Author: Norm

SCRIPTURE: Luke 9:1-9 The disciples proclaim the kingdom of God (Luke 9:2), which is the good news (Luke 9:6). The good news of the kingdom of God (Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:15, Luke 4:43, Acts 8:12). God created this world very good, and authorized humans to rule it for Him, like Him (Genesis 1:26-28). But because humanity failed (Genesis 3), God had to raise up…

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 80 “Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.” (Psalm 80:19) Asaph quotes the words ‘make your face shine on us’ three times (vv.3,7,19), based on the priestly blessing: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious…

SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 22:17-24:34 “If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength! Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” (Proverbs 24:10-11) Each one of these sayings could be focused on, I am choosing one. The point is to not stand by and do nothing when someone is…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 8:49-56 “Stop crying!” Jesus said. “She is not dead. She is sleeping.” In the bible, sleep is a euphemism for death (John 11:11, 1 Corinthians 11:30 15:51, Ephesians 5:14, 1 Thessalonians 4:13). This is not to minimize the curse of death, but to maximize the blessing of hope! Death is a tragic, unnatural (from a Creation point of view) experience. Jesus…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 8:40-48 “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Here I again I am encouraged by the simple faith that Jesus honours. It is not ‘understanding the faith’ (beliefs) that helps, heals, or saves us. It is any move towards God – whether uncertain or desperate or confident – for help. This woman…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 8:34-39 So why did the demons insist on going into the pigs… scare tactics! The goal of the Enemy is to somehow turn us away from God. Discouragement, distraction, deception, despair, and ultimately destruction. Look at what happens: the man is cured, but the people can’t see it! All they see is what happened…

SCRIPTURE: Luke 8:26-33 There is something wrong in our world. Despite all that is beautiful and good, something always seems to poison it. Demons of scandal, violence, addiction, abuse, tragedy, illness, death. Our world seems possessed by a demonic Legion times gazillion. I can’t explain how the demons in this story worked. But I do see…

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 79 The story behind this Psalm is the agony of persecution for a people who were serving God. This is how Christians must have felt in past times of persecution. This is still what Christians in parts of the world today feel when they are targeted, persecuted, arrested. Churches are firebombed, Christians are betrayed,…

SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 17:1-22:16 “One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.” (Proverbs 18:9) Because there are so many proverbs, my plan was to read until one jumped out at me. This is the first one that jumped out at me, and I couldn’t let go of it after that. These proverbs make…

Let’s be honest, He’s had a drag us many times, hasn’t He?