Psalm 135 by Pastor David Groendyk We’re jumping into the middle of Book V of the Psalms. Book V is the last of the five divisions of Psalms and includes Psalm 107 to Psalm 150. The whole of Book V is a great big crescendo for the psalter, emphasizing the praise of God for his wonderful deeds and our call to worship and obey him. Psalm 135 easily breaks down into a number of sections…

Hebrews 13 by Pastor David Groendyk The author of Hebrews gets extremely practical in the final chapter of his letter. When we keep in mind all of the sober warnings from earlier in the letter, all of these commands that we’ve heard before should take on a new sense of gravity and urgency. Notice all the commands in verses 1–5, then think about what sins are being targeted with those commands. • Command: let brotherly…

Hebrews 12 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Once again, the author is seeking dissuade those Jewish Christians who were tempted to turn away from Christ back toward the old ways of Judaism due to a new threat of persecution. And beginning in v.18, the author compares the old way of Judaism with the new way of Christ using Mt. Sinai as a symbol for the old and Mt. Zion as a symbol for the new. Mt.…

Hebrews 10 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Once again the author is urging those Jews professing faith in Christ not to turn back to Judaism because those old ceremonial laws were only given to point them to Christ, and now that Christ has come to fulfill those laws in our behalf our salvation might is to be based solely upon faith in Christ’s work and not in any other sacrifice, which will never be acceptable in…

Hebrews 8 by Pastor David Groendyk Isn’t it a breath of fresh air when the Bible says, “Now the point in what we are saying is this?” Especially after a very difficult section such as Hebrews 7 and the mysterious Melchizedek. As if being patterned after the “indestructible” and forever-priest Melchizedek isn’t enough, the author now gives even more reasons to remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. First, Jesus is the high priest…

Hebrews 6 by Pastor Mark Hudson Verses 4-8 can be difficult for some people to understand so we will look at these verses to make sense of the author’s point.  Since it is God that brings us into salvation, we can never be (un) born again.  Once my parents together produce me, they will always be my parents, even if someone else (for whatever reasons) raises me.  So we are not forcing our theology on…

Hebrews 5 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence The author of Hebrews has already explained that Jesus is our great, sinless, and sympathetic high priest. But some of those coming from a Jewish background were tempted to go back to Judaism seeking the help of an ordinary human priest instead of Christ in order to avoid persecution, and some began questioning whether or not Jesus could even serve as a high priest given the fact that he…

Hebrews 4 by Pastor Mark Hudson The author is concerned that these Jewish believers fail to reach the rest that God has promised.  This is such an interesting passage.  The author is warning his readers to place their faith in Christ and not just listen to the gospel without faith.  In the O.T., people were told to believe but they disobeyed.  His listeners are compared to the Jews in the O.T. who failed to reach…

Hebrews 3 by Pastor David Groendyk The message of Hebrews is, “Jesus is greater, so don’t turn back to the old ways.” We’ve seen already in two chapters that Jesus is the greatest revelation (Heb. 1:1–4) and greater than the angels (Heb. 1:5–14), as well as a stern warning not to drift away from Christ (Heb. 2:1–4). Chapter 3 contains both a ‘greater’ section and a warning section. First, the author compares Jesus to Moses…

Hebrews 2 By Pastor Lawrence In our text this morning, the author of Hebrews gives the first of five warnings in this letter, admonishing these Jewish Christians of the danger of minimizing Christ and reverting back to Judaism. These are very serious warnings indeed, for those who turn away from Christ are turning away from the promise of salvation in Jesus, and they will not inherit eternal life. For those who turn away from Christ,…

Hebrews 1 by Pastor Mark Hudson Phillip E Hughes offers an easy to understand and follow outline of Hebrews 1:1-3            Christ superior to the prophets 1:4-2:18       Christ superior to the angels 3:1-4:13       Christ superior to Moses 4:14-10:18   Christ superior to Aaron 10:19-12:29 Christ superior as the new and living way 13:1-25        Concluding exhortations, requests, and greetings. Better and superior are the words we will read in this beautiful, anonymously written epistle which was probably…

Ezekiel 48 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence The book of Ezekiel ends similar to its beginning with the prophet envisioning the Lord in his temple dwelling with his people in the Promised Land but now with a better temple and a better country. Of course, the beginning of the book was much darker in nature, for there we saw the glory of the Lord leaving the temple and the people of God being exiled from the…

Ezekiel 47 by Pastor Mark Hudson In Ezekiel 47, the angel is continuing to show Ezekiel around this vision of the temple.  Below the threshold of the temple, a trickle of water was coming out of the south side.  The water is flowing out from the temple.  The angel takes him eastward the same direction the glory of God left the temple earlier in the book and the very same direction God’s glory entered the…

Ezekiel 46 by Pastor David Groendyk So much of these last few chapters in Ezekiel calls to mind other parts of Scripture—Exodus and the furnishings of the tabernacle, Joshua and the division of the Promised Land, Leviticus and the various feasts and sacrifices, among others. Part of the purpose of this section in Ezekiel is to reorient believers to the original purpose for the Promised Land of Canaan. It was to be a land in…

Ezekiel 44 by Pastor Mark Hudson In Ezekiel 43, God’s glory returns to the temple.  This must have been one of the happiest moments in Ezekiel’s life. Imagine the same person who saw the glory leave (in chapters 8-11, esp. 11:23) is now witnessing THE most hopeful thing ever.  Now the angel is once again escort the prophet around. In 44:1-3, they come to the east gate which is closed.  Does this signal that what…

Ezekiel 42 by Pastor Mark Hudson See the devotional on Ez. 40 for a clear and concise overview of the last few chapters in Ezekiel.   This is the 25th year of the exile of the Jews in Babylon in the first of the year.  This was 14 years after the city of Jerusalem was destroyed.  Ezekiel saw a vision.  (40:1).  Ezekiel had seen visions previously.  In Ez. 3:15, he was in silence after his first…

Ezekiel 41 by Pastor David Groendyk One look at the footnotes of this chapter in the ESV Bible, and it’s not hard to tell that translators have had a difficult time figuring out what exactly is being measured; yet it is still clear that Ezekiel and his guide (from Ezek. 40:3) are measuring the temple. However, the exact measurements themselves are not the main focus. It’s easy for us to get lost in the details…

Ezekiel 40 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Chapters 40-48 begin a new and final division in the book of Ezekiel in which the prophet receives a vision of a new temple (40-43), a new service of worship (44-46), and a new Promised Land (47-48).  Just as Moses was taken up on a high mountain by God and given the blueprints for the holy tabernacle in the book of Exodus, so now Ezekiel is given the dimensions…

Ezekiel 39 by Pastor Mark Hudson As mentioned in the comments on the previous chapter, it is difficult to identify who Gog and Meshach and Tubal are meant to signify.  We know the Ezekiel’s prophecies are not meant to be taken literally as we can see in the early chapters of this book.  Yet, we also know that they do have meaning and had to have meaning for the original audience.  I remember trying to…

Ezekiel 38 Devotional By Pastor Lawrence Out of all of the apocalyptic passages in the Old Testament, Ezekiel chs. 38-39 have been discussed and debated more than any other. The mysterious figure of Gog and his homeland Magog have never been clearly identified in any historical account, which has led many interpreters throughout the years to identify this great enemy of God’s people as one of their contemporary threats. For instance, in the fourth century…

Ezekiel 37:1-14 by Pastor Mark Hudson This is some unusual preaching.  Preaching to dry, dead, bleached bones.  But there is an abundance of truth in this passage.  We will only look at vs. 1-14.  During Ezekiel’s time in Babylon after the exiles heard about the destruction of Jerusalem and God’s temple, they were saying, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off” (v. 11).  This is a dark,…