One of the most glaring in a good way, characteristics of this church is that they are only commended not criticized. This is rare in these letters. So, in a very real way they are a sort of community par excellence. As such, any church would be wise to imitate their example. If we did, what would be the result… Our faithfulness and absolute trust, even in the face of trials, and a secure future in His Kingdom.
There are three things to emphasize as we look at and unpack this letter, the allegiance to our King often means we cannot acquiesce to our culture, knowing our faith helps us hold fast to the truth and refute error when we encounter it and responding with repentance is always important for those who follow Jesus.
In our passage this morning we see the Israelites wandering once again from God. The hard truth, however, is that everyone in some way or another has strayed or wandered from Him. But because of who He is and what He’s done, He is still God and He is still good! God is still God even when His people wander. But the idea is never that we continue to wander away from Him.
(Esther 2:19-23/3:1-2;5-9/3:13/Proverbs 13:20/ 1 Corinthians 15:33/Hebrews 5:14/1 Thessalonians 5:21/ Philippians 4:8)
(Habakkuk 1:12-2:1/Jeremiah 30:11/John 1:5/1 Peter 1:15-16)
How big is your Slash Zone and what does it look like? Paul shares some personal stories that unpacks this and talks about living in a place where you have a positive splash zone to
the people around you that lets them see there’s a God that cares about them.
As we kick off this series on Big questions, we will start by looking at the Bible. The Bible is a book that has sparked questions from the time it was formed. This week we will look at some of the biggest questions that people ask about the Bible.