Holy Rambo

2 Corinthians 11: 5-11 It seems Paul was considered to be a less than desirable teacher. He was not a polished orator. He was not up on the latest styles. He just taught. He let his "superior knowledge" shine rather than his oratory. The Corinthians seemed to have been caught up in the fashion of the day, however. Paul calls these special people "eminent apostles" (NASB), or "super-apostles" (CSB). Whatever these folks were teaching, it was not the gospel Paul had spent 18 months teaching them! Imagine investing a year and a half in a group of people and having them follow someone else because they're just more charismatic! It's interesting to observe how we decide who is worth investing our time in. When I was in High School, I was in the band (yep, full-on band geek). Our band director charged a whopping one dollar for admission to our concerts. He didn't want the ticket to get in the way of family coming to hear us perform, but people viewed...

 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 I am especially struck by the image of the church in this passage. Verse two says "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin." (NASB) In our human relationships, purity is seen as something that must be preserved and protected, for once it is lost, it is gone forever. The church, however, is populated by people who were born impure and are purified and continue to be purified by the Holy Spirit by the power of the blood of Christ.  Paul's concern here is that silver-tongued preachers of a different gospel have captured the imaginations of the church at Corinth. Though he spent a year and a half with them, grounding them in the one true gospel, they followed ideas that sounded good to them, but which represented a different message than the one Paul had presented.  We, today, have an advantage over the folks at Corinth. We have the benefit of the collected ...

November 16, 2020 DDG, Unit 26, Session 4, Day 1 -  Mark 14:27-31 I sometimes wonder how we would respond if Jesus were to make some prophetic announcement about my own life or ministry that indicated a failure of this magnitude. Or, to be more realistic, if my supervisor or my pastor came and said, "I know I gave you this task, but you are going to fail." We spoke yesterday about how God is constant and reliable. We talked about how Jesus demonstrated that, even when faced with a cross...even when He desired another path, He chose obedience. In today's Day 1 devotional, We are presented with some common examples of how we may fail Christ, and a poignant question:  "In what areas of life will you be a witness to the gospel rather than abandoning your allegiance to Jesus?"  It's a hard question, but one deserving an answer. What do you see coming up in your day today? How can you anticipate a Christ-honoring response? How will you take time to prepare for the...

  Luke 15:1-7 Is there someone who really gets under your skin with bad behavior, or a lousy attitude? Do they strike you as being beyond "saving?" Can you imagine yourself sitting next to them at church? Can you imagine them coming because you invited them? In today's reading, Jesus is being criticized for making friends and hanging out with "sinners." In today's reading, Jesus responds in typical fashion. He tells a story. In the first of three parables He tells in answer to the Pharisee's complaints, he talks about who leaves everything to go looking for one lost sheep. The thing is, we are "those people." At least we were, and some of us still are, even if you've been going to church your whole life. The simple truth is, there is no one beyond the reach of God's love, and we do not have the luxury of deciding they are.  Lord, help us to see "those people" the same way You do. Help us to remember that we were once them, and...

DDG, Unit 25,  Session 1, Day 2 - Matthew 13:10-17 Well, I don't necessarily agree with Travis Tritt about what that looks like, but it truly is a great day to be alive. Go back and read verses 16-17 again. Moses wanted to hear what Jesus would teach. So did Abraham, David, Elijah. Heck, even John the Baptist wanted to hear it. I know people sometimes get frustrated with this passage. It somehow seems unfair that Jesus should teach and not make his meaning clear. Well, beyond fulfilling prophecy, I don't really know what that was all about. This I do know. We came along after that, and Jesus wants us to understand. We are servants of a Kingdom, with a capital "K." He is in control He stands before the Father who created it all, and rules over it all. How are we processing that into our thinking and feeling? What distracts us from the Kingdom and its work. Are we trusting people to accomplish the things only God can accomplish? More importantly, are we giving allegianc...

DDG, Unit 21, Session 2, Day 1 – Isaiah 61:1-7             In Luke chapter 4, Jesus takes a stop in the early days of his preaching earthly ministry to return to Nazareth. He is in the synagogue on the Sabbath and, as is customary, he is offered a scroll from which to read; in this case Isaiah. Jesus turns to what we call chapter 61 (the chapter and verse designations in scripture were not added until the mid-16 th century). It is part of a beautiful section of Isaiah’s prophecy. The chapters leading up to chapter 60 are a lament of the sins of Israel and God’s silence in response to their cries for relief. Chapter 59 ends with God’s promise that He maintains His covenant with Israel, His Spirit is on them, and His words are in their mouths. Out of that promise, begins a description of how God will bless Israel and restore her glory. It is from this section that Jesus read: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, ...

DDG, Unit 20, Session 4, Day 1 – John 1:19-34             Today’s Gospel Project Daily Study makes an incredibly profound point. Once we become acquainted with the basics of Christian doctrine and practice, we often want to move on to the “deeper” things. I think there has been a limitation in the way we have prepared Christians for their walk with Jesus when we can say that we understand the core of Christianity and are ready for “more,” whatever “more” means. One of the most challenging days I had as a believer came when I realized that the deepest truth of Christianity was encapsulated in the words of a hymn we relegate to children. “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.” It is one thing to say that we have heard this truth and accepted it. It is something else entirely to say I have experienced it in its fullness and have learned to live it out in all its particulars.       ...