Plainfield Ponderings - Scripture Meditations

Send Allen a text - Ponder the all-seeing God with me! It's Mother's Day, and it is only scriptural to honor and praise our Mother's (Proverbs 31:28-29). However, most Mom's don't feel seen or appreciated. I'll share some studies along those lines...but praise God that we serve a God that sees all our work in the privacy of our homes. One mother, who was touched by th...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder the priest-king theme, in seeing Jesus in the O.T. In the last lesson within this series we traced the history of the ephod, concluding that we need a priest-king. Although we might be tempted to think that is a revolutionary thought - the very first priest in the Bible is a king! Melchizedek. Join me in thinking through this, along with Zechariah 6 and finall...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder the command from James to confess our sins to one another. Is this practiced in the church? I'm sure it is practiced more than we realize, but could it be practiced more? What happens when this doesn't happen? Without even realizing it we come across as religiously elite. This is dangerous. We must keep our relationships real and genuine. To God be t...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me a strange statement that we are given in passing - that David wore a linen ephod. It's just one curious sentence that is stated in both accounts of him bringing the ark to Jerusalem. Let's back up though, and see the history of ephods and somehow, someway - let us see Jesus. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at grrreeley@gma...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder God farming us as disciples and even as a local congregation. It is springtime and so much of life is reminding me of planting and growing. It has me pondering God as a farmer. What's He like as a farmer and what's His reaction when His farm isn't going as planned? To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at grrreeley@gmail...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder the resurrection of Jesus together. Churchgoers everywhere are celebrating Easter and thinking about the resurrection. Stats show, however, fewer and fewer people are believing it. How are they getting around it? Can we accept the Scripture without the bodily resurrection of Jesus? Think through this with me. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments o...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder the question I'm sure many of you already have - where should I go to church? With the ease of travel today, the options are almost unlimited. Unfortunately, this has created a panic in many churches. It's created a business-like mindset that competes for our time and attention, as if we were consumers. But perhaps we are. Are we more of a consumer o...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder what it means to wait on God. Every era of God's people had to wait on God for something. We are no different, waiting for the Lord to return. But what happens when doubt creeps in? What happens when what we see physically doesn't match up with the Lord's promises? We have a Psalm that talks about this exact feeling. Study it with me. We'll...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder some of the most history-altering promises ever made by God. Sometimes the Lord breaks so forcefully into human history with such profound promises that history is never the same. Such is the case in II Samuel 7 and the parallel passage in I Chronicles 17. Let's see if we can find Jesus and then ask - what does this say about His kingdom? To God be the gl...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the troubling violence of the conquest of Canaan with me. It is probably no secret that the violence of Scripture has troubled many people. It is a common argument against believing in the God of the Bible. Is this fair though? What does fairness require of us if we object to something in Scripture? Think through this with me. To God be the glory! Please email me any com...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the gospel with me, as told in Ruth. A Gentile is redeemed by a Christ-like figure named Boaz. I'll paraphrase this beautiful love story. After that, let's think through the connections together and where this story is leading us and why we have it in our Bible's. To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at grrreeley@gmail.com

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about widening our heart to one another! Paul once told the Corinthians that their own affections were holding them back (II Corinthians 6). Sometimes we get so focused on being willing to help people (we will focus on that in this lesson too), we forget that we also have to be willing to receive spiritual help. Paul calls it a widening of our heart. To God be th...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the book of I Thessalonians with me. Today's episode is a little different, but very similar to the one we put out November 1st. We're going to read an entire epistle together, as a letter, start to finish, in one sitting. This is how these epistles were written, and it is how they were read in the early church. As a personal discipline I force myself to do thi...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how much we depend on God's faithfulness. Almost everything we believe fully relies on the trustworthiness of God. We are on firm ground though. God stooped down and partook of a human oath ritual in Genesis 15 to show Abraham how true He would be to him. Let's think through it together and build our faith on God's promises! To God be the glo...

Send Allen a text - Ponder the idea of eternal security with me.  Sometimes called "once saved, always saved" -- is this true?  Let's walk through this by looking at the legitimate faith of the Israelites who crossed the Red Sea.  This is a faith held up in Hebrews 11, but then what happened?  To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questions at grrreeley@gmail.com

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me the same that the magi (wise men) did in Matthew 2.  They saw a star rising in the land of Israel and they believed that meant a king was coming, worthy of worship.  Herod's first thought was about the Christ, and he was right!  But why did he think that?  Why did the wise men think that this meant a Jewish king was coming?  Stay with me all the way till the...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about what God wants from us.  Actually, let's think about what comes before this.  Have we appreciated that God has communicated this very thing to us?  Concerning that communication from God - have we mixed God's message with some of our human assumptions?   Micah asks the question, "what does the Lord require of you?"  Just as powerful as t...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how and why Christ's resurrection is called the "firstfruits" in I Corinthians 15.  This allusion to the Old Testament is quite fascinating.  There was a firstfruit holiday in the O.T. that was always celebrated on Sunday's, the day Christ was raised from the dead.  But get this!  It wasn't just any Sunday, it was the Sunday followi...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about how all great projects begin small.  All great projects have to begin somewhere.  Many endeavors worth doing, and certainly worth completing, come to a screeching halt right after they begin...because we're discouraged with how small and insignificant the start was.  Such was the case in rebuilding the temple, after the return from captivity.  Is there...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about who is in control of this crazy world!  Is it Jesus?  The Scripture indicates He is.  Repeated texts are given about all things put under the feet of Jesus and even Jesus admitted He had all authority in heaven and on earth.  What we see with our physical eyes tells a different story though (if we're honest).  So, what we see physically, and the spirit...

Send Allen a text - Ponder another passage in Genesis about the Christ.  The offspring of Abraham gets a little narrower, down to the line of Judah and it's the first time the reign of a king is mentioned (in connection with the Christ).  The scope of His reign is much broader than Israel though...the obedience of all the nations belong to this King.  Also, this Ruler from Judah is associated...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder eternity, and our hope of eternal life.  We can't fall into the trap of thinking that religion is nothing more than being nice and living a decently moral life.  God has so much more planned in eternity and when we take our eyes off of that hope, bad things happen.  But what is that hope?  Is it death and then all the joys of heaven are immediately experi...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder some more themes about the Christ from the Old Testament.  This lesson is a bit of a culmination of the first 2 lessons we did in this series.  The domination of enemies was promised to Abraham's offspring as well.  Why do the details of this prophecy lead us to Jesus?  Are we involved in this at all?  To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or...

Send Allen a text - Let's ponder another hint of Christ in the O.T. - the promise to Abraham that an offspring of his would bless the whole world.  I'll try my best to emphasize the magnitude of this promise.  Someone who blesses every single human being?! Who could do that?  When the enormity of the promise sinks in, the list of options gets reduced to one option, Jesus the Christ.  But...

Send Allen a text - Ponder with me about the vital nature of communication in marriage!  I don't know of any marital problems that don't at least include a communication breakdown.  God was in a troubled marriage too, with Northern Israel.  What did God do in those moments?  Let's go to marriage school and learn from Him.  To God be the glory! Please email me any comments or questio...