It’s an understatement to that the Pharisees and teachers of the law didn’t know what to make of Jesus. They didn’t come anywhere close to seeing Him for what He was. He wasn’t Someone who had come tweak their system a bit here and there—He called for a radical revisioning of things (Mark 2:21-22 and the Sermon onContinue reading “The Joy That Jesus Brings”
Tag Archives: Jesus
Learning To Listen To God (2)
Our distraction bubble is the sum total of things that are competing for our attention. It is sights, sounds and screens to be sure, but it is more than environmental noise. It consists of our inner voice—you know, the one that is constantly telling you what you what you should or shouldn’t be doing rightContinue reading “Learning To Listen To God (2)”
What Happened In The Wilderness
It’s easy to think of Jesus resisting temptation in quantitative terms—He was able to do more than we could. We could have resisted up to a point, but Jesus resisted all of the way. There’s truth to this of course, but it’s not the whole truth and consequently if we treat it like the whole truth itContinue reading “What Happened In The Wilderness”
Letting God Be God
Coming up with a comprehensive picture of the Sadducees isn’t easy. We have no writings from them. Aside from Scripture, our information about who they were and what they believed comes from outside sources (primarily Josephus and the Mishnah). And there’s a sparseness in these that makes almost everything they say more conjecture than conclusion.Continue reading “Letting God Be God”
A Heart Set On Worship
Matthew tells us of Magi from the east who came to see the Christ child. They brought with them gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. William Barclay suggests that gold is what you would give a king; frankincense is for a priest (it was offered on the altar of incense in the holy place—Exodus 30:34); andContinue reading “A Heart Set On Worship”
Overwhelmed By Jesus
Since Hebrews is more a first-century sermon than letter, it begins not with a greeting but rather with an enormously staggering statement about Jesus (1:1-4). This introduction is like the lavish entrance to a magnificent estate. The writer wants his audience to (once again) be overwhelmed with Him. They had been that way before (10:34-35),Continue reading “Overwhelmed By Jesus”
Details That Make A Difference
A significant part of what the Hebrew writer has to say revolves around the truth that Jesus is mediator of a new, better covenant (8:6, 9:15, 12:24). What is involved in this? We know from other texts (1 Timothy 2:5 for one), that Jesus is our mediator and we understand that we come to God through Him. ChristContinue reading “Details That Make A Difference”
Christ And His Outrageous Claims
Knowing what we do about the context of Hebrews (i.e., that it’s written to Jewish Christians who are under pressure from family, friends, and enemies to go back to simply being Jewish), imagine the following conversation in the marketplace between a Jewish Christian (Jonathan) and his non-Christian brother (Micah) in light of what we hearContinue reading “Christ And His Outrageous Claims”
Dogs In Heaven?
Years ago, there was an email making the rounds that featured pictures of two churches fighting (via their marquee signs), over whether or not dogs go to heaven. The email is almost certainly bogus (check it out on Snopes), since the background in the pictures remains exactly the same through all of the sign changes. ButContinue reading “Dogs In Heaven?”
Praying Up
In 1 John 3:21-22, John writes: 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. What does John mean by this? Is he saying God gives disciples carte blanche when it comes to them asking and Him answering? Understand,Continue reading “Praying Up”
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 