Week 1

The Lords Day, Week 1!

Thoughts on Romans 1 & 2:

·       Paul refers to himself as a servant first, do we see ourselves that way? A servant puts the needs of those they serve first... 

·       He also saw the promise of the Gospel in the Old Testament, not even 2 verses in and we see the necessity of the OT in the New... 

·       Paul was eager to go to Rome to preach the Gospel to the church, the church never outgrows the Gospel, do we know the Gospel? Can we recognize it when it's preached?

·       The Gospel is the righteousness of God revealed, consider this, Jesus in taking on the form of a man and becoming fully obedient to death that sinners who repent and trust in Him, reveals the righteousness of God... Righteousness means right standing, it means being without fault, that the only way to be righteous is to be like Jesus, or as we know, in Jesus.

·       The wrath of God is revealed, in unbelief, consider what this means. That part of the judgement is unbelief and this unbelief isn't true unbelief but rather its a denial of God because we don't want to do that which we know we should do...

·       Here's a hot button topic: Homosexuality, according to today's reading it isn't just another sin, but rather it is the direct result of being given over to "unnatural or dishonorable passions" this is important because there is a difference between unnatural passions and natural passions that can become sinful. Unnatural passions are sinful at the root because they go against Gods created order, natural passions become sinful WHEN they go against Gods design... For example lust for my wife is a natural right desire, one that is properly ordered and isn't sinful... Lust for another woman is sinful but it is still a natural desire, it's just one that has been taken out of Gods prescribed order. Homosexual lust at all levels is unnatural, there isn't any context in which it is o.k. because at it's root it goes against Gods created order. Today there are many in the church that want to argue for homosexuality as "just another sin" the problem here is that, first, no sin should be treated as "just another" because that is a misunderstanding of sin. Secondly it misses what Paul is saying here, that homosexuality itself is a result of having been given over, and that what's needed is a completely new heart. Read verses 28 - 32 and notice that homosexuality flowed from what Paul mentioned there, it isn't a list that goes alongside it. I understand that much of this may go against the narrative that is shared today, I'm open to hearing differences based on the text! 

·       Chapter 2: we are all without excuse...

·       There is no excuse for those who don't know the Law of God, because when we believe in any morality at all, we put as the cause of that morality someone or something, and ultimately the only one who can be the grounding for morality is God. The fact that we know innately that murder is bad, proves we know God.

·       But the Law and physical circumcision don't save anyone, there must be an inner transformation... 

Here were my thoughts this morning... Feel free to share your own, or comment on mine! God bless and have a blessed Lords Day!

 Monday, Week 1

Thoughts on Genesis 1-3: (going to keep it much shorter)

·       In the beginning God created... We can spend all of our lives just uncovering the implications of these 5 words. What do you see here?

·       Genesis 1: God speaks and it comes to pass, this is how it always is, what God says isn't a matter of something possibly happening but rather it happens, He is all powerful

·       Genesis 2: In His image He creates man and woman and I can't help but dwell on the implications of verses 21-25... Think about how offensive this is to our culture today.

·       Genesis 3: God always seeks us out, we will never seek Him on our own accord and He must provide the sacrifice to cover our shame.

What were your thoughts? Share on this thread, God bless and have a Wonderfull day!

 Tuesday, Week 1

Thoughts Joshua 1-5: (Historical literature)

·       Overall: I can't help but see the mercy of the Lord all over the place, He was so patient with His people even after all they've done He is seeing His promise through. That this promise had been made 100's of years before reminds me of the difference between Gods timing and ours. God made promises to Abraham, but it was His descendants that got to partake of the promise. 

·       Chapter 1: the command for Joshua to be strong and courageous was not rooted in his own ability but rather the knowledge that the Lord was with Him. I think there's a spiritual principle at work here for us, true strength and courage is always rooted in God...

·       Chapter 2: Rahab is introduced to us as a prostitute and if not for what we know now it's easily overlooked but her role was more important than what she does here. Should would be a link in the chain that leads to the birth of our Lord. From the beginning God took care to show us that He shows no partiality and that redemption is available to all. 

·       Chapter 3: The Lords kindness in giving the new generation their own mini splitting of the Red Sea, in this case the Jordan. They had heard the stories but weren't alive to see it, and God shows them a glimpse, they too crossed on dry land!

·       Chapter 4: The memorial stones, God gives tangible evidences of what He's done. He does this because of our weakness, He knows how easy we forget and in His kindness and mercy He provides us with "memorials" that we can look back at and remember that He is always with us. 

·       Chapter 5: The circumcision was crazy, yes... But the Commander of the Army of the Lord!!!! So I know my thoughts on this, but who do you think it is?

My prayer for all of us today as we head out into the world this morning is that the Lord would make us strong and courageous when it comes to living for Him and pointing other to Him! Looking forward to hearing from you, God bless!

 Wednesday, Week 1!

Thoughts on Psalms 1 & 2: (Songs & Poetry)

·       The Psalms can be tricky to read, they are full of emotion and use a lot of figurative language that we want to be careful to filter through the rest of scripture. However; they are also what we tend to connect with most because of how raw and blunt they can be...

·       Psalm 1: two men, the righteous and the wicked, and how desperately I want to be found as among the righteous. It drives to the gospel where my only hope lies, if I am to be found among the righteous, I must be found in Christ. May we all be found in Christ and counted righteous because of Him.

·       Psalm 2: Our Savior is King! He is the all powerful King who strikes fear into the hearts of his enemies. God laughs from the heaves at our foolishness, but He's given us HIs Son as our ruler and the nations belong to Him. With all going on in our world today, I pray that our earthly rulers would turn and submit to the King because apart from Him we are doomed, but those who take refuge in Him are blessed.

Thursday, Week 1!

Thoughts on Job 1&2: (poetry)

·       Job summarizes it all for me in 2:10 "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?"

·       Job 1: this is one of my favorite books in the Bible, and as many times as I've read it, this time I was struck by the fact that it was God who brought up Job, not Satan. In both chapters God asks, "have you considered my servant Job..." 

·       Job 2: Besides verse 10, it's the extent of Job's suffering that sticks out to me. For 7 days his friends couldn't speak a word to Him because of it. We already begin to see the larger picture forming here, how small we are and this life is in view of the bigger picture. I once said in a sermon that our lives are expendable when it comes to the purposes of God. Job and his family prove this. We really must consider this life in light of eternity. 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts... God bless and have a wonderful day!

Friday, Week 1

Thoughts on Isaiah 1-6: (prophecy)

·       Oh boy... 6 chapters is a lot and this being prophecy there's a lot of room for error, so I'm going to be short and hit the key themes that stuck out to me...

·       Judgment - the people of God have been unfaithful, repeatedly turning from Him and God is bringing judgment upon them. Their worship is no longer accepted (chapter 1). They have trusted in man and idols rather than God (chapter 2 , 3, and 5) and God is calling in what they owe Him, everything.

·       Redemption - But even in all this, Gods judgement is for the purpose of redemption. It's to call His people back to Him. He declares judgement but also calls to repentance, gives them a way out (ch.1, 2,4,and 6) 

·       Consummation - Ultimately there will be this day, in which a branch, Jesus, will come and all will look to Him. He will be the salvation of all of Israel. This King was in the heavens. ruling in the day of Isaiah and He is in the heavens ruling now, He took the guilt and atoned for the sin of Isaiah and offers the same to those who repent and trust in Him today. 

Hope this was helpful. I know reading prophecy can be hard, and there is the temptation to read into prophecy what is going on in the world today. Please, don't do that! I do see correlations with the judgment that Isaiah speaks of with some of what we have going on today, but that doesn't mean what we see is infallible. History will tell us and when we stand before the Lord we will know. The application for us is in knowing that God doesn't change and if it was wicked then, it is wicked today, and God CAN still judge us for it, but let's pray He doesn't and that He will continue to use the church as His mouthpiece to call the world to Repent and believe the Gospel. God bless...

Saturday, Week 1

Thoughts on Matthew 1&2:

·       I recently preached through just about all of Matthew 1, you can go to www.truthnlife.net if you want to check those out. Two separate sermons, Christmas everyday, and the Cost of Christmas.

·       But here's what stuck out this time, this poor young couple, they traveled to Bethlehem, then Egypt, then back to Galilee to land in Nazareth all within the first few years of Jesus birth. While at the same time every 2 year old and younger boy was murdered, think about those parents to and what they went through. Here's my point, this is God's world and His story, He is moving all the pieces and it's always our lives for His plan not His plan for our lives. The deaths of those babies, the moving around for the young Jewish couple with the baby Jesus, all of it had a purpose, in all of it God was bringing about a greater good, working things together and none of it would compare to the sinless and perfect Son of God taking on the sin of the world, and dying a sinners death. It pales in comparison... Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below, praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost...