Jesus Famous With Nate Holdridge

Get Your Head Up! (Hebrews 2:5-9) Humanity was supposed to wear a crown — not one made of gold and jewels, but of God's glory and honor. We were supposed to be a regal people, free and self-controlled. Love and joy and goodness were intended to flow from our lives and hands and hearts. No impurity, no sin, no crime or death or ugliness was to ever come from any of us. Ever. We were intended to be the pinnacle of God's created order. We were made a little lower than the angelic realm but were crowned with glory and honor. And as for the rest of God's creation, it was to be placed firmly at our feet. Everything in this world was to be in subjection to us. We were to fill the earth and subdue it, governing the planet with equity and grace. Justice and rightness would be our only experience, all we'd ever know. The author to the Hebrews knew this and quoted from Psalm 8 to make his appeal. Glory, honor, a crown -- it was all God's intention for us. The language harkens back to the book of Genesis. There, in the f

“I have come to believe that the Psalms of Ascents (Psalm 120-134) can be a great source of help for the modern church. We, ever increasingly, live in a time where we must embark on a pilgrim lifestyle. This different brand of life needs philosophies, anthems, to abide by, and I believe these psalms provide the required help. Because of this, I have written a book on these psalms and will release a chapter every three weeks from May 2019 through February 2020. Each entry will expound on each psalm in order. Since these posts are rather lengthy, I encourage you to take whatever time you need to set aside to digest them. To aid you, I will also record a reading of each entry, available to you at the top of the page, or on the Jesus Famous podcast. My prayer is for these studies to enrich you significantly on your sojourn with Christ. Thank you for reading, listening, and sharing. ” — Pastor Nate Chapter 1. Prerequisites to Your Decision (Psalm 120) “A SONG OF ASCENTS. In my distress I called to the LORD, a

In this episode of the Jesus Famous Podcast, we will have a conversation about Pastor Nate’s article entitled “How Hezekiah Handled Stressful News". You can catch more episodes like this by subscribing to the Jesus Famous Podcast. If you’d like to read the entire article, then you can do so here. Link to full article:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/how-hezekiah-handled-stressful-news-isaiah-37-14-15 nateholdridge.cominstagram.com/nateholdridgetwitter.com/nholdridgecalvary.com

Battling Creeping Unbelief (Hebrews 3:12-13) "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (Hebrews 3:12-13) Creeping, slowly and steadily, unbelief was ready to pounce on the early Jewish believers. They were, after all, outcasts in their culture, for their acceptance of Jesus as Messiah made them different, societal pariahs. So the author of Hebrews compared their generation to Moses'. When Moses took the Hebrew people out of Egypt, it was with God's plan to bring them into the Promised Land. But, on their way to the new territory God had promised them, unbelief took hold of their hearts and, sadly, they were kept from God's land. God still loved them and worked in their midst -- he gave them the law, the priesthood, and the manna -- but for forty years they lived outside of God's best. Only the next g

“When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour...a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.” (Leviticus 2:1–2 ESV). The ancient Israelite approached God with blood sacrifice, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22). One offering, however, was different. The grain offering came not from Israel's flocks, but from their crops. Various forms of grain were cooked or beaten or prepared for God, and then sacrificed to him and given to his priests as a supplement to their meal. Uncooked flour, bread baked in an oven, or bread cooked on a griddle or pan was offered to the Lord. One reason I love thinking about the grain offering is that the worshipper was giving to God the fruit of their labors. They worked the soil God entrusted to them. They planted, watered, and tended that field. Soon, the seed began to grow. Eventually, an entire crop was ready for harvest. The grain offering was a way for the worshipper to give G

In this episode of the Jesus Famous Podcast, we will have a conversation about Pastor Nate’s article entitled “Marriage’s Little Foxes". You can catch more episodes like this by subscribing to the Jesus Famous Podcast. If you’d like to read the entire article, then you can do so here. Link to full article:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/marriages-little-foxes-songs-of-songs-2-15 nateholdridge.cominstagram.com/nateholdridgetwitter.com/nholdridgecalvary.com

"Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered." (Hebrews 5:8) Jesus Christ is currently in glory, in a dimension we refer to as "up there" or "heaven" or "God's throne room," but impossible for us to fathom. From that reality, he intermingles with ours, aiding us in daily life. The book of Hebrews thought of this help as Jesus' high priestly ministry. He can aid us in daily life because of his position at the right hand of God. We need his friendship and help to obey God. Perhaps you've noticed, but God asks us to do things our bodies of flesh cannot do. Weakness is in us, and, praise the Lord, Jesus sympathizes with us in our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15). Still, we want to go beyond his sympathy and into his actual help. We want to be different, changed, enabled to obey our Lord. When he asks us to love, we want to love. When he calls us to courageous things, we want to step out in faith. When he beckons us towards care for humanity in one form or another, we want to go. But often

“The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.” (Leviticus 6:12–13 ESV). Israel's priests had work to do. These men didn't just sit around offering "thoughts and prayers" for the peeps. Nah, dudes worked, and one job they had was to keep the fire on the altar of sacrifice at full blaze. That fire had to roar, lest the sacrificial smoke lazily waft through the camp toward the people. It was supposed to jut upward toward heaven. For the fire to burn brightly, wood had to be found and cut and laid on the altar. Animals had to be examined and then offered. Ashes had to be removed. And that fire, God said, "shall not go out." We, also, must keep that fire burning! We have no literal altar, of course -- Praise Jesus! -- but we do have a ministry to God. We pray. We s

In this episode of the Jesus Famous Podcast, we will have a conversation about Pastor Nate’s article entitled “United In The Workplace - Leaders". You can catch more episodes like this by subscribing to the Jesus Famous Podcast. If you’d like to read the entire article, then you can do so here. Link to full article:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/united-in-the-workplace-leaders-ephesians-6-9 nateholdridge.cominstagram.com/nateholdridgetwitter.com/nholdridgecalvary.com

The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD. (Isaiah 38:20) Hezekiah was an excellent king of Judah. A descendant of David, he bore similar traits to his ancestor in that he worshipped God and delighted in God's law. At one point, Hezekiah became sick. Isaiah the prophet was summoned, and he told Hezekiah his time to die had come. Hezekiah pleaded with God but also pleaded with Isaiah to plead with God. Isaiah returned with the glad announcement that Hezekiah would live. For another fifteen years, Hezekiah sat on the throne. In response, Hezekiah sang. He said many things to God in his song, but this final sentence is beautiful to me: "The LORD will save me, and we will play my music on stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the LORD." In Hezekiah's statement of praise, I see four elements I want to emulate, since the LORD has also, in a more robust manner than Hezekiah experienced, saved my life.

A Vital Introduction Our world whirls and spins without thinking. On hyperdrive, society cruises ahead at breakneck speed. We move fast to get what we want fast. Like Veruca Salt, we want it, and we want it now! Gone are the days of slowness, the days when the journey was just as beautiful as the destination. We often think any shortcut worth taking, that the quickest route is the best route. We dream of lottery wins -- financial security for which we did not struggle. We want romantic magic -- relationships which click without effort or sacrifice. We crave overnight success -- for the first invention to be the multi-million dollar winner. The world speeds along in this line of thinking. A little more, a little better, a little faster -- and then, surely, happiness will come. But this is a mirage. There is no truth in it. Sure, there are pockets of slow, Sabbath-like life around us, but for many of us the world is buzzing. Amid the noise, however, some have found a subversively different brand of life. A sma

In this episode of the Jesus Famous Podcast, we will have a conversation about Pastor Nate’s article entitled “How To Combat Mission Fatigue". You can catch more episodes like this by subscribing to the Jesus Famous Podcast. If you’d like to read the entire article, then you can do so here. Link to full article:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/how-to-combat-mission-fatigue-nehemiah-4-14 nateholdridge.cominstagram.com/nateholdridgetwitter.com/nholdridgecalvary.com

    “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV). Jesus, man, sometimes he drops some wild stuff. The Spirit had come upon some of the Old Testament saints. They did some great things for God. David killed the giant. The prophets prophesied. Esther did her thing. But when God's Spirit came upon those Old Testament heroes, it was temporary and rare. He did not stay in them or upon them, nor did he empower all of them. When Jesus rose, however, the Spirit was set free to regenerate every believer in Christ and his cross. By simple belief -- faith -- people are regenerated by the Spirit of God. Through faith in Christ, we are born again, born of the Spirit. He makes his home in us. He is the down payment, the deposit, the guarantee God is going to redeem our bodies eternally. Forever, we'll be with him, because right now he's in us. Jesus also said the Holy Spirit would co

In this episode of the Jesus Famous Podcast, we will have a conversation about Pastor Nate’s article entitled “Stop Turning To Miserable Comforters". You can catch more episodes like this by subscribing to the Jesus Famous Podcast. If you’d like to read the entire article, then you can do so here. Link to full article:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/stop-turning-to-miserable-comforters-job-16-2 Link to “Jeremiah Wasn’t Always Alone - Neither Are You”:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/jeremiah-wasnt-always-alone-neither-are-you-jeremiah-2620 nateholdridge.cominstagram.com/nateholdridgetwitter.com/nholdridgecalvary.com

"For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4) While writing to the church about the proper handling of liberties, Paul encouraged his readers to develop a lot of dead friends. What I mean is, he thought the endurance required for the Christian life requires a relationship with the characters of the Old Testament. He saw the pages of his Bible as a limitless source of encouragement for the modern life of faith. It "was written for our instruction," he said, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." Whenever I teach believers about a character from God's word, my hope is for that character to become an everlasting friend to my hearer. I want the congregation to draw upon the people of Scripture, and their faith and failures, for modern life. Here, Paul had precisely the same goal. He wanted, especially in the context of how to t

"There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-Jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah." (Jeremiah 26:20) Jeremiah, like most of the prophets, was a solitary pillar of truth in a wasteland of doctrinal deception. He stood for the truth of God, saying hard things during hard times when no one else would. As truth spilled from his mouth, lies dripped from the lips of many false prophets. When Jeremiah spoke of judgment, they talked of peace. When Jeremiah told Israel of God's certain discipline, they spoke of God's immediate renewal. When Jeremiah prophesied they'd go into captivity for seventy years, the false prophets told them not to worry, they were coming home in just a year or two. At every turn, Jeremiah's words were combatted by soft false prophets who healed the wounds of God's people lightly. These men looked like prophets, dressed like prophets, and talked like prophets, but their words were

In this episode of the Jesus Famous Podcast, we will have a conversation about Pastor Nate’s article entitled “Take Up A Wartime Mentality". You can catch more episodes like this by subscribing to the Jesus Famous Podcast. If you’d like to read the entire article, then you can do so here. Link to full article:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/take-up-a-wartime-mentality-ephesians-6-10-12 Link to “Jesus Brings His People into True Rest”:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/jesus-brings-his-people-into-true-rest-hebrews-4-1-13 nateholdridge.cominstagram.com/nateholdridgetwitter.com/nholdridgecalvary.com

  An Invitation Into Christ's Rest Jesus, famously, said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Millions, since he said it, have craved that rest. We seek him for it. But what is God's rest? What image does the word "rest" conjure up in your mind? I think of hammocks, beaches, books, and lazy summer days. I think of Netflix and play and sport. But what does God envision? What is God's rest? The passage before us, Hebrews 4:1-13 is all about the rest God offers to his people. The two most repeated words in the section are the words "rest" and "enter." God's preeminent desire for his children, in this passage, is for our lives to enter his rest. But, again, what is this rest? What Is God's Rest? First, to discover what God's rest is, we must look at what came before Hebrews 4. Early Jewish Christians (thus the title, Hebrews) were tempted to engage in the Old Testament rituals once again. God offered them a relationship through Christ, not a ritualist

  In this episode of the Jesus Famous Podcast, we will have a conversation about Pastor Nate’s article entitled “How Collecting Stories Can Build Your Faith". You can catch more episodes like this by subscribing to the Jesus Famous Podcast. If you’d like to read the entire article, then you can do so here. Link to full article:https://www.nateholdridge.com/blog/how-collecting-stories-can-build-your-faith-mark-5-34 Recommended podcasts from Nate:The History Of The Christian Church (formerly Communio Sanctorum)5 Minutes In Church History nateholdridge.cominstagram.com/nateholdridgetwitter.com/nholdridgecalvary.com

Recently, I attended a large pastor’s conference with church leaders from all over the world. During one of the allotted sessions, they held a question and answer session with senior leaders. Every pastor on the platform had been in ministry for at least forty years. Each predetermined subject was designed to get them talking about advice they would give to their younger self. I sat in rapt attention. One of the pastors shared something I won’t quickly forget. He said he would tell a younger version of himself to take his sin more seriously. He explained that baby sins grow up into adult sins once mature, bringing death. His message was simple: kill sin or it will kill you. As children of God, the battle is on. We saw it declared by Paul in Romans 7, but we see it more fully in Romans 8. There is a battle between my flesh and the Spirit, between my body of sin and my new nature. The law — or principle — of the Spirit is pulling me up into Christlikeness, but this isn’t automatic, at least not now. One day,