As we begin a series on the Book of Jonah, we see him running away from God when called. There are some details you may remember but that doesn’t mean there is nothing new here to learn.
Romans 8:28 is like making biscuits. A lot of things that are no good on their own come together and a miracle happens.
Circumcision, the bronze serpent, the Jerusalem temple were all things given by God that the Israelites turned into idols. If we aren’t careful, baptism, the church building, crosses and even the Bible can be idolized by Christians. Things mean to draw us to God can become excuses for keeping our distance.
After re-visiting the Parable of the Forgiving Father last week on Father’s Day, we will back up to the other “lost and found” parables in Luke 15.
There are two sons in what we often call The Parable of the Prodigal Son and neither of them is the focus of what Jesus was teaching.
God prepared signs and wonders to prove himself and brought the Hebrews out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The first sign, and the first two plagues, the Pharaoh’s magicians were able to do as well; but they soon recognized a power greater than they could wield.
Note: I did my sermon prep using the ESV (English Standard Version) without doing a side-by-side comparison with the NKJV. The King James Version, and by extension the New King James, translates כֵּן (kēn) and lice whereas every modern translation seems to use gnats. At least one source states that lice, gnats or fleas are all possible translations. The Strong’s Hebrew number is 3654 if anyone would like to pursue this issue further.
There are many images and symbols in the Old Testament that picture things to come. Christ types are figures that illustrate something about the person or ministry of Jesus. Moses is perhaps the most significant individual in Judaism and the most prolific type of Christ we can identify.
Jesus took a religious ritual that disciples understood well and gave it new meaning. Actually, he interpreted for them what it really meant all along. We have Memorial Day because some things are important and need to be remembered.
This sermon starts in Acts 2 and ends in the Psalms. I may have bitten off more than we could chew in a single sermon. The beauty of listening online is that you can pause, look up scriptures, Google things, listen to it again and if need be ask questions. Reply in the comments or send email to pastor@unitybaptist.church
The scriptures cited are Acts 2:1-4, Acts 2:29-31, Psalm 139:7-10 and Psalm 16:9-11.
After spending several weeks in Matthew’s Gospel let’s spend some time in the Old Testament. That may not be as different as one might imagine.
Hebrews takes an exhaustive look at how Jesus is our great high priest, using the old covenant sacrificial system to explain who Jesus is and what he does.
