Starting off the New Year with a doozie of a story! Ahab and Jezebel have a dude named Naboth murdered and then steal his land. Woo hoo.

So, why are stories like these even in the Bible? Well, turns out we can learn from them. In this story we see that one thing leads to another. Greed leads to lying which leads to a whole bunch of other things that lead to murder. We learn that sin gives birth to sin - it multiplies itself. It's a sick cycle that we're all caught up in - all of humanity is caught up in it - and it leads to death. That's one of the lessons of this story.

So, if that's the case, how do we break the cycle? We turn to Jesus ... yay! In the words of Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." In other words, we beat death by dying. We have been crucified with Christ. We participate in the breaking of the cycle by allowing Jesus who lives in us to transform us and live through us. This is why spiritual disciplines are so important. Every time we participate in a spiritual discipline we die a little and Jesus is allowed to live in and through us.

Speaker: Aaron Vis

Scripture: 1 Kings 21:1-21

http://bible.com/events/49012302