April 24, 2013 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 23:13-22 OBSERVATIONS Jesus describes a hyper-religious people who major in minors and technicalities, but miss the spiritual realities behind their faith. They add all kind of ‘rules’ that make it impossible for people to experience God, and grown on those who fail them. He calls them hypocrites, pretenders, fakes. It’s a…
Practice what He preached (and lived!)
April 23, 2013 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 23:1-12 OBSERVATIONS Jesus is not a rebel. He does not advocate revolution by disobedience, but by obedience. Even if the religious leaders disobey God and Moses, do not follow them. Obeying God’s moral law is the highest and purest form of revolution. We do not overcome evil with evil, but with…
My Lord and My God!
April 22, 2013 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 22:41-46 OBSERVATIONS David knows that He is not the one who will ultimately restore Israel. In 2 Samuel 7:11-16 God tells David that he will not build the temple, but one of his sons will build the temple and establish his kingdom. This kingdom will last forever. David knows that this ‘still to…
Dedicated to praising God
April 21, 2013 SCRIPTURE: Psalm 30 OBSERVATIONS This is David’s testimony, a song written to inspire people to praise God. He tells his story, how in a time when he was sick and dying, he cried out to God and God came through. God turned things around for Him, from grief to joy, from misery to…
Joshua 1-5
April 19-20, 2013 SCRIPTURE: Joshua 1-5 OBSERVATIONS What do you notice in this passage? APPLICATION What do you sense the Lord saying to you? PRAYER
Just a hop?
My stubborn heart
April 18, 2013 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 22:34-40 OBSERVATIONS More testing for Jesus. This was a multiple choice question, the Jews figured there were 613 commandments in the Law of Moses. How do you reduce that many commands down to one? But Jesus knows the heart of the Law, for He knows the heart of God. He knows that…
God in a box?
Haven’t got a clue!
April 17, 2013 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 22:23-33 OBSERVATIONS The Law of Moses had it’s own system of support for widows. It may strike us as troubling (it does me), but in that time, in that culture, it was effective. See the story of Ruth for how it worked. The person who married the widow was a kinsmen…