Holy Rambo

 Luke 1:34-38 (ESV) And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.   Explanation It is easy to become too familiar with certain Bible stories, and the stories around Jesus’ conception and birth certainly rank in that category. In this passage, Mary isn’t just finding she’s going to have a baby under the most unusual circumstances. God is going to fulfill His greatest prophecy. Israel’s messiah is to be born. She, of course, is confused about the mechanics of the promise, as...

Luke 1:14-17 (NIV) He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  Explanation In Luke 1, we begin with a brief explanation of why Luke is writing this account of Jesus’ life and ministry and for whom he is writing. He then immediately goes to the story of the conception of one baby who was to be named John. The whole story of this baby’s conception is interesting and a little fun, as Zechariah and Elizabeth, John’s parents are older and have had no children Zechariah is performing service in the temp...

  HIGHLIGHT “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34 NASB 1995) EXPLAIN At the top of the hierarchy of needs are food, clothing, and water. Threaten any one of these and your whole life becomes focused on that one thing. It is almost like the same way a physical injury will focus your attention on that pain. Before the highlighted verse, Jesus has run through a series of admonitions to not be divided in our attentions. Our focus is to be on God and His Kingdom and not on the accumulation of wealth. He brings the section to a definite point beginning in Matt. 6:25-34. In a series of illustrations, He displays how mindful God is of not just the needs of all His creation, but how He supplies both sufficiency and beauty. Are you worried about food? Consider the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or store. Yet they are fed. Worried about clothing? Consider how beautiful the lilies are, even though the...

 Philippians 3:1-11 I love dogs. We had some when I was little. I have one now. They were calm, friendly, happy animals. My current dog, Mister Boots, is a mostly-blind Shih Poo who doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his body. For thirteen years, though, I owned a Jack Russel Terrier who, while mostly wonderful, had a habit of turning on me unanticipatedly and biting me. I have the scars to prove it. I find it interesting that Paul begins this section of Philippians with the warning…” Beware of the dogs., beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision…” (Phil 3:2 NASB) The Daily Devotional Guide goes into some detail about Paul’s use of a dog to describe those people who are false and dangerous. They weren’t seen as beloved pets and family members. They were curs who ate garbage and harassed people. And, what made these people that way? They trusted in their own accomplishments. Their confidence before God was in the things they had done and the kind of people they ha...

Unit 18, Session 1, Day 1, Psalm 40 Waiting is hard in the best of circumstances. Waiting when there is danger and no apparent relief must be frightening. Mordecai learned of the decree against the Israelites and planted himself outside the King’s Gate in sackcloth. He waited for Esther to notice he was there. He waited while she tried to get him to dress appropriately to enter the gate and while he refused. He waited while he convinced Esther to intercede with the king. He waited while she fasted. He waited while she had the king and Haman to dinner…twice! But he waited with confidence that his God was with him and would rescue His people.