Category: JOHN D. BARRY

  • THE CURIOUS THING ABOUT GOD’S WORK

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 26:1-27:26; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1; Psalm 40:1-17 Doing God’s work is a curious thing. It requires both mad rushes and patiently waiting. Christ followers are meant to think like the psalmist did: “I waited patiently for Yahweh, And he inclined to me and heard my cry for help” (Psa 40:1). Yet Jesus’ followers…

  • CURSES, THE OLD TESTAMENT, AND FREEDOM

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 21:1-22:30; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21; Psalm 38:1-22 “And if a man commits a sin punishable by death, and so he is put to and you hang him on a tree, his dead body shall not hang on the tree, but certainly you shall bury him on that day, for cursed by God is…

  • THE GLOBAL RESET BUTTON

    Connect The TestamentDeuteronomy 15:1-17:20; 2 Corinthians 4:7-18; Psalm 37:1-22 When I was a kid, I loved playing Super Nintendo—especially Donkey Kong. Despite my love for it, it would just make me angry at times. When I couldn’t handle the way the game was panning out, I would slam down the controller and hit the reset…

  • AN IRRATIONAL LIFE

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 11:1-12:28; 2 Corinthians 3:9-18; Psalm 35:12-28 Love is irrational. It requires doing things that compromise every survival instinct.Moses tells God’s people to have a memory of what God has done among them and to love Him as a result: “And you shall love Yahweh your God, and you shall keep his obligations…

  • TREATING THE SYMPTOM

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 7:1-8:20; 2 Corinthians 2:12-17; Psalm 34:1-22 I regularly predict that something will only take me an hour when it actually ends up taking two. I’m beginning to think that this is a sign of a larger issue: the tendency to underestimate the severity of a problem. In medical offices, this is called…

  • YOUR INNER SELF

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 4:1-49; 2 Corinthians 1:17-24; Psalm 32:1-11 “Did I leave the burner on?” “Did I lock the door?” “I feel like I’m forgetting something.” Forgetfulness is a syndrome we all experience at one time or another. Many of our forgetful moments end up being minor inconveniences. But there is one thing we should never forget:…

  • MOVING ON

    Connect The TestamentsDeuteronomy 1:1-46; 2 Corinthians 1:1-11; Psalm 31:1-9 “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn now and move on” (Deut 1:6–7). We have a terrible tendency to stay in one place or keep doing one activity longer than we should. Our meetings run long, we constantly work overtime, or we overstay a…

  • GIFTS AND GRACE

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 35:1-36:13; 1 Corinthians 16:1-24; Psalm 30:1-12 Yahweh spoke to Moses on the desert plains of Moab beyond the Jordan across Jericho, saying, ‘Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their property cities to live in; and you will give to the Levites pastureland all…

  • RISK: OVERSOLD AND UNDERPLAYED

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 32:1-42; 1 Corinthians 14:26-15:11, Psalm 27:1-14 The fears of the psalmist are not our fears today, and the fact that they aren’t should bother us. The psalmist remarks, “Do not give me over to the desire of my enemies, because false witnesses have arisen against me, and each breathing out violence. Surely…

  • TONGUES, PROPHECY, AND THE THING WE CALL LOVE

    Connect The TestamentsNumbers 31:1-54; 1 Corinthians 14:1-25; Pslam 26:1-12 Nearly anything good can become unproductive if it’s abused or misused. Paul is all about embracing the side of spirituality that can seem a bit wacky to us today—gifts of tongues and prophecy, to name a few. But he is fully aware of the problems that…