In many ways this weekend marks the start of summer and with that the chance to pick up a book or two that is not required by class or work. While the summer often provides some times of relaxation, it also provides chances to invest in things that are eternal. Here are five books that will help you read the Bible better. Each of them are available on the bookshelf at chu...
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The book of Haggai centers on God's great promise to restore the temple during the days of Judah's return from exile (520 BC). In this little book, there are four messages from the Lord. The second, third, and fourth messages in Haggai are all found in chapter 2, and respectively they speak about the temple (2:19), the priesthood (2:1019), and the kingdom (2:2023). These w...
Keep Reading This Sunday we began a two-week series on the book of Haggai. If you are not familiar with this little book, it is the tenth book in the Minor Prophets, and its four-fold message serves as a turning point in the Twelve, as the Book of the Twelve shifts from looking at God's judgment (NahumZephaniah) to the restoration of God's people (HaggaiMalachi). In this week's sermon...
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This past Sunday we finished our series in Nahum, our second book in "The Book of the Twelve." As we considered Nahum 3, we looked at comfort and vengeance. Those are not two words we normally associate with one another. In fact, our experience with vengeance of our own or another person's is the opposite of comfort. It is frightening, perhaps chaotic, out of control, and ...
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Last week we announced in our members' meeting that Jonathan Matas, with his family (Christy, Jadon, Elijah) will be joining our OBC family as a minister-in-residence. For our church, this is a new venture in gospel ministry. And because the concept of a minister-in-residence may be unfamiliar and the specifics may be unknown to some in our church family, I want to explain...
Keep Reading What did Jesus mean when he said, "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34)? On Sunday, we considered that question from the book of Nahum. The connection between Matthew and Nahum is found in the fact that Nahum presents the sword of the Lord in all of its flame and fury, while Jesus comes to first extinguish the Lord's wrath in his own flesh. Then, a...
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This month we are beginning a new series in Sunday School entitled The Doctrine of Vocation: Glorifying God in Your Good Work. If you have never thought or heard about the doctrine of vocation or how your faith informs, permeates, and motivates your daily work, this series is for you. Even better, if you have thought deeply about the subject, your insights will also be val...
Keep Reading This week we began our second of three series out of the Minor Prophets, better known as the Book of the Twelve. After considering God's grace in the book of Jonah, we began to consider the complementary aspect of his holy justice from the book of Nahum. In two more weeks, we'll finish our study of the Minor Prophets by looking at Haggai. As for Nahum, it serves as Part...
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Why a Church Book Club is a Good Idea For the past two years I've asked myself if a book club at church is a worthwhile venture. I went from asking friends and then asking the leadership to actually starting one. Once a month we meet to discuss a variety of books, fiction, non-fiction, Christian authors, non-Christian authors, and anything else that strikes our fancy. It ...
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