Jeremy R. Geerdes Posts

In the pursuit of a better understanding of joy, I’ve come across some rather counter-intuitive things in Scripture. For instance, sacrifice, obedience, and hardship can all actually increase the amount of joy one has. Ultimately, according to what I’m finding in the Bible, the ultimate source of joy has nothing to with the circumstances I’m […]

Toward the end of July, I received a Samsung Series 5 Chromebook as a result of attending the Google I/O developer conference. For those who don’t know exactly what a “Chromebook” is, it’s a laptop running Google’s Chrome OS which, for all intents and purposes, comprises the Chrome web browser and nothing else. In other […]

In my study of joy, I have made a discovery. The Psalms are a wealth of information about what causes joy, what steals joy, and what is joy. And this morning, I am struck by two different thoughts from two different psalms. Let’s get right to it.

Yesterday, I posted about my decision to move away from the New International Version as my primary preaching and teaching text. You can read about the reasons for that decision here. I also announced, at the end of the post, that I am intending to move to the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). I also gave […]

Why do I sin? It’s a question which people have asked since the dawn of time as they aim to understand that natural bent toward stuff which is not quite right which exists in all of us from birth. And I suppose that, at some level, it’s an honest question: it just doesn’t make any […]

So, back in January, I wrote a post about why I use the New International Version (NIV) for teaching and preaching as opposed to the King James or other translations. It was a response to a question which had been asked by one of our newest attenders and others, which you can read here: http://jgeerdes.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/why-i-use-the-niv/. In […]

A thought occurred to me last night as I was working through Psalm 45 and, more specifically, the implications which it has for joy. Namely, in verse 7, we see this: “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy above your fellows” (NASB). A […]

Psalm 43 strikes me today. The author is again in trouble, praying for God to vindicate and defend, and wondering why He has rejected him. It sounds like so many of my own prayers when I’m in trouble. At least at the start. But then something interesting happens just past the halfway point of the […]

So, I’ve been continuing my word study of joy in the Bible, looking for insights into what joy is supposed to look like and what fosters and fuels it for some time now. But today, I stumbled across something interesting in Psalm 35. When David’s enemies seemed to be on the prowl, the king declared, […]

Well, I’ve been continuing my study on joy. I’m not posting stuff that I see as redundant, but let me assure you that there are some very clear themes. Joy has been clearly connected to obedience, worship, sacrifice, and godly authority time and again through the historical books of the Old Testament. Some of the […]