This past weekend at Eastbrook, I continued our preaching series, "Who Do You Say I Am?", after our two week hiatus for our annual MissionFest. This week I worked through Jesus' teaching on the heart and what truly defiles in Matthew 15:1-20. What continually strikes me about Jesus' teaching in the Gospel of Matthew is …
A Prayer for Purification
"Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah 23:29) burn our hearts, O Lord,with Your pure word.You, who are consuming fire, in whose radiant holiness none can stand,come with refining heatto purify our wayward heartsand with Your pure word,O Lord, burn our hearts. …
The Inside-Out of the Spiritual Life
"He [Jesus] went on: 'What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.'" (Mark 7:20-23) Responding to the …
Two Ways that Shape Our Lives
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. (Proverbs 16:2) We pursue what we think is best in our lives. If something is not right, we will only do it when we convince ourselves that the short-term gains are worth it. Overall, we order our …
Becoming True-Hearted in God
"There is sprung up a light for the righteous, and joyful gladness for such as are true-hearted." (Psalm 97:11) I love that rendering of the very end of Psalm 97:11 in Miles Coverdale's Psalter. Where other translations say "upright in heart" (NIV, ESV, RSV, NRSV, KJV), "true-hearted" points me in a slightly different direction. To …
Matthew Erickson 