Northwoods Table Talk

Devotion for Last Sunday  Daniel 2:24-49          Revelation 19:1-21 I know that people think the book of Revelation (no, it is not Revelation[S] there is no 's' on the end of it) is difficult to understand. It is indeed apocalyptic language. It is God's Word, penned by the Apostle John when exiled on the island of Patmos. It is a word of comfort to those going through persecution at the hands of the Roman empire. Speculatively, so God inspired it to be written in this manner so that it would get past the Roman censors who would probably have stopped it from getting to the originally intended recipients. In a nutshell, seriously abbreviated, it was written to give hope to those who are undergoing persecution. It is the same message of hope, seven time, to seven churches. Do not get bogged down in the "what does this mean? Which nation is that speaking of? stuff that many try to get people to focus upon and trying to figure out the "timing" of when thes...

Devotion for Saturday after 2nd Last  Daniel 2:1-23         Revelation 18:1-24 I was thinkin the other day and thought I would simply do something here in this space about how the Apostles died. I am doing this to help us consider that those who are in Christ will probably endure hardship in the world. 1. Matthew. Suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, Killed by a sword. 2. Mark. Died in Alexandria, Egypt , after being dragged by Horses t hrough the streets until he was dead. 3. Luke. Was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous Preaching to the lost. 4. John. Faced martyrdom when he was boiled in huge Basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution In Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered From death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison Island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos . The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve As Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the...

Devotion for Friday after 2nd Last  Daniel 1:1-21          Matthew 28:1-20 Why did the women go to the tomb that morning on the first day of the week? They came to look at the tomb, is what our text tells us, b ut why?  Jesus had told them on a number of different occasions that He was going to suffer many things at the hands of the chief priests, elders, and scribes, be killed, and that after three days He would rise. Weren't they listening? Hadn't they paid attention?    Did they not remember Him saying to the Jews, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days?” Didn't they understand the words? It seemed pretty clear.   Had they forgotten Jairus’s daughter?  Had they forgotten the son of the widow of Nain? Had they forgotten Lazarus?  Jesus had raised all these from the dead. And had proclaimed that  after three days He would rise. Or were they there to watch the spectacle? They wanted to see it ha...

Devotion for Thursday after 2nd Last  Jeremiah 38:1-28         Matthew 27:57-66 He is dead! He was beaten, battered, bruised, and then nailed to the cross. Now He is dead! They laid Him in a new tomb. Now the chief priests have one last cruel mockery.  62  Now on the next day,  that is, the day  which is after  the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,   63  and they said, “Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, He said, ‘ After three days I am rising.’   64  Therefore, give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”   65  Pilate said to them, “You have a  guard; go, make it  as  secure as you know how.”   66  And they went and made the tomb secure w...

   Devotion for Wednesday after 2nd Last  Jeremiah 37:1-21          Matthew 27:33-56 During Christ's crucifixion, there were those who mocked Him. It goes like this.  41  In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking  Him  and saying,   42  “ He saved others;  He cannot save Himself!  He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.   43  He has trusted in God; let God rescue   Him  now,  if He   takes pleasure in Him ; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  They said, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself!"  They truly did not get it! The Jewish church leaders should have known, they should have been all on board with what God was doing - it was all there, foretold in the Old Testament - but they did not. They had gone so far off the reservation that they had to kill Jesus. They sho...

  Devotion for Tuesday after 2nd Last  Jeremiah 33:1-22         Matthew 27:11-32 You have read the words of this passage from Matthew before, probably heard it read from the lectern in your congregation. But a portion of it is very interesting. 15  Now at  the Passover  Feast the governor was accustomed to release for the  people  any  one prisoner whom they wanted.   16  And at that time they were holding a notorious prisoner called Barabbas.   17  So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus  who is called Christ?”   18  For he knew that  it was  because of envy  that   they had handed Him over. 19  And  while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him  a message , saying, “ See that you have  nothing  to do  with that  righteous Man; for  last nig...

Devotion for Monday after 2nd Last  Jeremiah 31:1-17, 23-34          Matthew 27:1-10 Imagine this exchange between you and your pastor (it is taken from the lection from Matthew you read above): 3  Then when  Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned  the thirty  pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,   4  saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What  is that  to us?  You shall see  to it  yourself!” Well thought out and planned was  your sin, conducted in greed and selfishness. Later however, seeing the consequences of your sin severely affecting the life of another, you go to your priest/pastor/father-confessor and proclaim, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." What is it that came to him for? In repentance, even returning the money by which you profited, you are coming to hear a word of forgiveness. I...

Devotion for 2nd Last  Jeremiah 30:1-24          Matthew 26:57-75 Peter the bold, the brave, a braggadocio, "Even if all the others fall away because of you, I will never fall away!" (Mt. 26:33) He said it only a few hours earlier. And this lesson from Matthew only 36 verses later finds Peter's bravery put to the test, his faithfulness to Christ is challenged, and He fails. He fails in spectacular fashion. We sit in our chairs reading this text some two thousand years later and wonder how he could have done that. I have even had people boast to me, "Pastor, I just do not understand how they could have done what they did? If I had been there and seen all the things they had seen, I would have been different!"  "Sure Peter! You would have been different!" What an embarrassment Peter thought he was. He went off and wept bitterly. What sin brings you to your knees in repentant crying? If you are honest with yourself, any sin you commit is a "falling a...

Devotion for Saturday after 3rd Last  Jeremiah 29:1-19          Matthew 26:20-35 First, let me apologize. Somehow (my own sinfulness, manifested in making an error) I selected the New Testament lesson for today (11/14) and put that up yesterday. I grievously compounded the error by writing the devotion on that text. So, today I am using yesterday's (11/13) New Testament lesson, and making that today's devotional text. Forgive me! I want to take a few passages from this text. Remember, Jesus is with His disciples in the upper room, He is celebrating the Passsover with them, He will be going to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, they will arrest Him there, and then He will travel to the cross and grave. But in the midst of it all He institutes the Eucharist/Lord's Supper/Holy Communion/Table of the Lord/Sacrament of the Altar. Now while they were eating, Jesus took  some  bread, and  after a blessing, He broke  it  and gave  it ...

  Devotion for Friday after 3rd Last  Jeremiah 26:1-19          Matthew 26:36-56 In the lesson from Matthew, we read: 36  Then Jesus *came with them to a place called  Gethsemane, and *told His disciples,  “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”   37  And He took  Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and began to be grieved and distressed.   38  Then He *said to them,  “ My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and  keep watch with Me.” 39  And He went a little beyond  them , and fell on His face and prayed, saying,  “My Father, if it is possible, let  this cup pass from Me;  yet not as I will, but as You  will .”   40  And He *came to the disciples and *found them sleeping, and He *said to Peter,  “So, you  men  could not  keep watch with Me for one hour?   41  Keep watching and praying, so that you do ...

Devotion for Thursday after 3rd Last  Jeremiah 25:1-18          Matthew 26:1-19 Our reading from Matthew begins with these words: When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples,   “ You know that after two days  the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is  to be   handed over for crucifixion.”  Jesus knew what was coming upon Him, He states it explicitly, "the Son of Man is to be handed over FOR  CRUCIFIXION!!!" Would you remain anywhere in the near vicinity if you knew that you were going to be crucified? If you knew they the outcome, if you could truly see the future and know what was going - that you would be arrested, they'd lie about you, find you guilty, bring you before Pilate who would wimp out and hand you over to Roman soldiers to beat and whip you, finally taking you out to be crucified, would you stick around? Jonah was supposed to go proclaim God's Word to Nineveh, but he also knew they'd repen...