Year 1 October — Your Spiritual Journey — Spiritual Disciplines November — How To Read The Bible — OT Survey December — Knowing God — NT Survey January — Knowing Jesus Christ — Missional Living February — Knowing the Holy Spirit — Christian Spirituality March — The Mission of God — Reformed Perspectives April —…
Apr 3 — Luke 4:1-13
SCRIPTURE: Luke 4:1-13 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit” – After His baptism, Jesus was energized by God, ready to begin His mission. This was a high and holy moment, He was enthused (‘enthusiasm’ means to be filled with God) and eager. This makes sense after His dramatic affirmation at the baptism. 2. “Returned…
Apr 2 — Luke 3:21-38
SCRIPTURE: Luke 3:21-38 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “Jesus was baptized too” (21). This was a baptism of repentance, a sign of humility and submission to God. Though Jesus was sinless, like us He needed to humbly submit to God in all things. 2. “As he was praying, heaven was opened” (21). I’ve not noticed this detail before, but…
Apr 1 — Luke 3:1-20
SCRIPTURE: Luke 3:1-20 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “In the fifteenth year…” (3:1-2). Luke is very carefuly to demonstrate the historical roots of this biography of Jesus. It is no abstract or philosophical (as the gnostic ‘gospels” were). Jesus is flesh and blood, born in time. 2. “Preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (3:3). It…
Mar 31 — Proverbs 7:1-27
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 7:1-27 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “Guard my teachings as the apple of your eye” (7:2). That is, your eyeball, which is very weak and needs protection. 2. “A youth who lacked judgment… walking along in the direction of her house” (7:7-8). A wise person is aware of their potential weaknesses, and avoids those paths that will…
Mar 30 — Proverbs 6:20-35
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 6:20-35 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “This teaching is a light… the way to life” (6:23). Light helps us to see, to avoid the pitfalls along the way. These words of wisdom come from the heart of a parent who wants their children to find life, true life as God intended it to be. As a parent…
Sennema’s accept call to Ajax
FROM THE SENNEMA’S — After prayerful consideration, Valerie and I have decided that the Lord is calling us to Crossroads Church in Ajax. We feel led by the Spirit to help this young church move forward. Although difficult to explain, there is this deep-down sense that Ajax is the next step in our ministry journey….
Mar 29 — Proverbs 6:1-19
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 6:1-19 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “If you have been trapped by what you said… go and humble yourself”. Good advice from father to son. When your words or actions are starting to get you into trouble, don’t make it worse by digging yourself deeper. Humble yourself. This is the consistent message of the Bible. Be honest,…
Mar 28 — Proverbs 5:1-23
SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 5:1-23 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 1. “The adultress” symbolizes all sexual sin. This is not just the problem of immoral women, in fact many who have turned to prostitution have done so because they could not otherwise survive in a male-dominated world, and because men were perversely asking for this kind of pleasure. 2. “Drip honey… bitter…
“I want to be a missionary!”
When I was in high school, somewhere, somehow (God!) I got it into my head that I wanted to be a minister. I remember being nervous about telling my non-Christian classmates, so when asked, I told them I want to be a missionary! I figured that this was more acceptable. (At the time, the idea…