This blog is Pastor Jay's weekly musings about God's Word, God's world, and God's call to our culture. We hope they encourage, challenge, and inform you. Sign up to recieve them in your email.
Sometimes when we are really feeling righteous, there are certain statements that roll off our tongue and smash down on those whom we are confronting about sin. One of those statements is that God is more interested in our holiness than our happiness. We poke them in the eye with this statement, hoping to make them see that if they are going to know and follow God, then ...
Keep ReadingThere is a special literary device in Hebrew scripture that you find occasionally, especially in the poetry passages. This device is called a Chiasm. Since the writers didn't have a way to put things in bold or italics, this was a devise to highlight and emphasize. To understand how this devise works, think of it as a literary pyramid. You have several statements or word...
Keep ReadingLast Sunday I preached through the Ephesians 6 passage detailing the relationship between children and parents. The commands are clear. Children are to obey and honor. Parents are to discipline and instruct. These were things that were filled out in the sermon. However, there is one point I did not fill out properly. I would like to correct that in this blog. It has to ...
Keep ReadingLast month I posted a blog about the surprising depth of foolishness there is in being wise in one's own eyes. We saw this in an astonishing way in Proverbs 26. In that chapter, Solomon relentlessly rubs our nose in the foolishness of the fool. Could there be anything worse than being a fool or even being around a fool? Verse 12 was the shocking answer. Yes, there is som...
Keep ReadingJust asking this question is almost blasphemous in our culture. Today's culture says that dreams are what empower you, animate you, and are the reason to get out of bed in the morning. Not having dreams for your life is considered the only real problem. Since the church is notorious at absorbing current culture, but with a 5-10 year delay, it therefore says the same thin...
Keep ReadingPop quiz: If you could have anything you want right now, what would it be? Don't think about it. Answer immediately with whatever is your most responsive desire. Do you have it mind? Now let's test how worldly you are. I want to try to lay out some categories of possible answers. First, the materialistic answer. If you are wanting things and stuff then you are shot thro...
Keep ReadingUnintended consequences. That is what you call those events which, after certain choices, come like a bolt from the blue. You don't expect them, because the consequence seems unrelated to the original action. Slap a Gorilla, and you will get torn into like a bag of Doritos. That is not an unintended consequence because you can basically see that coming. But if you get ...
Keep ReadingWhile normally I can only accomplish one thing at a time, I do enjoy the killing of two birds with one stone. It makes me happy when I can turn one errand into the accomplishment of three or four. It doesn't always work like that, but it is nice when it does. The magnificent smart phone has given us a help with this. It has made listening to books or sermons while we jog...
Keep ReadingThis last Sunday I preached from Ephesians 5:15-18. It is the fourth "therefore" (4:25; 5:1,7,15) and the fourth instance of "walk" (4:17; 5:2,8,15) that has been driving our sermons since 4:17. The climatic command in the passage this week is wonderfully important: "be filled with the Spirit". However, in my studies I saw something I had not seen before. It involved the...
Keep ReadingGrumbling is everywhere and probably because it is one of those habits that often gets a pass. I mean, when you think about it, grumblers could be characterized as perceptive people. They are quick to recognize problems and quick to air why those problems are problematic. You can't really deny there are problems. This is a broken world after all. Sin really has ravaged...
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