The Rambling Disciple

Life can be discouraging. Often times this happens after some great victory. Something good happens to us and we feel great. Everything seems to be going right, but it doesn't last. Typically after the mountains comes the valleys. What goes up must come down. The people of Judah began to feel this way after returning from exile. Finally they were allowed to live in their homeland again. They were able to worship God on Mt. Zion again. Everything seemed to be going their way. Then the realities of a harsh world set in. While they were able to go home, they were still ruled over by a foreign power. They were able to begin rebuilding God's temple, but they were surrounded by enemies who wanted nothing more than to see Judah destroyed. The people became discouraged. Background The book of Zechariah was written by the prophet Zechariah and was written over the course of twenty years or so, from 520 BC to about 500 BC. We see this sharp divide between chapters 1-8 and ch...

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be...

The book of Haggai is a short book with a very specific message. It can be easy for us to gloss over this entry of the Bible. After all it deals with very specific people during a specific time doing a specific task. We don't live in the time of Darius. We aren't rebuilding God's temple. Or are we? Background The book of Haggai is written by the prophet Haggai. Not much is known about this man. The book itself was written over a several month span around the year 520 BC. This makes it the first prophetic book to take place after Judah's return from the Exile. This gives the book of Haggai a very different tone than previous books. This is the first generation of the exiles returning home. They are highly motivated to rebuild their city, as we see in the first seven chapters of Ezra. Haggai is sent to encourage them as they rebuild the temple. Themes There is only one theme in the book of Haggai; rebuild. The people of Judah have been called to rebuild the...

The next segment of history that we are going to overview is the Early Middle Ages. This dates roughly from AD 450 to AD 1100. This is intended to be a very general overview. There are probably historians that would classify some other time period as the "Early Middle Ages" or a more specific time period. For our purposes this will cover the aforementioned time period. This was a very influential period in the history of Christianity. It saw the formation of what we now call the Roman Catholic Church and its separation from what we would now call the Eastern Orthodox Church. Before this time there was only ONE church. There weren't different denominations or groups. It is hard for us to think about in our modern context, but there was a time when Christianity was visibly unified. Brief History The first major thing to happen during this time period is the remaining three ecumenical councils. We discussed the first four several weeks ago. These councils discussed va...

Doom and gloom. That is what most people think of when they read the prophets. To be fair we have seen a lot of judgment and wrath these last several books. God takes sin very seriously and it is important for us as God's people to realize this. Our sin is offensive to God. He hates our sin because of what it does to us and the world around us. God will not sit by and idly let the corruption of sin consume our lives. So comes the judgment. It is designed not merely for punishment but to inspire repentance. It is the spanking a parent gives after repeated warnings to stop. It is the last effort to bring about a change when reason, words, and begging have failed. But, now what? When judgment has had its effect, when we are now repentant and aware of our sin, God welcomes us back with open arms. He promises restoration and revival. He promises to change our hearts and renew our minds. Few books make this as clear as Zephaniah. Background The book of Zephaniah was written by...

We pause our overview of the history of Christianity to talk about an extremely influential figure, whether we realize it or not. Augustine of Hippo, so called because he lived in the town of Hippo Regius, has had a tremendous amount of influence on Christianity in the western world. Many of the theological conversations we have in our churches today have been directly shaped by this man. Many of the terms and ideas we throw around originated with Augustine.  Today we are going to look at SOME of the ideas that Augustine has shaped. In reality this man has touched in some way or another every aspect of Christian thought. If I had to choose the most influential people on Christianity outside of Jesus and the Apostles, Augustine might very well be number one alongside Martin Luther. Before we get into the theological ideas, a brief biography is in order. Brief Biography Augustine's story is actually very interesting, one I cannot hope to do justice here. If you are intereste...

Have you ever looked at the world and wondered why God isn't doing anything about it? We are constantly bombarded with reports of murder, abuse, and senseless loss of life. Evil seems to be everywhere, at home and abroad. We look at our government and politics and wonder how any good can come from it. Looking at our churches we see much of the same thing. We see people leaving in droves simply because Christianity is no longer socially advantageous. The sin that plagues the outside world is just as prevalent in the body. Everything seems to be going wrong. It is in these situations and moments that we wonder what God is doing. It seems like he isn't doing anything at all. How could he let such evil go unpunished? How could he sit idly by while his people dwindle and stagnate? Surprisingly, the Bible asks these very questions in the book of Habakkuk. Background The book of Habakkuk was written by the prophet Habakkuk around 630 BC. Not much else is known about him. What...

Two weeks ago we covered the Early Church Period in our broad overview of the history of Christianity. We now move onto the next period; the time of Constantine and the ecumenical councils. This time period ranges from about AD 310 to AD 450. There were more councils after this period, but these are some of the most influential. Brief History In 311 the Edict of Toleration was passed in the Roman Empire. This gave Christianity legal status; meaning that the government was not allowed to formally persecute Christians. This was brought about by Constantine, a major proponent of the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity.  This newfound freedom also brought about newfound heresies. A man named Arius began teaching that the Son (Jesus) was not fully God like the Father is. This teaching spread rapidly because it made it much easier to defend Christian monotheism. Soon this division was affecting the whole church, and something had to be done. The answer was to call...

Vengeance is a very common theme in our society. It seems to be the motivation for many of our movie heroes. One of the most profitable franchises around is The Avengers . We cry out for vengeance every time terrorists take innocent lives. We have an innate desire to see evil punished. This desire for vengeance is often confusing to us Christians. It comes so easily to us yet also feels so wrong. Sometimes we embrace calls for vengeance against evildoers. Other times we try to show grace and mercy. Issues like the death penalty are very divisive amongst Christians as they struggle to balance a hunger for justice and a desire for mercy. The book of Nahum is all about vengeance; God's vengeance.  Background The book of Nahum was written by the prophet Nahum around 645 BC. The book focuses on the inevitable destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. The Assyrians had long been a problem for the kingdom of Judah. During the reign of Hezekiah they had laid ...