Diagnosing Idolatry: Knowing God in a Distracting World

Jesus Calms The Storm

We often call trials and struggles in our lives “storms.” It is a word that seems to fit because it describes the feeling of danger and chaos. It also sums up our powerlessness in the face of the circumstances. Since this is such an easy-to-understand picture, it is not a mistake that several stories of Jesus’ time on earth have to do with storms. In this one, Jesus give direction right into a storm and then promptly falls asleep. We can all probably identify with the panic of the disciples, but will we hear the words of Jesus and embrace what He shows us in this episode?

The Sower and The Seed: Part 2 – Which Are You?

In this second installment of the famous parable, we are going to take a closer look at the different types of people that Jesus describes. He makes it clear that the difference in fruitfulness is not a difference in sower or seed, but in the type of soil it lands on. Jesus explains this parable to His disciples to show what He is illustrating with each type of soil. The clear question to us is this: which soil are we?

The Sower and The Seed: Part 1 – The Choice

The story that Jesus tells about the Sower and the Seed is one of the most famous in the Gospels. It is found in three of the four of them. In Luke, it takes up a lot of space, so we’re going to take two weeks to try to digest the message of Jesus in this parable. This week, we’re going to focus on the invitation that is embedded in the story. Some people think that only certain people are eligible for salvation. Jesus certainly did not talk like that in this episode (along with many others). In fact, Jesus points to human choices as the key to whether the Word of God has an effect. And this is not just the initial truth of the Gospel and someone’s response to it. This is an illustration of the fact that we are constantly making choices about what we will do with truth. We all can receive it. Let’s take to heart Jesus’ word.

God’s Children

As we set aside a day to celebrate and give thanks for the mothers in our lives, we recognize that the One who came up with the whole idea of motherhood is God Himself. Most moms feel overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for a precious child. Likewise, it is not unusual for dads to feel unprepared and unqualified. But what we’re going to see in Scripture today is that this feeling is a reminder of a very important truth. Jesus told us that the truth would set us free, and this concept can definitely do exactly that. There is rest and peace for parent – even parents with wayward children – that comes from the truth we are looking at this morning. And this idea is applicable to any and every calling in our lives, no matter how big or small. Let’s see what we can learn from a mother who desperately wanted a child and then made a very unusual choice. We may not take exactly the same action, but we can make the same choice in our hearts by faith.

Diagnosing Idolatry: Knowing God in a Distracting World

(Hosea 1:2-3, 5:4, 6:6, 7:11, 2:14-20, 3:1-3) Golden calves, statues of giant bulls, some guy named Baal: it can be all too easy to laugh and belittle the idol worship of the Old Testament. How could anyone bow down or devote themselves to a man made thing? Meanwhile we nervously check our bank accounts, meditate in front of endlessly scrolling social media feeds, and evangelize our politics online. Idol worship hasn’t just changed, it’s evolved, taking on devious forms designed to distract us, misdirect us, and put our hope into hopeless things. If we aren’t careful we can sleepwalk into idolatry, idly worshipping our bank account, our reputation, our political sphere, or anything other than God. Today we are going to look at the book of Hosea and how he confronts an idolatrous Israel. While we may not be exhibiting the exact same sins as Israel, we can learn a lot from how Hosea depicts idolatry and how God seeks to remedy the issue in his people, and in us.