Genesis 17:1-14; 22-27--Why do we baptize Infants? It has everything to do with God's Covenant with Abraham. Covenants are signs and seals of the promises of God and he command Abraham to give this sign to himself and his children after him. Water Baptism has replaced circumcision as the New Testament sign of the New Covenant.

1 Samuel 10:17-27; Saul is about to be publicly recognized as the first (human) king of Israel. This should be a time for celebration and joy, but for the people of God its anything but a celebration. Three sour notes are played to match the dissonance of the people's hearts. We see the LORD's Rebuke, the LORD's Choice and even better, the LORD's Provision.

1 Samuel 9:3-10:17; How do we understand all of the ordinary, mundane and seemingly fruitless things of this life? Saul's father's donkey's have gotten out and he Saul is sent to find them. Through a series of coincidences Saul ends up anointed as the King over Israel and the savior of God's people. Yahweh works most often in the ordinary, the mundane and secret things for our good and his Glory.

1 Samuel 9:1-2; How should God treat us? What do we really deserve? i Samuel is the story of Human Dysfunction in our families, our religious worship and in our civil lives. God's response to our human dysfunction and sin is Divine Grace and faithfulness.

Psalm 19-To whom are you listening? God or the world?

Matthew 13:53-58; After Jesus tells his Kingdom Parables he goes home. There instead of a warm welcome the people of Jesus' hometown Matthew reports that the people are astonished by Jesus, they question his message and are offended by him. Jesus' message is astonishing, stands up to interrogation and is deeply offensive because we are sinners.

Matthew 13:47-52; In these final two Kingdom Parables Jesus reveals a Heavenly Judgment and an Earthly Calling. He compares his Kingdom to a large dragnet that is being cast into the sea. In the end the Righteous will be separated from the evil. God's people are then called understand the kingdom and tell others about it.

Matthew 13:44-46; In this passage Jesus uses two similar stories to teach about the Value of his Kingdom. We learn the important spiritual principle: we are all searching for a treasure. The question for us is which treasure are we giving ourselves too? The only real and lasting treasure is the Christ and his Kingdom. The Good News is that Christ gave up his treasure so that we could have the only treasure that matter.

Matthew 13:31-33; What is Christ's Kingdom like? Its small, insignificant and nothing much to look at. And that is just the way that Jesus wants it. Today we see that Christ's Kingdom is Paradoxically Small, Paradoxically Ordinary and Paradoxically Open. The good news is that we sinners fit right in to Christ's Paradoxical Kingdom.

Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43- Jesus plants good seed in kingdom. But the evil one come and plants counterfeit seed in his Kingdom. Jesus says that until the very end the Children of God and the children of satan will coexist. Christians then are called to be discerning, but loving. Careful, but sacrificial. Jesus showed us that he is patient in his judgment, but judgment will come. Finally we are called to truly hear the gospel and believe upon Jesus.