Salvogesis

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Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice A good question to ask here –of course- would be what does Paul mean when he says to rejoice always? In the ancient Roman world “joy is rarely mentioned, except as an illusion. This is true for the philosopher and the elites. It is much more so for the vast populace that had no opportunity for philosophical or scientific reflection.”[1] For the vast majority of the people in the world of the Roman Empire the old adage would apply that ‘life’s hard and then you die’ and on top of that people didn’t live very long to begin with then and there. And some of the pagan religions of that region stated that in some circumstances that your suffering in this life didn’t even end with your life; it continued on after death. Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice There is not a lot of joy, as we would represent it today on commercials for early retirement, travel, entertainment, etc. in the ancient Rom...

William Shakespeare writes, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose    By any other name would smell as sweet;” Sometimes a rose may smell even sweeter still When that rose carries in its aroma Our memories of a loved one Sometimes a rose may smell even sweeter still When that rose carries in its aroma Our feelings of love and adoration Sometimes a rose may smell even sweeter still When that rose carries in its aroma The pictures in our minds eye of people we love who have gone on ahead Sometimes a rose may smell even sweeter still When that rose carries in its aroma All of the times we have shared and maybe even dreams that we are still sharing Robert Burns shares our feelings of love for those dear to us in his poem: My love is like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June: My love is like the melody That’s sweetly played in tune. As fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in love am I: And I will love thee still, my dear, Till all the se...

Today we will look at a passage about a house: 1 Chronicles 17: The LORD, David, and Nathan have an interesting and very important discussion about this house. J. Barton Payne says of this discussion in chapter 13 that the heart of 1 Chronicles is to be found in this chapter. [2]  Nupanga Weanzana calls it one of the most important in the presentation of the history of Israel in all of Chronicles. [3]  Bruce Birch writes of the sister passage to this one, 2 Samuel 7: "this chapter is the most important theological text … perhaps the entire Deuteronomistic History.' [4]  So this passage is significant. The chapter starts off with King David sitting in his house and he is talking to one of the prophets, Nathan. And, he says Verse 1&2:   “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent.”          Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with ...

God says to David, through Nathan:     “‘I declare to you that the LORD will build a house for you: When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’” Who is this passage speaking about? Jesus. It is even quoted in the Gospels, in the NT. Luke 1:32, this is the very passage to which the angle Gabriel refers when he tells Mary that she is going to have the baby Jesus! (As a side note - this is interesting I think anyway - when David says he wants to build a house/palace for God, the Bible uses the exact same word when God declines and says that He will...

The Parable of the Haunted House – especially noticeable in the Lukan account – talks about a demon-possessed man and a demon-possessed house. Luke 11:24-26: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.” The house is haunted by more demons than it was in the first place. This is in the Parable of the Haunted House. There are many important things to come out of this Parable of the Haunted House. We obviously don’t have time today to spend on them all. One of the key things to come out of this parable is that God is more important than anyone in the Christian’s life. [2]  This is especially highlighted in the Markan account (Mark 3:20-35). [3]  I...

We have a couple of significant days coming up this week. Do we know what they are? What’s the 31st?  And what’s the 1st? We will look at both of these in the context of our scripture today (Genesis 17-18) but first I have some October 31 Trivia questions for us. Let’s see how we do? [1] What happened on October 31, 1517? Name one witch in the Bible? Who famously survived a diet of worms? Which of the following is not in the Bible (ghost, vampire, one raised from the dead)? What was Luther protesting on October 31, 1517? T or F: Jesus tells a parable of a haunted house. Which King of Israel consulted a medium to contact the dead? This Monday is not only Hallow e'en, it is also Reformation Day. We mentioned October 31, 1517, was the date Martin Luther nailed his  95 Theses  to the door of the church. Do we know to what his  95 Theses  primarily referred? It is actually quite long and complicated and some of his 95 points make more sense than others ...