Wilderness Wanderings

The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5b-7) A strange thing can happen when we know we should talk to someone, but don't.  Maybe we need to talk to them becaus...

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands…The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul…May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and My Redeemer" (Psalm 19:1,7,14) . I have a memory of preachers praying the end of our text prior launching their sermons. The memory is probably 40 years old by now...

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconcil...

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3) . In recent weeks, I offered devotions on finishing well and starting well. I ended the second one by alluding to the possibil...

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind the...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is James 4:13-17 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it  here on YouTube .  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:  immanuelministries.ca DIVE...

"I love you, O Lord, my strength" (Psalm 18:1). The opening phrase of Psalm 18 may suggest that this will be a nice, gentle psalm. It is anything but. It is filled with bold colours, powerful metaphors, haunting images, and violent movements. John Calvin wrote that the creation is the "theatre of God's glory." I wonder if this psalm inspired that phrase. David, having spent his life shepherding sh...

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him… While they were stoning him, St...

How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you " (Psalm 119:9-11). Christians spend an incredible number of resources on the Bible. More copies have been printed then any other book. It has been translated into more languag...

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:7-8) The kind of witnesses Jesus is sending out are sent out with power. Now we all have power of one sort or another. The...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is James 3:1-12 from the New International Version of the Bible.  Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it  here on YouTube .  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:  immanuelministries.ca Dive I...

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 34:27-28)  Covenant and Law have much to do with the journey of the people thro...

"Hear me, Lord, my plea is just; listen to my cry. Hear my prayer—it does not rise from deceitful lips. Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent thr...

"Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother o...

"Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come " (Psalm 71:18). I read about a Christian leader whose office walls are covered with pictures of those who, as he put it, "have finished strong". If I had such a wall, I might include pictures of Mother Teresa, C.S. Lewis, Eugene Peterson, and Rachel Held Evan...

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and fo...

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!   The text is Luke 17:7-10 from the New International Version of the Bible.   Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!   To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube .   Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministr...

David had just said, "It's been useless—all my watching over this fellow's property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!" When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. Sh...

David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.   While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he [was afraid because] Saul had come out to take his life.   And Saul's son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.   "Don't be afraid," he said. "My fathe...

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 9:10a)   When Saul realized that the  Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days. (1 Samuel 18:28-29)     Our theme is growing to maturity in Christ, and I have begun to believe that the book of 1 Samuel is one of the best illustrations...

And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people. (1 Samuel 2:26)   And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:52)   To [his people] God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.   He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone...

        "I said to the Lord, You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing" (Psalm 16:2). Some thirty-one years ago, Helena and I choose Psalm 16 as our wedding text. Rev. De Bolster, then president of Redeemer College, preached on this psalm during our marriage ceremony. I admit that I don't remember what he said. I do remember that it was a very hot July afternoon. Regardless, it was a go...

An extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Galatians 3:23-5:12 from the New International Version of the Bible.   Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it  here on YouTube .  Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC:  immanuelmi...

But the following morning when they got up, they saw the statue of Dagon. There it was, lying on the ground again! It had fallen on its face in front of the ark of the Lord. Its head and hands had been broken off. Only the body of the statue was left. Its head and hands were lying in the doorway of the temple (1 Samuel 5:4). These were some of the darkest days for this new fledging nation called I...

Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." So the king...