A family liturgy guide to go along with Jesus as the Great Prophet.

Prophet, Priest, and King!  Take a minute and think about the first thing that comes to your mind when you see those three words.  Begin with the prophet, maybe the words, old, wise, or someone who speaks with and on behalf of God.  However, what do the sacred writings say about prophets?  Words like warning, exhortation, conviction, prayers, sorrow, anger, ridicule, martyred/killed, prosecutors, and witnesses are among some of the descriptions the Bible uses to describe these men and women. (1)  In this article, we will explore and hope to gain insight into these men and women to see their amazing and impactful role in the lives of God’s people.  The Westminster Confession of Faith assembly met in 1643-1649 and in the shorter catechism asked and answered four questions on the three offices of mediator.

When talking about manhood or womanhood from the Scriptures one should begin at the very beginning.  Last month in an article we looked briefly at motherhood/womanhood and what the scriptures say about their role as covenant ally, particularly from Proverbs 31.  In this article for the month of June, we will be investigating fatherhood/manhood and will be seeking the Word of God to glean an understanding of what God reveals to us about what it means to be a man and a father.

The Bible, specifically Proverbs 31 truly reflects the dignity that God created the woman to have when He caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and formed his covenant ally from his rib.  On the sixth day, God created male and female in His image, Genesis 1:27. 

Among the many practices of the Christian life (such as gathering for worship, meditating on God’s Word, serving the needy, forgiving, and seeking forgiveness) There are two very basic practices in the Christian life; receiving God’s Word, and then speaking with God. Receiving God’s Word of course comes through reading, or hearing the scriptures. And speaking with God occurs in prayer. As soon as the topic of prayer comes up, questions are not far behind. Questions like “If God already knows, why pray?” or “What are the outcomes of prayer?”. It is appropriate to ask questions about prayer as we learn from Jesus' example in answering the first disciples about how to pray (Matthew 6:5-13). In today’s piece, we examine how prayer is linked to the work of Christ, and the role of the prophet. 

The rest of the scriptures unfold how the Creator God will accomplish this promise. In Genesis 12 God calls Abram and his family out of Ur of the Chaldeans to a land He will show him. In Genesis 12:2 God promised to make Abram a great nation and bless him. Abram followed God’s summons and obeyed. The LORD then appeared to Abram and he worshiped Him. Later in Genesis 15:2 Abram questions God and asks how it was possible that he would be a great nation seeing his wife Sarai was childless, so at this time, he did not have a son of his own and his only heir was Eliezer of Damascus. God responds to Abram’s inquiry by saying “This man will not be your heir, but one will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir”. 

The Bible makes many claims regarding the origins of things. There is no book more practical for life than the Bible. Questions regarding the origin of humanity, the purpose of humanity, the destiny of humanity, and the hope of humanity, all find their answers as revealed in the Bible. Maybe those questions are not the questions puzzling you today. Perhaps you are wondering how you can forgive an offense against you from years ago, or how you can be forgiven the offense you caused another. Perhaps you are anxious or angry about the commands of God in the Bible. Maybe you wonder why Christians have such different views on human sexuality, social norms, individual accountability, and justice than the rest of the culture. Whatever your questions or curiosities, we hope you come to know and grow in the truth and trust of God as revealed in the Bible. In our biggest and most daily practical questions, God’s Word reveals the answers!

Stories are built to be retold and experienced, not picked apart. Stories are kind of like jokes; they lose some of their power when they have to be explained. The story of the woman at the well is one of the most powerful stories I know, and the most powerful parts of it require very little explanation: this woman encounters her Savior. 

I want to focus on what we have in common with this woman, and how Jesus treats her and talks to her.

Jesus’ interaction with this woman is a window into how he might interact with you or me if we met him along the side of the road in our hour of need. We are sinful and yet can be accepted. We are broken and yet there is an invitation for us part of a new family, to be children of God.

A wise Presbyterian elder wrote a very good book entitled “How Should We Then Live” and asked the crucial question, of how to live the doctrines of God that saturate the pages of scripture. The foundational truth is that any good systematic theology begins with the doctrine of the Triune God.

Based on who this God is, coming to grips with the overwhelming magnificence of YHWH, the question then returns: how should we then live? 

I assured my friend that there was nothing for him or the preacher to apologize for. As far as I could tell, the preacher had not uttered a single heretical word. He had not tried to place in the sermon things that did not belong there. Though repetitious and hard to follow, he spent most of his time repeating after Jesus. If that can even be called a mistake, there are certainly far worse.

At the end of part 1, we ended with a question, "Have you heard God's call like Samuel, and responded, 'Here I am Lord'?" In today’s discussion, we will consider how the Bible speaks about Salvation. This is sometimes called the order of salvation (or Ordo Salutis in Latin) and is often broken into three groupings - justification, sanctification, and glorification. God's effectual calling is first in the order of salvation. Salvation begins with God calling and intervening in our exile from Him and ends with God consummating the covenant blessing and glorifying those who will inherit the promise.

In this piece, we will consider the Bible’s explanation that Christ is the last Adam. In part two, we will consider the ethical implications of Christ as the last Adam for our daily lives.

Board Games are great for date nights at home.