The story of Samson is a challenging test, a riddle, a parable. Even as we examine the text, the text is examining us – it is testing and cross-examining our loyalties. Samson is not a tidy Sunday school story. He is a wild man, often driven by the Holy Spirit, sometimes driven by his lusts. And the questions require us to think carefully and apply them to ourselves.

The Text: “Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife…” (Judges 14:1-20)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

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The message of the whole Bible is that God’s grace is greater than you can possibly imagine. It is an ocean that has no coasts, no bottom. His mercy endures forever.

This story of the birth of Samson is one of the places we are reminded of this, and it reminds us of the grace of God because it points so clearly to the birth of His only Son, Jesus Christ.

The Text: “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah…” (Judges 13:1-25)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

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Building Christian community is one of the hardest things we are engaged in. The relative progress we have made in this venture is one of the greatest signs of God’s blessing. Only the Holy Spirit can knit people like us together.

But it also requires great wisdom, constant vigilance, and addressing sin. Bitterness and envy are not little sins that can be ignored. They are cancers that destroy families and churches and nations.

The Text: “And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and went northward, and said unto Jephthah, Wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon, and didst not call us to go with thee? we will burn thine house upon thee with fire…” (Judges 12:1-15)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

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As we enter the summer season, with all its God-given goodness, we would be wise to consider the unique temptations that accompany it. A wise man plans ahead and prepares. Planning is not just needed for Airbnb bookings and National Park passes. You also need to prepare your hearts and your families for the summer. You need to be “watchful” against the various temptations that you will encounter. This attitude does not dampen summer fun, but actually protects and increases the blessings that God has in store for you.

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

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In the evangelical classic The Cross and the Switchblade, David Wilkerson tells the story of his ministry to a street gang and the dramatic conversion of Nicky Cruz, a knife-wielding teenage gang leader. About 20 years later Cruz himself wrote a book called The Magnificent Three in which he wrote, “Something has emerged in my walk with God that has become the most important element of my discipleship. It has become the thing that sustains me, that feeds me, that keeps me steady when I am shaky. I have come to see God, to know Him, to relate to Him as Three-in-One, God as Trinity.”

He continues, “God is a magnificent Father. God is a magnificent Savior, Jesus Christ. But if it were not for the magnificent Holy Spirit, I would still be a wretched, hateful sinner! It is not enough to have a Father-God who loves and provides for me. It is not enough even to have a Savior who died for my sins. For any of those blessings to make a difference in our lives, there must also be present in this world that Third Person of God, the Holy Spirit.”

We refer to the Trinity regularly. We confess our faith and are baptized and blessed in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but do you see this truth as magnificent?

The Text: “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love…” (1 Jn. 4:7-17)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

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Because we live in a time where the dictionary has been ripped up and reassembled every few years and then weaponized against Christians, we live in a time that faces peculiar challenges. And this is overlaid on top of the usual temptations that have faced all people of all ages: animosity, envy, pride, and fear – frequently related to different nationalities, ethnicities, etc.

But the Holy Spirit has been poured out to remake this shattered world. The Holy Spirit is the wisdom and power and clarity of God’s Word restoring meaning, justice, and love, and with these gifts, over time, true community.

The Text: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him…” (Lev. 19:17-18, 32-36)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

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History is covenantal. This means that Christ is Lord of history, and this means that history is demonstrating the covenant faithfulness of God – that God keeps His promises. This also means that history is the story of God’s personal dealings with people, families, and nations based on how they respond to God. It is not an impersonal machine churning through time; it is the story of God’s dealings with His creation. All of it is designed to make us worship Him, to stand in awe at His wisdom, and to trust Him through our chapters in His epic tale. The story of Jephthah underlines these themes.

The Text: “Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot: and Gilead begat Jephthah…” (Judges 11:1-40)

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.

America is in the mess it is in because of our idols. The central shrine is the worship of the individual self. And like ancient Israel when the chickens come home to roost, we sometimes try to cry out to God for deliverance. But we have not yet actually turned away from our false gods, and so we are in a position where God has every right to say to us what He said to ancient Israel: “Ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more” (Judges 10:13).

The Text: “And after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in mount Ephraim. And he judged Israel twenty and three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir…” (Judges 10:1-18).

King's Cross Church is a member congregation of the CREC in Moscow, ID. Visit our website at https://kingscrossmoscow.com.

Follow us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/kingscrossmoscow.