Satanic Situation (Matthew 16:21-28)

The prophets and the apostles are the bedrock for the Lord’s church.  Peter, the spokesmen for the apostles, is the one who affirms with absolute certainty that Christ is the messiah.  He is the redeemer, the Christ, the Son of God sent to do the Father’s mission.  It would seem that such a strong affirmation is only going to bring Peter to submission.  However, the Christ rebukes Peter in a strong way.  Why is Christ’s mission so difficult to embrace?

Sojourning Under the Sun: Sabbath Suffering (Luke 14:25-35)

Christ uses very strong language regarding our Christian life.  He tells us that we are to actually hate our families.  Is this a contradiction of the 5th commandment?  I thought that we were to honor our parents?  I thought that we were to love our Lord as first priority and love our neighbor as ourselves?  How can Christ command us to hate our families?

Friday Fools (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Christ assures us that the folly of Christ’s cross is salvation manifested by the power of God.  How can this be?  This sounds impossible because the cross is a method of execution.  Why would we want this symbol?  The tragedy is that we are tempted to sanitize this symbol, but why is that so tragic?  What could be the possible benefit of this cross?

You Lousy Witnesses! (Job 16-17)

The interactions between Job and the counselors has not been overly positive.  In fact, Job has been beaten up pretty badly in this process and their interactions have by and large bypassed each other.  One would hope that at some point the gospel would come out.  Unfortunately, Job continues to cling to his righteousness, but is he beginning to see that his righteousness is not enough?  Is Job finally starting to see that retreating into the pit of Sheol is not a refuge at all?