HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who Do YOU Say I Am?

Image
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven." -Matthew 16:15-17 Many times as Christ followers in whatever leadership position we carry, or in just being simple laymen of the church we get a big head in believing because of us and what we said convinced someone to accept Jesus. Maybe I'm the only one who gets that way, but I dare say I'm probably not. This past week I came across the story of Peter, then Simon, coming to recognize Jesus as the Christ. He was the first of all the disciples to recognize Jesus as the anointed one; the Messiah. Could Jesus have sensed a little pride in Peter upon his faith? Of course! Jesus was quick to take all accolades and give it to His Father in Heaven. Peter didn't figure it out all on his own. It's intere...
Read more

Spiritual Disciplines: The Way of Blessing

Image
"Listen, dear friends, to God’s truth, bend your ears to what I tell you. I’m chewing on the morsel of a proverb; I’ll let you in on the sweet old truths, Stories we heard from our fathers, counsel we learned at our mother’s knee. We’re not keeping this to ourselves, we’re passing it along to the next generation—God’s fame and fortune, the marvelous things he has done." -Psalm 78:1-4, The Message Some of Jesus' most remembered words is a sermon known as, The Beatitudes. In it Jesus echos many Psalms, and Hebrew text. We know that to understand scripture it usually is tied and referenced with another scripture. This is a rule of hermeneutics, letting the scripture interpret the scripture. John revealed to us in his gospel that Jesus is the Word, and the Word quoted Himself. Jesus used the word, "blessed" in this Sermon on the Mount. We like the idea of being and receiving blessing from God. A blessing in the Greek seems to communicate a receiving of G...
Read more

Hupomone -- A Patient Endurance

Image
I can remember the first time I heard this Greek word, Hupomone (noun). (pronounced hoop-om-on-ay') It literally means remaining under the Divine Presence while being tested. I was sitting in the church my dad was pastoring at the time, a rural church in North Carolina. It's been well over 10 years ago. I was sitting on a pew with my friend Sarah, kinda toward the front. I don't remember anything about the sermon that day, just the word Hupomone. Sarah and I looked at each other and giggled like girls do, and Sarah blurted out, "What's humopone?!" My dad, the gracious man he is, answered her interruption. For the next few months Sarah and I would run around randomly saying, "Hupomone!" several times in a row. It really is a fun word to say. Looking back on it, what a great thing to do. What if there were people running around yelling Greek words at you to remind you, Endure! Endure! Endure! Endure! Endure! People probably thought we ...
Read more