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Esther 4 Does an "older generation" know some things that a younger generation needs to learn? What might a "younger generation" understand that an older generation is having a hard time with? Welcome to a new week, and the next week, of our My Messy, Beautiful Family series. This week's passage is complicated, so let's kick off the week with an overview. We find oursel...
Keep ReadingWhen Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her (Ruth 1: 18). Yesterday we looked at Naomi and the bitterness that engulfed her following multiple losses and tragedies. While the Book of Ruth is definitely about Ruth, it is also the story of how God works in Naomi's life to heal her deep bitterness. And the role that choosing to "be fam...
Keep ReadingRuth 1 and 4 When it comes to our families, at times the beauty might blind us to the mess; at other times, the mess keeps us from appreciating and receiving the beauty. As we continue looking at Your Beautiful, Messy Family, we come this week into another of the Bible's many "family dramas," the Book of Ruth. And "messy" is far from a strong enough word for what happens...
Keep ReadingMark 3:20-34 (please take a few moments to read this passage now) Our second mother-and-son passage for this week is in Mark 3. Jesus' mother and brothers have become concerned that Jesus has gone more than a bit overboard. Mark is straightforward: His family says, "He is out of his mind." It's a tense scene: Jesus is being mobbed by eager listeners, and is at the same ...
Keep ReadingJohn 2:1-12 (please take a few moments to read this passage now) This week, as we continue looking at Your Messy, Beautiful Family, we'll be listening to two stories of Jesus with his mother (and Happy Mother's Day ahead to all our moms, grandmoms, spiritual mothers and all Important Women!). With two passages for this week, we'll do a Part One today on John 2 and a Par...
Keep ReadingFor those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption [into God's family]. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father," the Spirit himself testifying withour spirit that we are God's children (Romans 8:14-16). Welcome to a new w...
Keep ReadingA few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home So he said to the man,"I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home" (Mark 2:1-11). Hope you're still enjoying good memories and swapping good stories from yesterday's Chatham Serves! As we continue thinking, praying and living our way into our Made on Purpose for a Purpose seri...
Keep ReadingBut someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faithwithout deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds (James 2:18). Happy Monday! We're in the middle of our Made on Purpose for a Purpose series, and gearing up for Chatham Serves on Sunday, April 21. If you've not yet signed up for a Chatham Serves activity, please go to www.chathamserves.org. "D...
Keep ReadingAs for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins following the ways of the spirit at work among the disobedient gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath ... For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephes...
Keep ReadingTherefore, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,for you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). It can be rather hard to know exactly what to do with Easter. Christmas is so much easier: stars, manger, magi, shepherds, people we can relate to (Mary, Joseph) Santa, fir trees, presents, sleigh bells tingling, ches...
Keep ReadingSo it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being;"the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (1 Corinthians 15:45). Welcome to this new week in our Hungry for a Savior series. This series is "parking" in just one chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15, settling into a different section week by week. This week we're focusing on verses 35 - 45. One of the goals of thi...
Keep ReadingFor as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22). "In Adam, all die." Welcome to Week 2 of our Hungry for a Savior series: What a way to start a Monday, a new week! But maybe a good and needed way? Paul does not simply mean that our bodies eventually run out of gas and down we go. If only that were the worst of it! In fact, our physical...
Keep Reading1 Corinthians 15:1-8 Saved by the bell! A stitch in time saves nine! A penny saved Saved at the last moment, in the nick of time! Amazing grace, that saved a wretch like me! This week we begin the second half of our Hungry series. First, we have looked at what it means to be Hungry for God; now, in these weeks leading up to Easter, we'll look at Hungry for a Savior. We'...
Keep ReadingPsalm 63 David spent significant time in the desert, in the wilderness. His shepherd work as a boy likely took him into some remote locations. Jealous, murderous King Saul chased him into and through some wild places. Later in life, and when finally King of Israel, David's son Absalom seeks to overthrow and replace his father, and once again, David finds himself on the ru...
Keep Reading[Editor's note: the passage for this week is Acts 4:23-34, and Deb, Heidi, Elizabeth andDave will be offering their usual insightful and helpful meditations on it throughout this week. Today's Connect Devotional hopes to serve as an entry door into this new series.] It's a familiar experience: there I stand, looking into fridge or pantry, hungry for something. Or I'm ru...
Keep ReadingThen the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and te...
Keep ReadingPaul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months,arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8). When we hear the word authority, we tend to picture presidents, military generals, CEOs, professors, pastors, theologians, experts and the like. Since most of us are not any of those, we can think that this whole idea of having spiritual power in e...
Keep ReadingSome Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?...
Keep ReadingFor our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and againstthe spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). Are we in a war? Not the guns-and-bombs-and-tanks kind of war, but a war that can accurately be characterized as "spiritual"? Paul certainly thought so. But ...
Keep ReadingLord, say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority,with soldiers under me. I tell this one, "Go," and he goes; and that one, "Come," and he comes.I say to my servant, "Do this," and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him,and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faitheven...
Keep Reading[While the CD Team enjoys a Christmas break, please enjoy these devotionals from December 2020 based on scripture readings and Christmas carols.] "Silent Night" and John 1:1-18 If you had to pick "the best" of all the Christmas carols, "Silent Night" would certainly be at or near the top of the list. This week we wrap up this week by listening to this beloved carol and ...
Keep ReadingOf the greatness of his government and peacethere will be no end. He will reign on David's throneand over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousnessfrom that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almightywill accomplish this (Isaiah 9:7). What if Christmas is actually the beginning of a glorious victory celebration? What if we're celebr...
Keep ReadingNow I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church To the Lord's people God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone ...
Keep Readingwe have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven (Colossians 1:4) Hope. A bit hard to define, isn't it? Is it primarily a feeling that things will work out in the future? Isn't it pretty similar to faith and how does it differ? Is the "hope of the gospel" t...
Keep ReadingThe earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the seas (Isaiah 11:9). The Old Testament is many things: long and sometimes hard to understand; divinely inspired and deeply human. It contains some of the world's most soaring writing, and some of the most searing. It feels in many ways like a story in search of its completion. It is. And that ...
Keep Reading1 Kings 11-12 To get a handle on this week's passage (1 Kings 12) in our Age to Age: The Big Story of God's Faithfulness series, we need to understand some background (1 Kings 11). A summary follows, but you would be well served by reading 1 Kings 11-12 for yourself as we start this week (estimated reading time is 5-6 minutes for each chapter c'mon, you can find 10 or so...
Keep ReadingAs for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your namefor they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched armwhen they come and pray toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know yo...
Keep Reading"There was nothing in the ark except ... (1 Kings 8:9) The Old Testament is a challenging read, to say the least! One of the ways we can enter into it is to slow down as we read, to notice what the passage centers our attention on. For example, what word is repeated over and over throughout this passage (1 Kings 8:1-21)? That's right: the ark. Eight times in the first ni...
Keep ReadingIn the beginning, God (Genesis 1:1). What are the four most important questions? No, they aren't "What's for dinner?", "Do I have to?", "Where did I put my keys?" or "Will you marry me?" (though that last might be a top-tenner). After a great Chatham Serves Sunday, we now begin a new series, Age to Age: The Big Story of God's Faithfulness. Why do our Bibles have, and ha...
Keep ReadingJesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: " As you go, proclaim this messag...
Keep ReadingHear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on...
Keep ReadingHear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on...
Keep ReadingThen we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). Babies are so cute (s...
Keep ReadingFor Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconcil...
Keep Readingwe will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:15-16) We've spent the last few weeks considering what is not true about us: we are not to allow ourselves to be define...
Keep ReadingSomeone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" (Luke 12:13-14). This week's passage kicks off with two unnamed brothers arguing about their inheritance (i.e., dad's money, possessions, assets). At that time, the first-born brother would receive a "doub...
Keep ReadingAnd Jesus told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought TO HIMSELF, 'What SHALL I DO? I have no place to store MY CROPS.' "Then he said, 'This is what I'LL DO. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store MY SURPLUSgrain. And I'll say TO MYSELF, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. ...
Keep ReadingThen Jesus said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;life does not consist in an abundance of possessions" (Luke 12:15). Can having too much stuff be as harmful to our spiritual health as having too many pounds is to our physical health? Jesus says, "Yes, absolutely." As we enter the second week of our Inner Strength: Building a Resilient Co...
Keep ReadingThe Parable of the Two Lost Sons (Luke 15:11-32) Hope everyone had (or is still having) a great summer and that you're looking forward to our Fall Kick-off this coming Sunday! Do any core-strengthening exercises? You know: planks, squats, push-ups, crunches, burpees, lunges. (We'll spare you any videos of us doing our core exercises!) From the Mayo Clinic's website: Yo...
Keep Reading"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard,so that we do not drift away how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation."Hebrews 2:1-3 (This week's devotionals, originally published in March 2021, aligned with the sermon series "Jesus, the Radiance of God's Glory" with scriptures from the book of Hebrews.) We got a new car about a year...
Keep Reading"Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark The wisdom from heaven is first of all pure."James 3:5, 17 (This week's devotionals, originally published in January 2021, aligned with the sermon series "Disagree Deeply, Love Deeper Still: True Unity." The writing team prays they will be an encouragement to you.) Chatham Church wants to grow into a "noble ce...
Keep ReadingJames 3:1-18 (This week's devotionals, originally published in January 2021, aligned with the sermon series "Disagree Deeply, Love Deeper Still: True Unity." The writing team prays they will be an encouragement to you.) Ever said anything you regret saying? Ever spoken too soon? Ever failed to speak up when you knew you should have? Ever had someone say something to you ...
Keep Reading"When you were dead in your sins God made you alive with Christ."Colossians 2:15 (We pray you'll be refreshed and maybe even challenged as you read this week's devotionals, originally published in March of 2020.) We're a pretty performance-oriented country. We love high-performance cars, get performance reviews at work, experience "performance anxiety" of all kinds and ...
Keep Reading"God made you alive forgave all our sins canceled the written codethat was against us disarmed the principalities and powers,triumphing over them by the cross."Colossians 2:13-15 (We pray you'll be refreshed and maybe even challenged as you read this week's devotionals, originally published in March of 2020.) We all have favorite colors, right? As a child, when you got...
Keep Reading"I have been crucified with Christ."Galatians 2:19 (Originally published in October 2020, this week's devotionals were part of the Real Identity sermon series.) Why is identity so important, and sometimes so difficult? It's important because it's the way we live: I live according to my understanding of who I am. If I know myself as a zero, a nothing, a mistake that shoul...
Keep ReadingOur current Connect Devotional team is taking a hiatus for the summer, and we'll be reprinting archived devotionals until they return to regularly scheduled writing in August. While the archives won't necessarily align with the current sermon series, they are certainly still applicable. We hope you enjoy these "blasts from the past!" "For through the law I died to the law...
Keep Reading"All the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall treeand make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it." Ezekiel 17:24 [Originally published in August of 2020, this series combined with Pastor Alex's and Pastor Jaime's sermons to kickstart the Noble Cedar story that has...
Keep Reading"This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shootfrom the very top of a cedar and plant it I will plant it I will plant it;it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a noble cedar."Ezekiel 17:22-23 [Originally published in August of 2020, this series combined with Pastor Alex's and Pastor Jaime's sermons to kickstart the Noble Cedar story that ha...
Keep ReadingOur current Connect Devotional team is taking a hiatus for the summer, and we'll be reprinting archived devotionals until they return to regularly scheduled writing in August. While the archives won't necessarily align with the current sermon series, they are certainly still applicable. We hope you enjoy these "blasts from the past!" Ezekiel 17:22-24 [Originally publishe...
Keep ReadingGenesis 32:22-32 Welcome into a new season (summer!), and to the start of a new series, Signature Moments! A "signature moment" is one in which a person reveals something of their true nature and character. During this series, we will look at the ways God encounters people throughout Scripture and "writes his name" on that person or set of circumstances. We begin with o...
Keep ReadingThere is a time for everything, and a season for every purpose under heaven:a time to be born and a time to die (Ecclesiastes 3:1-14). This week we'll finish up our Way of Wisdom series and lay some groundwork for the next series (but no spoiler alerts from us!). Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 (for those of a certain age, cue The Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn") will be our focus text th...
Keep ReadingA generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed (11:25) Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needyhonors God (14:31) Those who shut their ears to the cry of the poor will themselves cry outand not be answered (21:13). We have noted how Proverbs often personifies wisdom as a woman. One of the ...
Keep ReadingProverbs We can't spend any time in Proverbs without running smack into the fool. There's hardly a chapter that doesn't reference this kind of person, this way of life that falls under the heading of "folly," "foolishness." Folly has nothing to do with our IQ, education, bank account or social status. It's possible to be a rich fool, a fool with a PhD, a famous fool. A h...
Keep ReadingAssorted Proverbs What's the entrance ramp to The Way of Wisdom? If someone wanted to get started on this Way, what would be some of the first steps? One of our main texts for this current series is the Book of Proverbs. It's mainly a collection of short, pithy and insightful observations about life, about what works and what doesn't, about wisdom and folly. Proverbs co...
Keep ReadingListen to my instruction and be wise, do not ignore it. Blessed is the man who listens to me,watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. Whoever finds me finds life whoever fails to find me harms himself (Proverbs 8:33-36). This week's passage, the second in our Way of Wisdom series, is also something of a preparation for our upcoming Chatham Serves Sunday. How do...
Keep ReadingPsalm 1 Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame catcher for the New York Yankees when I was a boy, was also famous for reasons that had nothing to do with his skills behind the plate. Yogi had a knack for mangling the English language. He became famous for "Yogi-isms" such as "It ain't over 'till it's over," "It ain't the heat, it's the humility" and "I really didn't say everything I sa...
Keep ReadingThen they led him away to crucify him (Matthew 27:31). Unlike nearly all of our modern movie versions, the four Gospel writers are remarkably restrained about Christ's crucifixion. Crucifixion was both too familiar and too terrible to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John's original audiences for any details to be needed. As the Gospel writers, the apostle Paul, and the whole New...
Keep ReadingSome Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see,your guilt remains" (John 9:40-41). This story is a fun one to step into. Take a few moments to read through it (John 9:1-41) now, to make sure that you're in on the fun and get all the j...
Keep ReadingJohn 3:1-17 Between now and Easter (April 9), we're in a series called Step into the Story. "The Story" into which we are invited to step is, of course, the story of Jesus. It is a very, very big story, much larger than we know! This week we step specifically into a story about a late-night meeting between two rabbis. One, Nicodemus, is older and a member of the Jewish r...
Keep ReadingJesus could not do any miracles there And he was amazed at their lack of faith (Mark 6:5-6). Wait, what? Jesus could not do any miracles on this particular visit to his hometown of Nazareth? How could you tell if someone was living supernaturally or not? Would there be some kind of holy glow or aura about them? A halo? Angels hovering all around? CGI-type waves of energ...
Keep ReadingPeter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captiv...
Keep ReadingNow an angel of the Lord said to Philip The Spirit told Philip the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the Gospel until he reached Caesarea [then, about twenty years later, when Paul and company are traveling] we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist [and] his four unmarried da...
Keep ReadingWhen Peter saw [the crowd gathering], he said to them, "Men of Israel,why does this surprise you? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,the God of our forefathers, has glorified his servant Jesus" (Acts 3:12-13). Living supernaturally begins with living normally. This week's passage (Acts 3:1-20) in our Living Supernaturally series falls nicely into two "scenes" or "acts....
Keep Reading"The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to "(Luke 4:14 ff.). Welcome to a new week, a new month, a new year, and a new series: Living Supernaturally! Since that word supernaturally can get us going in all kinds of directions, let's stay close to this week's passage. This inaugural passage of our new series (Luke 4:14-22) narrates the inauguration ...
Keep ReadingThe angel said to Zechariah, "Do not be afraid; your prayer has been heard " (Luke 1:13). [Editor's note: we welcome Elizabeth Lynberg to our CD writers' team! Look for her initial contribution later this week.] Things quiet down a bit, in this week between Christmas and New Years' as 2022 winds down to its last few days. This is the last of our Unspeakable Joy series, a...
Keep ReadingThough you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now,you believe in him and are filled with an unspeakable joy (1 Peter 1:8). As we approach Christmas and the culmination of our Unspeakable Joy series, let's notice the noise of the story, as we're given it in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The first Christmas, the real one, had its unique...
Keep ReadingIn those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken (Luke 2:1). Was the first Christmas impossible to miss? I'd venture that around 99.99% of people alive at the time missed it. I doubt Caesar Augustus, the most powerful man of the time, ever heard of Jesus of Nazareth. After all, Rome's first and arguably greatest Emperor died when Jesus was onl...
Keep ReadingThe rising sun will come to us from heaven, to shine on those living in darknessand the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace (Luke 1:78-79) Zechariah has some things to say, but he's had to wait a long time to say them. One must learn to watch one's words when responding to the seemingly impossible angelic announcement that two quite senior citizens w...
Keep ReadingAt that time Mary got ready and hurried to the hill country of Judea (Luke 1:39). If you ask me what time it is, my answer comes easily: I look at my watch, a calendar, my phone, my microwave, car dashboard, time and temp signs outside banks. It's always easy to know what time it is! Or is it? What happens if we change the question, from what time is it? to whose time i...
Keep Reading"Herod was furious, and gave orders to kill When the magi saw the star, they were overjoyed. When they saw the child with his mother Mary, they bowed down and worshiped him and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."(Matthew 2:16, 11) When God does something, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Depends on where you're sitting, what you're trying to p...
Keep ReadingAbraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob Azor begat Zadok, Zadok begat Akim, Akin begat Eliud (Matthew 1:2, 14). Have you ever known anyone who had Matthew 1:1-17 (the "begats") as a "life verse"? Me, neither. And this passage sure is a strange way to kick off a series titled Unspeakable Joy! Matthew's three sets of "fourteen generations": after the first few verses, most...
Keep Reading"A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham "(Matthew 1:1) Welcome! It's a new season and a new sermon series, Unspeakable Joy. As we enter these weeks of preparation and anticipation leading up to Christmas, we want to explore what joy is, where it "comes from," how to live in it. A genealogy could be a good place to start. We're late...
Keep ReadingFor there is no difference between Jew and Gentile the same Lord is Lord of alland richly blesses all who call on him How can they hear [the Gospel] withoutsomeone preaching to them? (Romans 10:12, 14) We live in a pretty "preach-y" world, don't we? How many times a day are we "preached" to, by advertisers, politicians, pundits, experts, influencers, and molders of publ...
Keep ReadingAnd how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? (Romans 10:14) I've borrowed the title of this Connect Devotional from a book by my friend, Dr. Erick Schenkel. His book, Everyone, Everywhere recounts his work with The Jesus Film Project and their efforts to make sure that everyone, everywhere is invited to know Jesus personally, and that everyone, everywh...
Keep ReadingNow to each one a manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). We're exploring what it means to be counter-cultural but to be counter-cultural in ways that serve the common good of both our church community and the world around us. Being counter-cultural doesn't mean that, whatever our culture does, we do the opposite. Rather, we must l...
Keep Reading1 Peter 2:4-17 We're exploring how we are to be counter-cultural for the common good. This week's passage starts with a series of who-we-are statements, pivots to talking a bit about who-we-aren't, and finishes with several how-we-ought-to-live commands. (Please take a few minutes to read 1 Peter 2:4-17.) Who we are: Notice that Peter can't talk about who we are without ...
Keep ReadingPhilippians 2:1-11 A new series begins this week: Counter-Culture for the Common Good. That's not just a mouthful; it's also a mindfull and a heartfull! Please take a moment or two now to read through this week's passage, Philippians 2:1-11. Take your time; I'll wait Thanks! There's a lot going on in this passage: exhortation, instruction, theology and a direct chal...
Keep ReadingIf your gift is prophesying, use it in proportion to your faith. If it's serving, serve; if teaching, teach; if encouraging, encourage; if contributing to the financial needs of others, do it generously; if leadership, lead; if showing mercy, do it cheerfully (Romans 12:6-8, slightly adapted). God has made you good at some things. Things you think are "spiritual" and thin...
Keep ReadingHaving gifts that differ according to the grace given us, let us use them (Romans 12:6). You are gifted. And talented! No, not in the sense we use those terms in educational settings. You may not be "book smart" or "school smart" or "good at" math, science, music, art, whatever. But you? You are gifted. And talented! Those gifts and talents? Use them, in the service o...
Keep ReadingCarry each other's burdens each one must carry his own load let us do good to all (Galatians 6:2, 4, 7, 9-10) [Editor's Note: We have a special contributor this week, filling in for Bella, who is busy with school. Keep your eyes posted for that new name, and remember that writers are greatly encouraged to receive your comments!] Our Soar sermon series will culminate w...
Keep ReadingPeter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" (John 21:17) Disqualified. What a painful word to hear. You stepped out of bounds, you bent, broke or played fast and loose with the rules. Or you didn't "measure up," you didn't have the qualifications, didn't, couldn't meet expectations. Despite rationalizations, blame-shifting and self-justificati...
Keep ReadingMark 12:41-44 This week's passage in our Soar series may be a familiar one. Often called "The Widow's Mite" (mite being an archaic term for a small amount, a coin of little value), it tells how Jesus observed a poor widow placing her last two coins into the Temple offering box. Jesus tells his disciples that this woman put in "more" than those who, out of their excess, ga...
Keep ReadingExodus 31:1-11 This week's passage sounds a soaring melody God includes us in the crafting of God's dwelling place on earth! but is followed by a terrible crash and burn. For nearly forty days (since Exodus 24), Moses has been at the top of Mount Sinai, in face-to-face communion with God. Nearly all of Exodus 24-31 is God's instructions for constructing the tabernacle a...
Keep ReadingExodus 1:8-16 Welcome back to Connect Devotional, a daily reflection on the current sermon theme and Scripture passage for Chatham Community Church. We enjoyed a writing break over the summer, but are now ready to get back to it hope you're ready to join us day by day! Before we jump into the passage for the week, I'd like to issue a wide-open invitation to any and all ...
Keep ReadingThis is the final week of our Integrated theme and our time in the Book of James. It's also the final week of Connect Devotionals before we go on summer break never fear, we'll come roaring back in late August! Integrated means our lives have been made whole, put together right, rescued from ruin and restored to fruitfulness and vitality in Christ. Through Christ, we bec...
Keep ReadingIf anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole bodyin check. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters,this should not be" (James 3:2, 10). It's Week 4 of our Integrated series, and James is continuing to bring it. This week's passage (James 3:1-12) begins with a warning: Don't a lot of you seek to b...
Keep ReadingIf you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself,"you are doing right Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the lawthat gives freedom (James 2:8, 12). Wait, what? A law that gives freedom? This week, as part of our Integrated series, we've been exploring James 2:1-13. James goes after the universal human tendency to pl...
Keep ReadingThen Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd Of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" (Luke 5:29-30). Please take a moment to read this week's entire passage! It's kind of n...
Keep Reading"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender, one five hundred, the other fifty. Since neither could pay, he canceled both their debts. Now which one will love him more?" "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled" (Luke 7:41-43). Here's a link to the entire passage! We all say we want compassion and need compassion, but the actual doing of compassion can get ...
Keep ReadingIf this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching himand what kind of a woman she is that she is a sinner (Luke 7:39). Here's a link to the entire passage! [Did you notice: we have begun putting a link to the complete passage for the week at the top of each Connect Devotional. We encourage you to read the whole passage before diving into what we write!] Linus f...
Keep ReadingThe God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live God did this so that men would seek ...
Keep ReadingPaul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hand he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else" (Acts 17:22, 24). Here's a link to the entire passage! Our first two passages in our current Won't You be a Neighbor? series f...
Keep ReadingAs Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him [A woman] came up behind himand touched the edge of his cloak (Luke 8:42, 44). In our current Won't You Be a Neighbor? series, we're looking at the ways God "neighbors" us, and how that needs to shape us in our relations with our neighbors. This week, another Jesus-story about being a neighbor to folks you weren't s...
Keep ReadingBut he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" In reply, Jesussaid to him, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fellinto the hands of robbers (Luke 10:29-30). Christ is risen! This changes everything: he is making all things new! As we continue in the celebration of Jesus's resurrection, of his defeat of and triumph over S...
Keep ReadingIt's Saturday. A spring Saturday, so: yard work? Chores? Kids' school or sporting events? Normal, typical "Saturday stuff." But this is also the "silent day" of Holy Week. Jesus has been opposed, accused and betrayed; deserted, denied and abandoned; arrested, tried, sentenced, tortured and put to death in the most shame-filled, degrading and dehumanizing way possible; b...
Keep ReadingThe stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Psalm 118 This is an in-between week for our Connect Devotionals. We're not at the start, middle or end of a series; instead, we're in something of an in-between moment. Our Fractured series has been moving us towards an important series of days, the week that began with Jesus riding into Jerusalem a...
Keep ReadingThere never was a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD He behaved in the vilest manner Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Have younoticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself,I will not bring this disaster in his day" (1 Kings 21:25-26, 28-29). Perhaps you've noticed: last week's passage on David and ...
Keep Reading1 Kings 21 Sin saddens. Sin is more than sadness and does far more than manufacture and multiply sadness. But as we have spent time these last weeks in the story of Babel's Tower, David's terrible affair with Bathsheba, and, this week, with an entitled, greedy and insecure king, it is hard to avoid feeling overwhelmingly sad as we read each one. This will be the third a...
Keep Reading*Join in CCC's Season of Prayer! CLICK HERE for the prayer guide.* Genesis 11:1-9 A new week, a new-ish month, and a new season (spring!) just ahead and the start of a new series. These weeks leading up to Easter have some contrary currents. On the one hand, winter is ending, spring is blossoming, the days are brighter, longer, fairer. On the other hand, we are moving ...
Keep Reading*Join in CCC's Season of Prayer! CLICK HERE for the prayer guide.* Acts 2 "God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." When they heard this, they were cut to the heart. They asked, "What must we do?" (Acts 2) The beginning of the church, as recorded in Acts 2, will be the final Scripture passage in our Holy Spirit: Presence, Purpose and Power ...
Keep ReadingActs 2:1-41 Welcome back to this new week of Connect Devotionals! This is the final week in our Holy Spirit: Presence, Power and Purpose series, and we'll be looking at the second chapter of Acts. This chapter moves from an upper room to the open public streets of Jerusalem. It starts with a gathering of 120 souls, and ends, less than twenty-four hours later, with a chur...
Keep ReadingGive us each day our daily bread lend me three loaves of bread because of his boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs you wouldn't give your hungry child a snake instead of a fish, a scorpion in place of an egg, would you? How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:1-13). This week's passage is a hungr...
Keep ReadingIf you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! (Luke 11:13) This week, as part of The Holy Spirit: Presence, Power and Purpose, we're looking at, listening to, Luke 11:5-13 (and it wouldn't hurt to start with verse 1). Jesus's teaching here on the Holy Spi...
Keep ReadingDon't believe every spirit test the spirits every spirit that acknowledges Jesus every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God this is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood (1 John 4:1-6). Happy Monday, and off we go into this next week of our series The Holy Spirit: Presence, Power and Purpose. We want to better understand wh...
Keep ReadingAnd I will ask the Father and he will give you another __________to be with you forever the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17). What goes in the blank in the sentence above? And what about all those "blank lines" in our own lives what is it that we most need? As we continue our current series on the Holy Spirit, we'll listen this week as Jesus prepares his disciples for t...
Keep ReadingI am the resurrection and the life whoever lives and believes in mewill never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26). It can be one of the worst places on earth: the fresh grave of one we love. Even in the midst of fellow-mourners, it can feel so desperately and awfully lonely. And perhaps we have ringing in our ears something we heard in church once: "God is never la...
Keep ReadingJohn 11: 1-44 In this week of our Shift series, we get to plunge into a deep and rich passage in John's Gospel (11:1-44). It's a deeply personal and intimate story, as well as a surprising and dramatic one. John organizes his Gospel around seven "signs" given by Jesus. The sign of the raising of Lazarus is the sixth in the series, and points to the final one: Jesus's cru...
Keep ReadingCome, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD (Psalm 34:11). Is there more to worship than we know so far? If so, is God interested in helping us grow and deepen as a worshipping community?If so, are we willing to learn?The answer to the first two questions is an emphatic Yes. Yes, there is more to worship than we know, because there is more to Go...
Keep ReadingMary said to the servants at the wedding feast, "Do whatever he tells you" (John 2:5). One of the mistakes we sometimes make is thinking that Jesus just wants to save us.Before you ring up the pastor and elders, be patient for just a minute.Of course: Jesus does indeed save us from all the power and penalty of Sin and Law and Death.And: Jesus does indeed save us in order ...
Keep ReadingThough the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God (John 1:10-13). As we are r...
Keep ReadingThe Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). God is not like us. Humans are not small gods, and God is not humanity raised to the nth degree.So this idea of "being at home" with God, with God "being at home" with us, faces some massive problems for which there are no earthly solutions. God is Holy, we are not. God is Righteous, we are crooked and bent in so many ...
Keep Readingand there was no longer any sea God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true I did not see a temple in the city The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there is no night there Nothing impure wi...
Keep ReadingThen I saw a new heaven and a new earth I saw the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1-3). Ah, the sights and sounds of Christmas! And the smells, too! Shimmering, sparkling lights; music and carols; cookies, fruit breads, and other such deliciousnesses! A feast for the senses and stomachs!But Christmas poses some questions, too: What do you see? Only lights and tinsel? What ...
Keep ReadingThe Gardener-Father cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples" (John 15:1-2, 8). You've seen it before: a once-beautiful tree that has been "cut back" so that it looks like the owner ...
Keep ReadingI am the true vine you are the branches. If anyone abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will abide in my love (John 15: 1, 5-6, 9-10). As we're thinking this month about Home for Christmas, we listen this week to the last o...
Keep Reading[What God plants] will become a noble cedar, the largest of plants, so that the birds of the aircome and perch in its branches (Ezekiel 17:22-24 and Matthew 13:31-32). Ezekiel 17:22-24, our church's "noble cedar" passage probably was not on your Bible verse memory list before you got involved in Chatham Community Church, right?But then you perhaps discovered that it was o...
Keep ReadingEzekiel 17:22-24 [Editor's Note: We started writing this week's Connect Devotionals when it appeared that we'd be in our new building on December 5. We had decided to take a small break from our current sermon theme and re-visit our church's "noble cedar" vision from Ezekiel 17. As you know, that opening date will need to slide a bit, but we felt that the re-visiting the ...
Keep ReadingThis is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about" (Matthew 1:18). Hope you had a fine Thanksgiving, and took the opportunity to practice some "we are family" ideas from our November sermon theme with your relatives and friends over the holiday. Let's keep at it!Today's CD is a quick advance notice of the important pivot we're about to make into our new series, Home f...
Keep ReadingGive thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his love endures forever (Psalm 136:1) [Editor's note: This week, we welcome Bella Segnere to our CD writing team! Bella is a high-school sophomore at Cary Christian School, and active in our Pittsboro campus. It's great to welcome her voice and do take a minute to thank and encourage her when her first CD appears tomorrow by usin...
Keep Reading"Now if we are children, then we are heirsheirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,if indeed we share in his sufferings that we may also share in his glory." (Romans 8:17) A classic dramatic scene: the reading of the will. Sometimes it's the arrival of a completely unexpected letter: "Your [distant relative] died and left everything to you!" Sometimes it turns out that the i...
Keep ReadingRomans 8:12-17 A new month, a new series: We Are Family. And a new passage to explore, chew on, and digest: Romans 8:12-17.Scripture is a family saga, the family story from which each of our family stories derives. God designed creation for human habitation, but a habitation ordered around family, around life together in families. It wasn't good for first man Adam to be a...
Keep ReadingOn hearing this [please reread John 6:53-59!], many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it? Simon Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:60, 68). God is not who we think God is. God is who God says and shows us he is.Jesus is who God is, God incarnate in our human flesh.Sometimesperhaps oftenwe ...
Keep ReadingJesus said to them, I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever (John 6:53, 56, 58). Good Mo...
Keep ReadingI have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:38-40). ...
Keep ReadingJesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" (John 6:32-33). Hope you had a good weekend! Welcome back to this week's Connect Devotionals! We're deep into John 6 this week, ...
Keep ReadingJesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you" (John 6:26-27). Who doesn't want miracles? Jesus heals sick and broken bodies with a word, with a touch who d...
Keep ReadingThey asked Jesus, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered,"The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:28-29). Let's face it: all of us find it hard to believe some of the time, and some of us find it hard to believe most of the time.We tend to misunderstand what it means "to believe." We picture "believing" as an always secu...
Keep ReadingJohn 6:25-29 John 6 opens with a crowd following Jesus into a remote area because they want to hear more of his teaching, and because they are attracted to his power over sicknesses. Jesus compassionately provides food for this multi-thousands congregation. The crowd reaches the conclusion that Jesus must be the second Moses, the promised Messiah, so they try to force him...
Keep ReadingThey saw Jesus approaching, walking on the water He said to them, "It is I; don't be afraid."Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boatreached the shore where they were heading (John 6:19-21) Jesus walked on water exactly once. Since he clearly could walk on water, why not do so often, even all the time?Just this once, when Jesus climbed i...
Keep ReadingBrian and Kathy Emmet By now it was dark a strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough (John 6:17-18). My beloved New England Patriots Well, no Monday morning quarterbacking here. Instead, Mondays are the start of a new Connect Devotional week. We've just begun a new series called For Now/Forever, and our passage for the month of October is John 6. The chapter be...
Keep ReadingAfter the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say,"Surely this is the Prophet who is to some into the world." Jesus, knowing that they intendedto come and make him king by force, withdrew to a mountain by himself (John 6:14-15). Notice the details.The Feeding of the 5000 is the only one of Jesus' miracles reported in all four Gospels. The outline ...
Keep ReadingJohn 6:1-15 New week, new month just ahead, and a new series begins! Let's go! During October, we're going to take a deep dive into just one chapter, John 6. Which means a deep dive into Jesus. John 6 contains the only one of Jesus' miracles reported in all four Gospels, the Feeding of the 5000. This is immediately followed by Jesus walking on the water. Next comes the ...
Keep ReadingWhen the eleven disciples saw Jesus, they worshiped; but some doubted (Matthew 28:17). Wait, what? The eleven disciples Peter, James, John, Andrew, Thomas and the rest met with the resurrected Jesus and some doubted? Some of these eleven, all of whom had been following Jesus for several years, who had seen him, heard him, watched him heal the sick, raise the dead, walk...
Keep Reading"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.Therefore go and make disciples baptize them teach them I am with you always" (Matthew 28:16-20). A new Monday, a new Scripture, and a last look at our current Let's Go! theme. We're on a mountaintop in Galilee. The entire "Jesus movement" consists of just eleven disciples. Their risen Lord has gathered them th...
Keep ReadingThe midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own (Exodus 1:17, 20-21). The fear of the LORD gets us into trouble, and out of trouble, too. To "fear the LORD" means to keep the LORD always at the cent...
Keep ReadingExodus 1:15-21 Happy Monday, everyone! If I asked you to name your favorite Biblical heroines, I'd bet you'd come up with Esther, Mary, Ruth and others but probably not Shiphrah and Puah. We're continuing our Let's Go! series, which isn't primarily about changing our location or jobs, but on changing the attitude and perspective with which we go into the tumble and spin...
Keep Reading"From now on you will catch men" They left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:11) Peter's business was catching fish. No problem with that; catching fish in a small town on the Sea of Galilee was a good way to provide for Peter and his family. Jesus was about his Father's business, catching Peters. What business are you in? This is not a call to quit your job, or to...
Keep ReadingOne day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets (Luke 5:1-2). My usual role is to write the Monday Connect Devotional. Each Monday, I'll try to give a bit of a bird's-eye overview of the passage, and ...
Keep ReadingWhen the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his robes He said, "Great is the LORD's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us" (2 Kings 22:11, 13). King Josiah was one of Israel's few good kings. During his reign, he repaired the ...
Keep Reading2 Kings 22 How many English words start with the small prefix re-! And the same holds true for our Biblical vocabularies: reform, restore, redeem, reconcile, renew repent. Re- means "again." Life is filled with things that need doing, and doing again, and again. This week's Let's Go! text, 2 Kings 22, is a re- story. God's people have fallen into idolatry again. The T...
Keep ReadingThis is what the LORD says: I brought you out of Egypt But you have not listened to me" (Judges 6:7, 10). The key to understanding why the Book of Judges is so depressing is found in these words from God: "You have not listened to me." Our fast-paced, high-intensity, can-do lives aren't very congenial to listening. Our culture privileges those who can tell us things, who...
Keep ReadingJudges 6:11-35 This week's Let's Go! passage finds us in the Book of Judges. That is not generally a happy place to find oneself, but if we are going to take our Let's Go! theme seriously, we'll find ourselves needing to go into some unhappy places. And find the Lord already there, already at work, as we do in Judges! As the book opens, Israel has entered the Promised La...
Keep ReadingThank you to all our readers! Our writing team very much enjoys crafting these daily readings for the beloved community of Chatham Church. It's a joy and privilege to serve in this way, and we deeply appreciate the positive comments and feedback we receive from you. We'll take a brief break for the rest of July, but we'll be back at it come early August. We're already m...
Keep ReadingThe LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11). Happy Monday! A new week and a new Scripture passage to dive into. This week, as we continue to Make Room in our lives for God, we'll spend some time with Moses. We'll consider again, as we have over the past few weeks, the practices of prayer. (Remember Jonah praying from inside ...
Keep ReadingI looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord (Ezekiel 22:30-31). It's hard to build a wall. A ga...
Keep ReadingFrom inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God (Jonah 2:1). Since we are currently looking at Jonah, this recent news clip was too good to pass up. Earlier this month, Michael Packard, a lobster diver, was 45 feet deep in the coastal waters off Provincetown, Massachusetts, when he was suddenly gulped inside the mouth of a humpback whale. "All of a sudden, I felt...
Keep ReadingFrom inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God: "In my distress I called to the LORD and he answered me You hurled me into the deep But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs" (Jonah 2:1, 2, 3, 6, 8). God uses all kinds of things to invite us into prayer, including the gut of ...
Keep ReadingI have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes (Psalm 119:59). What are my "ways," anyway? My ways are my customary habits, my regular patterns my "default modes," that is, the behaviors I automatically return to, usually without thinking the "rails I run on" my inner instincts and attitudes that get translated into my daily behavior, often withou...
Keep ReadingPsalm 119 all of it? Throughout this summer we'll focus on making more room for God in our lives. Are there things ordinary people like us can do that would enlarge our capacity to be attentive, receptive and responsive to the Lord? No surprise: our answer is Yes! Yes, there are habits, exercises and even some "experiments" that we can try on and try out. But the goal i...
Keep ReadingMatthew 4:1-11 Happy Monday, happy summer! Our new sermon series is going to run all summer, so we'll have to help each other maintain focus as we enjoy a very different summer from 2020! We're so looking forward to making room for things that the pandemic seemed to squash out of existence: travel, family get-togethers, beaches, national parks, barbecues, sports, celebra...
Keep ReadingWhile they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it,and gave it to his disciples (Matthew 27:26). Every single time. Every single time the New Testament refers to the Lord's Table (eucharist, the Lord's Supper, communion) in all four Gospels, in Paul's letters, in the feeding of the five thousand (the only of Jesus' miracles to be recorded in all four Gospel...
Keep ReadingWe end our Community, Purpose, Love series on a high note by gathering on holy ground: The Lord's Table. Jesus gave us a simple but deeply profound drama to reenact regularly. These everyday acts of sharing in bread and cup were intended by Jesus to be a ground of unity for his people but what questions and controversies have swirled round, especially in the past five cen...
Keep ReadingDear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us (1 John 4:11-12). Chatham Community Church is a community whose purpose is to love God, each other, and the world around us. Easy to say, much harder to do! Love does not come naturally. John ca...
Keep ReadingBeloved, let us love one another This is how God showed his love among us:he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him God is love Whoever loves God must love his sisters and brothers (1 John 4:7, 9, 16, 21). Community, Purpose, Love our current themeare connected how? Three equal terms, in sequence: we begin with community, proceed into ...
Keep Reading1 John 4:7-21 Good Monday to you, as we begin week 4 of our Community, Purpose, Love series! Our passage for the week is 1 John 4:7-21; please take a moment now to read through it. This is a challenging passage to write on. But not because there is too little in it; there is too much. John, the author, does not think like us, or write like us. Rather than writing in the ...
Keep ReadingMary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country (Luke 1:34). You are wonderfully and uniquely made in God's image. You are deeply known and deeply loved by God. Jesus calls you his friend, and his Spirit has given you distinctive-to-you gifts so that you can be a difference-maker in the world God loves. While none of us has the particular assignments given to M...
Keep ReadingLuke 1:34-56, Mary visits Elizabeth If we obey God, we'll find ourselves in some strange circumstances, in some unusual kinds of communities. And making unexpected friends necessary friends. This week's passage in our Community, Purpose, Love series looks at a micro-community: just two women, a very young and pregnant Mary, and a very old and also pregnant Elizabeth. W...
Keep ReadingWhen Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby,he said to her, "Woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."From that time on, this disciple took her into his home(John 19:25-27). COVID has messed with so many aspects of our lives. Now, as we are just beginning to slowly and carefully emerge from the pandemic's sha...
Keep ReadingWhen Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby,he said to her, "Woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."From that time on, this disciple took her into his home(John 19:25-27). Slowly the pandemic appears to be loosening its grip. Slowly life is "returning" to "normal." We still have a way to go before COVID is ...
Keep ReadingThe disciples asked Jesus, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" ."Men of Galilee," [the angels] said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky?" (Acts 1:6, 11). I suppose there's nothing inherently wrong with gazing into the sky, especially if you've just been watching Jesus ascend to heaven! But the time comes when continuing to gaze at...
Keep ReadingIn my first book, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach (Acts 1:1) As we begin this final week of our Influence series, we'll move from influences to being influencers. So far, we've looked at being shaped and formed ("influenced") by paying close attention to who God really is, by learning how to come under the influence of the wisdom of God rather than the...
Keep ReadingThe eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture (Acts 8:32). A eunuch is a man whose future has been cut off. In the ancient world, a man would "live on" after death through his offspring. The man we meet in this passage in Acts 8 was "an important official," a man trusted with "all the treasury of the queen of the Ethiopians" (8:27). So he was important, powerful, a m...
Keep ReadingAn Ethiopian eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way homehe was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet (Acts 8:28). God doesn't want you reading your Bible alone. For good reasons! Week 3 of our Influence series has begun, and this week we'll be looking into how the Holy Spirit speaks and shapes us as we listen to Scripture togethe...
Keep ReadingThe spiritual person makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subjectto any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he mayinstruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15-16). It's never a good idea to take an idea out of context. "We have the mind of Christ." Influenced as thoroughly by Western individualism as all of...
Keep ReadingNone of the rulers of this age understood the wisdom of God, for if they had,they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Welcome to week 2 of our Influence series. This week we'll be looking at the interplay of "wisdom" and "Spirit" and "the mind (thoughts) of Christ" in Paul's letter to the believers in the city of Corinth. Corinth in Paul's ...
Keep ReadingBut the Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners " (Luke 15:2). As we've seen so far this week, the parable of the prodigal son is told in response to some religious leaders who are calling into question Jesus' willingness to enjoy the company of people whom the religious people knew to be "sinners." Light cannot enjoy fellowship with darknes...
Keep ReadingLuke 15:11-32 We're kicking off a new series this week: Influencer. We'll start with one of Jesus' best-known and loved stories, the one we call The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). It's a story about how we get lost, how we get found (if we're willing), and the costs of finding. Luke opens this chapter by drawing our attention to three groups of people who f...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus' body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb (Matthew 27:58-61). Don't skip past this day. Yes, spring is upon us and there are chores to be done. The pan...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children (Luke 23:28). This week's Connect Devotionals will be a little different: we won't all be writing on the same theme or passage. Instead, we're looking at Holy Week, each writer choosing his or her Scripture and focus. We're trying to slow down this...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Jesus, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame (Hebrews 12:2). This is the week that changes the world. Arriving today at Palm Sunday, we are about to enter the week on which our four Gospel writers focus the vast majority of their attention. It is as if they say to us, "Yes, Jesus did all kinds of wonderfu...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Faith can sometimes be a little hard to get a handle on. There is the terrible error of a "name it and claim it" understanding of faith that says that the only reason a person is sick, poor and unsuccessful is the lack of real "faith." My obvious lack...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3) A new week and a...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves (Hebrews 10:1). It's Monday, and we begin this third week of our journeying together towards Easter. A sermon series entitled Jesus the Radiance of God's Glory is going to dive into some very deep waters. And you may be finding the Letter to the H...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. (Hebrews 2:14-16) BREAKING N...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers (Hebrews 2:11). Jesus isn't ashamed of you. Jesus isn't ashamed of you. Jesus, the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, is not ashamed of you. Jesus does not approach you dress...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation" (Hebrews 2:1-3). We got a new car about a year ago, and it comes with all kinds of cool safety features. Among them is a "drift alert" warning: if we start to drift across the cente...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! In the past God spoke to our forefathers through prophets at many times and in various ways,but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). I like walking in the woods or along a beach. And I especially enjoy it when accompanied by someone who knows things that I don't about the ground we're covering. I don't kno...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! As we are walking and praying our way towards Easter, we launch into a new series this week: Jesus, the Radiance of God's Glory. Our Scripture passages each week will come from the Book of Hebrews. There is hardly time enough to drill deeply into the rich mine that is this somewhat strange and possibly unfamiliar book, so we will be conc...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unityamong yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouthyou may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.Each of us should please our neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christdid not please himself (Romans 15:1-3) Who gets to be pleased? Whose preferences prevail? Is it "my way or the highway"or is there another, better way? In Romans ...
Keep ReadingClick here to listen to this post! So whatever you believe about these [disputable matters], keep between yourself and God Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you " (Romans 14:22, 15:7). This week we will conclude our series Disagree Deeply, Love Deeper Still. But perhaps it's better to say that we're only just beginning to grapple with this matter of how we can ...
Keep ReadingTo listen to this post click here! Wednesday, February 17 I'd like to welcome you to CD on the Go! and use today's Connect Devotional to introduce and orient you to this enhanced format for Chatham Church's daily devotional. Our team of gifted writers will continue crafting a daily devotional that is keyed to our current sermon series and the Scripture passages that go ...
Keep ReadingNo good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.Each tree is recognized by its own fruit (Luke 6:43-44). [Editor's Note: CD on the Go begins this week! Starting on Wednesday, and continuing through Easter, you'll receive seven CDs each week instead of our usual fiveAND each day's CD will come to you in audio form as well as the familiar text format. That...
Keep ReadingPaul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem [When Paul wanted to make a return journey to the churches he and Barnabas had planted] Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them. But Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued in the work. They had...
Keep ReadingWhen Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel,I said to Peter in front of them all (Galatians 2:11, 14). Did you catch the title: behaving the Gospel? We are of course to believe the Good Newsand that believing must get translated into certain ways of be...
Keep ReadingActs 15 What's really amazing about Acts 15 is that a bunch of people reach a decision that seems to fly in the face of most everything they have ever known and loved. Think about it: the church at that moment was primarily Jewish. The "headquarters" was in Jerusalem. The senior leadersPeter and James, among otherswere lifelong Jews. The Scriptures they looked to were wh...
Keep ReadingThis brought Barnabas and Saul into sharp dispute and debate with them Peter got up and addressed them, " Now then why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No!" (Acts 15:2, 7, 10) Unity is a lovely idea until it has to get worked out by people like us! Our current series is challe...
Keep ReadingConsider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark The wisdom from heaven is first of all pure (James 3:5, 17). Chatham Church wants to grow into a "noble cedar" church. Another way we talk about this is being a "big tent" church. "Big tent" does not mean lots of people who are all alike, who all agreethat's pretty easy to do! But "big tent" means lots and lots...
Keep ReadingJames 3:1-18 Ever said anything you regret saying? Ever spoken too soon? Ever failed to speak up when you knew you should have? Ever had someone say something to you that broke your heart, your spirit? Ever said something like that to someone else? "Sticks and stones may break my bones Loose lips sink ships Me and my big mouth!" Welcome to James 3. This chapter is our ...
Keep Reading"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night" (Joshua 1:8). Have you ever tried to pry a bone away from a dog? Watch outyou might get snapped at, or nipped! This is a picture of what it means to meditate on Scripture. Not the snapping or nipping partthe gnawing. One of the Hebrew words which our Bibles translate as meditate is ve...
Keep ReadingAfter the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua, "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River " (Joshua 1:1-2). What got you here may not be all you need to get you there. As the book of Joshua opens, the people of Israel are at a significant "restart" moment. Forty years of wilderness wander...
Keep ReadingJeremiah 2 Has it ever happened to you that a good friend "got in your face" about some aspect of your conduct and, much as you may not have liked the experience, you had to (eventually) agree that your friend was on to something? Welcome to Jeremiah 2. Here the "friend" is the Lord God Almighty, and the faces being gotten into belong to the people of Israel. It's a tou...
Keep ReadingThey did not ask, "Where is the LORD?" The priests did not ask, "Where is the LORD?" My people have forsaken me, the spring of living water (Jeremiah 2:6, 8, 13). Unhook is our theme word for this third week of our Restart! Series: it's hard to really get restarted if you're chained to something! How do we get unhooked so that we can get going again? The feeling of bei...
Keep ReadingGod called to Moses from the bush. And Moses said, "Here I am" (Exodus 3:4). This week we've been exploring what it means to Restart. How do we keep going in what feels like an unending wilderness? How do we "find God" in situations that seem only to communicate God's absence? Where do we gain the energy to hear and obey God when we feel weighed and dragged down by so man...
Keep ReadingMoses led his flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb,the mountain of God (Exodus 3:1). Happy New Year, and welcome back to Connect Devotionals! A new year begins, and a new sermon series: Restart! As 2021 begins, a restarta fresh startreally is something to long for, as a country, as a church, as a person. 2020, with its pandemic, political turmoil and on...
Keep ReadingThe Word became flesh and made his dwelling with us (John 1:14). Drum roll, building, getting louder music, beginning quietly in the bass register, but rising, crescendoing sudden spectacular, full-throated chord, the entire symphony cranked all the way up, tutti fortissimo! Cue the choir, angelic and earthly! Wait that's it? That's all? A baby? Yeah, babies are cute a...
Keep Reading"Silent Night" and John 1:1-18 If you had to pick "the best" of all the Christmas carols, "Silent Night" would certainly be at or near the top of the list. This weekChristmas is this Friday! we wrap up The Weary World Rejoices sermon series by listening to this beloved carol and "the Christmas story according to John," found in the first eighteen verses of this fourth an...
Keep Reading"Let Let Let Let " ("Joy to the World") What is our hope as followers of Jesus? I don't mean what is my hope for my life, for my future. That's an important question, just not the one asked here. As Christ-followers, as we look upon the entire burdened world and its long and wearying history, what are we hoping for? We hope, we look forward to, we anticipate, we await...
Keep ReadingHe comes to make His blessing flow/Far as the curse is found ("Joy to the World") No longer will there be any curse (Revelation 22:3). For nearly a century, the Boston Red Sox supposedly lived under a curse. Having won the World Series in 1918, the Sox owners made a diabolical deal to trade Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1919. Ruth, nicknamed the "Bambino," alleged...
Keep Reading"Glory to God in the highest!" (Luke 2:14) This week, as we continue our The Weary World Rejoices series, we've been listening to the soaring music of "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" and "the Christmas story" as we are given it in Luke 2:8-15. We've thought about the shepherds (why send angels to them alone?), the noisiness of our hearts and times, and the humility of heav...
Keep ReadingWhen the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about" (Luke 2:15). There you are, keeping watch over your flocks by night. If you're stuck with "night duty," you probably aren't getting rich from tending sheep. Suddenly: Hark! Do you hear that? L...
Keep Reading"I am gentle and humble in heart"( Matthew 11:29). Of whom do we sing of when we sing "O Holy Night"? Who is it who comes on this silent, holy night? Why would he come, whatever could be the heart motivation for such a journey? There is just one place in Scripture where Jesus discloses his heart to us. Of course, we see his heart "in action" throughout his life, through...
Keep ReadingCome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). This week we're listening to "O Holy Night" and to a familiar passage from Matthew 11. The title of our current sermon series, The Weary World Rejoices, is a line from the hymn. One of the gifts of our times is the ease with which we can access all kinds of versions of this hymn; so ...
Keep Reading"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" Luke 2:25-35 We are in in-between times, aren't we? In between Thanksgiving and Christmas, in between Election Day and Inauguration Day, in between the start of the pandemic and its longed-for end. Some of us are in between jobs, or in between a diagnosis and a hoped-for cure, in between our desire to be with family and friends and the recommen...
Keep Readingyou have taken off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in the image of the Creator Therefore, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (Colossians 3:9, 10, 12, 14) When it comes to Real ID, we som...
Keep Reading"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.I will be found by you," declares the LORD, " and will bring you back to the placefrom which I carried you into exile" (Jeremiah 29:13-14). Exile is either the end of the road or the place for an unexpected, undeserved new creation. Exile is the loss of everything we've ever known and loved or the place...
Keep ReadingSeek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.Pray to the LORD for it, for if it prospers, you too will prosper (Jeremiah 29:7). Have you noticed? Churches in the United States, and elsewhere throughout the Western world, are finding ourselves more and more in the position of exiles. There's another Real ID marker that we may not be in a...
Keep ReadingYou also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual houseto be a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5). We've been thinking long and hard about Real ID, what it means to be in Christ, to be crucified with Christ, to continually press on to know and love Jesus more and more, to live together as citizens of our King. Peter will now add an additional true identity marker ...
Keep ReadingJesus answered, "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me" (John 18:37). And Pilate responds, "What is truth?" If only Pilate had stayed in the conversation, had kept listening! What is truth? Is the truth like an equation or statement we can chisel into granite? Does truth work more like a sword or more like light, like wind, like water? Is the truth something we ca...
Keep ReadingPilate summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?""Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?" (John 18:33-34). For a busy Roman procurator of a restless, troublesome province, this was one more annoyance. Early in the morning, way before "office hours," a band of religious leaders requests an audience. They have with them...
Keep ReadingI have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:19) Why is identity so important, and sometime so difficult? Identity is important because it is the way we live: I live according to my understanding of who I am. If I know myself as a zero, a nothing, a mistake that should not have happened, I live one way. If I see myself as A#1, the Center of the Universe, I live accord...
Keep ReadingGalatians 2:19-21 What prompted Paul to write "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me"? It was not some abstract theologizing done on a sunny afternoon; it was prompted by Peter's screw-up, a screw-up that had everything to do with true identity. The risen Jesus graciously gave the "keys of the kingdom" to Peter, who use...
Keep ReadingBut whatever was to my profit I now consider loss ... But I press on ...But this one thing I do ... (Philippians 3:7, 13). If our true identity is in Christ, how do we actually live our way into that identity? How does "in Christ" move from an idea in our heads to a reality we are living into? Paul'sbuts in Philippians 3 point the way. First he writes, "But whatever was ...
Keep ReadingPhilippians 3:1-14 In this next week of our True ID series, we'll continue to explore how that glorious and spiritually dense phrase in Christ shapes how we think about identity (who am I, really?). This week, a dive into Philippians 3. Is your identity just something you're born with, something that was given to you? After all, you didn't choose your genes, gender, pare...
Keep ReadingYou are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of youwho were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-27). Who am I "in me" who am I when I measure and define myself using myself as the standard? Or when I allow myself...
Keep ReadingNew series: True ID It is not a hostile question, this "Who do you think you are?" It's not asking to you to defend or justify your existence, or prove your worth. Honestly: who are you? We're beginning True ID, our new sermon series, which will help us explore what Scripture says about our identity, who we really are or better, whose we are. "Tell me about yourself." ...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 1:1-13:31 We're approaching the end of Let's Rebuild!, a sermon series that has immersed us in the Book of Nehemiah. As we prepare to wave farewell to Nehemiahbut not to the necessary and continuous hard work of building, rebuilding and maintaining healthy and robust communities of faithlet's give thanks together. Thank you, Nehemiah, for showing and reminding u...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 13:14, 22, 29, 31 Nehemiah's book begins and ends in prayer. The "action" begins with Nehemiah learning of the sad condition of the Jewish remnant in and around Jerusalem. His first act? To praysee 1:4-11. The very last act in the book? A prayer, the tenth time Nehemiah records his prayerssee 13:31. And the very heart of the book: a prayer (chapter 9). We don't...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 13:4-30 Why couldn't Nehemiah have ended his book with chapter 12? The wall has been rebuilt, that accomplishment has been joyfully celebrated (chapter 8), and then we come to the dedication of the wall (chapter 12)another joy-filled celebration with a restored Temple, rebuilt walls, a repopulated capital city. It's like the days of Kings David and Solomon! After...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 8 As we continue our "Let's Rebuild!" series this week we enter the heart of the Book of Nehemiah, chapter 8. And, at the heart of the heart, God's Word, and our responses to it. It's been several weeks since the rebuilding of the walls was completed. The opposition of their enemies has quieted, the predatory practices of some of their nobles ended. The people h...
Keep ReadingBut out of reverence for God I did not act like that (Nehemiah 5:15). You might remember from Nehemiah 3, the "job assignments" chapter, that some nobles from Tekoa "would not put their shoulders to the work" of rebuilding the walls. We gave them a dismissive brush-off ("Selfish entitled jerks!") and moved on, assuming we were done with them, that their only role in the s...
Keep ReadingMeanwhile, the people of Judah said, "The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble we cannot rebuild the wall." Also our enemies said, "Before they know it or see us, we will kill them and put an end to the work." The Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, "Wherever you turn, they will attack us" (Nehemiah 4:10-12). Ah, it se...
Keep ReadingWhen Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed When they heard that the repairs to Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead they were very angry. They all plotted to come together and fight against Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4:1, 7-8). Rebuilding is hard enough work all by itself. Add in some opposition, however When God works not eve...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 3 One of the good things about regular, consistent engagement with Scripture is it allows God to sneak up on us and surprise us: "Wow, I've never seen that before, I've not thought about it like that, it had never crossed my mind until now that " The Book of Nehemiah is about many things: rebuilding; leadership; community; prayer; dealing with opposition; dealin...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 3 In its thirty-two verses, Nehemiah 3 lists more than seventy names. Around half are the names of ancestors: so-and-so the son of so-and-so, which means we're introduced to around thirty or so individuals who served as foremen or supervisors of a specific part of the overall rebuilding project. Everyone mentioned in this chapter, everyone listed in the Book of ...
Keep ReadingNehemiah, son of Azbuk made repairs as far as the House of Heroes (Nehemiah 3:16). Archaeologists are not sure what the House of Heroes mentioned in Nehemiah 3 was or its precise location. May we suggest that the chapter itself is a "house of heroes"? You may be familiar with Hebrews 11, the "heroes of the faith" chapter: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses and the rest ...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 3 Nehemiah 3 is one of those chapters we mentioned last weekfull of strange names and unfamiliar places, a chapter we're tempted to skip. In the midst of this strangeness are two key words: rebuild and repair. Behind them, a word that pervades Nehemiah's book: remember. Re- words denote doing something again, typically something that needs redoing because it has...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 2 As we read our way through Nehemiah in the weeks ahead, we'll likely skip around one-third of the book: those lists of names of people who pretty much don't appear anywhere else in Scripture, and those genealogies that Scripture just can't seem to get enough of but which bore us to tears. Why would the Scripture-inspiring Spirit insist on including all those na...
Keep ReadingI went to Jerusalem I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heartto do for Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:11-12). If you were asked to name the most important people in your life, you could do that pretty easily. How about the most important places? Maybe it's your childhood home or hometown, or a favorite vacation spot you return to year by year. Perhaps you enjoy visit...
Keep ReadingNehemiah 2:11-20 [Editor's note: Good to be backthanks for letting us take a brief break! We're always looking to add to our Connect Devotional writing team. You don't need to be a professional writer or Bible scholar. If you're at all interested in exploring the possibility, contact Alex or Brian.] Why rebuild? In Nehemiah's day Jerusalem was a shattered city on the far...
Keep ReadingAll the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall treeand make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish.I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it (Ezekiel 17:24). It's a beautiful picture: Chatham Church as "a noble cedar," planted by God our Father-Gardener, grounded and secured in Christ our King-Taproot, water...
Keep ReadingThis is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very topof a cedar and plant it I will plant it I will plant it; it will produce branchesand bear fruit and become a noble cedar (Ezekiel 17:22-23). Most of Ezekiel 17 is a sobering parable about the righteous judgment and justice of God. But it ends with a beautiful messianic promise: in the mid...
Keep ReadingEzekiel 17:22-24 We're not starting a new sermon series this week; instead, we're looking forward to a "family meeting" this coming Sunday. Alex and Jaime will host a "vision refresh"a chance to catch our breaths, remember who we are in Christ, and revisit what our King is calling us to be and to do as Chatham Community Church. The text for this coming Sunday is Ezekiel ...
Keep ReadingAct justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus There were no needy persons among them (Acts 4:32-34). What happened first? What...
Keep ReadingAct justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Selling their possession and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need There were no needy persons among them (Acts 2:45, 4:34). This week's two passages from Acts both follow immediately upon the apostles' proclamation of the resurrection. Our passage from Acts 2 comes right after Peter's sermon on Pentecost...
Keep ReadingAct justly; love mercy; walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37 As we enter this fourth and final week of our Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly series, we want to explore how the early church began to walk out the Jesus way. We'll use two passages from early in the Book of Acts, Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37. Luke authored both our Gospel of Luke ...
Keep ReadingWhat does the LORD require of you? To act justly, love mercyand walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10). Are you catching echoes of the prodigal son story in the story of Zacchaeus? A son who has "un-son-ed" himself based on his attitudes and behavior a good shepherd/good Father who seeks the return a...
Keep ReadingWhat does the LORD require of you? To act justly, love mercyand walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Luke 19:10 As we have been attending to the perhaps familiar "Zacchaeus story" this week, it's important to set it in its wider context. Good Bible reading doesn't just attend to a given passage, it also notices...
Keep ReadingDo justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). "Please come put your hands on my dying little girl and heal her," Jairus asked.So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed. And a woman (Mark 5:23-25). The waiting is the hardest part: waiting for lab results, for the doctors to evaluate them, for the doctors to finally get to you and give you the news t...
Keep ReadingWhat does the LORD require of you, but to do justice,love mercy and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Why doesn't Micah 6:8 instruct us to do mercy (act mercifully), just as it tells us to do justice (act justly)? Why are we to love mercy? We're taking Micah's three verbs in reverse order. Last week we looked at the third, walk humbly with your God. This week we'll ...
Keep ReadingWhat does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercyand to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Six months ago life was already pretty complicated, right? Now add in a pandemic, turmoil and conflict around our complicated history with respect to race, and accompanying economic uncertainty, political gridlock, and it's feeling more complicated than ever. N...
Keep ReadingWhat does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercyand to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). So because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working" (John 5:16-17). It's a bit complicated but hang in there and allow the Holy Spirit t...
Keep ReadingAnother angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals o...
Keep ReadingI looked, and there was a great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb crying, "Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Revelation 7:9-10). What a beautiful scene: that great multitude, as "diverse" as we could possibly imagine, gathered to worship, cente...
Keep ReadingThey chose Nicholas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism (Acts 6:5). We've been looking at how the first Christians responded to a significant challenge and problem, a disparity in treatment between the Hebraic and Grecian widows. Usually, when we hear a sermon on this passage, we're looking at the beginning of the "office of deacon" and think the major take-away has to do...
Keep Readingthe Grecian Jews complained against Hebraic Jews (Acts 6:1). Everything human has problems. This does not mean that every single thing humans do is bad. Just that it is mixed, a mixture of some of our best impulses and some of our worst, of mistaken certainties and honest questions, of motives base and noble, of God's Spirit and our sinfulness. This "mixture principle" ...
Keep ReadingA priest, when he saw the man, passed by on the other side. So, too, a Levite saw himand passed by on the other side. But when a Samaritan came to where the man was he went to him (Luke 10:31-34). What we do is heavily dependent on what we see what we are willing to see. The priest and Levite in this parable see a danger, a not-my-problem situation. We don't know what ...
Keep ReadingLuke 10:25-37 "Whwhwhat happened? Where am I?" "You're at the Jericho Palms Motel, pal. I run the place." "What am I doing here? How did I get here? Ouch! What's the story with all these bandages?" "You don't know what happened to you?" "Let's see I had some business in Jerusalem, and was heading home, and oh, my: I remember now! It was terrible what they did to me ...
Keep ReadingIn reply, Jesus said, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho " (Luke 10:30). We're continuing our new Race, Power and Healing series by listening to one of Jesus' most familiar and beloved parables. "Good Samaritan" has entered our language and even our legal system despite many people no longer knowing where the phrase originated. This sermon series began with ...
Keep ReadingThen the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?""I don't know," he replied, "am I my brother's keeper?"" (Genesis 4:9). Well, that was unexpected: on top of a pandemic, lock-downs, re-openings, hygiene and masksa brutal, appalling killing of an unarmed, handcuffed African- American man by a white police officer (while three other officers stood by) and rightful ...
Keep ReadingThe LORD appeared to Abram so he built an altar to the LORD who had appeared to him. From there, he went on and pitched his tent there he built an altar to the LORD (Genesis 12:7-8). Marie Kondo has made a name for herself and a small fortune by teaching us how to declutter. We could have learned all that and more from Abram. Abram pitched his tent, but he built his ...
Keep Reading"Leave your country, your people, and your father's house and go " (Genesis 12:1). Abram left everything, but he didn't leave alone. We had one of the most significant "leave and go" moments of our lives about two years ago. Our pastoral assignment in Massachusetts was drawing to a close. And we were experiencing those hard-to- capture but also hard-to-ignore nudges and ...
Keep ReadingGenesis 12:1-9 Why did Abram have to go? Why couldn't God have blessed him, made him into a great nation, even blessed the whole world through him right where he was? Because something necessary happens on the way. As we head into this new week of our Into the Unknown series, we pick up this ancient story of an incredible journey. Journey-stories are among our most an...
Keep ReadingThe centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.But just say the word and my servant will be healed" (Matthew 8:8). It's been said that justice means getting what we deserve; mercy means not getting what we deserve; and that grace means getting what we could never deserve. In the face of uncertainty, the centurion is motivated by compassion ...
Keep ReadingWhen Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him,asking for help (Matthew 8:5). Into the Unknown How do we find our way in the face of great uncertainty? Uncertainty certainly feels uncomfortable, threatening, exhausting. Is seeking certainty the right response to uncertainty? Maybe not as much as we think. Of our four Gospels, Matthew is the most Jewish in tone a...
Keep ReadingBut Naaman went away angry he turned and went off in a rage "Go in peace," Elisha said (2 Kings 5:11-12, 19). Naaman knew how things worked and how to get things done. He was capable, decisive and successful. A military man, he knew about orders, obeying them and giving them. As a well-established, well-regarded commander, maybe more these days about giving orders. Na...
Keep ReadingNamaan was a commander of the army a great man in the eyes of his masterhighly regarded a valiant soldier but he had leprosy (2 Kings 5:1). Leprosy, like corona virus, is no respecter of persons. This week's passage is about paying attention to "outside" voices, those that come from outside the normal channels, our preferred sources, the "proper authorities." Namaan's...
Keep ReadingWhen they got into the boat, the wind ceased (Matthew 14:32). WARNING: I am going to call into question a cherished phrase of Christianese. GOOD NEWS: you get to decide if I'm right or wrong! Or somewhere in between. The phrase is "get out of your comfort zone." Maybe it's because I've heard it too often. Maybe it's because I am too comfortable. But at the same time, I ...
Keep Reading"It's a ghost!" they said and cried out in fear Jesus said, "Take courage, it is I.Don't be afraid" Peter said, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water" "Come," Jesus said Peter got out of the boat (Matthew 14:26-29). VUCA is apparently a new acronym for our times: life is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. Volatile: changing rapidly, constan...
Keep ReadingUnless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were,and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it (John 20:25). "Doubting" Thomas, that wet blanket on the resurrection party. Talk about being in a confined space: "Unless I stick my hand into the spear wound in his side, I won't believe it." Poor Thomas has become the go-to illustration...
Keep ReadingJesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you Peace be with you Peace be with you!" (John 20:19, 21, 26) Elijah wanted to die. Nebuchadnezzar wanted the three rebellious Jews to die. Paul and Silas didn't die in Philippi, but a severe beating and imprisonment in a first-century jail probably got them pretty close. As we come this week to the fourth and ...
Keep ReadingThe jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joybecause he had come to believe in Godhe and his whole family (Acts 16:34). Everyone in this passage is in a tight space. Paul and Silas, in prison, of course; they're the heroes of the story. But also: a slave girl, economically exploited and demonically oppressed. Some prominent Phi...
Keep ReadingFinally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment, the spirit left her (Acts 16:18). What got Paul and Silas into the tight space of a jail in Philippi? We're more familiar with how they got out, or rather how God got them outmore on that during this third week of ou...
Keep ReadingThey saw the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor was a hair of their heads singed; theirrobes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them (Daniel 3:27).Refuse to bow in worship? Into the fire you go. The king orders the furnace heated "seven times hotter than usual" and orders his strongest soldiers to bind them tightly and toss them in. The heat is so i...
Keep ReadingThere are some Jews who neither serve your godsnor worship the image of gold you have set up" (Daniel 3:12). Exile to Babylon was, for the Jews of Daniel's time, the ultimate discipline from the Lord. But God's judgments are righteous and redemptive; their goal is not punishment, but recovery of identity, restoration of true health, reclamation of mission, and-- God ext...
Keep ReadingShadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3: 12, 13, 16, 19, 20, 22, 26, 28-30). The most famous story in the Book of Daniel doesn't even have Daniel in it. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: every single time they appear in Scripture, they appear together and "in order," always Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Each and every time, standing as one, speaking as one. They appe...
Keep ReadingDaniel 3the whole chapter, please! As we relearn each and every Easter, God does his finest work in the tightest spaces. Please keep that empty tomb in mind as we work our way through this Shelter series. Easter is not a once-and-done date on a calendar; death-and-resurrection is how God always goes about his work Be on the lookout for ways in which each of our Shelter ...
Keep ReadingElijah was afraid and ran for his life (1 Kings 19:3) Where did Elijah think he was going? What was he hoping to find once he got there? He runs because the powerful king and queen of Israel, Ahab and Jezebel, have sworn to kill him. He flees, first, all the way to Beersheba, the southernmost city in the Promised Land. From there, a day's journey into the desert. Find...
Keep ReadingThe LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD,for the LORD is about to pass by" (1 Kings 19:11) What if God would like to have a different kind of conversation with us, with you? And what if God is present, is with us, in our current circumstancesin our current tight spacesto that end? There are all kinds of tight spaces. Some are shelters...
Keep ReadingElijah traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.There he went into a cave and spent the night (1 Kings 19:8-9). God does some of his best work in confined spaces. Jonah inside a great fish. Paul writing much of our New Testament from prison, and John, the Book of Revelation from a penal island in the Aegean Sea. Bunyan's Pilgrim's P...
Keep ReadingSo Joseph brought some linen cloth, took the body down,wrapped it in the linen and placed it in a tomb (Mark 15:46). What is today, this day that you are reading these words? Well, it's Saturday, April 11, 2020 a weekend day, Day Number Whatever in our virus-changed world maybe your birthday, or anniversary just another day the day after Good Friday, the day before E...
Keep ReadingMark 16:1-8 Take time with the story; take time in it. Notice: Mark tells the story of the Resurrection through the lens of three women. They have been "minor characters," not even mentioned by Mark until the very end of chapter 15: these women witness the crucifixion and watch as Jesus' body is entombed nearby (15:40, 47). It has been just a week since what seemed to b...
Keep ReadingMark 16:1-8 As you work your way through Mark 11-15 and arrive at this week's passage, Mark 16:1-8, the sermon text for Easter Sunday, here are some things to notice. First, notice Mark's very strange ending. The final word in Mark's Gospel is afraid! You'll probably have some footnotes in your Bible that explain that we're not sure if this is how Mark intended to conclu...
Keep ReadingWhen the Sabbath was over very early on the first day of the week,just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb (Mark 16:1-2) We'll be reading this week's Connect Devotionals in the days immediately after Palm Sunday. However, they focus on the sermon text for next Sunday, Easter Sunday. So we're doing a bit of time-bending here, providing tomorrow's news (or n...
Keep Reading"No, said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet" (John 13:8). Oh, Peter: you got it partly right. It is of course inappropriate that the one you call "Lord" should be washing your feet! (We note that Peter is happy to advise Jesus, but not leap to his feet and switch places with him.) (And, noting how this story unfolds, Jesus would not have let Peter switch places.) It...
Keep ReadingThis is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16). A tiny virus we can't see is bringing our world to its knees. We're hearing the phrase "new normal" a lotand it seems like we're getting a new new normal every day. This can be confusing, scary, wearying, but it looks like...
Keep ReadingI have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God,who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). You might be familiar with this "old Maine" joke: a tourist stops to ask an old Mainer for directions: "How do I get to Millinocket?" The old-timer rubs his chin, looks one way, ...
Keep Readinglive a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself upas a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2). Many of us are familiar with this Scripture: "Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life '" (John 14:6). Before Jesus is the truth and the life, he is the way. Jesus calls us to follow him. Follow his lead. Follow his example. Follow his c...
Keep ReadingIn him you too are being built together to become a dwellingwhere God lives by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). The Jesus way is the only way God goes about God's business. We're looking at God's new-Temple building project, as Paul unpacks it in this week's passage (Ephesians 2:11-22). And very suddenly and unexpectedly, we're thinking about this in the face of a pandemic. ...
Keep ReadingIn him you too are being built together to become a dwellingwhere God lives by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). Ephesians 2:19-22 describes an active construction zone: building materials (people!) are gathered, cornerstone (Jesus!) installed, foundation laid, an entirely new kind of "building" is risinga building that actually is not a physical structure but a new kind of ...
Keep ReadingEphesians 2:11-22 Your Connect Devotional scribes hope our readers are reading the whole of the week's Scripture passage before diving into our brief attempts to comment on one or two aspects of it each morning. Please get a sense for the forest before reading our observations on one or two trees! We're currently exploring a wonderful, beautiful, un-boundaried "forest"...
Keep ReadingWhen you were dead in your sins God made you alive with Christ (Colossians 2:15). We're a pretty "performance oriented" country. We love high-performance cars, get performance reviews at work, experience "performance anxiety" of all kinds and in lots of situations, and know that "past performance is no guarantee of future results"! We're only as good as our last perfor...
Keep ReadingGod made you alive forgave all our sins cancelled the written code that was against us disarmed the principalities and powers, triumphing over them by the cross (Colossians 2:13-15). We all have favorite colors, right? As a child, when you got that box of new markers or colored pencils or paints or the Crayola 128-crayon mega-box, you had some colors you used more than ...
Keep ReadingGod was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us.And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19). The message of reconciliationthat great good news that through the cross, God has reconciled us to Godis hard to say and harder to hear in our current context. The general idea of reconciliation is highly regar...
Keep ReadingAll this is from God, who reconciled himself through Christand gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). Reconciled is a wonderful word about a bad situation. Reconciliation is needed when a relationship has broken down, gone bad, been destroyed by evil, injustice, anger, rejection, bitterness, unforgiveness. Reconciliation involves hard and difficult ...
Keep ReadingGod made him who had no sin to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) At the heart and center of the Christian faith and life hangs a crucified man. And around that terrible image some weighty and wonder-filled words have gathered: atonement, reconciliation, ransom, forgiveness, redemption, restoration, substitution, sacrifice, blood, victory, along with many others. We w...
Keep ReadingThen Jehoshaphat stood up and said "O LORD God we have no power to face this mighty army. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you" (2 Chronicles 20:5, 12). Ever feel at a loss for words when it comes to prayer? The Bible is chock full of prayers: every Psalm is a kind of prayer, so there's 150 of them. The Lord's Prayer. The prayers that Paul prayed for the ...
Keep ReadingJehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Israel fell down in worship before the LORD (2 Chronicles 20:19). What's the most human thing we do? Better yet, what's the most humanizing thing we dowhat is it that makes us most distinctively and most fully human? Worship. Every human being is a worshipper of something. Christ calls us to be wo...
Keep ReadingEphesians 6:10-17 There it is, four times, in this classic Pauline passage on "spiritual warfare": stand. Take your stand stand your ground after you have done everything, stand stand firm. Not stand around doing nothing. Not stand still, unable or unwilling to move. Not stand in a safe spot. Stand in the battle. Keep your position. Follow the "standing orders" of Ki...
Keep Reading"Put on the full armor of God" (Ephesians 6:13). If you ran into someone, let's say at a crowded checkout line, dressed in a full suit of Roman armorhelmet, breastplate, shield, sword, the whole worksyou might be puzzled, bemused, or maybe annoyed: no wonder the line's moving so slowly! If, however, you encountered someone whose life was characterized by truth, righteous...
Keep Reading"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). The King James renders Ephesians 6:12 like this: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood." Many Christians have mis-heard and mis-read these words as saying "we don't have to wrestle." But if you are a Christ follower, you are already in a wr...
Keep Reading2 Kings 6:8-23 Wouldn't it be terrific to know what your enemies were saying and planning? Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to see, as Elisha could, God's armies of fire, surrounding and protecting you? Surely, if we studied Elisha's life and story deeply enough, we could discover some spiritual tips and techniques to provide ourselves with that kind of hearing, that k...
Keep Reading2 Kings 6:8-23 It's a funny story: an ancient warlord who finds himself being spied upon by God; he imagines he has surrounded his enemy, Elijah the prophet, only to find he has been surrounded by the armies of God; he and his army are struck blind, then led like sheep straight to their opponent and to certain death ("Shall I kill them, my father; shall I kill them?" ve...
Keep Reading[Elisha's servant said], "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" The prophet answered,"Those who are with us are more than are with them" (2 Kings 6:15-16). We're beginning a new series, "Eyes Wide Open." Let's set the scene for this week's Scripture passage: It's been about 200 years since King David, and around 850 years before Jesus. God's people Israel, originally unit...
Keep ReadingFrom Blessing to Building Brian and Kathy Emmet Blessed are the poor in spirit Everyone who hears these words of mine and putsthem into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock (Matthew 5:3, 7:24). Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with blessing. Who doesn't like to be blessed? Jesus ends the Sermon with a story about two builders and two bui...
Keep ReadingNot Everyone Brian and Kathy Emmet Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). "Jesus is Lord!" is the core Christian confession. The apostle Paul wrote that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, we ...
Keep ReadingTwo Ways, Two Trees, Two Buildings Brian and Kathy Emmet Matthew 7:13-29 Fred Rogers ("Mister Rogers"), who appears to have known Jesus pretty well and modeled some pretty right-side up living in our upside-down world, said, "Life is deep and simple, and what our world gives us is shallow and complicated." Jesus makes things simple, which is not the same as making th...
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Keep ReadingJesus says it’s hard to live this kind of blessed life. There is resistance and opposition, both internally and externally, to living a blessed life characterized by poverty of spirit, meekness, mourning, purity of heart and all the rest that Jesus lists in his nine blessings. Resistance and opposition means persecution....
Keep ReadingHere’s the good news: God begins the righting of the upside-down world, not by commanding or rebuking or punishing, but by coming in person and speaking words of blessing. Blessing gets life going -- true, real, and abundant life!...
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