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Ezekiel, a visionary prophet
Title:Ezekiel, a visionary prophet Aim:To comprehend that God’s holy presence and infinite power encourage us to heed His Word. Scripture:Ezekiel 1:1–28 Ezekiel, the prophet, Ezekiel 1:1–3 Ezekiel name means “God strengthens.” He was the son of Buzi, a priest of the family of Zadok (Ezek 1:3). What is known about Ezekiel’s life comes from the information he gives in his book. Also, his prophecies contain dates more specific than almost any others in the Old Testament. This makes it possible to correlate Ezekiel’s declarations with Babylonian records and date many of the prophet’s oracles (e.g. 1:1–3; 8:1; 20:1; 24:1; 26:1; 29:1, 17; 30:20; 31:1; 32:1, 17; 33:21;…
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Isaiah, a willing prophet
Title:Isaiah, a willing prophet Aim:To answer God’s call to serve. Scripture:Isaiah 6:1–12 Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room, Isaiah 6:1–4 Isaiah 6 is the prophet’s record of how he heard and responded to God’s call to serve. At first, it may seem odd that Isaiah’s commission to prophesy does not come until after five chapters of oracles. These chapters deal with such themes as judgment, discipline, exile, restoration, and blessing. Yet, Isaiah placed his commissioning account here to prove he had the credentials to deliver the opening series of oracles against Judah. God dramatically called Isaiah to his prophetic ministry “in the year that King Uzziah died”…
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What A Friend We Have in Jesus!
In a recent blogpost titled, “Jesus will never unfriend you,” Pastor Patrick Thurmer explores the theme of the Son being the “friend of sinners” (see Matt 11:19; Luke 7:34). As the author notes, based on 1 Timothy 1:15, Jesus left the glories of heaven to offer Himself on the Cross as an atoning sacrifice. His intent was to make salvation freely available to eternally condemned “sinners.” Pastor Thurmer draws attention to Facebook, where individuals one barely knows can either be “friended” or “unfriended” with the click of an on-screen button. In sharp contrast to this languid and watered-down notion of “friendship” popularized on social media, Jesus’ commitment to redeem…
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Unitarian Universalism: “It Means Whatever You Want it to Mean.” (A Christian Conservative Goes to College, part 20)
“He who stands for nothing will fall for anything” – Unknown. “Groups that stand for everything stand for nothing or else they deceive” – a former Unitarian Universalist pastor who is now a full-fledged Humanist.[1] “For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools….” (Romans 1:21-22). The World Religions class assignment was that each student attend the service of a religion that was not “one’s own”. I chose to attend a Unitarian Universalist church with my analytical Christian friend Chris. As…
