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1 Corinthians 2:14-16

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit because the natural person does not receive them. The natural person is not a gospel person. Gospel people are made. God makes them, creates them. The natural person, the person on whom the gospel has not yet gone to work, who has not yet been caught up in the good news, considers the good news folly. He or she calls a good thing evil and an evil thing good. They do not get the logic of the cross because the cross runs counter to natural logic. There is a reason human courts can run on forgiveness. The Spirit must make the cross make sense, which the Spirit does through the cross and the proclamation of the crucified One. This is not to say that natural logic is all bad, that we should do away with it. It just means that natural logic is not a path to heaven, is no way to find salvation. Continue reading “Spiritual People”

1 Corinthians 2:1-10

Preaching has power. The power is from the Spirit. It is why we preach the gospel instead of preach about the gospel. The Spirit reveals the mystery to us. It could not come from us. There is no searching the depths of human wisdom to find wisdom. In the depths of human wisdom we find glory but the wisdom of God is Christ crucified. Continue reading “The Logic of the Cross”

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

God didn’t call us because of who we are. God called us. God didn’t choose us because of who we are. God chose us. We aren’t righteousness, sanctified, redeemed, because of who we were, but that is now who we are, because of Him. We are in Christ Jesus. He is our wisdom from God. He is our boasting. He is the basis of our election. We are called through His death and resurrection to new life, the foolish to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong. Continue reading “Free for Our Neighbor and the World”

Psalm 72:8-9

And He does have dominion from sea to see, our Epiphany King. He came not only to save His own, even though they did not recognize Him, John tells us, but to save all. He is Savior of the Nations. This is the great epiphany, God made man, not for some, but for all, not for a people, but for the peoples—God made man for me, for you. Continue reading “He Rules from Sea to Sea”

Psalm 72:1-2

Long live the King! And He does live. He is risen, He is risen indeed! And He is endowed with justice, with righteousness. He is the Righteous One. He will judge the living and the dead. Continue reading “Long Live the King!”

Ephesians 4:17-24

That’s not who you are. That’s who you were. That is essentially what Paul is saying here. Something has changed. You have changed. God has changed you. Continue reading “That’s Not Who You Are”

Matthew 2:1-12

Most of us were not invited to the first Christmas. It was a Jewish event. Jewish parents, a Jewish child, and Jewish shepherds witnessing the incarnation. If you are not Jewish, it was not for you…not yet anyway. Then there came wise men from the East. Gentiles. And they made quite a stir when they arrived. All of Jerusalem was restless when this entourage got there. Who were these foreign dignitaries? What did they want? Continue reading “Epiphany”

John 1:10-13

Jesus is God. John is saying it as clear as day. There was nothing created that wasn’t created through Him. There is still nothing created that isn’t created through Him. You are God’s creature. Any children you might have, they are, too, even if you spent the time in labor. God created and God creates and for anything not yet that yet will be, well, God will be creating. Continue reading “Born of God”