Bubblical, we read the Bible...then talk about it

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms1Kings 8Solomon is the Master of Ceremonies over an 8 day party. What gets the party started? The ark is coming into the temple, and we should all know what that means…we're gonna get married, as the old bee bop song goes. The 10 commandments are always the vows to a marriage with God, not a legal code.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Kings 5-7Details about the temple being built appear to us ‘ad nauseam'. But this is the reality God gives us and an important piece contemporary with its own times. God permits Solomon to build a temple, but warns what this temple should be. God's temple is a symbol of his dwelling with his people that he has redeemed, established and given rest to, a people that promise their obedience in love. What seems to be boring is what sets God's story apart from anything this world has ever seen or heard of. Jesus finalizes the temple and gives it its real name!

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms1Kings 4This chapter offers a window into God's practical guide for wisdom. It starts with loving God and asking for wisdom for other people's sake. And then, surround yourself with an entourage of other who love God and have wisdom for other people's sake not your own. That is what the who's who list in chapter 4 is driving at. Solomon runs a government that benefits people not government, and everyone does well. Happiness and peace are felt by all. With wisdom in hand, Solomon heads into every sphere including nature to figure out how to understand Gods world. A pattern of wisdom for us all.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms1Kings 3The Kingdom may be in Solomon's hand but what does God have to say? God taps Solomon in a dream to test his heart. You don't have to be a King to be like Solomon and his answer to God is the key to the Kingdom. Solomon loves God, appreciates God and asks God for his help with good and evil. You don't have to be a King to follow this script.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Kings 1-2One last look at David. He is old, cold and impotent - even with the most beautiful girl in the land spooning with him at night. This is not a good look, and not surprisingly another son makes a run at the crown. A blast from the past, Nathan and the Prophet and Bathsheba, wake David up from his impotency to pursue a proper succession to the crown. For the first time in a long time David seems like he has his mojo back, and for the first time ever, he actually acts like a father giving his son godly direction. David dies, and Solomon succeeds - but what does God have to say?

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 21:15 thru ch 23David has been more than naked about the egregious mistakes he has made and now it's time to end on David's heart which is his heart for God. He was a faithful warrior for God along with his fighting men, and he was also the sweetest poet that Israel ever had. God gave us David to learn from both negatively and positively. David gives us words that we too should shout with love and faith. God doesn't give us unhelpful demigods and unrealistic hero types. He gives us real people because God heart is for real people. We have a lifetime of learning from David - praise God!

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 21:1-14, 24Awkward ending and awkward bits all thru these two chapters. Did the author understand how awkward this is? Yes. In the awkward, our attention must be drawn. Our attention then focuses on the endless and exhausting nature of the need for atonement and an atonement that can be once and for all, which is where the story points when it gets to Jesus, who made his mark with a bloody awkward atonement once and for all.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 15-20The sin of David with Bathsheba rolls into a wayward son who usurps his father, takes the kingdom into civil war, and has sex with his father's concubines. Off the hook stuff, but actually the substance of modern day politics of rebellion. This can not be the Kingdom of God. We need a king to do away with evil once and for all.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 14-15David's ‘sexcapades' continue to roll out consequences, just like God said. David went from being the epitome of faith in God to dirty rotten scoundrel, and now he is a ‘do nothing dad'. Every character in God's novel shows us both faith and unfaith, so that we can be inspired to do better than even kings like David. Fatherhood is half of God's Marriage and Family Plan (MFP).

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 11-13All the good vibrations of Israel becoming a nation among nations, to bring the nations to God and to bring God's compassion to the down and outs goes out the window. Sex in the city turns the kingdom upside down, as it does. The real Kingdom of God must defeat evil not wallow in it. David really steps in it in this maddening story of sex gone bad on many levels. Come Lord Jesus come!

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 10Mocking, beards and the Kingdom of God roll together in this pretty humorous and eye opening segment of God's story. David behaves with Godliness but the world around him mocks. God gets the last laugh and the Ammonites are embarrassed beyond their own mockery. But there is something about mocking beards that God uses here and later in his story. Isaiah, 300 years later, will talk of future beard folly, and 700 years after Isaiah, Jesus will bring mocking beards to life - and death - and life again!

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 9The high point of the promised nation of Israel's inauguration is a cripple named Mephibosheth. Equity and justice for all! This is God's idea for us, then and now. Jesus makes it even better, the kingdom Jesus promises takes compassion as its chief virtue top down then out, so that the down and outs can have equity and justice. Your kingdom come your will be done!

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 8What seems like an uneventful, maybe a bit dreary, text is actually a peak in the whole Biblical story so far. A thousand years before David, God promised a nation to Abraham's children and here it is! This is the Kingdom of God and God's promise fulfilled. Exciting stuff, but is this it? It can't be, because God told David (2Sam 7:13) that a son of his would be the King of a forever kingdom and this is no forever kingdom. The forever kingdom will be inaugurated in another thousand years, without bloodshed except the Kings blood. This King and Kingdom will blow every other to KINGDOM COME. Your Kingdom come! Yay!

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 7:18-29David talks to God. Why? Because God became his God. When God becomes your God you should talk to him, just like David. That's what this passage is here for. Do you talk with God? Are you amazed by his grace in your prayers? Do you pray God's promises? David models proper prayer so you can pray like this. No surprise, Jesus teaches us to pray the same way.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms2Samuel 7:1-17Today we expect leaders to be ‘servant leaders' without realizing how different this is to human history and the world outside Christian influence. God gives David a lesson of History by reminding David that he is a happy camper, pitching a tent wherever his people are. If this isn't extraordinary, nothing is. God keeps his word moving forward, and David gets a big reminder that God doesn't need a house of human building, humans need a house of God's building that can be lived in forever.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 2Samuel 6 David grabs the Ark, throws it on cart and starts the party train to Jerusalem. When an ox slips, the Uzzah is struck down by God and David gets angry with God. What went so wrong? Was it the partying? Nope. We suffer from man in the box syndrome when it comes to God and God knows us so well that he makes a box for himself because he's funny. Pay attention, Uzzah will be fine, and party with God. But don't forget, He is God.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 2Samuel 2-5 We are political animals. These chapters reveal the normal human involvements in politics in this world. God knows our political nature is the point. Ultimately, the Gospel of God is the good news of God's politics that are not of this world.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 2Samuel 1 Three talking heads form the story: the narrator, an Amelekite, and David. Sounds funny until someone gets killed. What is the point of this story? Reality. The real world we live in and the real God who making His story in and for the real world we live in.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 27-31 As we left David and Saul, they were both seemingly on point, the proverbial spear head. Now, both are dead heads, but one will lose a head and the other will become the Grateful Dead. Take this long strange trip with David and Saul, and draw closer to God so you to can be truckin' with God.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 26 David is spear heading God's will in this comical adventure where David swipes Saul's spear. Spear heading God's will is all our comical adventure and David shows us how to do it , or maybe Saul shows us how not to do it.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 25 Meet Abigail, woman of epic Godly wisdom. Meet David and Nabal, boys doing what boys do, being silly. Abigail towers over both as God's providential agent. Also a word on polygamy and same gender relations.

alkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1 Samuel 21-24 David is on the run, and so are we. How do we find rest? The right WORD is the answer.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 20 The most important thing for your life - Hesed! Steadfast love, loyalty, reliability, faithfulness are the heart of God's will for our lives. Better than sex! David and Jonathan have it, and we all can do it even better than they did!

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1 Samuel 18-19 Does God really send harmful spirits to some like Saul? Yes and no. The same Spirit of God's goodness produces two reactions, happy gay and harmful pride. Are Jonathan and David really gay? Yes and no. If we read with faith, we see what's going on and it may not be what we thought, but it's easy to see once we see it. Make sense? Have a listen for yourself.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 17 The story everybody knows and never gets old. The key to our identity in God - from God to us.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 16 God looks on the heart. That's what makes God, God! We look at too many dumb qualities for qualification, like height, wealth and status, but God looks on the heart. David, will make more mistakes than Saul, but his heart is right with God. God can handle our mistakes, and the issue is always an issue if the heart. Do we love God? David looks back to God's promise of a king from Judah, but David is not the king of God's eternal kingdom. So David will look forward to Jesus, from Judah out of Bethlehem. God is always bringing our story into his. Thank God!

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 15 Saul is busted, caught and empty. The lessons of Saul, tho, are for all of us. He is a paradox, on one hand he has successes and on the other hand he has failures. This episode, that God gives us, is full of paradox which is the place of our real learning. Wrath and mercy meet and it's when they come together we have better understanding. God's wrath on the Amalekites makes the mercy he is offering sweet and worth our faithfulness. Empty religious rituals are not God's heart, joyful obedience is. He earns that and deserves that.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 13-14 What happened 3,000 years ago happens today, because humanity can't get out of its way. These three characters are always at play, and the Bible has a lock on how we work. Can we hear it? It's eye opening if we can.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 12 It's the same old story, all over again. Can humans trust God? God loves us even when he lets the consequences of our actions play out. He always calls us to love Him with all our heart. The major ruled in Israel for a big government that would eventually oppress them, because that's what governments do. But even our bad decisions don't keep God from enjoying us as his people who trust Him with all our heart. To God or not to God is always the question. If humans were good like God, no government is necessary. This 3,000 year old episode plays out again and again, now and forever until God puts an end to our nonsense.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 9-11 Hillariously, Saul seems to be afraid of his new found job and hides in the baggage until God calls him out. When he finally stands up, the people couldn't be happier with their tall handsome King and Israel is now a bonafide Kingdom. With no castle to govern from Saul heads home to plow fields. When the Ammonites threaten with barbaric cruelty, Saul sends butchered oxen like a Godfather to unify Israel to fight. After the victory, Saul has his moment to put his new God heart on display. This will be his peak.

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 9-11 God tells Samuel to make a king like the people want, but Samuel sends them home. God gets busy when a bunch of donkeys get loose in a series of comedic events leading Saul, God's king, to Samuel. Samuel makes Saul king in the style of a shotgun wedding, and Saul has a journey home that makes him a believer. Is this the man who would be king? God's king?

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 8 A 3,000 year old story reads like it fits in the 21st century. Humanity is a sucker for government, and forever setting God aside to have government solve our problems. Oh the humanity. Join Samuel as the people speak, God agrees, and the proverbial foot is shot straight thru.

Talking with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 4-7 Judges all over again, Israel's arch enemy the Philistines defeat them. “What now?” they ask, “Let's get the Ark to save us.” Ugh. The Philly's take the Ark too. Is God dead? Will Israel ever learn to know God and love God, or will they just keep thinking that the things God give us will save us? We all raid the glory of the Lord, when will we learn?

Talkin' with God about Kings and Kingdoms 1Samuel 2:11-3:21 The family is God's core institution for governing the world. Theocracy in the mind of God is each family raising their kids to know God. God pays no respect to any earthly government except his families. As self governed people, we develop institutions to assist the community in its goals and unity. If the institutions we run are corrupt, then down goes society. It's on us, not God.

From the beginning God says the solution to evil will come from a son born of a woman. God's loving quirk is using barren women in his story. Things are going to change in God's story into the period of Kings. Man struggles with God's idea of self governance and always chooses bad government. But Hannah knows God personally and we would do well to know God like she does, and her son Uncle Sam.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 20:18 - The End Saul, now Paul, earns our affection as our great Uncle Paul. He leads from the front, puts his life on the line and always helps people gather around God's message in Jesus Christ. Court scenes and high seas adventures land Paul in Rome to be tried, and eventually…to be continued. The message of Jesus Christ is for everyone to pick up and run with. Doers get things done, and these guys and girls are our family. The victory of God' goodness continues on today.

Takin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 18:1-21:16 We all want to find our people and God is making us a people for people to find their people. The journey of Jesus continues thru a myriad of places and we get to come along and meet the people who Jesus picked to grow his assembly of people. Christianity is God's assembly of people around the grace of God in Jesus Christ revealed in the Scriptures. Good people working hard, giving not receiving, continues to this day. This is my people!

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Act 17:10-34 God's joy for the world goes to the philosophical heart of the Greco Roman world, Athens. Paul is invited in good standing to bring his best to brightest minds of Greece. Uncle Paul does not disappoint. The logic of creation and resurrection breaks the eastern philosophical circle with a beginning and an end.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 14-17:15 We are meant to embrace the story as family, and our crazy Aunts and Uncles are sharing their adventure story in hopes that you might join the adventure of a life time in Jesus Christ. Uncle Luke brings the story of all the crazy family of Jesus to our home, in hopes that we would join them and learn from their experiences and embrace the good life of knowing God and searching the Scriptures, God's story for everybody.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 13 God's newest apostle is called by God and some Africans to start reaching the Greeks and Gentiles! Why are they responding with excitement and why can't they get enough of Paul's Bible talks? They understand the importance of story, epic story and God's story from Creation to Jesus is off the charts good because it is for them - and us! Get excited!

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 11:19-12:25 God's beautiful losers are getting involved with the Greek speaking Roman Empire, Gospeling hard full speed ahead since God wants everyone, not just Jews in His Kingdom. Hells break loose and an apostle is killed by Herod, but God breaks Peter loose by one of his angels and worms kill Herod in a hilarious comedy of antics. In the end, the word of God spreads, and God gets his way.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 9-11:18 God is in the business of making beautiful losers to reach the whole entire world of losers beautiful.Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 9-11:18 God is in the business of making beautiful losers to reach the whole entire world of losers beautiful.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 8 What men mean for evil God uses for good. God told us in Genesis 4 that we live in a Cain killing Abel for no good reason kind of world. The senseless killing of Steve, the King of Cool, makes people sad, but it energizes them to go to different neighborhoods with the good news of Jesus Christ. And the neighborhoods will never be the same. Samaria, Gaza, and Ethiopia will now go Christian - and this ain't no magic show! It's God doing his thing!

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 6-7 God's original magnificent seven and king of cool take the spotlight. Steve McQueen can't hold a candle to these guys. Real men doing real smart work with real toughness. Steven's speech is simple and straight forward, and that's what everyone hates. Talking God makes people so angry that they will pervert what you say and even kill you. Steve's wisdom is just the Biblical story that we can all know and be a part of, but some people won't like it.

Talking' God with Uncle Luke Acts 5 God shoots a couple down, signs and wonders everywhere, crowds gathering, authorities throwing apostles in jail and finally a voice of reason steps in. The early days of Christianity got Western at times, as God puts his finger on the scale to grow his gathering.

Talking' God with Uncle Luke Acts 4 Fighting funsuckers and fighting funsuckers. Jesus and the Apostles show how to fight in a fighting world of funsuckers.

Talking' God with Uncle Luke Acts 3 Jesus lives on. A big fat miracle in the temple complex shows that Jesus is still working from heaven to bring us the lessons of God's history of miracles.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 2:14ff The work of the Holy Spirit is made plain and simple when Uncle Peter gives a big Bible talk. The work of the Holy Spirit is to make dumb people smart to what God is doing in this world by bringing you to Jesus, the Word of God. When people respond to Jesus, they gather around the apostles teaching, fellowship, break bread and pray together. That is church, plain and simple.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 2:1-15 God's hillbilly redneck apostolic band of brothers and sisters get hit with the Holy Spirit and all hell breaks loose because the magnificent acts of God are being heard by people gathered in Jerusalem from all nations. God's fingerprints are all over reversing the effects of the judgement of God from Genesis 11, when God dispersed people from Babel with different languages. The Holy Spirit, the presence of God, like Jesus, gather people together around Jesus and the magnificent acts of God.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Acts 1 Uncle Luke is still telling the story of Jesus Christ, but now the Holy Spirit that Jesus and the Father promised will take over God's story as Jesus' new 12 get ready for action. They are now under God's Witness Protection Program, a flicker of hope that will turn into a roaring flame.

Talkin' God with Uncle Luke Luke 24:1-49 As Jesus said after he was beaten up, “Don't cry for me…”, now we know why. Up from the grave his arose to playfully make his appearance to the women, households, and close friends. There could be no higher climax to a story than this, and it goes viral. God does not need science or video, just his faithful witnesses, the Scriptures and his friends. Take the plunge, rise and shine.