If there’s any commandment in the Bible that we’re able to keep, this one seems accessible. But it’s definitely difficult to wrap our heads around these words. Read Luke 14:26-27 to prepare.

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I’ve said in sermons past that the Bible doesn’t prohibit slavery. This shocked some. This week we’ll see that Jesus not only condoned it, but advocated that we become slaves! Read Mark 10:44 to prepare.

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Who doesn’t love a bingeable mini-series? Gone are the days we’d watch an episode and wait, painstakingly, for seven-days to pass to resolve a cliffhanger. Immediate results are delightful. If we can get them, why not? When we cannot, then what?

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We notice things: brand names; status symbols; famous people. Points of pride, lusts of the eyes, boastings of what we have and do pale in significance to the unseen seeds lovingly sown in faithful obedience. These produce tectonic shifts in the unseen realm.

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Personal ambition is lauded by our culture, but many of us do not dream small enough. When Jesus’ disciples had dreams of grandeur, He shut them down and pointed to unlikely candidates for esteem. Perhaps, with God’s help, we can want less.

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Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

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Ever feel like you don’t know enough to effectively share your faith? Jonah delivered a terrible sermon to Nineveh, leaving out critical information (apparently), but somehow God used a reluctant prophet to reach a whole city!

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God’s grace comes to us in many forms. For Jonah, grace had scales. As God’s prophet looked forward to death rather than to heed God’s call, God’s grace devoured him in the depths of his rebellion.

Isn’t it ironic that unbelievers believe better than believers? Jonah, a member of God’s chosen people and a prophet, no less, was going off-grid to avoid obedience to God’s call. But pagans did exactly what God told them to do.

Is new always better, or should we stay with the old ways? God declares He is doing something new, but what does that mean for you? Prepare this 4th of July weekend by reading Isaiah 43.