Wilderness Wanderings

Our text is Exodus 20:8-11: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the...

Love must be sincere… Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality (Romans 12:9a, 13) Hospitality, as a practise of the Christian life, means more than opening our homes to people. It is rooted in God's own character and behaviour. Jesus helps us understand. First, Jesus came to earth. When we think of hospitality, we often think about inviting people into our spaces. When we...

Our text comes from Matthew 5:37 : All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Words have value! In a world with too many words, we forget their value. Christians have always recognized that words have power. We believe in a God who spoke the cosmos into being. We believe that 'the Word became flesh.' We submit ourselves (not always willingly) to the...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Exodus 19:1-7.  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-In Questions What underlies God's covenant with...

Our text is Exodus 9:1: Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me." In 1901, Dr. Girdner coined the term "Newyorkitis" to describe an illness whose symptoms included edginess, quick movements, and impulsiveness. It was a condition of the mind, body, and soul affecting many New Yor...

Love must be sincere… Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality (Romans 12:9a, 13) This terse command, practice hospitality, is sandwiched into a meditation on love, an attitude of the mind that leads us to bless others in practical ways. The beauty of our love and our hospitality will only be revealed when they are deeply rooted in the love and hospitality of our God and...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Genesis 11:27-12:3 & Genesis 18:16-19.  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 Dine In! How do curse and ble...

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you" (Luke 24:36). Most of us live with a fear of failure. The need to succeed is strong. We don't want to be embarrassed. Think about the stress that report card season causes for teachers, students and parents. Or take field day. When I was in grade school, the day was all about first, secon...

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience (Hebrews 4:11). Genesis 2 opens with the seventh day, where God rests, but not because he was tired. Instead, we get a picture of God finishing creation with a Sabbath that never ends. Sabbath is creation flourishing. This is illustrated in Israel's year of Jubilee in whic...

Love must be sincere… Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality (Romans 12:9a, 13) Hospitality. Many of us don't like that word. Yet here it is…an aspect of sincere love. Thus, a part of Christian discipleship. In Christian Reformed churches, the elders are charged with the promotion of fellowship and hospitality in the congregation, recognizing that it is essential to the...

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you (John 15:16). What does success look like? A church picnic without rain? A business that makes money? A family that can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner together? A winning sports team? Top grades in school? A vacation that leav...

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience (Hebrews 4:11). Genesis 2 opens with the seventh day, where God rests, but not because he was tired. Instead, we get a picture of God finishing creation with a Sabbath that never ends. Sabbath represents a flourishing creation. This is illustrated in Israel's year of Jubil...

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good (Romans 12:9). Love must be sincere is the theme fleshed out in the rest of this chapter and beyond. The biblical significance of love has eroded so it needs our careful attention. Let's remember that godly love is not an emotion. It is an attitude, a mind-set, an aspect of the renewed mind. We are commanded to love; it is therefore a...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is 2 Corinthians 1:1-11. 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 What is your favourite 'comforter'? How is God'...

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33) . This verse is well known. It is frequently used in motivational speeches encouraging Christians to pursue the things of God at church and on mission or service trips. But I wonder how often it is used to launch Christians into the daily stuff of life. How many of us wrestle with its...

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8).      Sabbath is an important theme in the Scriptures. We neglect it to our peril. I will not advocate that we go back to Old Testament Sabbath keeping, nor to the fierce definitions of what qualified as work and rest that we once engaged in. However, Sabbath rest is essential for Christian spirituality. Let us recall how Israel was instruc...

     Love must be sincere (Romans 12:9a).      This little phrase, "Love must be sincere", is the heart of Romans 12. Everything that has come before--the stuff about personal transformation: "…in view of God's mercy…offer your bodies as a living sacrifice to God…be transformed by the renewing of your mind…discerning God's good, pleasing and perfect will…" and the stuff about the relationships wit...

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today (Deuteronomy 8:18). Last Monday, we reflected on God's creation of humanity as working beings. We work under God's care and direction. Let's reflect on this some more. It is so easy to ignore God while at work or at least to think...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Genesis 12:1-5 & Matthew 5:14-16.  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 In Questions What image of th...

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (Exodus 20:8).      Last week, I ended with the question, " What kind of rest do we mean?" When the Bible invites us into rest, what does it mean? What did God intend when he commanded Israel to observe the Sabbath? Let's begin this series on rest by exploring that question. A fruitful place to begin is by noting the word that often describes Sabbath, th...

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us (Romans 12:4-6a).      What does it mean to be part of a church? Does showing up on Sundays for worship services count? Maybe. There are...

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Psalm 147. 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 Who is our God? What do you do when the reality of life in...

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15) . We begin our weekly reflections on work here. This text invites us to think about work as more than what we do to earn a living. In Genesis 2, God plants a garden and puts humanity in it to work it and take care for it. This means that each of us is tied closely to the created order. Even if...

Thus, the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so, on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done (Genesis 2:1-3) . Today, we begin a new Wilderness Wanderings Series. It is called Avodah....

A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings!  The text is Luke 10:25-37.  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 in! For further reflection: What does 'work' mea...