Posts with the category “first-comes-love”

Highlight If yesterday’s chapter 4 was the opening statement of judgment - today’s chapter 11 is the moment of hope and unconditional love. God has been revisiting Israel's history and calling out the...  Read More

Highlight Chapter 4 is Hosea’s prophetic message from God to Israel. It is a full judgment speech of the way God’s people have broken their covenant. The three major ways He brings to light are their ...  Read More

Highlight Love is an action. Love is costly. Verse 1 God commands Hosea to “go, show love to your wife” and immediately he “bought her for…” (v. 2). It is not meant in a demeaning way, it is a literal...  Read More

Highlight Salvation and restoration is coming. Both for Gomer from Hosea and the Israelites from God. God declares five of His own characteristics that He promises to lavish on His people. They are ri...  Read More

Highlight It is important to know the style in which an author wrote the original book or letter. Often it is not the simple autobiography or history or nonfiction, we might think of and read today. ...  Read More

Welcome to Week 6 of the First Comes Love Reading Plan! This reading plan is designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find information about...  Read More

Highlight The definition of “simple one” in verse 7 is “a youth who lacked judgment,” “a youth lacking of heart,” or “one devoid of common sense or understanding.” No one wants to be described that wa...  Read More

Highlight Being confronted with the truth often hurts. It causes anger, bitterness, denial, and sometimes resentment towards the person who called your bluff. David could have gone through all of thos...  Read More

Highlight David and Bathsheba. A story that begins to send David’s life into a different direction. Up to this point, David has followed God’s laws and seems to live a life of integrity before God. Ye...  Read More

ighlight Jesus laid out the plan of church discipline, which we see Paul reiterating here in his letter. Discipline can get mixed reviews but it must be addressed. Not in a harsh or belittling way, bu...  Read More

Highlight Paul makes it clear that the situation of “a man sleeping with his father’s wife” is a sin and even something pagans do not do (v. 1). Yet, that was not Paul’s intention behind this portion...  Read More

Welcome to Week 5 of the First Comes Love Reading Plan! This reading plan is designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find information about...  Read More

Highlight In this final poem we see the summary and conclusion of our epic love story. Eros love is mysterious in many ways. In the context of marriage, in its unadulterated form, it’s pure bliss. How...  Read More

Highlight Our lovers have finally united and their passion is unhindered. Twice leading up to these chapters we hear the Young Woman ask her friends to help her ‘not to awaken love until the time is r...  Read More

Highlight It may seem out of place to find such sultry language in the Bible, and it begs the question ‘why?’ Why would God include a book of passionate love poems in His Word to us? Well, there are a...  Read More

Since this is a book of poetry, the author is not held to a linear plot line. However, there are several interesting themes that weave their way throughout the work. Clearly the intense desire of thes...  Read More

Highlight This week we’re learning about the ‘Eros’ form of love described in Scripture. Eros is a Greek word from which we derive the word ‘erotic’. In Scripture, it describes the passionate, physic...  Read More

Welcome to Week 4 of the First Comes Love Reading Plan! This reading plan is designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find information about...  Read More

Highlight In this final chapter of Paul’s letter we get a glimpse into the pain of relational desertion he has endured. Paul, like Jesus, in his final days is abandoned by many of those who followed a...  Read More

Highlight A clear mark of whether the transformative work of the Spirit is evident in someone’s life is how they show up in their relationships with others. Paul paints a pretty grim picture of what b...  Read More

Highlight Pauls sees Timothy as a spiritual son and here he is teaching Timothy how to lead the spiritual family that’s been entrusted to him. This is no easy task. The church in Ephesus has been corr...  Read More

Highlight This week we’re exploring what God has to say about singleness. Truthfully, there is not a lot in Scripture that directly addresses singleness, but as we saw yesterday what is shared is over...  Read More

Highlight In the American Church today marriage is often the assumed and perhaps even elevated status of relationship for believers. However, it’s clear in this passage from Paul’s letter to the Corin...  Read More

We all start with innocent notions of love that our world can quickly shatter; turns out relationships are more complicated than a nursery rhyme! In the First Comes Love series we’re going to examin...  Read More

Highlight This week we’ve been reading Paul’s writings to the churches in Ephesus and Crete with instructions on how we should love one another the way Jesus has loved us. On our final day of this wee...  Read More

Highlight Titus is a Greek follower of Jesus that became a student and co-worker of Paul’s on his missionary travels. In this letter, Paul is writing to Titus who he has sent to work with a network o...  Read More

In chapter 6 Paul expands his encouragement to use our everyday relationships as a platform from which to display the love of Christ and the truth of the Gospel. After beginning with the example of ho...  Read More

Highlight Now that Paul has given a broad picture of what it means to live as people of love by shining light on the love of Jesus, he begins to unpack examples of how this is lived out in our everyda...  Read More

Highlight The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in Ephesus from prison. You can hear from the beginning of his letter the affection he has for the believers there. He planted this church o...  Read More

Welcome to Week 2 of the First Comes Love Reading Plan! This reading plan is designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find information about...  Read More

Highlight This passage is a perfect ending to a week of readings about love: “Above all things, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (v14) In Matthew 22, Jesus said the g...  Read More

Highlight The word for “love” throughout these verses is agape. Agape is a specific word for love that describes unconditional love. It’s an active, sacrificial, other-centered love. This is the lo...  Read More

Highlight A key question that Paul is trying to answer in Romans 8 is how to process suffering as a Christian. As he closes the chapter, he beautifully connects the current and future confidence of a...  Read More

Highlight The heart of this passage is the word remain/abide, which is used fifteen times in the first eleven verses. All spiritual power for living out the Christian life comes from God. There is o...  Read More

Highlight This chapter is one of the most well-known passages in all of Scripture… and for good reason. Because this passage is so familiar, it’s a great opportunity to stop and reflect deeply on it....  Read More

WELCOME Welcome to Week 01 of the First Comes Love Reading Plan. This reading plan is designed to partner with Compassion Christian Church’s sermon series of the same name, which you can find informa...  Read More