Growin' Up Gregory

Many of us know the story of Daniel and the Lions' Den which is found in Daniel 6 if you'd like to read it there, but I'll try to summarize it a little bit. King Darius was over the kingdom at the time (around 605 BC) and he had 120 satraps, or administrators throughout the kingdom working for him.  One of those men was Daniel, who at the time of this incident was in his 80s.  Daniel had risen to this position through a life of hard work and faithfulness to God.  He was so honest that other government officials, who were jealous of him, could not find anything to hold against him to have him removed from office.  But these men came up with a plot to use Daniel's faith against him.  They tricked King Darius into signing an irrevocable decree that anyone who prayed to a god or man besides him in the next 30 days would be thrown into the lions' den.  Daniel, knowing of the decree did not change his routine of prayer to God and remained faithful. ...

"Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!" - Psalm 34:3 We often talk or sing about magnifying the Lord or magnifying his name, but what does it really mean to magnify something?  According to Webster, the simple  definition of magnify is: - to make something greater - to make something seem greater or more important than it is - to make something appear larger I've spent practically all of my life in church, but not necessarily walking with God.  I didn't pray about where I would attend college, get a job, or buy a house.  I took the lower cost college and searched for best available in the other two categories.  I have since learned that if I will focus on God, he will direct me to where I should be and what I should be doing.  It's like looking through a magnifying glass.  You can be glancing around and going in many different directions, but then the Lord steadies your hand and you begin to see the image under t...

ATTENTION:  ALL MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR JESUS OF NAZARETH ARE CANCELLED.  HE IS RISEN! Around dawn of that Sunday morning some 2,000+ years ago, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, went to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus.  A violent earthquake took place as an angel rolled back the humongous stone that was guarding the entrance to Jesus' tomb.  The Roman guards shook in fear and "became like dead men", I believe they literally passed out, at the angel's lightning like appearance.  But the angel spoke to the women saying, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here, for he has risen, as he said."  But as God always does, he offers us proof or encourages us to see for ourselves; the angel had the women come look in the tomb where Jesus' body had been so they could see with their own eyes that he had risen.  The angel then instructed the women to go tell the disciples the Jesus had risen....

The high priests and elders have been plotting to get Jesus out of the way for some time now.  And they finally have him, accused of blasphemy, in front of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.  Pilate actually could find no guilt in Jesus after questioning him.  However, for fear of upsetting the crowds, he allowed them to decide Jesus' fate.  And many of us know that scene, the chants of "Crucify him!", and "Give us Barabbas!" (the prisoner subsequently released instead of Jesus).  These same crowds who earlier in the week had praised him shouting Hosanna, now wanted him dead.  Jesus was then mocked, beaten, and ridiculed by the soldiers.  I can't even try to describe the details of that beating but you can read the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  The soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head, stripped him, beat him, and the forced him to attempt to carry his own cross to Golgotha.  However, his body was too weak and Simon...

It has been a busy week in Jerusalem for Jesus and his disciples over the past few days.  Now it is the first night of Passover and Jesus has sent Peter and John to find a man, only described as to be carrying a jar of water, to find the house where the Passover meal will be held.  The man will lead them to a house and they will use the upper room there to prepare the meal. As they are getting settled in and beginning to eat, Jesus drops a bombshell on them saying, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me."  Imagine the sorrow the disciples began to feel in that moment as each one questioned, "Is it I?"  Picture your family at a holiday dinner all gathered around the table when your parents stand up and announce that one of you children will bring dishonor, shame, and disgrace to the family name.  How would you feel knowing it may be you?  And as if they weren't already worried enough, Jesus goes on to add, "It would have...

One day, possibly Wednesday of Passion Week, Jesus was teaching and preaching to the people in the temple.  The chief priests, scribes, and elders came to Jesus and asked him, "By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you the authority to do them?"  They questioned Jesus' actions.  Their question was somewhat vague to the specifics as we are not certain if they were questioning the actions of cleansing the temple earlier in the week, his recent teaching, or miracles he was performing.  They also questioned Jesus' authority.  He was proclaiming the gospel and presenting himself almost as a self-appointed rabbi and they wanted to know who had given him the authority to do such things since he had not been trained by them.  Jesus responded by making them a deal, that if they could answer one of his questions he would answer theirs.  Jesus asked, "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?"  The priests, scribes, and elde...

Depending on which gospel you read, this may have taken place from Monday to Tuesday morning or all on Tuesday morning/  But the lesson from the story remains the same.  Jesus and the disciples came from Bethany and were hungry.  Jesus saw a fig tree with leaves in the distance and went to it to get something to eat.  But when he got to the tree, there was nothing to eat because it was not the prime season for figs.  So Jesus said to the tree "May no one ever eat fruit from you again."  Jesus would go on later this Monday to cleanse the temple from all the sinful activities there. Tuesday morning Jesus and the disciples passed back by the fig tree and Peter noticed that it had withered to the roots and called the others' attention to it.  Jesus responded to Peter saying, "Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,'" and has no doubt but truly believes, it will come to pass.  Jesus uses thi...

Earlier this Monday morning, Jesus has cursed the fig tree but we will look into that tomorrow at the conclusion of those events. Jesus and the disciples have made a triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem the night before.  Now it's Monday and they head to the temple where Jesus would quickly become upset and all that was taking place there.  Upon entering he saw money changers and merchants buying and selling animals.  Jesus became angry over the fact that the people had desecrated the temple from a "house of prayer" into a "den of robbers" and he made a small whip from some cords and began turning tables over driving the business people out of the temple.  He was angry at both those running the business and those doing the buying.  The people were impressed by Jesus' teachings and authority but this only increased the chief priests' and scribes' fear of him and they plotted for a way to destroy him.  After cleansing the temple and as even...

This week is the start and culmination of some of the most important acts in the history of Christian faith.  On a Sunday some 2,000+ years ago, Jesus and his disciples were traveling into Jerusalem.  Think of the mindset of Jesus during this journey.  He knows his Father's will so he is full aware of what will be taking place over the next week so the man aspect of Jesus has to be somewhat stressed and troubled with that kind of weight on him. As they approached Jerusalem, he sent two of his disciples to the next village up, most likely Bethphage, and instructed them on where they would find a foal of a donkey tied up.  They were to untie the donkey and bring it back to him and if it questioned by anyone were to respond "The Lord has need of it."  Mark's account of the story tells us that this is in fact what happened.  Bystanders are standing around as two strangers just walk up and proceed to untie a foal, possibly one of theirs or belonging to a neigh...

"The last thing believers many believers need today is to go to another Bible study. They already know far more than they are putting into practice. What they need are serving experiences in which they can exercise their spiritual muscles." - Rick Warren Now let that sink in for a minute because I'm pretty sure that most of think that if we are going to, hosting, or even leading a Bible study that we are going above and beyond what God calls us to do. I mean we may already be going to church Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and Wednesday evening so throwing in another hour or two session with God is good stuff.    "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." - Ephesians 2:10.  We are called to DO something, not just to KNOW something.  What good is knowing the glory, power, grace, and mercy that is found in salvation if we are not going to share it with someone...

Many years before Jesus' birth, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had attacked Jerusalem and captured many of its finest men.  Of those captured there was a group of four friends that may have heard of:  Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and Daniel.  Many of us know the first three by the new names given them by the king of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  These four men were extremely wise and found favor in the eyes of King Nebuchadnezzar.  They worked under him and were promoted in their service to be among some of his most trusted counselors.  At a point in time, Daniel was able to accurately interpret a dream for the king and Daniel was put over the entire province of Babylon, including other men which had been working for the king longer than he had.  Upon Daniel's promotion, he requested that Nebuchadnezzar allow him to have Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as his administrators and the king granted his request. As was common practice during this tim...

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers." - Psalm 1:3 To put the concept of this fruitful tree in perspective, we have to think about the arid terrain of Israel and understand that a lush tree was considered a anomaly and not the norm.  Having a lush, fruitful tree in this climate was considered a blessing from God in the Old Testament.  This is clearly a mature tree since it is bearing fruit.  Saplings don't typically produce so if we compare this tree to our lives it would be like a mature Christian who is doing good works for the Glory of God. For the tree to have become mature, it had to grow.  Trees, people, nor Christians, just pop us as fully mature.  We all start out weak and small but as trees grow taller, wider, and stronger they mature and begin to develop into the fruit-bearing objects they are designed to be.  As Chri...