Our scriptures divide the history of mankind — and the history of our earth — into three great phases, three “versions”: three great updates of the operating system. Earth, version 1.0, ran from the moment God said, “Let there be light,” until the moment God closed the door of Noah’s ark and the flood judgement […]
This time Paul really does finish his letter…and reveals the true source of joy. Paul finishes his letter…then decides to keep going. He wants to make sure his friends understand they already have their citizenship in heaven, and that part of the fun is unwrapping that gift! Paul tells his friends that tolerance is a […]
So the Book of Exodus began with a genealogy: “These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family…” followed by the names of Jacob’s twelve sons. Which, to us, is a horrible way to start a book. So boring, right? But for the ancient […]
The Book of Ruth began with disaster and death. We watched Naomi fall from wealth and happiness and belonging all the way down to the bottom of society where she did not even believe in God anymore — at least, not in the good parts of God. In Chapter 2 we saw that begin to […]
A few chapters ago, Abram fled to Egypt to escape a famine. He had completely lost faith in his new god, and so he tried to manipulate the situation in order to save his own skin: he lied, and he told his wife to lie. Now: that was bad. The problem is, his manipulation worked: […]
So the setting here is still in the small town of Nain. Jesus arrived here last week, brought the boy back to life, word spread, and people came from everywhere to be healed. And it was while Jesus was still very busy healing people that John the Baptist’s disciples came to ask if Jesus really […]
Several weeks ago, as we passed the half-way point in the Book of Exodus, we realized that God’s people had a problem. God had saved the nation of Israel from Egypt, they had crossed over the Red Sea together, and then God had carried them to this mountain on the far side of the eastern […]
Part 2 of the Book of Exodus begins with a call-back to the first moments of creation. The God of Israel challenges the Egyptian obsession with fertility by overwhelming them with a plague of over-fertile frogs. The God of Israel defeats Pharaoh’s magicians, and makes a clear distinction between God’s people and Pharaoh’s people. As […]
We are going to get right into the story today because last week ended on a cliffhanger. Last week, the high priest of the garden-temple broke the covenant God had made with him. He was supposed to protect the tree of the secret knowledge of what it is like to be God. But instead of […]
We are reaching a point in Luke’s gospel that is a lot like that moment at the end of the Lord of the Rings where Aragorn leads the last army of men and elves to the Black Gate of Mordor to confront Sauron. Aragorn’s army is worn out from winning the Battle of the Pellenor […]
Esau produces 12 tribes and conquers a homeland of his own. His kingdom lasts for centuries, and serves a surprising purpose… Jacob inherits a land of peace and safety from his father Isaac…but unfortunately, it cannot last. Judah tries to escape from the reality of who he has become — only to discover that wherever […]
So, friends, I’m curious: why are you here? Why are you a Christian? How are you hoping to benefit by being here today? Here’s another way to ask the question: what if Jesus were to show up here, and take the pulpit, and say, “you know that thing you’ve been praying for with all your […]
All right: we have now officially passed the halfway point of the Book of Exodus. It has taken us 46 weeks to get this far. But it is not going to take us 46 weeks to finish. Including today, we have 14 Sundays left together in Exodus. We will be moving much faster through the […]
In the beginning, we are told, God formed wild animals and birds out of the ground. That is, he made them out of dirt. And then God formed one last creature out of the dirt, and he breathed his own Spirit into that creature. And this creature was especially designed to continue to bring life […]
