Isaiah 46 / Lord’s Day 35 (Q&A 96, 97, 98) Summary: The Reformation brought some significant changes to our worship practices. While some Reformed churches, like Calvin, will include works of art depicting Christ in human form, long gone are the days of trying to worship God through statues or images. So then what does […]
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 / Lord’s Day 34 (Q&A 94, 95 only) Summary: The first commandment begins in much the same place that marriage vows begin: exclusivity. To really enter into this relationship, God says, it’s not enough to simply promise to love me–like a bride, you must forsake all others. “Having a god” is primarily about […]
Mark 9:38-50 Summary: These verses from Mark’s gospel may seem disjointed, yet together they remind us that not everyone who gives a cup of water in the name of Jesus does it the same way. Yet we are to commit ourselves to follow Christ in all of life. As we live a life of saltiness […]
Mark 9:30-37
Luke 14:25-35 / Lord’s Day 34 Q&A 92,93 Summary: If Jesus’ words are not in themselves striking enough, it adds to their poignancy to consider that Jesus is about as popular at this point as he’s ever been in his ministry. Where we would likely be inclined to rally and stoke the enthusiasm of the […]
Genesis 8:20-9:17 Summary: Imagine the fear and uncertainty with which Noah and his family would have had to live had God not made the promise he does in this text. Could another flood come at any moment and wipe us out…maybe this time for good? But here after the flood we see what becomes the […]
Genesis 6:9-8:22 Summary: The story of the flood confronts us with two realities of which we are often inclined to lose sight: the severity of human sin and the supremacy of God’s holiness. We can only make sense of the story if sin is actually far worse than we’re inclined to believe and God’s holiness […]
Genesis 6:1-8 Summary: Genesis 6:5 famously gives one of the most comprehensive descriptions of human sinfulness in scripture: every intention…only evil…continually. Sin has so thoroughly corrupted God’s image-bearers and His creation that He is described as regretting having even made human beings. Though it’s not a popular notion, we cannot make sense of the flood […]
Genesis 4:17-26; (5:1-32) Summary: Is our culture good or bad? Most of us immediately recognize that this isn’t a very helpful question since our culture, like all human cultures, is a mix of both. We find that same ambiguity in the line of Cain. Cain had some descendants who were pioneers in agriculture, music, and […]
Genesis 4:1-16 Summary: Genesis 4 is an account of life in God’s once very good creation going from bad to worse. Despite God’s gracious warning that Cain’s anger was a prowling force waiting to devour him, Cain let his envy fester to the point of murdering his own brother. We see in Cain the way […]