To Pray? Read More »
What do you think of when I ask you what 1 Corinthians is about? You might think of a church with a lot of problems. The other thing you might think about is that the majority of the book seems to be dealing with answering the questions that the Corinthian Christians sent to the apostle … It’s Not About Me Read More »
The scriptures are full of wisdom of how to keep ourselves from destroying our lives. In fact, God is trying to keep us from destroying ourselves by giving us his laws, his ways, and his teachings. But 1 Kings 22 is going to show us how to destroy our lives. This is going to be … 1 Kings 22, How To Destroy Your Life Read More »
Our theme this year is Hope Starts Here because if there is any year where we need some hope and encouragement, it is this year after the year we had in 2020. We have been looking to the scriptures on how to have hope in a variety of circumstances that we face in life. In … Hope When Crushed By Trials Read More »
Devastating Selfishness (21:1-16) There is a saying that is true in our day and it was true in ancient times. The three rules about real estate are location, location, and location. As 1 Kings 21 opens we see that there is a man named Naboth who has a vineyard in Jezreel that is next door … 1 Kings 21, Joy In Being Humbled Read More »
A Shocking Start (12:1-5) It must have been shock when it happened. I would expect that no one expected an outcome like this. Yes, the people of God had been persecuted. The people of God had been scattered from Jerusalem as the persecution intensified. Even Saul had been traveling around trying to arrest Christians until … Acts 12, Give Glory To God Read More »
Each of these messages in 1 Kings is giving important teachings about who God is. Israel needs to learn the God that they serve, just as we need to learn this also. One of the problems that people have when it comes to the Lord is that they do not understand who they are serving. … 1 Kings 20, Your God Is Too Small Read More »
We have been looking at the life change that Jesus causes in people who listen to him and come to him. Acts 10-11 is going to show us that following Jesus means that we look at people differently and we handle our relationships differently. But before we move into the lesson I would like for … Acts 10-11, Clean Read More »
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the … 1 Kings 18:41-46, The Power of Prayer Read More »
Our theme this year is Hope Starts Here. One lesson each month we are talking about the hope that is available to you in Jesus. We have talked about how to have hope after a year like 2020. We have also talked about how to have hope after failure and when tempted. In today’s lesson … 1 Kings 19, Hope When Feeling Alone Read More »
Please Note: Due to problems with the recorder, this audio lesson is made from two different sources; so there is a noticeable change in quality. God sent Elijah to Ahab, the king of Israel, who is considered the worst king that ever reigned over Israel. The message was simple and clear. It will not rain … 1 Kings 18, Limping Between Two Opinions Read More »
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (1 Corinthians 15:3–5 ESV) … Acts 9, Resurrection Read More »
God has wanted us to see that Israel and Judah, the two nations that were to be God’s people and represent God, had lost their way. Kings are rising up but only making matters worse, leading the nation into deeper sins. At the moment, the attention is on the northern nation called Israel. The king … 1 Kings 17, Dare To Trust God Read More »
We are going to spend the next few weeks talking about the life change that Jesus brings to our lives. In many ways, this is a continuation of what we were doing in our look at getting rid of the old you and moving forward with new clothes. But our text for this series will … Acts 8, Not Held Back Read More »
After giving us a picture of Jeroboam and Rehoboam’s reigns over Israel and Judah, respectively, the author wants to race us on toward the arrival of Elijah. If you open your Bibles to 1 Kings 15-16 you will notice that these passages give a quick summary of the reigns of the kings of Israel and … 1 Kings 15-16, Living In Dark Days Read More »
We are going to spend the next few weeks talking about the life change that Jesus brings to our lives. In many ways, this is a continuation of what we were doing in our look at getting rid of the old you and moving forward with new clothes. But our text for this series will … Acts 6-7, Make Me A Servant Read More »
God is revealing the spiritual problems in Israel that will lead to its demise. Even more, God is revealing the atmosphere in which he will send his prophet Elijah, who will be a monumental figure in Israel’s history and typologically. We have seen some staggering pictures about Jeroboam. Because he does not trust in God’s … 1 Kings 14, Fake Read More »
Please Note: Due to problems with the recorder, this audio lesson was not recorded; but can be watched or listened to on the church Facebook page. The video can be watched/listened to here 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 … Ephesians 4:32-5:2, Do You Wear Beautiful Clothes? Read More »
We are preparing to look at the life of Elijah. But before we can understand the purpose and work of Elijah, we need to understand the world that he was sent to preach in. We noticed in our last lesson that Jeroboam, who is the king of the northern nation now referred to as Israel, … 1 Kings 13, When God Has Spoken Read More »
“Tempted and tried we are oft made to wonder, why it should be thus all the day long. While there are others living about us, never molested though in the wrong.” This is the first verse from the song “Farther Along.” Our theme for this year is Hope Starts Here where we are looking at … Hope When Tempted and Tried Read More »
We are beginning our series on Elijah and how to have the faith to stand as we continue in the book of 1 & 2 Kings. But we are unable to appreciate the culture and environment that Elijah is called to work in if we simply start studying Elijah in chapter 17 of 1 Kings. … 1 Kings 12:25-33, It’s Too Much Trouble Read More »
The apostle Paul is teaching us how we can leave the past behind and have a fresh start in hope. In Ephesians 4:17-21 we were told that we have problems and those problems come from our way of thinking. The way we look at life, look at the world, look at other people, and even … Do You Wear Corrupt Clothes? (Ephesians 4:28-30) Read More »
It is the second time that a great reversal has occurred in the book of Esther. The first time was when we saw Esther captured by the king as he gathered all the virgins in the empire as he looked for a new queen. Rather than being relegated as a concubine for the rest of … Esther 8-10, God Rescues You Read More »
The apostle Paul is teaching us how we can leave the past behind and have a fresh start in hope. In Ephesians 4:17-21 we were told that we have problems and those problems come from our way of thinking. The way we look at life, look at the world, look at other people, and even … Do You Wear Angry Clothes? (Ephesians 4:25-27) Read More »
The decree has been made by Haman that all the Jewish people will be destroyed, killed, and annihilated in one day at the end of the year (3:13). Mordecai found out about this decree and told Esther that this is her moment to do something. You are not in the palace by accident and maybe … Esther 5-7, The Quiet Hand of God Read More »
In our first lesson in this series we notice the apostle Paul tell us that we have problems and our problems start in our way of thinking. Our way of thinking is futile and darkened, causing us to think that we see life, see others, and see ourselves properly. But we do not because we … You Need To Change Your Clothes (Ephesians 4:22-24) Read More »
Haman, as the enemy of the Jews, has set up his terrible plan “to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day” (3:13). The proclamation is spreading through the empire, throwing the city of Susa into confusion (3:15). Meanwhile, King Xerxes and Haman are relaxing and … Esther 4, It Is Your Time Read More »
Our theme for 2021 is Hope Starts Here. After a year like 2020 we could use some hope as we go forward. The scriptures show us that hope is found going forward and not living in the past. It is so easy to stay stuck in the past and not see the doors God is … You Have Problems (Ephesians 4:17-21) Read More »
The second chapter of Esther has revealed the darkness of the empire that Xerxes rules over. Esther has been swept up in the collection of young women as Xerxes looks to replace his queen. God has been with Esther, giving her favor in the various situations she finds herself in as life is happening to … Esther 3, Courage in Dark Times Read More »