Weekly Devotional

“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” Luke 24:44. What a Bible study that must have been! And all from the Old Testament too, even the first book of the New Testament not having been written yet. Even the early Christians from Pentecost on, but especially those scattered by the great persecution who “went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4), would have had only what we would call the Old Testament (OT) to prove that Jesus was the Christ and had overcome sin and the grave through the gospel. God inspired and preserved the 39 books of the OT, excluding the Apocrypha, despite the Catholic tradition of considering them ‘deuterocanonical’ or a ‘second canon.’ Why do New Testament (NT) Christians even need Genesis through Malachi? What’s our relationship to a covenant that we’re not a part of? How does our study of the OT deepen our understanding of what Jesus has done for us and how He fulfills all that was “written about me,” as Jesus says? How can we know who God is, how we’ve sinned, and His love?     

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“For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol” Psalm 88:3. One of the darkest moments I have experienced was when my first wife was in the final days of hospice and, although no longer conscious, needed around the clock monitoring. Good friends took the 7-11 pm and 3-7 am shifts for several nights while I got some sleep … but the 11 pm to 3 am shift was mine. I was fervent in my prayers during those dark hours, and like this psalmist, I didn’t have any answers nor a resolution of the situation except an end that I couldn’t fathom and yet was desperate, for her sake, to get to. Over the course of these 18 verses, the psalm-ist names no enemies or circumstances that have put him into this lament. Instead, he names God’s wrath that has come over him that has so troubled his soul and stolen all of his strength. Not even his companions are left to him as he goes through this struggle that draws his life close to the grave. Perhaps this is a shadow of His “soul” that was “sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38) that Jesus experienced in Gethsemane? It is, at the very least, a glimpse of what it will be like to stand before God in judgment as we all will need to give account.  

Summer Series 2025 - "Calm In The Storm"

This summer’s theme will be – "Calm in the Storm" - looking with our earthly eyes, we often plow ahead to take care of life’s problems with our own power, but … throughout
Scripture God has His people pause to trust in Him and shows His power over our tempests.

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Attention:  36th Street Members

Our website contains much useful information for you as a member of the 36th street congregation.  We are updating and improving www.36thstreetchurch.com on an ongoing basis.

In order for you to take advantage of the full (members-only) benefits of the site, you need to set up a personal account on the site.  It's easy to do - just go to the homepage of the website and click on the 'MEMBERS' tab and select 'REGISTER' from the drop-down menu.  You will need to complete the form there and set up a username and password.  Your request will be forwarded to a web administrator, who will review the form and set you up in the system.

We encourage you to access the website and see how it can benefit you.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025