Matthew 26:36

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

From Background Notes [BN] for Sept 5th & 6th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

We might wish to have been there, a bit like the Lenten spiritual, "Were You There?" Would we have been with Jesus, at his side, or sleeping with the others?

 

Matthew 26:28

This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 29th & 30th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Through the faithfulness of Jesus, sin met its D-Day, and a new and living way was opened up for God kingdom to once more dawn with living power over sin.

Genesis 4:7

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 29th & 30th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

In what sense, we might ask?

Romans 7:22-23

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 29th & 30th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

In 1973 the psychiatrist Dr. Karl Menninger wrote a book entitled Whatever Became of Sin? He lamented society’s rejection of a divine standard of right and wrong.

Psalm 42:2

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 22nd & 23rd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

At one time hidden (even as His name was absent from the Esther's book), He suddenly breaks forth through His wonderful works, in the lives of people like Esther, Moredcai, and, yes, in Jesus...

Isaiah 41:10

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 22nd & 23rd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

“Do not be afraid” depends on “for I am with you.” Esther learned the truth of that statement and the truth of Isaiah and Jeremiah who wrote decades before she lived.

Esther 4:14

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 22nd & 23rd written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Our reading this week tells the story of fear’s complex layers.

1 Kings 19:2

So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow."

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 15th & 16th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Elijah's response defies everything we know about him on Mount Carmel, the courageous, zealous prophet, cleverly outwitting Baal's prophets, an instrument of the divine judgment on the day the fire fell.

1 Kings 19:1

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 15th & 16th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Our text this week stands in stark contrast to miracles of 1 Kings 17 and the shock and awe of 1 Kings 18.

1 Kings 17:21

Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 8th & 9th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Confronted by the abyss of death, Elijah dares to seek resurrection life from the God he had just before accused of taking it away.

1 Kings 17:1

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

From Background Notes [BN] for Aug 8th & 9th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

Miracles, wonders, and signs are common terms applied to God’s actions as human beings experience them.