“The word of the Lord which came to Hosea” Hosea 1:1 Came – First the messenger, then the message. God drafts the person before He designs the proclamation. Look over the introductory verses of the prophets. Think about the call to Abraham, Moses and David. Time and again, you will find that God chooses whom…
“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1 Be – The first day of class. All the students are a bit anxious. What will they have to learn to pass? The teacher hands out some paperwork. It’s the final exam! The teacher says, “You have one hour to complete…
“Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1 Imitators – Have you ever encountered a great mime? The genius is exact duplication. Whatever you do, the mime does in perfect symmetry. It’s like watching yourself in action. I saw a movie once where the actor walked in front of…
“and if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” 1 Corinthians 12:26 Rejoice – God is into parties. When one member of His family has reason to celebrate, He calls everyone to join in. He likes all of us to share the…
“and if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” 1 Corinthians 12:26 Honored – Doxologies are not restricted to God. Doxazo is the Greek verb that means, “to give respect, praise, honor or dignity” to someone deserving. You might be just that…
“and if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” 1 Corinthians 12:26 Suffers – Life as it is. It’s not always what we wanted. It’s not always fair or just. It’s not always enjoyable. Life includes pascho, the Greek word for suffer. …
“and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there” John 11:15 Glad – The second Beatitude in practice! Jesus lived by the words he taught. When he gave us the Beatitudes, he provided God’s insight into life as it is. He told us about lucky lives in the midst of crisis. We…
“a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear” Acts 15:10 Yoke – “and the truth shall set you free”. But not if you are shackled to a burdensome yoke. Peter uses the word zugos. The yoke is a restricting agent used to bind two things together so that neither one…
“and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32 Truth – Discipleship and dependence. That’s the truth about freedom. In the last two days we discovered that this great verse is the extension of obeying the teaching of Jesus. We also found out that freedom is about serving a…
“and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32 Free – The New Testament might have been written in Greek but it is not Greek in its thought patterns. When it comes to “freedom”, the New Testament is miles away from our current cultural thinking about “freedom”. We are…
