Who is Truly Blessed?
Our world calls people blessed when they're successful, secure, admired and in control. In contrast, in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5), Jesus describes people who know their need before God, who grieve over what is wrong with the world and refuse to dominate others with their strength. These are the ones, Jesus says, who are truly blessed and whose reward will be great in heaven.
The Testing of God Reveals the Heart
The testing of God reveals the heart....but, of course, this sentence has a double meaning. Firstly, how will you test God — how will you find out if God is true and good and whether he loves you? But secondly, how will God test you — are you true, are you good and do you love him?
Do We Give to God What Is God's?
In Matt 22, Jesus is publicly questioned by the Pharisees, Herodians and Sadducees: questioning designed to trap him in his words, stir up division and diminish his authority and popularity. Jesus not only avoids their trap, but he exposes the assumptions beneath their questions in order to reveal deeper truths about God, our responsibilities in the world and our hope beyond death.
Come to the Wedding Feast
Who will be chosen by God to be part of his kingdom? In the parable of the wedding feast (Matt 22), Jesus teaches that God wants His kingdom to be full of joyful people and the invitation to come is offered freely, but we can't presume to attend on our own terms.
Sing Praises
God's people are called to be both a remembering people (v5) and a telling people (v1). Psalm 105 begins with thanksgiving (remembering) and ends with praise (telling), and that is where the remembering of God's people should always lead...not merely to reflection on the past but to worship, thanks and praise to God in the present. Where do you need to remember God's faithfulness to you today?
Sabbath | Part 4: Worship
How we spend our Sabbath reveals what we truly worship. In Christ, we have both the freedom and the responsibility to discern what God wants us to do with his gift of Sabbath. Every weekly gift of rest from God, one day in seven, is a foretaste of the feast to come and the rest he will give us forever.
Sabbath | Part 1: Stop
The rest we long for, what we ache for, is not another sleep in, it's not even another holiday in Fiji, it's not a minimalist phone...true soul rest is found in Jesus alone.