The Cove: Recent Episodes
The Church at Rancho Bernardo
Prayer is powerful because it connects us to God himself and so teaches us His purpose and will and allows us to bring our lives into conformity to it.
James addresses first the rich and powerful and then the poor and persecuted. Both should live in light of God's final judgement.
James talks about a pattern of life that will result in joy and contentment and a right relationship with God.
Perseverance by faith produces spiritual maturity. How do we do this? The key commitment is keeping our eyes on God.
In James 3:13–18 the author contrasts two ways of living—the way of wisdom and the way foolishness. One is other-centered; the other is self-centered.
James addresses another area of practical Christian wisdom: being careful what we say. Let’s be careful to use words in ways that build others up rather than breaking them down!
We get to the heart of James’s message, which is that authentic faith is always accompanied by actions. True faith results in a transformed life and works are the inevitable evidence of that transformation.
James calls out the practice of favoritism as completely inconsistent with the command to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
James is all about living out the Christian life in practical ways. In this passage he emphasizes the need to be good listeners, so that we can discern the needs of others and hear God’s Word clearly.
When it comes to practical Christian living, the letter of James is perhaps the most down to earth, nuts and bolts, rubber meets the road book in the New Testament.
Boaz goes to settle the matter of who will be the guardian redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. This restored lineage through a Moabite leads to David, King of Israel.
Ruth takes the initiative to secure a home and husband for herself and the security this will bring for Naomi.
While Naomi expresses her sense of being forsaken by God at the end of chapter 1, we can see glimmers of God’s faithfulness across this first chapter of Ruth.
Parables were Jesus’ most distinctive form of teaching and he used them to great effect. In one of his most famous parables, Jesus uses a farming metaphor to describe various responses to his announcement of the kingdom of God.
Returning to the topic of the Christian community’s care for each other, Peter emphasizes the ways leaders and followers are to seek not status but service.
In this passage, Peter sums up key themes from his letter to Christians in Asia Minor. They should not be surprised by the suffering they are experiencing but are encouraged to see it through the lens of Christ’s own suffering.
Just as Christ suffered, so shall we, for the sake of righteousness. We need to put aside worldly behaviors, even at the risk of being ostracized by others, including those with whom we are close.
Peter continues his instruction on how to live as Christ-followers both inside and outside the church, even in the midst of personal suffering.
Peter continues his instruction on how to live as Christ-followers in an often alien and hostile pagan society. Just as Jesus suffered in order to bring us salvation, so our suffering in the world can produce healing and redemption through the example we set for others.
As I Peter 2 opens, the Fisherman-turned-Apostle provides several vivid word-pictures for the Church: living stones, spiritual household, royal priesthood, chosen race, holy nation, people of God.
Once again, Christ sets the pattern—discarded by people as worthless, but in the end the very cornerstone of what God is building.
Peter begins the body of the letter by giving five central exhortations for living well in a context where slander might be leveled at the Christian communities.
Here Peter reflects on the improbable fact that persons who had never physically encountered Jesus nonetheless believe in him, love him, and are willing to pay a price for following him.
Peter begins his letter by praising God for the salvation He has provided. This salvation comes through God’s grace alone rather than anything we have done and provides us with new birth and resurrection life.
Peter addresses believers scattered throughout five Roman provinces in what is modern Turkey. These believers were experiencing a great deal of opposition and persecution because of their faith.
The story of God and God’s creation, including humanity, is a story of God’s thoroughgoing commitment to restore of all things from the powers of sin and death.
We continue our “We Believe” series this week by considering the closely-related doctrines of the church and the kingdom. Here our focus shifts from “I” to “we,” from personal salvation to broader social dynamics that are also part of the Good News.
The Bible tells the story of God’s plan to save his people through the life, death and resurrection of his son Jesus Christ. Today we look at the nature of this salvation: its motivation, means, appropriation and the metaphors used in Scripture to describe it.
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Like the Father and the Son, the Spirit is fully God and yet a distinct person.
The Bible teaches that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. In the incarnation he became a human being in order to pay the penalty for our sins. Through His perfect life, sacrificial death on the cross and victorious resurrection from the dead, He accomplished our salvation.
“Nobody’s perfect.” This folk wisdom recognizes some moral / ethical standard and the reality that no one fully embodies it.
God has revealed himself in various ways, indirectly through His creation (general revelation) as well as directly (special revelation) through dreams, visions, prophecy, and especially through the written Scriptures.
This week we continue to examine the person of God and His work. God is both transcendent and immanent—wholly separate from human beings yet choosing to be in relationship with them.
Theology begins with God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Finding meaning and purpose in life starts with the realization that God exists and that He is the infinite, holy and good God, and that He desires to be in relationship with His people.
Paul concludes his letter to Titus by talking about the transforming power of the grace of God.
Titus is to teach what is right—both right belief and right practice. He is to exhort the church in all its parts (old and young, male and female, slave and free) to doing what is good and be self-controlled.
Paul turns to condemn false teachers who are causing trouble with sensationalistic teaching, legalistic practices, false doctrine and immorality.
Paul gives Titus qualifications for Elders: Biblically-grounded and Spirit-led leadership is essential for the healthy functioning of the church.
Titus was one of Paul's closest & most trusted disciples. To left Titus in Crete to 'put in order what was left unfinished'.
Paul recalls trials and triumphs in the thirty years since his Damascus Road conversion.
The Apostle Paul concludes his charge to Timothy. This is Paul’s earthly grand finale, so to speak, the moment when he passes the baton to his younger successor (and to countless other Christians who will follow).
Paul encourages Timothy again to follow Paul’s model of faith, love and perseverance through suffering. Timothy will be able to do this if he holds fast to the sound teaching he received from Paul and remains faithful to the Word of God.
After commending an appropriate way of living for Timothy as the Lord's servant, Paul warns Timothy to avoid following the path of those who have succumbed to false teaching and godless living.
Paul calls on his faithful disciple to be courageous in the face of suffering, to train up the next generation, to faithfully serve his Lord.
From his imprisonment in Rome, Paul calls Timothy to stay faithful to the Lord, to the Gospel, and to Paul himself.
Thanksgiving! Paul’s first letter to Timothy emphasized that “We’re all pastors” – and found “equipping the Next Generation” a vital priority. In II Timothy, we hear both the apostle’s closing word to a beloved disciple, and “famous last words" approaching death by Roman martyrdom.
In these final verses, Paul charges Timothy to "take hold of eternal life", which includes pursuing such key virtues of faith, love, and endurance.
Paul returns to false teachers, greed and the love of money. He warns Timothy against the destructive power of wealth.
The Apostle Paul offers more inspired advice on how Christians should "do life" together. Here he focuses on the important issue of leadership.
Paul reminds Timothy that the church is a family and he has a responsibility to respect and care for the members of that family.
Paul calls on Timothy to faithfully carry out the calling and ministry that God had given him.
After celebrating the advance of the gospel, Paul returns his focus to the false teachers. He looks at who is behind their teaching and what their particular teaching consisted of.
Paul continues his instructions to Timothy concerning church leaders (Deacons) who must show maturity in their character, knowledge of truth and family lives.
In what has become one of the most debated and disputed passages in the Bible, Paul instructs Timothy to teach the men and women of Ephesus the proper attitudes and demeanor in worship.
While two church leaders have gone astray, Paul's response is that they learn and return - even if it's the hard way. May we "fight the good fight" by remembering the big picture of God's character and cause. He's the LORD OF ALL!
In these verses at the end of chapter 1, Paul returns to the first exhortation of the letter-- that Timothy address and correct the false teachers in Ephesus and to remind him of his own calling.
Paul wrote this first letter to Timothy to address issues of concern in the churches they are working with and to encourage them to fulfill our calling in Christ.
Paul has just identified his main reason for leaving Timothy in Ephesus and for writing the letter: false teachers have arisen within the church and are leading some astray, distracting the church from its true calling.
First Timothy is one of the Pastoral Letters of the apostle Paul. Paul wrote these letters to address issues of concern in the churches and to encourage them to fulfill the ministries to which God had called them.
The main events of the book of 2 Samuel end with the revolt of Sheba against David. What follows is an epilogue, recounting various events in David’s life: justice for the Gibeonites; various wars against the Philistines; David’s song of praise; David’s last words; lists of David’s mighty men; David’s sin in taking a census; and David’s building of an altar in preparation for the temple.
The Cove // Studies in Genesis // The Battle of the Kings & the Rescue of Lot, Abraham & Melhizedek