The Average American Christian Has No Theology of Suffering Look at how we treat each other no unity no patience no empathy We cannot bear one another, how do we hope to bear suffering? We serve our whims and emotions more than we serve the Lord Christians Are to be Different Finally, all of you, have…

Key theme of the Bible: Order from Chaos Creation story was God making order from chaos Sin was reestablished chaos Until the return of Christ, order is maintained through: government family religion Submission to established order is key to Christian success While no earthly system is perfect, it is…

Jacob prepares to meet Esau And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel…

We are the elect Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Peter’s intro is a little confusing the elect the Dispersion The audience is easy: Northern Turkey Date is probably just before Nero’s persecution according…

Jesus is comforting His disciples before His death “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. Jesus is preparing the disciples for His death The next few days could destroy His closest followers But He is “leaving” soon as well They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed,…

The Israelites were obedient They began to build the temple God promised to provide Remember their original problem forgot their purpose forgot their true allegiance Being obedient to Darius and the Lord was practically the same both wanted the temple but only One was worthy of obedience Likewise, we…

Provision sneaks up on you We talked about obedience to the Lord recognizing that our worldly shortfalls usually have a spiritual source We also talked about reprioritizing your life in a biblical manner Primarily, placing the Lord and worship above everything Many of us know what we have to do But many…

Last week we left off with a cliff hanger The returned exiles could not make ends meet Haggai the prophet warned them that they have ignored the worship of the Lord Their lack of physical security was the result of spiritual deficiency The same can be said for me and you So what do we do about it? How…

History leading up to Haggai Northern Kingdom of Israel falls to Assyria in 722 B.C. Assyria then marched on Judah and Jerusalem Old Testament tells of a miraculous defeat of the Assyrians by God Nebuchadnezzar later conquers Jerusalem in 580 B.C. The Persians defeat Babylon in 539 B.C. Many Jews were…

The Church is called to caring for the poor, needy, and afflicted We have allowed pagans and degenerates to hijack social justice But the Church has always been meant to be the center of charity Justin Martyr (Justin the philosopher) gives us insight into the earliest churches He tells us Christians…