Just a Thought: Recent Episodes
Mike Farley
People sometimes ask me “What’s your life verse?” And the truth is I do not have one. Maybe it’s a personality thing, maybe it is because I change translations so much that I have a hard time memorizing verses but I just don’t have one. I do love and have a few principles and frameworks.
There is a lot that can be said about the 10 Commandments. Today I want to look at them a little differently.
1 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt
2 You shall have no other Gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.
3 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy.
5 Honor your father and mother.
6 Thou shalt not murder
7 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8 Thou shalt not steal (or kidnap?)
9 Thou shall not bear false witness
10 You shall not covet
What is the call? I think the call is reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. That means there is more to the call than first thought.
Facts are facts but facts are not always aligned with faith. In Numbers 13 Moses sends spies to check out the promised land by God's command. This is the land the people had been waiting 400 years to enter. This was finally the fulfillment of the promise of God. All they had to do was go in. But when the spies returned, they returned with such a negative report that the congregation cried loudly, and the people wept that night. They should have listened to Caleb and had faith that they could and would be victorious but instead, they stayed in fear.
Peter in the Book of Acts chapter 1 and Peter in the Book of Acts chapter 2 are different people with different focuses and desires.
I have been reading and thinking about Romans 8 and specifically 8:28 a fair amount lately and I cannot help but think that God and I have different definitions of the word Good.
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Yes the title is from one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes but more importantly it is a reminder that Jesus hears the Song of our Sadness and can understand our pain.
A lot of people myself included either beat themselves up or have beaten themselves up because they still fall short. Somehow we have this idea that because we have Jesus and are found in Christ that we should be sinless when really we should be more concerned about sinning less (a little wordplay).
Solomon was considered the wisest of all, but Jesus is greater. His wisdom is beyond. Jesus is the wisdom of God.
The people demand a sign from Jesus, but He has already done many signs before this. What more could these people want? What does Jesus want?
The Pharisees are mad at Jesus and His disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath. Jesus responds that something greater than the Temple is here. What does He mean by this? I think this speaks to His lordship over the religion that is devoted to Him.
This week are kind of talking about demons. I say kind of because we have some thoughts and questions from a friend who was reading through Luke 8 and the story of the demon-possessed man and what Jesus did.
We are wrapping up our journey through Amos. It has been a wild ride and we are still looking at judgment, but that's not all...
God declares that He will send a new famine on the land, a famine of silence from Him. This is the worst thing imaginable for the people of God. To not hear the voice of God is terrible and frighting. Without God speaking to us, we do not have wisdom, direction, healing, or anything of value in life.
In Amos 7 we get this story that is a back-and-forth between God and Amos and then between Amos and Amaziah the priest in Bethel.
Amos chapter 6 covers two important topics that are connected. In all of Israel’s sin, they had Pride and Compliancy. They thought themselves something special, they assumed themselves well off. They had a lot of stuff. Before we jump on them and condemn them, we have to ask "do we do that?"
Hebrews 4 talks about rest for God’s people but no rest for the disobedient. Hebrews 4 and 4:5 is a callback to Psalm 95 and Numbers 14. The idea is this; God has rest for people to enter into but the disobedient do not and cannot enter into that rest.
God is calling the people to seek Him and do right. The Bible equates seeking God with living and hiding your sins with dying. The people thought that they could do what they like and then bring sacrifices, but God calls them out for this.
I do not think there has ever been a time when calling someone a cow was a compliment. It is not one here either.
This week we look at Amos Chapter 3. Israel is being punished because they should know better. God chose them, He loved them tenderly, He cared for them, and they responded with violence and selfishness.
Here God is judging Judah and Israel. They both have guilt, but their guilt is different from the nations around them because they have the Law of God. They have the statutes of the Lord. This should be exciting!
No one can escape the judgment or justice of God. All are under His authority and no one gets to claim ignorance.
We are going to kick off 2023 with a bang. We will go through a nine-week series looking at the prophet Amos. It's going to be a blast.
We don't always know where we are going, sometimes we get a little turned around. God will guide our steps. We fear failure, making a wrong choice, or messing up but God is able to keep us. Even if we miss it and make a mistake God is able to keep us from being overwhelmed.
Lately the idea that we do not wrestle or fight against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces has been ever present in my mind. I feel like I talk about it a good deal too. This week we will look at the Armor of God even though it does not have pants.
This week we are looking at The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. What an amazing book. My raw and unprepared wrap up of my reading.
This week we are talking about, talking about Jesus also known as evangelism. What is it, what is our motivation, and how can we do it?
Does it matter if we are training or fighting? Yes, absolutely because if we are being hindered by the enemy then we can pray against that and push into God for victory. However, if it is a situation where God is the one stopping us then we need to submit and seek His will. The type of situation makes all the difference.
This week we are looking at two passages and asking why are we still a little blind and what can we do about it?
In the Bible God is continually reminding His people of who they are. He does this so that they and we might remember who we are and in remembering that we can remember who He is.
I know that Babette ate oatmeal but I have no idea what that means. I do know that we all have questions about God and that He has answers.
What's in a name, and why is God jealous for His name? What does that even mean? Today we briefly look at that very question.
Jesus' actions in the Bible often cause His disciples to wonder who He is. Throughout the Bible, God does things that go beyond our comprehension and cause us to ask the same question. He does this because He is beyond our full understanding and because He can.