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Worth or Hardly Worth Doing
Psalm 1; 2 Kings 5:1–14; Luke 3:1–18 Let’s reword Psalm 1:1… How happy is the one who walks in the advice of the holy and righteous, who walks on the path set by God, and sits in the company of those who follow the Lord. Sometimes by writing the opposite in the Wisdom/Poetry literature, it
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Transformational Inheritance
In the Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (11th Ed), (1) a legacy is a gift of personal money or personal property, (2) something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor. What a dry way to kill a legacy. Abraham had plenty of personal property and wealth. He was successful from a material point of view.
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Great Expectations
Psalm 55:1–7; Luke 2:21–38; 2 Corinthians 11:18–30 Families are often quick to share their expectations of a newborn (or coming) baby. The pressure can be on pretty quickly. The parents, too, have expectations of their children. They are often called “dreams” or “maybe someday.” As much as this can put pressure on the child, it
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More Present
Psalm 139; Isaiah 12; Matthew 1:1–12 The lineage of Jesus. How boring. Did you think that? You are not alone in that. Many people read the lineage of Jesus or just skip it. Wait, did you skip it? If so, please read it now… Why was that important, you ask? It tells a story. It
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Family Praise
Psalm 145; Isaiah 12; Hebrews 2:6–18 Praise is words that glorify God. The English word “praise” comes from the Latin word “pretium”, which means “value”. We speak or sing in such a way that we express that we value God. The important concept to understand is value. If all you were to hear from a
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Comfy Story
Psalm 72; Isaiah 60:1–6; Micah 5:1–6; Matthew 2:1–12 The richness of the story of the Magi could probably fill volumes. Magi were people who retained, studied, and added to ancient knowledge. In many respects, they were a combination of priest, counselor, academic. They would be the people who advised the rulers but were probably not
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Knowing Whose
2 Chronicles 6:32–42; Jeremiah 31:7–14 Solomon was ceremoniously blessing the newly constructed Temple. There is a lot of political pomp and circumstance that is part of the ceremony. It would have been expected, and much of the political speech dressed up in religious language had the firm foundation of the people and Solomon being very
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God Uncontained
Psalm 72; Isaiah 6:1–5; Acts 7:44–53 The opening verse of Psalm 72 is a passionate plea to God regarding the transition from David (the king) to Solomon (the king’s son). The plea consists of a having a wise, compassionate, righteous, and feared earthly king of Israel, whose backing is the King of Creation. Up through
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It’s Forever
Psalm 68, Genesis 28:10-22, Hebrews 11:13-22 How often do we look at the world asking, “what’s wrong with the world today?” How often do we look around ourselves asking, “what’s wrong with everyone?” How often do we look at ourselves in the mirror asking, “what’s wrong with me?” Often this question comes when we feel