Galatians #1: Introduction-Christ Alone

Hey Eastgate! Been a while since I’ve updated Wonderwhat – but since we’re starting a new series, I thought it would be good to fire this thing back up. We’re going to start a study in the book of Galatians. I realize that I’ve already taught Galatians – but I’ve learned a lot since then and I’d like to pass that along. This Sunday we’ll be reading chapter 1:1-9 for our introduction and first look.

I’d really like to encourage you to watch the Bible Project’s video on the book of Galatians. You can find it HERE. The latest podcasts also deal with how we are to read the New Testament letters and they are super-informative. If you’re a podcast listener, you can find them HERE.  I know it seems like I push the Bible Project a lot, but seriously, I consider it the most important thing to be coming from the American church right now.

In our study of Galatians we’re going to be considering the core of Paul’s argument concerning the Good News – what it is and what it aint. I think this letter is going to be powerful and timely, given the state of our world right now. It’s important to get to the basics – and I think we need that right now more than ever.

Jesus Christ….and nothing else. Sounds easy…but it actually becomes a challenge.  When you read the first 9 verses, what do you think Paul’s demeanor is? What does his inflammatory language in v6-9 stir in you as you read it? Why do you think he’s speaking so strongly to the Galatians?

As we’ve been doing – our services are going to be online only – streaming on Facebook, and hopefully YouTube at 9 AM. Hope you can join us!

Click here for a pdf version of the teaching slideshow.

Job #8: The Fourth Friend (Job 29-37)

Hey Eastgate – We will be continuing to do our online service at 10 AM on Sunday, streaming on Facebook and YouTube. We are exploring possibilities for how we can meet together in person, we’ll keep you posted as the details of that become more clear. In the meantime, we can be patient, the main thing is to do whatever we do in a way that is safe for everyone and in cooperation with our State guidelines as well as the CDC.

This Sunday we’ll still be studying Job – and we’ll be covering a lot of chapters – chapters 29-27 – but don’t panic, we’ll do an abridged version.

Job has a fourth friend who has been silent until chapter 32 – but he says some things that offer a more nuanced look at the dialogue that unfolded through chapters 4-27. It will be interesting to read – and there are some very timely and thought provoking questions that will emerge from that text.

I hope you are all doing well – I know that we all miss being with each other – but don’t forget, we are connected through Christ, and that connection doesn’t depend on a building or a meeting – it just requires that we stay close to Him. Hope you can tune in on Sunday and be refreshed in God’s word!

Click here for a pdf version of this teachings slideshow.

Job #7: A Wise Interlude (Job 28)

We’ll be continuing our online services this Sunday – watch at 10 AM on Facebook or YouTube. This Sunday we’ll be reading Job 28 in our study of that book. We’ll also be observing Communion – so be prepared with bread and wine, or juice…or any symbolic form of sustenance. We’ll be sharing that “together” at the end of the teaching.

Job 28 marks a shift in the focus of the book. We stated last time that the case which the Challenger brought against God (that real righteousness doesn’t exist because it comes with a reward, thus making people mercenaries in their pursuit of goodness) was lost when Job confessed a determination to pursue righteousness regardless of reward or cost. 

Chapter 28 comes in like an interlude. It doesn’t appear to be Job, nor any of his friends doing the talking, and we’re left to assume it is the narrator, bridging us to the next section with a poem. What is the subject matter of the poem? What does that tell us about how things will resolve from here?

What was the main concern and point of emphasis for Job and his friends (think of the triangle we showed)? How does that differ from the point of this poem?

I really like this chapter and because of its overall context, the message behind it is profound. Hopefully it will inspire some good discussion in the Q/A at the end of the service. Hope to “see” you on Sunday!

Click here for a pdf version of the PowerPoint slideshow for this teaching.

Job #6: Case Dismissed (Job 22-27)

This Sunday we’ll be resuming our study in Job – we’ll be covering an abridged version of chapters 22-27 – but you can read the chapters in their entirety HERE.

This section finishes the three cycles of dialogue between Job and his friends, and contains the climax of those cycles. The main thrust of this section will center on the idea of righteousness for righteousness’ sake, not for reward or benefit. That’s a compelling concept, one we might mentally assent to, but on further introspection, may find difficult to realize fully in our own motivations.

It will be an interesting and challenging study – hope you can join us online at 10 AM, on Facebook as a live event and on our Youtube channel. Hope you are enduring in His grace during these days – I pray for you always.

Click here for a pdf version of the PowerPoint slideshow.

Job #5: Wrong Answers To Wrong Questions (Job 15-21)

As you surely know, we will be doing online only services this Sunday – and while I know it’s Palm Sunday, as often happens with us in teaching through a book of the Bible, we won’t be doing a Palm Sunday service but rather we’ll continue our study in Job.  I still think it is quite apropos for our situation.

We’ll be reading from chapters 15-21 – an abridged version, though you can listen to the chapters read in their entirety in the audio file above.

We’ll also be doing a Q&A after the teaching, so please post your questions during the service and we’ll discuss them at the end.

What do you notice about Job’s attitude toward God as this second cycle of dialogue plays out? What is happening to his perception of God? How might our own religious assumptions and attitudes lead us to similar perceptions of God? Those are things to ponder in this section.

Tune in on Facebook or Youtube this Sunday at 10 am. Hope to see you online!

Click here for a pdf version of the PowerPoint slideshow.

Job #4: Job Wants A Lawyer (Job 8-14)

Hey Everyone – I’m trusting that you’re all hunkered down, staying safe and keeping others safe. This Sunday our meeting will be online only – you can watch on Facebook or Youtube. We’ll be continuing our study in Job, reading chapters 8-14. We’ll be reading an abridged version of all those chapters, but again, the audio file is above and you can listen to the text in it’s entirety there.

We’re also going to do a Q&A session about Job right after the teaching – so as you listen, post any questions you have about the text or it’s application and we’ll discuss it. I really enjoyed that last week, hope you did too!

Hope to see you online – pray for one another – pray for our world, nation, state, county and community. Pray for the healthcare workers and those seeking a vaccine, that God will give the wisdom we need to overcome this threat. Pray for our leaders on every level. Pray for peace and comfort for those who are distressed. Pray for the Good News to have opportunity to be shared.

Click here for the pdf version of the PowerPoint slideshow.

Job #3: A Dried Up Brook of Advice (Job 4-7)

Another crazy week has passed, a lot of disconcerting things have developed, including the closing of our beaches, which I know has a cascading impact on so many people.  In times of distress, we remember that God is still God and the One we look to in times of trouble. Take heart, in His love, there is hope for you. As always, we will keep our eyes and hearts open for ways we can lighten the burden for one another.

This week, our services will be ONLINE ONLY, but you can watch on our YouTube channel or on our Facebook page or in our Facebook Group –  or just click the link on our website  – tune in at 10 am CST.

We’ll continue our very relevant study in the book of Job – and you may be surprisingly comforted by what we discover as we explore those pages. We’ll be covering a lot of ground, ch 4-7 – which I will only read an abridged version of on Sunday morning, so listen to the audio reading of those chapters in their entirety above.

I’m also hoping to do an extended Q&A about Job after the teaching – so if you have any questions about the book, it’s genre, the characters…anything, leave them in the comment section below and we can discuss them on Sunday.

Click here for a PDF version of the teaching slideshow.

Keep your eyes fixed on the God who loves you – allow His grace to settle all fear and uncertainty – be still, and know He is God.

Job #2: The Breaking Point (Job 3)

Click the link below for an audio of the text for this teaching:

https://wonderwhat.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/job-3.mp3

Job really seems like an appropriate study lately, given the global concerns about CONVID-19. We are still weighing out our options about our normal 10 am meeting tomorrow, but we will be broadcasting live on YouTube and Facebook. We’ll address our next steps, but it seems likely that we’ll move to online only for the next few weeks after that. The leadership at Eastgate is in discussion about this – We’ll keep you posted.

This Sunday we’ll be reading Job 3  – this is where Job reaches his breaking point. Again, we have an audio reading of that chapter above. These audio versions will become important as we move along, because we’ll be covering multiple chapters at one sitting and we won’t have the time to read the entire passage during the study.

As you read Job 3, what do you think about his state of mind? While he curses his birthday, he doesn’t seem to be suicidal in that he shows no inclination to take his life into his own hands – but he certainly seems to appreciate non-existence to what he’s experiencing. How do you find solace in times when life provides no relief from suffering? Where can you find meaning in times of pain and suffering?

We’re going to consider Job’s view of an afterlife in this study…his view raises some powerful questions for us as New Testament readers.

I’m looking forward to this section – it should prove to be a deeply thought-provoking study.

Click here for a pdf version of the teaching slideshow.

Job #1: An Introduction (Job 1-2)

This week we will begin a new study in the book of Job. How often have you suffered, or known someone who is suffering and the question that forms most readily is “why?”. Why is this happening? Why God? If there is a common issue that unifies those who can’t believe in God, it’s the issue of cruelty and suffering. How could a good and all powerful God allow so much suffering in the world?

That’s been a question through the ages. It’s really the thematic center of the book of Job.

And yet…Job gives us no real answers. As John Walton puts it in his commentary, Job simply provides us with better questions to ask in the midst of suffering.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at the structure and nature of the book, as well as reading the first two chapters. I’m going to do something different with this study – here on Wonderwhat I’m going to post an audio reading of the chapters we’ll cover – that way, if we don’t end up reading the whole passage on Sundays, you can listen to the whole thing read at your leisure. The audio file is at the top of the post,

Read the first two chapters – or listen to the audio at here.

Click here for the pdf version of the powerpoint teaching slideshow.

Engaging A Secular Culture (Without Being A Jerk) (Acts 17:16-21)

This Sunday we’ll be continuing our short series which considers practical ways in which we can fulfill what the angel told the women at the empty tomb; “Go and tell” this good news. We’re going to look at another example from the book of Acts, one I’ve taught on before, but which bears repeating. We’ll be reading Acts 17:16-29.

In this famous teaching, Paul is summoned to the Areopagus, or Mars Hill, where the city council would meet. In this setting, Paul related the gospel to a completely uninitiated people. His approach to their culture gives us a fascinating insight as to how far Paul would go with his ideology of being all things to all people (1 Cor 9:22).

Read through Paul’s address. How would you characterize his words? Was he scolding? It says he was grieved by the idolatry he saw – but how did he start his address and what did he point to in his message to use as a platform for the gospel?

In v28 Paul quotes a line from a hymn of praise to Zeus, by the pagan poet Epimenides. He didn’t do that to validate a worship of Zeus, but as a support for his claim about the One, Creator God. How might we learn to do that sort of thing in the culture where we find ourselves?

How can we learn from Paul’s interaction with culture to engage our world without condemning it? Hopefully our consideration of this on Sunday will foster some new ideas for us as we follow Jesus who’s loose in the world! Hope to see you then!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

Following Jesus-Who's Loose In The World (Acts 8)

This Sunday we’ll be starting a short series to follow up on our study of the Gospel of Mark. When Mark finished, we were left with an open-ended command: Go and tell. Simple enough…but not that easy to carry out. We’re in a time and culture that isn’t all that open to historic Christianity; often seeing it as a primitive and phobic worldview. Some of that perception is our own fault, I fear.

No matter if there’s blame to be placed, we are still left with this high calling of following Jesus from that empty tomb into the world where he is now loose and bringing life. How do we join in with his work in a world like ours?

We’re going to look at an example from the early church this Sunday of how one person was going and telling the Good News. We’ll be reading Acts 8:26-39 this Sunday, which is the account of Philip sharing the Good News with the Ethiopian Eunuch.  There is so much that is intentionally unusual in this passage, and I think we need to take a close look at it.

When you read through the text – what is it that causes Philip to head out towards the desert? How easy or hard is it for you to follow those inward nudges of the Holy Spirit to change your immediate course or do something for reasons that aren’t very apparent? How can we be more open to those types of Spirit-inspired events?

The person Philip is directed to is from a gentile, pagan nation. He’s an official which means he’s steeped in the culture’s religion. He’s also a eunuch – someone who no longer functions, in the normative sense, sexually. He seems to be a seeker, or perhaps a proselyte. He’s coming back from Jerusalem, but he wouldn’t have been allowed to worship at the temple because of his condition.

Take some time to think about this man and try to think of what people in our modern world would fit into the categories he represents. How did Philip begin his interaction with this man? What can we learn from that?

What can we learn about advancing the kingdom of God from Philip’s experience? In what ways will we need to look past the outsider status of people in our world to share the hope of Christ with them?

I suspect this will be a challenging study – hope to see you there!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

Mark #49: The Gospel Ad Infinitum (Mark 16:1-8)

So – this Sunday we’ll be coming to our last study in the Gospel of Mark – we’ll be reading chapter 16. For the last year in doing this study I’ve done digital paintings to accompany the teachings – and I thought I’d share my process with you for these. This is sped up by 650% – so don’t get any ideas that I can actually paint this fast. It was fun to do – but I don’t think I’ll bite off anything that ambitious again – it really commandeered my time.

Most scholars, including very conservative ones, don’t believe the last 12 verses of ch 16 were part of the original text, but were added sometime after the 3rd Century. With that in mind, we’ll be keeping our focus of this study on the first 8 verses…which makes for a really open-ended finale.

In the text we return to the women we were reading about at the end of chapter 15. They are going to the tomb to finish the job of preparing Jesus’ corpse, something left undone because they ran out of time before the Sabbath. How does the theme of unfinished work get revealed in the first 8 verses?

Why do you think it was important that the angel singled out Peter as one to whom this message was given? What can that tell us about our own times of falling short? What significance can you discern in the fact that Jesus had gone before them and would meet them when they got there?

If you were to narrow the text down to the first 8 verses, what do you feel at the end of v8? Is there anything you feel prompted to do when concluding with v8? Ad infinitum is Latin for “to infinity”, connoting that something is ongoing. Mark probably intended for his readers to be called to an ongoing action in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection.  What is your response to the news that Jesus his risen, and what does it call you to do?

This has been a really enjoyable study to undertake! Hope you got as much out of it as I did, and I certainly hope you return to Mark again and again to read the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

Mark #48: The Kingdom Kernel (Mark 15:40-47)

I remember helping my mom plant gardens when I was a kid. She loved gardening, and every spring in Michigan we’d walk out in a freshly tilled plot of ground and start planting seeds down the rows. I can still remember looking at those seeds and asking her for the umpteenth time what plant it would be, and she, very patiently, showed me the bright picture of a pristine vegetable on the seed packet.

I’d look at those seeds and try to figure out how the first shape would transform into the second shape. Obviously, horticulture was not something I pursued.

But that memory lingers in the text we’ll cover this Sunday. We’ll be reading about Jesus’ burial in our study in Mark, reading Mark 15:40-47. In so many ways, this is not just the account which fills in a few details whilst we wait for the resurrection (***spoiler – Jesus doesn’t stay dead***). Christ’s burial is something he forecast in John 12:24, when he made the statement: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.” 

Once again, I’m a child, looking at the shape of the kernel and wondering about the shape the harvest. As I consider it – I believe we actually do get a glimpse of the shape the harvest of new lives will take as we look at the details of the Kingdom Kernel being planted in the grave.

In v40-41, who are the followers of Jesus that the narrative focuses on? Isn’t it interesting that none of the big names we’ve read about all through this story are mentioned at this juncture? A radical upheaval in the order of this broken world is pictured in this shifted focus – can you imagine what it is?

V42-43 introduce us to another new character: Joseph of Arimathea. A member of the Sanhedrin, he goes to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body so he can have a decent burial. The NLT says he “took a risk” in doing this. Imagine what the risks are for him? How might his fellow Sanhedrin members feel about it? How might Pilate react to another member of the religious leaders bothering him about Jesus? What does this social, political and religious risk tell us about the nature of this new life we find in Christ?

As you finish reading the chapter, what surprises do you come across? What seems unexpected in this text, and what might that say about a new life in Christ?

I think this will be an interesting and encouraging passage to study together. Hope to see you on Sunday!

Click here for a pdf version of the teaching slideshow.

Mark #47: The Curse Displayed and Cured (Mark 15:21-39)

This Sunday we’ll be returning to our study in the gospel of Mark, we’ll be reading Mark 15:21-39.

Ask almost any given Christian why Jesus died on the cross, and you’ll likely get a response of “Jesus died for my sins” – or something to that effect. That’s not a wrong answer – but I’d suggest it is incomplete. Even there, many people really don’t even know what they’re saying when they assert that Jesus died for our sins.

The New Testament writers knew that what happened on the cross was central to what God was doing in fulfilling his promises to Israel. One of the major ideas of what was accomplished on the cross is a breaking of Satan’s stronghold on humanity and creation ET AL. Galatians 3 tells us that Jesus also delivered us from the curse of sin and evil by taking it all to himself on the cross. Yes, Jesus died for sinners, but not as a martyr or even a good example – something cosmic and mysterious took place on that cross. A rescue of unthinkable proportions occurred through Christ’s suffering and death.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at how the curse of sin and evil were put on display on the cross, and how we recognize what Jesus has delivered us from through his sacrificial death.

As you read this text for Sunday, imagine the scene as best as you can. What is Jesus experiencing, and how does it relate to this broken world? It might help to read Genesis 3. What correlations can you find between the fall of creation and what Jesus experienced on the cross? How does it help you understand what Jesus has accomplished for you?

I hope this study will provide a new sense of awe and appreciation for Christ, and what God had done for us all.

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slides.

Mark #46: The Suffering Servant (Mark 15:1-20)

This Sunday we’ll be reading about the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate as we continue our study in Mark. We’ll be reading Mark 15:1-20.

This is the moment when Jesus is confronted by the combined forces of broken religion, politics and social behavior. In a sort of perfect storm, as religion and politics vie for superior power and control, Jesus is caught in the middle of the machinations – suffering injustice, prejudice, accusation and condemnation, which will lead to his death on the cross.

Here, is radiant contrasts, we see the distinction between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of humanity.

As you read through this section, what do you notice about Jesus? What does he do, and what is done to him?

Consider the accusations, the prisoner exchange and torture piled up on Jesus; what picture might it give you about what it is that God was accomplishing through Christ on our behalf? Think about that crown of thorns laid on his head. It was a parody of Caesar’s wreath crown. It was intended as ironic mockery. I believe God was communicating something else. Read Gen 3:17-19. What else might that crown symbolize, and what can it tell us about the purpose of Jesus’ suffering this way as our substitute?

I don’t understand the mechanics of all of this. I still find it fascinating that for 2,000 plus years people of faith have found something powerful and life-changing in this scene of brutality. I’m one of those. I can’t explain exactly what happened that terrible Friday, but I believe it changed the world, and I know it changed me.

We’ll contemplate the implications of this on Sunday – hope to see you then!

Click here for a pdf of the slideshow.