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Pieces of Love
Isaiah 52:13-53:12, John 15:7-21, Luke 1:68-79 This passage in Isaiah does not use the word love. In fact, it sounds that God is cruel. This passage does not use the word love. It preaches and lives it from its very core. How? Through Jesus. Only through Jesus was such a horrific event transformed from terror-inducing
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Flourishing Love
Psalm 36, Psalm 42, Psalm 52 We see people all around us who do not believe in God. There are those who know of God, but do not have a relationship with God. There are those whose relationship with God has been confused by the world or others. There are those who knew God, and
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Embracing Difference
Genesis 29:18-35, Deuteronomy 10:12-22, Psalm 5 Jacob found himself in a strange situation. The wife he thought he had spent 7 years of his life to earn the right to marry was not the one his father-in-law had presented to him. Laban set up a dysfunctional marriage (two, actually) by doing this. The sisters would
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Joy in Redemption
Genesis 25:25-34, Exodus 15:12-18, Psalm 23 The family life of Isaac and Jacob—the patriarchs of the tribes of Israel—is not ideal. Favoritism of love is shown. Despising of family and property is displayed through hunger. This is not a family form to follow. God’s Word often shows that the people that God chose to carry
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Abandoned to Joy
1 Chronicles 15:11-29, 2 Samuel 6:16-22, Luke 15:4-32, 1 Peter 1:3-9 Have you ever leapt for joy? David did. He and his men were proudly and joyfully bringing God’s Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. In Hebrew, the underlying emotion of all David’s celebrating/leaping/whirling/skipping is joy. David is so filled with joy, he expresses it
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Joy Refill
Psalm 47, Psalm 48, Revelation 19:6-9 “…God ascends among shouts of joy…” Psalm 47:5 “…[God’s] holy mountain, rising splendidly, is the joy of the whole earth…” Psalm 48:1 “Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory because, the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself.” Revelation 19:7 All around
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Beyond Hope
Luke:1:46b-55, James 5:7-10, Hebrews 12:1-2 Mary’s song/poem of praise is often called the Magnificat in the Protestant/Roman Catholic tradition, or the Ode of the Theotokos (Bearer of God) in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is a joy-filled response to God by Mary that appears to be a response to Elizabeth’s joy-filled pronouncement of the Sprit-filled
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Joy and Expectation
Job 33:14-30, Psalm 126, Luke 1:35-45 In many respects, joy is both easy and incredibly difficult to truly understand. On one hand, we understand that joy is something much deeper than the feelings of the moment. Yet, on the other hand, we use the word joy often when we really mean happy or maybe happier
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The Grace God Gives
2 Chronicles 30:13-27, Nehemiah 8:7-12, Jeremiah 15:16 The passage in Nehemiah has some depth. First, the people (the Jewish people) were so ignorant of their own history and holy scriptures, that both had to be explained to them. As they learned what their God had instructed them on how to live, many began to weep
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Trusting Joy
It’s when no one is cheering, or people are even grumbling or threatening those who do right, that we come to the hard part of living out our faith.