Rev Chris Roth

Jeremiah 31:31-34 www.biblegateway.com New International Version (NIV) 31 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah . 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to [ a ] them, [ b ] ” declares the LORD. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Footnotes: Jeremiah 31:32 Hebrew; Septuagint and Syriac / and...

Numbers 21:4-9 4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea , [ a ] to go around Edom . But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you [plural] brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” 6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.   8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.   John 3:14-21 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so...

Because the last sermon  I posted was about Jesus and his actions clearing the temple I only was able to hint at my thoughts on anger (I hope that I am learning to align my thoughts with Jesus').   The following are some more (sometimes random) thoughts on anger and some notes from other sources to provoke thought.               First, I want to acknowledge that it is not wrong to 'feel' anger. That is not something directly under our control. Similarly, having a sexual thought pop into your head is not lust. Indulging, however, in that thought is what transforms a passing and natural sexual thought into lust. I think that this is similar to anger. We may have an angry thought pass into our minds, but dwelling on it leads to sin.             We often try to justify anger by saying it is necessary for justice. I think compassion is a much better (and l...

John 2:13-22 Jesus cleanses the temple New International Version (NIV) 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem . 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” [ a ] 18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple h...

1 Corinthians 8 Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols 1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God. [ a ] 4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. 7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ...