For most of us, our home is the place we feel the safest, the most secure. That’s pretty normal and to be expected. But home can be taken away from you by any number of events or circumstances. So where then do you look for security, for rest, for peace, for refuge? David points to only one place, one Person who can provide that for us.
David observes that it is the fool who lives as if there is no God, and yet he also observes that 100% of us live that way. Yet, there is a group of people God calls "his own," a group he calls "righteous." So the question becomes, who are those people, why has God chosen them, and how do you move from "all have sinned" to "and are justified freely"?
Peter and the other apostles find themselves back in front of the Sanhedrin, this time as a full group, and they are in danger. The Sanhedrin has decided to kill all 12 of them because they continue to preach in Jesus’ name, even though they were told not to. The only thing that keeps them alive is a Pharisee named Gamaliel who has a better idea… do nothing.
The resurrected Jesus now begins appearing to his disciples, giving them convincing proofs that he really is alive. Then, he opens their minds to understand the scriptures, gives them their mission, and encourages them to wait for the gift of the Father.
We might think of love as a warm fuzzy feeling we get when we're with another person, or simply as the enjoyment we get from something we like. But God's love goes far deeper than that.
As the story of Esther comes to a close, it leaves us with a celebration and a choice to make.
We don't like waiting, we don't like delays. We think there is a lot with the world that should be different, and maybe you wonder why God hasn't acted yet to make things right. This message looks at 2 Peter 3, and how God's promise isn't delayed – but is in fact a mark of his glorious patience.