The Blue Church

³² Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? ³³ Has any other people heard the voice of God^[a] speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? ³⁴ Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

When I was thirty-two years old, I was working a job that I really enjoyed as a psychotherapist for a private agency in Northeast Philadelphia. At that time I was blessed to provide individual and family therapy as well as to work with teenagers in high schools all across Philadelphia, including some of the poorest and most crime-laden neighborhoods in the area. I loved my work and my co-workers and had no plans of leaving my job. Then….the call came….from one of my graduate school professors and he said, “Rob, I think I have an opportunity you might be interested in.

For many, Easter is their favorite celebration. For those who hold this view they cite the glory of Christ’s resurrection and the joy of “seeing” Jesus triumph over evil as the reason why they are so joyful.  At Easter, it is often easy for believers to feel that they are rejoicing in not only Christ’s incarnation, but His finished work on the cross.  They rejoice that God has indeed saved them from the wrath to come.

⁸These are the names of David’s mighty warriors: Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter. ⁹Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty warriors, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle. Then the Israelites retreated,

This week I had an occasion to dive deeply into the Word of God. I was blessed to spend days pouring over Second Corinthians and discovering some wonderful truths about God, the Apostle Paul, and human nature. Perhaps what struck me the most, though, was Paul’s love for God and His church. When addressing the church in Corinth he wrote, ”I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”

“The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered” Proverbs 17:27

Boy, is that true!

“ A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again.” Proverbs 19:19

Shall I read my Bible again?

Are there really new things to find within?

Shall I hear something more about man and his sin?

I have read these stories a hundred times.

What else is there that I could I hope to find?

God’s Word fits on me like an old worn glove.

What more does He have to say about His love?

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8

Mankind holds to a lot of different views about what causes people to change. Some people believe that if a person commits a behavior and then meets with negative consequences, they will stop performing the behavior. The penal system was built on this idea, with the hope that if a person was imprisoned they would think about the cost of their actions and refrain from committing more crime when they were released.