Plainfield Ponderings - Scripture Meditations

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Let's ponder what it means to wait on God. Every era of God's people had to wait on God for something. We are no different, waiting for the Lord to return. But what happens when doubt creeps in? What happens when what we see physically doesn't match up with the Lord's promises? We have a Psalm that talks about this exact feeling. Study it with me. We'll even have a singing at the end of this episode! To God be the glory!

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Let's ponder some of the most history-altering promises ever made by God. Sometimes the Lord breaks so forcefully into human history with such profound promises that history is never the same. Such is the case in II Samuel 7 and the parallel passage in I Chronicles 17. Let's see if we can find Jesus and then ask - what does this say about His kingdom? To God be the glory!

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Ponder the troubling violence of the conquest of Canaan with me. It is probably no secret that the violence of Scripture has troubled many people. It is a common argument against believing in the God of the Bible. Is this fair though? What does fairness require of us if we object to something in Scripture? Think through this with me. To God be the glory!

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Ponder the gospel with me, as told in Ruth. A Gentile is redeemed by a Christ-like figure named Boaz. I'll paraphrase this beautiful love story. After that, let's think through the connections together and where this story is leading us and why we have it in our Bible's. To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me about widening our heart to one another! Paul once told the Corinthians that their own affections were holding them back (II Corinthians 6). Sometimes we get so focused on being willing to help people (we will focus on that in this lesson too), we forget that we also have to be willing to receive spiritual help. Paul calls it a widening of our heart. To God be the glory!

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Ponder the book of I Thessalonians with me. Today's episode is a little different, but very similar to the one we put out November 1st. We're going to read an entire epistle together, as a letter, start to finish, in one sitting. This is how these epistles were written, and it is how they were read in the early church. As a personal discipline I force myself to do this from time to time. It brings new understandings for me. I chose this letter now because I'm going to begin a class on I and II Thessalonians this upcoming Wednesday. Everyone is invited! To God be the glory. 

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Ponder with me about how much we depend on God's faithfulness. Almost everything we believe fully relies on the trustworthiness of God. We are on firm ground though. God stooped down and partook of a human oath ritual in Genesis 15 to show Abraham how true He would be to him. Let's think through it together and build our faith on God's promises! To God be the glory!

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Ponder the idea of eternal security with me.  Sometimes called "once saved, always saved" -- is this true?  Let's walk through this by looking at the legitimate faith of the Israelites who crossed the Red Sea.  This is a faith held up in Hebrews 11, but then what happened?  To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me the same that the magi (wise men) did in Matthew 2.  They saw a star rising in the land of Israel and they believed that meant a king was coming, worthy of worship.  Herod's first thought was about the Christ, and he was right!  But why did he think that?  Why did the wise men think that this meant a Jewish king was coming?  Stay with me all the way till the end and you might see an application to yourself.  To God be the glory!

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Ponder with me about what God wants from us.  Actually, let's think about what comes before this.  Have we appreciated that God has communicated this very thing to us?  Concerning that communication from God - have we mixed God's message with some of our human assumptions?  

Micah asks the question, "what does the Lord require of you?"  Just as powerful as the answer to this question is what some of the Israelites assumed (and perhaps we have too).  Think through it with me!  To God be the glory!

Please email me any comments or questions at [email protected]