Are Jesus’ words culturally relevant? In today’s Bible reading in Matthew 19, we are faced with Jesus’ statements on very hot contemporary topics in the Christian Life: divorce/remarriage and sex/gender. Upfront, I want to apologize for this long post. It is by far the longest I have ever written. But like with all of my…
In today’s Bible reading from Matthew 17, we come across a passage that is easy to misunderstand concerning “faith like a mustard seed”. Admittedly, I only came to see a nuance of this a couple of years ago. I was in our Adult Bible Study class at church and a friend brought out this issue…
In today’s Bible reading, includes Peter’s familiar confession of Jesus’ divinity (“You are the Christ”) and Jesus’ statement, “You are Peter and on this rock, I will build my church.” Jesus and His Disciples entered Caesarea Philippi, He asked them who people thought He was. They replied that some people thought He was John the Baptizer,…
I have seen today’s Bible reading* used as a pretext for updating church buildings. I would agree that there is a case to be made and would be in the context of today’s readings. The thought is that we need to “keep up God’s house”. But, the last time I checked, God doesn’t live in…
In today’s Bible reading* God promises a new day when the people of God are gathered from their exile. In God’s judgment and anger, He scattered His rebellious people, sending them far from their homes in Israel and Judah to exile in Babylon in modern-day Iraq. But God says a day is coming when He…
In today’s Bible reading* we see a prophecy concerning the Holy Spirit fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. On that day when the Holy Spirit indwelt Jesus’ Disciples, Peter stood up and quoted part of Joel 2. Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them, “Fellow Jews…
