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Jesus Take the Reel

2000 years ago the church in Rome was one of the most divided, polarized group of Christians when it came to cultural differences between Jews and Gentiles. When they came to the Lord’s table to eat each week each group rolled their eyes at the opinions of the other when it came to their vastly different food habits. Some preferred meat and some only vegetables, both for different reasons and each side thought the other side were idiots, causing a lot of strife and offense among these brothers and sisters in Christ. Go figure, each person had their minds made up and insisted on forcing their opinions on the other to the point that Paul had to waste precious time and ink to address their beef (pun intended).  The more you think about it, this behavior sounds awfully familiar in the age of social media. Even among Christians it’s pretty common to see brothers and sisters publicly and adamantly airing their personal opinions on the daily. One side can’t resist the urg...
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What is our Hope in Life and Death? - Remembering Charlie Kirk (Acts 6-7)

Acts 6:10 "But they could not withstand the wisdom and Spirit with which he was speaking."  Yesterday Charlie Kirk was murdered in cold blood in broad daylight. Why? Because he spoke the truth of God openly, in public. He was unashamed of the name of Jesus and shared the gospel of Christ boldly.  He was brilliant, eloquent, and persuasive but his life was cut short in front of the entire world because of his faith and witness. He was unjustly put to death for the same reasons they killed the very first martyr Stephen in the early Church.  In Acts 6 it says the crowds approached Stephen to debate him but “they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke” (vs 10). Sound familiar? A few verses later in Acts 7, Stephen delivers a master class Old Testament survey (from memory) and argues powerfully from the Scriptures that Jesus was not only the Messiah but that their hard-hearted unbelief in Him was the very thing that caused His death.  Their reacti...
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Holy Treason (Obadiah 15, 21)

“The day of the  Lord  is near    for all nations.  As you have done, it will be done to you;      your deeds will return upon your own head.... And the kingdom will be the  Lord ’s." Obadiah 15, 21 TREASON: “the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government.” Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament, was penned by a no name prophet. His single message is so short you could read the entire thing in less than a minute. Like every other prophet of old his message is warns the world to dismiss God at your own risk: basically, “God sees what’s going on and before long His justice is going to set things right.”  Usually this idea of the coming reckoning throughout Scripture is called “the Day of the Lord”, an event of cosmic, political, and spiritual upheaval where “everything that can be shaken will be shaken” where God’s unshakable Kingdom will ultimatel...
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Temple Temptation 1 Kings 9:6-8

“But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭9‬:‭6‬-‭8‬  Solomon spent seven years and many millions of dollars to build the house of the Lord. He dedicated it with a great feast and prayed one of the most famous prayers in all of Scripture. Yet despite all the money and all the fanfare, God’s response was exactly what you’d expect. The Lord was not impressed with all of Solomon’s accomplishments or his wealth,  nor was He wowed by Solomon’s s...
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Sin Happens Joshua 7/8

“But Israel violated the instructions about the things set apart for the Lord. A man named Achan had stolen some of these dedicated things, so the Lord was very angry with the Israelites. Achan was the son of Carmi, a descendant of Zimri son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.” Joshua‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬ ‭ As the Israelites were celebrating their first victory upset over Jericho, little did they know that one of their own people was committing treason against the Lord.  During the battle a man named Achan stole some cash and a nice outfit though God has given explicit instructions not to. While nobody was looking he stashed the stolen loot in his tent and casually joined in the victory celebration.  “No harm no foul” he thought. “These people aren’t even going to need this stuff because they’re all dying anyway. It’s not that much after all.” Or so he thought.  A few days later as the Israelites go out to fight the people of Ai the next town over they get their butts kicked by a handfu...
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No Greater Calling (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Matthew 28:19-20)

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”  Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (ESV) Jesus was once asked what is the greatest commandment, to which He quoted the Shema from Deut 6:4-5 “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind”. This command He went on to say encapsulated the entire purpose of the Law. God revealed Himself through His Words given by Moses so that His people would know to fear Him, love Him, and obey Him. According t...
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Expensive Grace (Leviticus 5:15-16)

“If anyone commits a breach of faith and sins unintentionally in any of the holy things of the Lord, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation, a ram without blemish out of the flock, valued in silver shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. He shall also make restitution for what he has done amiss in the holy thing and shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.” ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭5‬:‭15‬-‭16‬ ‭ESV The purpose of the book of Leviticus is to help God’s people understand His holiness and how sinful, broken people can approach a holy God.  Back in the Old Testament, before there was amazing grace, God sin must be dealt with entirely by animal sacrifice- you commit the crime, the animal gets the knife.  In chapter 5 God makes it clear that whenever sin was present, death was sure to follow. However, anyone could quickly escape the death...
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