Contradictions? Week 5: Isaiah 9:6 and Matthew 10:34-36

According to Bart Ehrman, “The Bible is filled with discrepancies, many of them irreconcilable contradictions.” Maybe you have run into a few of these discrepancies as you read the Bible yourself. In this series we will take a look at a few of these contradictions and see if they are able to be resolved and what these contradictions might have to teach us about God, the Bible, and our faith.

Starting on Sunday February 2 and running through March 2 the Veritas Community will seek to tackle 5 different seeming contradictions or discrepancies in the Bible. If you have ever wondered about seeming contradictions or discrepancies in the Bible and wanted a place to discuss them, we invite you to join us.

We wrapped up our Contradictions? series ) by looking at Matthew 10:34-36 and Isaiah 9:6. Matthew 10 says that Jesus “did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” while Isaiah 9:6 says that the Messiah will be the Prince of Peace. So does he bring a sword (a weapon of violence) or does he work for peace? We explored this seeming contradiction.

Contradictions Week 4: 1 Samuel 21:1-6 and Mark 2:23-28.

According to Bart Ehrman, “The Bible is filled with discrepancies, many of them irreconcilable contradictions.” Maybe you have run into a few of these discrepancies as you read the Bible yourself. In this series we will take a look at a few of these contradictions and see if they are able to be resolved and what these contradictions might have to teach us about God, the Bible, and our faith.

Starting on Sunday February 2 and running through March 2 the Veritas Community will seek to tackle 5 different seeming contradictions or discrepancies in the Bible. If you have ever wondered about seeming contradictions or discrepancies in the Bible and wanted a place to discuss them, we invite you to join us.

In week 4 of our series Contradictions we looked at 1 Samuel 21:1-6 and Mark 2:23-28. 1 Samuel 21 has the priest as Ahimelek while Jesus in Mark 2, while referring to the 1 Samuel 21 passage says the priest was Abiathar. So how do we reconcile this contradiction?

Take a listen and see how it might be reconciled if at all.

Contradictions? Week 3: 2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1

According to Bart Ehrman, “The Bible is filled with discrepancies, many of them irreconcilable contradictions.” Maybe you have run into a few of these discrepancies as you read the Bible yourself. In this series we will take a look at a few of these contradictions and see if they are able to be resolved and what these contradictions might have to teach us about God, the Bible, and our faith.

In week 3 of Contradictions? we looked at 2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1. 2 Samuel 24:1 says, "Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.” while 1 Chronicles 21:1 says, Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel." So did God or Satan incite David to take a census?

Take a listen and see if this contradiction or discrepancy can be resolved.

Contradictions? Week 2: 2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2

According to Bart Ehrman, “The Bible is filled with discrepancies, many of them irreconcilable contradictions.” Maybe you have run into a few of these discrepancies as you read the Bible yourself. In this series we will take a look at a few of these contradictions and see if they are able to be resolved and what these contradictions might have to teach us about God, the Bible, and our faith.

In our second week of Contradictions we looked at 2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2. 2 Kings 8:26 says "26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem one year. His mother’s name was Athaliah, a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.:" while 2 Chronicles 22:2 says, "Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri." So was he 22 or 42 when he began to reign?

Spend some time listening as we discuss this contradiction and see how it could be answered.

Contradictions? Week 1: Proverbs 26:4-5

According to Bart Ehrman, “The Bible is filled with discrepancies, many of them irreconcilable contradictions.” Maybe you have run into a few of these discrepancies as you read the Bible yourself. In this series we will take a look at a few of these contradictions and see if they are able to be resolved and what these contradictions might have to teach us about God, the Bible, and our faith.

In our first week in our Contractions? series we looked at Proverbs 26:4-5 which says, “"Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes". So which one is it? Do we answer a fool or not? We also spent time talking about various ways of understanding the inspiration of Scripture. So take a listen. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Entrusted Week 4: Stewardship of Finances

God has entrusted us to be stewards. He has entrusted us to be stewards of his environment, of the time that he has given us, of the talent and abilities that he has given us, and of the finances that he places in our care. We will start 2025 by looking at being good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.

In our fourth and final week of our Entrusted series we discussed stewardship of finances by looking at 1 Chronicles 29:12-14 and Haggai 2:7-9. Give it a listen.

Entrusted Week 3: Stewardship of Talents

God has entrusted us to be stewards. He has entrusted us to be stewards of his environment, of the time that he has given us, of the talent and abilities that he has given us, and of the finances that he places in our care. We will start 2025 by looking at being good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.

Today’s worship gathering was cancelled. But we recorded the sermon looking at stewarding our talents. We looked at Matthew 25:14-30- the Parable of the Talents. After listening to the sermon, take some time and reflect on these questions (either individually or with other people). Send Ryan any thoughts, ideas, answers you come up with.

  1. Take time to read Matthew 25:14-30 on your own after listening to the Sermon. As you read and reflect, what stands out to you? What thoughts, insights, questions, applications, etc. do you draw from the passage?

  2. How has the “church” buried our talents in the ground and not used them for God’s glory, Kingdom, and for the blessing of the entire world? How have you buried your talents in the ground and not used them for God’s glory, Kingdom and for the blessing of the entire world?

  3. What talent or talents do you believe you have been entrusted with by God to steward for his glory, His Kingdom and His world? How might you better steward them this year? What about Veritas? What talent or talents does our community have that we can steward for His glory, His Kingdom, and for the blessing of the Lancaster community and the world?

Entrusted Week 2: Stewardship of Time

God has entrusted us to be stewards. He has entrusted us to be stewards of his environment, of the time that he has given us, of the talent and abilities that he has given us, and of the finances that he places in our care. We will start 2025 by looking at being good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.

On Sunday we looked at Stewardship of Time. We looked at Psalm 90:12, Colossians 4:5, and Ephesians 5:15-16. Take some time (nice pun) and listen to us dialogue about being entrusted by God with time.

Entrusted Week 1: Stewardship of the Environment

God has entrusted us to be stewards. He has entrusted us to be stewards of his environment, of the time that he has given us, of the talent and abilities that he has given us, and of the finances that he places in our care. We will start 2025 by looking at being good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us.

The first sermon of 2025 and the first in our Entrusted series was on being entrusted as.a steward of the environment. We looked at Genesis 1:26-31 and Genesis 2:15.

God with us: An Advent Journey through the Story of Scripture Week 4: Kingdom of Love

Advent means ‘arrival. ’It is a season of waiting, where Christians around the world anticipate the arrival of Jesus ’birth at Christmas. But while the culture around us rushes ahead to the celebration, we intentionally join in the practice of waiting, retracing our steps in the great Story, remembering how humanity longed for the hope of Immanuel, God with us.

During this Advent, we will retrace those steps all the way back to the beginning, because the whole story of Scripture has been pointing ahead to the hope of Jesus.

We wrapped up our Advent sermon series God with us by looking at Kingdom of Love by exploring 2 Samuel 7:1-17.

Spend some time making the connection between David, the Kingdom, and Jesus.

God with us: An Advent Journey through the Story of Scripture week 3: Joy

Advent means ‘arrival. ’It is a season of waiting, where Christians around the world anticipate the arrival of Jesus ’birth at Christmas. But while the culture around us rushes ahead to the celebration, we intentionally join in the practice of waiting, retracing our steps in the great Story, remembering how humanity longed for the hope of Immanuel, God with us.

During this Advent, we will retrace those steps all the way back to the beginning, because the whole story of Scripture has been pointing ahead to the hope of Jesus.

On week 3 of our Advent sermon series God with us: A Journey through the Story of Scripture we looked at Exodus 20:1-19 and talked about the Joy of Rescue.

God with us: An Advent Journey through the Story of Scripture week 2. Peace

Advent means ‘arrival. ’It is a season of waiting, where Christians around the world anticipate the arrival of Jesus ’birth at Christmas. But while the culture around us rushes ahead to the celebration, we intentionally join in the practice of waiting, retracing our steps in the great Story, remembering how humanity longed for the hope of Immanuel, God with us.

During this Advent, we will retrace those steps all the way back to the beginning, because the whole story of Scripture has been pointing ahead to the hope of Jesus.

In week two of our Advent series we looked at Peace through the lens of the covenant with Abraham. We looked at Genesis 12, Genesis 15:1-6 and 9:21.

Fruit of the Spirit Week 8

In week 8 of our Fruit of the Spirit sermon series we looked at the Fruit of the Spirit of goodness. We looked at the vertical dimension of goodness- the goodness of God to us and looked at several scriptures including Psalm 31:9, Psalm 145:9, Mark 10:18, Acts 10:38, and James 1:17. We also looked at the horizontal dimension of goodness- how we are to extend goodness to other people. We looked at several scriptures including Galatians 5:22-23, Acts 9:36, Ephesians 4:28-29, 1 Timothy 5:9-10, and Galatians 6:9-10.