Psalm: 118 Meditation: RomansAbraham was justified by faith; by believing in God and the promises that God had made to him and to his family. No act or work made Abraham worthy of God’s love or forgiveness. We often see people try to work through a checklist of all the good things that they can …
Tag: Promises
Monday, January 3
Psalm: 140 Meditation Hebrews: Commonly referred to as the “faith chapter”, Hebrews 11 presents a parade of the faith-filled leaders, prophets, and notables of the time before Christ, in order to shore up His position as Messiah. The thrust of the chapter is that all of these people believed the promises made to them and …
Wednesday, July 14
Psalm: 49 Meditation Romans: More about promises (see Monday’s meditation). Paul, himself a Pharisee, perhaps much of the Pentateuch (Torah – the first 5 books of the O.T.: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy). Paul also aches for Israel – his kinsman and would gladly trade his redemption for theirs. Does any of us have that …
Friday, June 18
Psalm: 41 Meditation - Galatians: This is a tricky passage. It seems to me that whenever Paul starts talking about the Law, he leaves me behind. These verses are no different. Paul was a Pharisee; one cannot unlearn all that he had learned at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 5:27-40). Paul had undoubtedly memorized large …
Tuesday, January 26
Psalm 45 Meditation: Genesis – Everything God promises Abram is from God. There is nothing Abram can do to produce an heir or claim possession of the Promised Land. Abram just has to wait on God to fulfill His promises. We know that Abram and Sarai lost their patience and tried to produce an heir …
A Bedtime Prayer
Listen. If you missed the Children’s Message on Sunday, you can listen to a recording of it here: http://www.pacificunionchurch.org/churchsmall starting Monday. Review What kind of prayer is Psalm 4? What is it for? [Hint to parents: Psalm 4 is a bedtime prayer for a long, bad, frustrating day.] Have you ever had a bad frustrating …
Monday, August 17
Psalm: 106 Meditation Mark: Why curse the fig tree? A fig tree cannot do anything right or wrong except to become useless like salt with no saltiness. The tree was not fulfilling its promise. The promise of the tree was in its leaves. After Jesus cursed the tree, it withered (immediately as Matthew records it …
Faithfulness
Listen. Listen to the pre-recorded Children’s Message together. You can find it at pacificunionchurch.org/churchsmall Review Pastor Nate said that faithfulness is when we trust in two directions. What are the two directions? [Hint to parents: “up” and “forward”] What does it mean to “trust up”? [Hint to parents: We “trust up” when we trust God …
Monday, June 1
Psalm: 44 Meditation Deuteronomy: Constant repetition should produce 2 results: 1) that what is repeated is important and 2) that the memory would be impressed. Here Moses makes another plea for Israel to eschew foreign gods and the benefits of their doing so are milk and honey. This was, after all, the Promised Land. The …
Going Deeper: May 24
Ascension Sunday Read Acts 1:1-14 together. Watch the sermon video (available at pacificunionchurch.org/churchsmall) Listen. What big turning point is Jesus preparing his disciples for? How does he prepare them? What does he promise them? What is Jesus’ vision for us and how does it compare with the disciples’ dreams? Respond. If Jesus is King and …
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