Don’t Harden Your Heart

In today’s Bible reading*, the writer of the book of Hebrews urges his readers to respond in a positive way to hearing God’s voice. He quotes Psalm 95:7-8 and urges his readers to not harden their hearts if they hear God’s voice. There is a danger to being familiar with God. The danger is that…

Religious Problems

Well, things finally come to a head in today’s Bible reading*. The Judaizers have raised such a ruckus that the church has its first council, the Jerusalem Council, to codify how the church should handle its first major problem. The problem: Does a new convert to Christianity have to be a good Jew to be…

A Strange Response to a Sermon

Preachers are always concerned about how their sermons will be received. We agonize over the Biblical text, wanting so much to be true to what God says. We want our hearers to receive the Word as good soil. (Matthew 13:23) “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit….

A Critical Question

At the end of today’s Bible reading*, we read about the religious leaders questioning of Jesus’ authority: Where does it come from? (Mark 11:27-33) Jesus offers to answer their question if they will answer His own question. “Regarding John the Baptizer, where did his authority come from?” The religious leaders knew that Jesus had just…

A Dramatic Demonic Encounter

A few days ago, I mentioned that demonic encounters in the Bible are relatively undramatic. And then in today’s Bible reading*, we see a very dramatic demonic manifestation with a boy who is thrown to the ground, his mouth foams, he grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. When Jesus casts out the demon, it cries…