Who else but Jesus? Would anyone else dare ask a man who had been unable to walk for 38 years if he wanted to get well? Insulting? It certainly could be taken that way, but that wasn’t Jesus’ intent Neither was it something spoken in ignorance of the man’s situation. The text tells us that His question was prompted byContinue reading ““Do You Want To Get Well?””
Category Archives: Opening the Bible
Doing Something For God
The story of David and his desire to build a temple for God is recorded in 2 Samuel 7. By this point in David’s life, a lot of water had passed under his bridge. He’s been: At rest from his enemies, he has an overwhelming desire to do something for God. He was acutely aware of the fact thatContinue reading “Doing Something For God”
Be Warned And Live Wisely
The man who had all he wanted (2 Samuel 12:7-8), decided he wanted something he couldn’t have. This says something profound about the deceitful nature of both sin and the human heart (Hebrews 3:13; Jeremiah 17:9). After all, David was no spiritual slacker. He fought giants and composed psalms. He survived being pursued by King Saul and his 3,ooo troops—his conscience notContinue reading “Be Warned And Live Wisely”
Back To The Garden (2)
5. God sent Jesus to redeem and restore what was lost. Again, we need to see beyond the center of the picture to the edges. This means we don’t narrow or limit the mission of Christ. It was to reconcile man to God, but there was more. Colossians 1:15 speaks of Him reconciling “all things, whether things on earth orContinue reading “Back To The Garden (2)”
Back To The Garden (1)
One of the marks of the inspiration of the Scripture is that even though it consists of sixty-six different books (some quite different), written by approximately forty people, over a period of close to two thousand year years, it is not many stories, but one story. Despite its incredible diversity, there is a transcendent unity thatContinue reading “Back To The Garden (1)”
A Roman Cross And A Jewish Carpenter (2)
If you take this political/religious template and lay it over the New Testament, it opens another dimension of understanding. Jesus’ birth becomes a political event. He was born to overthrow Rome. Not in the civil sense of occupying an earthly throne, but in the sense that He was to be everything Rome was pretending to be.Continue reading “A Roman Cross And A Jewish Carpenter (2)”
A Roman Cross And A Jewish Carpenter (1)
We’re accustomed to thinking about the gospel in terms of the conflict and conquering experienced by Jesus. Whether His opponent was Satan, death, or sin, Christ met with and triumphed over them all. We’ve traveled down the paths of Scripture that develop these truths many times and have benefitted greatly from the journey. But thereContinue reading “A Roman Cross And A Jewish Carpenter (1)”
Getting Started In The Scripture
A Bookish Approach To The Bible A Roman Cross And A Jewish Carpenter (1) A Roman Cross And A Jewish Carpenter (2) Back To The Garden (1) Back To The Garden (2) Digging Deep And Standing Tall Doing It By The Book Dwelling In The Shelter And Resting In The Shadow Exploring Off The CoastContinue reading “Getting Started In The Scripture”
Deliverance In The Wilderness
The summer before I started third grade, we moved into the house that I would grow up in. It was in the downtown area of a small town. We could walk or ride our bikes anywhere we wanted to go. For an eight year old, this was heaven. There was a baseball field just around the corner and up theContinue reading “Deliverance In The Wilderness”
Big Wheel, Little Wheel
Grace is a gift (Romans 5:15ff). It is freely given (Romans 3:22-24; Ephesians 1:6). It cannot be earned or merited. It is undeserved. Like oil and water, grace and these things are mutually exclusive of each other. If it can be earned, it’s not grace. If it is of grace, then it cannot be earned. This is exactly the point Paul makes in RomansContinue reading “Big Wheel, Little Wheel”
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 