The baby of the next century, a famous inventor promised, would be rocked in a steel cradle, the family dining at a steel table in a house of steel. Even the most famous visionaries come up short. So where do we find security when our ideas seem misguided or downright bankrupt?
A few taps can broadcast someone else217;s failure before you217;ve felt any of their pain. In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul describes correcting a troubled church through affliction, anguish, and many tears—insisting the words came from abundant love, not a desire to wound. His example presses a searching question: what is actually happening in your heart when someone else must be corrected?
Salvation required no work of yours; Jesus paid it all. 1 Corinthians 3 nevertheless calls you God’s field and God’s building, a laborer together with Him who only plants and waters. The spirit of the world still sneaks in with envy, taking credit, and divisions, making even sincere effort feel wasted or aimed at the wrong spot.
Mothers mourn over children falling away, over ones they217;ve outlived, over the ache of children they never had. That grief feels heavy for Mother217;s Day, yet Jesus declares in Matthew 5:4, 220;Blessed are those who mourn.221; How is it blessed to mourn?
We forget so quickly—and when we forget what God has done, we start to feel alone. That217;s exactly why, in Numbers 9, God tells Israel it217;s time to keep the Passover: not because the exodus needs to happen again, but because his people need to taste his faithfulness again.
Pastor Tim shares a meditation on the Easter Hope we have from our Mighty Fortress, Jesus. We look at 1 Corinthians 15:20-21 and Ps. 46:8-11.
We all load our suitcases for life with what the world promises will make us wise—predictions, solutions, human answers—yet when Revelation calls for wisdom to understand the beast, it217;s asking something far more unsettling: whose wisdom are we actually following?
The wall is nearly finished when a reasonable-sounding invitation arrives—come down to the plain of Ono and talk. In Nehemiah 5–6, exhaustion, financial injustice, and relentless opposition pile up just before completion, confronting anyone tempted to step away with a searching question: when pressure rises and alternatives beckon, what keeps a worthy calling from being abandoned?
Tonight, as we wrap up 220;the Weary World Rejoices,221; we look at the story of Simeon and Anna and how their reaction to Jesus as a baby helps us think about how we should respond in joy.
Pastor Tim wraps up our series 220;Renewed221; looking the call to live peaceably. (And yes, that includes some hot coals on peoples217; heads.)