The House You're Building

[8] Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof [9] and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. [10] For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. [11] And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. ( Joshua 2:8–11  ESV) Scripture: Read Joshua chapter 2 Devotional:  Do you remember as a child, playing hide and seek? When a friend was counting down, you ran around in a panic looking for a place you could fit that would not be too obvious.  Someone always counted too fast and you were left with a not so good ...

  [1] Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. [2] For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. [3] For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. [4] For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” [5] And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” [6] Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, [7] again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden...

  [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. [14] For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. [15] As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” [16] For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? [17] And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? [18] And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? [19] So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:12 –19, ESV) One of my favorite things to do when getting to know a new friend who is a Christian is le...

  During advent season, many pastors retell the Christmas story to their congregants.  It is a blessing to hear afresh the narrative of how our Lord came to earth, answering the long-awaited hopes of His people.  After 400 years of silence, the angels sang praise of His immanent arrival to shepherds.  One my favorite decorations I set up is the nativity.  I’ve collected pieces over the years that visually express how the story unfolds in the synoptic gospels.   This year, I’m reflecting on a more distant part of the Christmas story, the one that started in Genesis 3, where our ancestors ate of a tree in disobedience and sin entered the world.  The curse was upon the earth and humanity has suffered in sin ever since.  Genesis 3:15 predicts the enmity between humankind and its oppressor to end when the Offspring will come who will crush his head, rendering the snake, one symbol of Satan found in scripture, ineffective....