1.   Acts 2: “They enjoyed the favor of all the people.” Acts 8 – Stoning of Stephen: “On that day, a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem and all except the apostles were scattered.” This meant thousands of people left Jerusalem and moved back to their homes after Passover or they fled individually or in groups to places all over Asia Minor. Much like the Mormon migration escaping the persecution in Missouri and other states. No one would have expected a small cult to survive. But they did. 2.  1 Peter 1:1-2 God’s elect. A couple of things are important to understand. John Calvin – To the…

1.  The story might have ended at Chapter 2. “And she lived with her mother-in-law.” But it doesn’t. Four weeks go by and there is some kind of change in Naomi. She is thinking about Ruth and her future instead of her own bitterness and loss. More importantly, she is ready to risk another disappointment. The shift from regret to hope is always huge. The change from self-absorption to risk has long term consequences. 2.  She works out what John Piper calls “strategic righteousness”. It is different from passive righteousness. “By righteousness I mean a zeal for doing what is good and right—a zeal for doing what is appropriate when…

1.  The setting. Another transition in leadership. Think about it as a Western. Wagon Train with Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. Strong leaders. Moses and Joshua. Transition to A Fistful of Dollars, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. Moses and Joshua are gone and the people are on their own. They are separated by distance and vulnerable to attack. It is lawless territory. It is dry, windblown and harsh. They are new arrivals scratching out an existence and subject to oppression from bad guys but incapable of resisting. Out of nowhere comes a deliverer, a flawed hero. He drives out the oppressors, rescues the people and moves on. There is…

1.  Succession plan Moses was the liberator. Joshua was the military leader for conquering the land. There was never any intention to have a leader after that. Everything was to be organized by tribes and local government. No President. No King. No standing national armies. It would be like our having States but no national government. There would be no United States – just States. Some tribes do better than others at driving out the Canaanites. Some have to cooperate with each other and some do it on their own. Some few are unsuccessful and live with the consequences. There is no attempt to form a national effort to drive…

1.  Setting the stage for John. Like reading a biography and creating the context for a life. Born in the Depression. Hoover was President. Many people were out of jobs. Recovering from a war. Politics was unusually depressing. Religious influence was declining. People were discouraged. Waiting for leadership. In the same way, Luke is describing the context for John. Tiberias was the son of Augustus who was declared a god when he died. A hard act to follow and Tiberias had no desire to rule. He had been forced to give up the woman he loved and marry a woman he despised. He thought he could simply delegate everything to…

The Rich and the Kingdom of God 18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’[a]” 21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.…

1.  There are a number of other references to doors and gates in the New Testament: Matthew 7:13-14: 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Revelation 3:20: 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. John 10:7-10: 7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you,…

1.  The Sending of the Twelve: For me, this is one of the most encouraging stories in Scripture. They are given authority and limited power with very little preparation. They did not earn this. They barely understood what he was talking about. They were in no way ready for it and yet he sent them out. Maybe it was not a matter of trusting them (because they proved untrustworthy or incapable) but of trusting God with them. He sent them in spite of the flaws and did not wait for them to be ready. They were sent to preach something they did not understand. How often I feel that way…

1.  Three stories of faith…but faith is not always required. The Gadarene Demoniac: Luke 8:26-39 The widow with the dead son: Luke 7:11-17 Crippled Woman: Luke 13:10-13 But in these cases there are three expressions of faith. The faith of the centurion – Luke 7:1-10. This is a man who deserves a miracle for all the good he has done. I think he might have sent the lobbyists at first and then changed his mind. It is not unlike the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts. His faith is based in humility and an understanding of the authority of Jesus. What’s surprising to me is Jesus’ response. He does…

When I taught the book Eric Metaxas wrote on Bonhoeffer, I looked at it through the lens of the story of two men who collide without ever having met. Had there not been an Adolph Hitler we would have probably never heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Had there never been a Dietrich Bonhoeffer things might have turned out differently in Germany. Their lives were joined together. This is the same kind of story – but it’s not two men exactly. It is a story of a man who becomes a god and God who becomes a child. It is a story of two people who shape the balance of history in…