Uncategorized (Page 12)
Tell Us the *Telos* of the Gatherings
What is the object or aim of our church’s gatherings? The worship of the one true and living Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); the engaging, “with him on the terms that he proposes and in the way that he alone makes possible.” (Peterson, p. 20) We gather for the feeding of God’s sheep, for the encouragement, perseverance, and edification of the saints. We gather to admonish and exhort one another. There are a number of reasons why a local…
Job 20 – (2) Zophar Answers: “The Wicked Will Suffer”
Zophar the Naamathite answered and said; therefore his thoughts answer him because of his haste. He feels insulted by Job and out of Zophar’s understanding a spirit answers him. He asks Job if he knows that from the beginning that man was placed on earth that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is for a moment. If the wicked/godless is as high as the heavens he will eternally perish like his dung and people…
Summaries & Thoughts on Matthew
Below are links to all the posts of chapter summaries and brief thoughts on each chapter of Matthew: (1) Matthew 1 – Jesus’ Genealogy (2) Matthew 2 – The King as a Refugee (3) Matthew 3 – John the Baptist, Jesus’ Baptism (4) Matthew 4 – The Temptation, Preached, Called (5) Matthew 5 – Sermon on the Mount, Part 1 (6) Matthew 6 – Sermon on the Mount, Part 2 (7) Matthew 7 – Sermon on the Mount, Part 3 (8) Matthew 8 – Jesus Has Authority! (9) Matthew…
Summaries & Thoughts on Acts
Below are links to all the posts of chapter summaries and brief thoughts on each chapter of Acts: (1) Acts 1 – Jesus’ Ascension, Church Gathering, Matthias the 12th Apostle (2) Acts 2 – Pentecost, New Testament Church (3) Acts 3 – Healing the Lame Beggar & Peter’s 2nd Sermon (4) Acts 4 – Arrested for Preaching Jesus, Praising God, Preaching the Word, Unity of the Church (5) Acts 5 – Ananias and Sapphira, Arrest and Freeing of the Apostles…
Partying Your Way to the Judgment of God
As we prepare to think about God’s Word from Daniel 5 this coming Sunday, here is a visual attempt by Rembrandt to capture the fear of Belshazzar as a hand writes a message about his coming destruction. Even as God warns, he parties in unbelief and mocking God and His people. As Dale Ralph Davis writes: [A]fter reading the first verse of Daniel 5 we may assume that [alcohol/drunkenness] is the problem here – nothing but a royal debauch featuring…
An Apple In a Bottle
Before we start our Sunday evening gatherings we’ve been reading Charles Spurgeon’s autobiography. Here’s part of what we read last night: I remember well, in my early days, seeing upon my grandmother’s mantel-shelf an apple contained in a phial. This was a great wonder to me, and I tried to investigate it. My question was, “How came the apple to get inside so small a bottle?” The apple was quite as big round as the phial; by what means was it…
Doctrinal and Practical Remarks on Psalm 140 – Wm. Plumer
Doctrinal and Practical Remarks on Psalm 140:1-13 1. This Psalm, like many others, shows that the best men are often brought into great perils by the wicked; so that none but God can deliver or preserve them, v. 1. 2. The wicked continually prove that their hatred is deadly, vv. 2, 3. The evidence is as clear as day. The facts are countless and indisputable. 3. The arts of falsehood, slander and abuse are as old as sin in the…
Exodus 8 – (2nd Plague) Frogs; (3rd Plague) Gnats; (4th Plague) Flies
The Lord told Moses to tell Pharaoh to, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” If Pharaoh refused God would plague the country with frogs. The Lord told Moses to tell Aaron to stretch out his hand with his staff over the rivers, canals, and pools and make the frogs come up. Aaron did and frogs covered the land. Pharaoh’s magicians did the same and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt. Pharaoh asked Moses and Aaron…
Exodus 7 – Moses & Aaron Before Pharaoh, The 1st Plague: Water to Blood
The Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, Aaron your prophet. Speak all I command, Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people go. I will harden Pharaoh’s heart Pharaoh’s heart, though I multiply my signs and wonders Pharaoh won’t listen to you. I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring the children of Israel out through acts of judgment. The Egyptians shall know I am the Lord.” Moses and Aaron did as commanded.…
Exodus 6 – God Promises Deliverance, The Genealogy of Moses & Aaron
The Lord told Moses he’d see what God would do to Pharaoh. God spoke to Moses saying, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty.” They didn’t know God by His name the Lord. He established His covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan. God had heard the groaning of Israel enslaved by Egypt, remembering His covenant. He told Moses to tell Israel He will bring them out of Egypt and…