Walking with Jesus

Psalm 121, v.1: I will lift up my eyes to the hills – from whence comes my help? Question: When do you lift your eyes to the hills? That is, when does our focus turn upward? Is it when things are going well? When your marriage is great, your kids are all healthy, your job is satisfying…? Maybe. Sort of.   But, I don’t think generic, metaphorical praise is what the Psalmist has in mind. He is writing in a particular context: he is in need. He isn’t on the mountain top looking to the heavens and shouting out the LORD’s worth. Rather he is in the valley. He recognizes his need for “help” and his eyes search the distant hills for its coming. Psalm 23: “Even though I walk [where?] through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, [there is evil, but he doesn’t fear it. why?] because You [who? GOD] are with me; Your rod and Your staff [your correction and your protection] , they comfort me. You prepare a table before me [in good times? in peace? no, but…] in the presence ...

"Leave it now! For thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness." (my translation)  Matthew 3: These words are Jesus' first in the gospel of Matthew. They are words of submission and of authority. First, these are words spoken in submission, in obedience to the will of the Father. They are words spoken in order that Jesus might be identified with us in baptism. They are words spoken as a model for us that we might be identified with Him. This is what God wants, so this is what Jesus will do. It's that simple. However, these are also authoritative words, spoken in the imperative (command) tense. Jesus orders John to stop arguing and just do what God has called him to do. There is no room here for false humility, only obedience. There is no place for negotiation, no compromise. This baptism is John's real ministry. It is God's purpose for his life. It is how he is preparing " the way of the Lord " (v.3). Only he has the authority to wash " th...

Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.   ~ 2 Corinthians 12:10   This video is from Voice of the Martyrs. To learn more about Padina's story and the growing persecuted church, click here .

“Let me tell you what God has done for me.” Psalm 66 is a powerful summons to give the LORD the praise he deserves. It calls for all the people of the earth to give God glory for His mighty acts in history. It refers to God’s victory over His enemies, to His deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt, and to His eternal rule over the nations. It praises God for times of testing, and for the place of abundance. It reminds us to fulfill our vows to the Lord because He is worthy and willing to receive our feeble offerings. It paints a compelling portrait of one to whom praise is due. Yet, this God of the universe, who moves nations and reigns forever over all of creation, also cares for us. Listen as I read the Psalmist’s words in verses 16-20: Psalm 66:16-20 : Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul. I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; But certainly God ha...

But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”        ~ Romans 10:6-11 ( ESV )   This song has been in my heart for years, probably since the first time I head it. It was the reason I bought the CD (back in the day before iTunes or even MP3 players). It was the reason I went to their concert when they were here in town several years ago. It's a si...

Joshua 5:13-6:5 Who Is He ?   There's an amazing character in the story of Joshua that you may never have studied before. He is called "Commander of the Army of the LORD" and he appears in Joshua 5:13-15:   13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”      14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord . Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”      15 And the commander of the Lord ’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.   His appearing is the fulfillment of the Lord's promise to Israel in Deuteronomy 31:1-6:   1 So Moses continued to speak these words ...

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,   nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,   that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’      ~~~ Acts 17:24-28 ( ESV cf .NASB )    

   Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; f or whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.   For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel... I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."   John 5:19-20,30

Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Isaiah 43:4 ( ESV ) Missy’s story : "Missy" is a Senior at a small, rural High School. She's an average student, has 'friends' she isn't very close to, and works as much as she can to help with the bills at home. She'd like to be more involved at school, but she doesn't have the time to because of work. There's a guy she has a relationship with, but he isn't really her boyfriend. He's her older brother's friend, whose away at college, and he only treats her like they're dating when no one else is around. This makes her feel a little used and not good enough, but she puts up with it because they're 'in love'. Her older brother resents their relationship and doesn't talk to her very much anymore. Her younger brother follows his lead and is mean to her, even though he doesn't know why. ...

 Matthew 2: The Journey of the Wise Men: This story is dramatic and powerful. It deserves to be told faithfully. The story of the wise men found in the second chapter of Matthew is full of details we often miss. Somehow, we have combined it with the story of the shepherds and the manger from Mark 2. Naturally! They both relate to the birth of Jesus. But, in our effort to share as many of the amazing aspects of Jesus' birth as we can, we've gotten into the habit of viewing both of these events as part of the same 55 minute Christmas Pageant. (How often do we see a manger scene without "3 kings" in it?) Even more professional efforts to tell the story, like The Nativity Story (a film we own and one I very highly recommend), don't tell the story of the wise men accurately. How can they? In trying to combine all these events into one composite work, we forget that they are not actually the same story. We start to harmonize them, with the result tha...

"22  Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24  But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26  so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27  that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28  So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29  for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30  because we are members of His body. 31  For this reason a man shall leav...