Ear Infections and rescue

Coming on the heals of our discussion Sunday night is this excellent devotion from the folks over at Mockingbird.  This is pure gold.

"We enter the world like this, as babies raging against the world, and we live our lives in much the same way onward—though perhaps sometimes a bit more socialized. And yet sometimes, the more we rage against our various illnesses, the worse things seem to get."

Head on over to read the rest.

Grace and Peace,
Teddy

Jesus, the true and better David

This past Sunday night, we walked through the story of David and Goliath.  In this, we were able to see a young man who was sent by his father to a battle.  This young man then proceeded to defeat a giant that no one else could defeat.  Many years later, another young man would be sent to the battle by His Father and he would defeat a giant that no one else could defeat.  This young man's name was Jesus and he defeated the giant of sin and death that no one else could defeat.

Often times when we look at the story of David and Goliath, we like to picture ourselves as David.  In reality, in this story, we are the children of Israel shaking in fear on the sidelines begging for someone to rescue us.  Thankfully, God sent His son as the rescuer for us.

New York Times best selling author has recently written a book on the story of David and Goliath.  In  this TED Talk from 2013, he gives some interesting background to help put some flesh on this old story.
(Side note, the background on David and his ability to use a sling is based primarily in military history. When he begins to get into some thoughts on Goliath, it moves to speculation. Don't get bogged down in this part.)

The Story rolls on

Last Sunday we covered a ton of ground as we walk through the meta-narrative.  Here's a quick little recap of where we went.

Israelites oppressed

God hears their cry

Burning bush and Moses - Exodus 3

10 Plagues - Exodus 7-12

Israelites leave with plenty - Exodus 12:36

Pillar of Cloud and Fire - Exodus 13:17-22

Egyptians pursue - Exodus 14:5-9

Crossing of the Red Sea - Exodus 14:21-31

10 Commandments - Exodus 20

12 spies go in -Numbers 13:1-33 , 14:22-25 (Promise that all die except Joshua and Caleb)

Wandering in the wilderness

Snake bite (picture of Christ and the cross) Numbers 21:4-9 , John 3:14-15

Moses dies on the mountain and God puts Joshua in charge - Joshua 1:1-9

God uses the Israelites as his judgment on the sin - Genesis 15

God provides Israel rest from war - Joshua 23:1-9

Israelites doesn’t obey - Judges 2:1-5, 11-15

God raises up Judges - Judges 1:16-19

God uses the judge to save His people, he dies and they return to their rebellion

Gideon - Judges 6:11-40

They return to their rebellion - Judges 8:33-35

God delivers them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites - Judges 10:6-9

God hears their cry and delivers them - Judges 11

Samson - Judges 13

Tears a lion - Judges 14:5-6

Power from the Spirit of the Lord

Delilah - Judges 16

Samson commits suicide - Judges 16:23-30

Samuel the last judge - 1 Samuel 7 (back story in 1 Samuel 1 &3)

Next week, Israel demands a king - 1 Samuel 8

This Sunday night, we will look at Samuel and Saul.  Looking forward to seeing you all there.

Storyline Part 2

Sunday night we started out moving from the perfection of original creation to the brokenness of the current world that we see all around us. If God made everything and it was perfect, what happened? We then looked at Genesis 3 for the answer to this question.

Each week at Storyline, we have a box in the back where people can write down questions that they have and we'll take some time the following week to answer them. This week's question is one I think we all will wrestle with at some point.

- Why did God allow sin to happen and why did he not create people without the ability to sin right up front?

The short answer to this is "The Bible doesn't give us an answer." But that doesn't give us much help as we try and understand what is going on. It does give us some clues and insights into some possibilities though. In relation to how sin began in Satan, John Piper says "We are not given the final answer of how the origin of sin in the soul of a holy being takes place. But neither are we left to wonder if God was surprised or if he had to revamp all his plans." One thing is for sure. God is not surprised by anything. If he was, he couldn't be God.

Some say that God allowed these things to happen because he wanted us to love him and love is not forced. God wanted us to have the opportunity to choose good over evil and that is the reason.  Billy Graham has a great article explaining this thought.

Others say that God allowed these things to happen so that ultimately the defeat of Satan would show Christ as the ultimate beauty and good. By triumphing over Satan and all that he has done, Christ is supremely glorified over all creation. Desiring God has a great article explaining this.

While we will never get an exact answer to this question, we can know for certain than God is ultimately making everything right again, through Jesus, for his glory.

Grace and Peace

Starting off

Things all across the world are falling apart.  Whether it’s fighting in the Middle East, the Ukraine, or Mexico, we are reminded constantly of the brokenness of this world. And it’s not just in far off lands. The local news is repeatedly bombarding us with stories of struggle and strife here at home. If you’re anything like me, you’ve wondered constantly if there is any solution to this mess or if there is way that it will all get better.

Throughout history, people have looked to the Bible for answers to these problems. But in our current times, there are conflicting messages about what the Bible teaches. On Sunday nights, we are going to be gathering together with folks from different backgrounds to see exactly what God is sharing with us in His story. We will gather together to look at the big picture of what the Bible teaches and see how that intersects with our current world. This will not be a time where we just sit and listen to someone talk to us about what the Bible says, instead it will be a conversation where we can ask questions and really wrestle with the things that the Bible teaches. We will be gathering in the Gym of the Family Ministries Center here at Mount Carmel at 6:00 pm. There will be free child care for your children so feel free to bring them along as well.