Woodland Friends Church

I dare you to be the sort of person that Paul wanted to be here to the Corinthians. I dare you to be the person, of whom others say, “They told me about Jesus and Him Crucified. They said to me that I need to know Jesus and He crucified. They showed me a life of Jesus and His being crucified.” That’s what we’re called to be. While we pray for believing hearts and saved souls, because we can’t do a...

If 1 Samuel 8 is a history-altering chapter in the Bible, I argue that 1 Samuel 8:7 is a life-altering verse. God is very upset with Israel's demand for a King. But here’s what I love… even though the Sovereign God is bending to the will of the people, not only is He going to reluctantly absorb it, rather it’s going to be come the greatest symbol, the greatest prophetic design pointing to Jesus in...

If you’re suffering under sin, I want to encourage you that you can seek repentance, you, through God’s power can be repentant, and one day when a similar situation in where you usually sin tests you... you, through God’s power and by His grace, can raise your own Ebenezer and say, “On this same battlefield where I once lost, God has now brought me victory.”

I feel a little bit upstaged by pre-pentecost Sunday, Old Covenant believers. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit, and not only the Law to obey, but now the power to! Here are the Israelites who are told, “Put away your foreign gods,” And then verse 4, “So the people of Israel,” did just that, “they served the Lord only.” Some things change, but that part doesn’t. God still expects our obedience.

God single-handedly conquers the Philistines. Think about that. There was no invading army. There was no Moses this time around. There was nothing, but just God bringing His plagues upon Philistia. There was just God toppling over a stupid statue, putting the plague on some citizens, creating terror, to where they just said, “It’s not worth it.” No blood on the battlefield, just, “We were wrong, h...

You and I can get lost in the cultural context, but let us just take out the metal, the stone, the wood, because the lowercase gods are still there, and we’re still serving them. We may not erect temples, but we erect fridges, entertainment centers, we find our gods anywhere and everywhere, and when tragedy hits, all we do is say, “Out of all my gods, maybe the One God I should be serving will hel...

Peter calls the Church a “royal priesthood” in 1 Peter 2:9. This means we can read passages like the one we are today and walk away not only seeing the narrative for the facts that they present, but also using the narrative to gauge and call our life to account. In this passage we see two examples of priesthoods: a rejected one, and a responsive one. Which are we like?

This is our King, and this is true! Our King owns the world! This should bring great comfort! How’s the world going to end? It’s in our King’s hands! Who’s going to watch out for us as a people and as individuals?! Our King does, and He owns the very world we operate in, so He’s highly qualified! Who cares about us when nobody else might?! Our King does, and He died for us, so He’s shown that He l...

Hannah’s song is a good prelude to both 1 and 2 Samuel, has within it all the themes that we find in 1 and 2 Samuel. First and 2 Samuel, considered one large book, is then bookended by a similar song by King David in 2 Samuel 22. But within Hannah’s song, she lays out four primary aspects of the kingdom of God, by way how the King Himself interacts with us.

When the author opens up 1st Samuel, he gives us a character that graces its first pages and fades behind her son Samuel, but Hannah reminds us that we have a King who cares. We have a King who is the Lord, Yahweh, the One True God revealed in the Bible, the eternally existing One, the One who ultimately is going to bring about the Savior of not just Israel, but the World. And we have the Lord of...

Through these verses we see two themes that work in our lives like two pedals on a bike. The left pedal and right pedal. For one pedal we have the Providence of God. The plans of God. The inevitability of God's events. but then on the other pedal, we have the urgency and danger that’s right there about to happen. We have the persistence of man, and in our case today, namely Joseph. His being obedi...

Censuses were likely paternal things. Mary was betrothed, in other words: basically married. This meant that Joseph could’ve, if he wanted to, gone alone to Bethlehem. I just imagine Mary antsy, and wanting to be with her husband. I just imagine these two loved each other. And I imagine Mary volunteering to go with Joseph, because she loved him.

Joseph is the best kind of theologian. The kind that doesn’t talk, he just does. Do you know that Joseph in the Bible, nowhere is recorded a word from him? We hear a few words from Mary in Luke, in fact a whole song, but as for Joseph, no words. Just action. For a theology-brain like me, I should take a hint. Joseph just does. He trusts, and he obeys. Joseph was sleeping, and it said when he woke...

It’s quite likely that Joseph’s peers would rather have Joseph expose such an adulteress in however way he could here. But Joseph resolves to divorce Mary quietly. This righteousness honed in and directed by compassion and mercy... we just think about the babe in Mary’s womb when He grows up and gives His Sermon on the Mount, what does Jesus say? Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive me...

We see the great, supernatural lengths, the amazing moving of heaven and earth, the breaking of the world’s laws and physics, and the calling of one man to walk a long journey all the way from Samaria going down to Gaza… for just one man. This isn’t Jonah and the big city of Nineveh. This isn’t Paul and the intellectuals gathering on Mars Hill. This isn’t calling Abraham out of a foreign people to...

Two controversial topics crop up in Acts 8. We meet a sorcerer named Simon of whom Luke writes “believed” the Gospel, only to see that this sorcerer thinks he can buy the Holy Spirit’s power in a transaction from the Apostles. And then, another interesting happening in today’s text - while an entire city in Samaria. believes and is baptized, it wasn’t until Peter and John came down from Jerusalem...

Many people just appreciate Paul and his books of the Bible. Sometimes knowing the rest of the Scriptures can then minimize, overshadow, make small who Paul was before as Saul of Tarsus. Saul the ravager. Saul the church-hater. Make no mistake, the language here depicts Saul as the number one persecutor to be feared. Saul was not content to debate in synagogues or public places, he went to private...

I don’t think we fully grasp or appreciate the magnitude of Stephen’s words of conviction for his audience. It’s insulting and offensive when heard by Stephen’s hearers, but it’s meant to convict because its true. These are the highest authorities of the Jewish religion. And they’re hearing from little deacon Stephen, “uncircumcised in heart and ears,” For Christians that’s hearing, “You hell-boun...

You and I are in the Bible, and it’s not just in the New Testament, it’s all the way back in Genesis when God is saying to Abraham, “I’m giving you an offspring.” Who is that offspring? According to Paul, according to Stephen, according to the Holy Spirit -, you and I are covenant people! We’re the offspring of Abraham. We’re inheritors of the Promise!

The First church was headed for its first split, but instead of splitting hairs, congregations, and fellowships, we find a compromise that leads to greater growth. What can we learn, and how can we serve because of what Luke records for us in this occasion?

The Gospel, like Jesus says to Peter by the seaside, still calls people to places they don’t want to go. To suffering. To mission fields. To encounters with evil people. Encounters with hard people. Encounters with trying people. To encounter our own sins, shame, and grief, and the Gospels invites us to the darkest places of our lives to see if we have enough faith and trust in Jesus, in the Gospe...

Many times in the Bible, people were instructed to practice Godliness, and holiness. What does that look like? Sure the Holy Spirit leads us, but what tangible efforts and actions can we do to grow in our faith? The Scriptures have pointed this out to us as well...

Jeremiah spoke the hard truth in a time where the general population just wanted their ears tickled. Though it was truth, it got him persecution in the end. Our trials and special ministries that God gives us may promise persecution and suffering along with it, how do we remain faithful when the going gets tough?

The Apostles are incarcerated for the Gospel. It’s the Gospel that brings opponents to them, to arrest them and put them in jail. It is the Gospel that frees them, yet still bounds them to do nothing but preach of it. The Angel has told them to go and stand in the temple, for the umpteenth time. This is Ground Zero where they have been arrested time and time again - surely they know what to expect...

According to our modern sensibilities, Peter and John and the First church have a measly chance with the crowds. They’re preaching in the holy places of aggressively opposed religious institutions, they’re telling crowds that they’re guilty of crucifying Jesus, people are literally dying at their fellowship for their unholiness. No wonder there is fear in joining them… But more than ever believers...