Author: Norm

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10:38-42 “You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.” (Luke 10:41-42) Am I any different from Martha? I am usually so distracted — worried and upset – by all the preparations involved with upkeeping this church for Jesus. And yes, it bothers me that some people don’t…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10:29-37 “But he wanted to justify himself… The one who had mercy on him.” (Luke 10:29,37) Notice the direction of the heart: one wants to justify himself, the other has mercy on another. The first is self-focused, the second is other-focused. Looking out for number 1, or looking out to the interests of others. What…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10:25-28 “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” … This man is not just asking about life after death, he is asking about ‘shalom’. According to Strong’s Concordance ‘shalom’ means completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. How do we experience…

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 83 It’s hard to relate to this Psalm. Our situations are not the same, so we cannot imagine the psalmists despair and suffering. Imagine people in Nigeria or Sudan, where lawlessness reigns: a poor farmer crying out to God against the armed groups stealing or burning their crops, taking their sons, raping their daughters,…

SCRIPTURE: Ecclesiastes 5-8 It is important to remember that this book is inspired meaninglessness. As scripture, this book is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17), but this does not mean each thought is God’s. God is using the wisdom of man to show the foolishness of life without God. “Utterly meaningless, everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) – this is not God’s…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10:17-24 Something HUGE is happening here, and Jesus praises God because of it! The tables are being turned on the dominion of darkness; Satan is falling and the demons are running. And wonder of wonders, it is happening at the hands of ‘little children’. Standing with Jesus, the little people have the authority to…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10:8-16 The message I hear today is about unbearable regret when we realize the consequences of our choices. Makes me think of Gordon Stuckless, having to finally face the consequences for the abuses he committed in the past. Jesus is not threatening people here (“I’ll teach you for rejecting me”) but sadly grieving the…