Authority of Scripture
Without an unswerving resolve to affirm that God has inscribed his authoritative voice on the pages of Scripture we are hopelessly lost on...
Jealousy of God
Jealousy is generally perceived as a human weakness. Few would want to be described as “the jealous type.” Perhaps that’s why many choose to ignore the fact that our perfect God has revealed himself to be perfectly jealous. Consider Exodus 34...
Injustice & Vindication
The world is filled with injustice. Our lives at times seem to be filled with it too. While we should always seek to pursue justice for the sake of the One who embodies it (Ps.97:2), there are many times when equitable solutions are not attainable this side of heaven. Thankfully, God has promised...
Bible Study
Second Timothy 2:15 records God’s call to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” This well-needed reminder shows us that...
Faith and Fellowship
Fellowship with other Christians is more important than most realize. Even having the strength of an on-fire Apostle, Paul knew the importance of connecting with those who shared his commitment to Christ. He longed for time with other Christians. He saw the...
Fickle Feelings
Our feelings are fickle but God’s word is unchanging. There may be several factors, righteous and otherwise, which will influence our emotions, yet the Bible stands as our unalterable source of divine information providing eternal clarity regarding God’s values and priorities. This is why the Bible must...
The Great Exchange
The Bible tells us that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Jesus came to solve both problems – sin and death! Sin was paid for at the cross on that dark Friday afternoon. Death was conquered at the empty tomb early on Sunday morning. The point of the gospel is to have the payment of the cross applied to your...
Making a Difference
We cannot afford, nor should we ever be content to live unmotivated and unproductive Christian lives. God has endowed every one of his children with gifts, opportunities and resources to make a difference each day for the advancement of his kingdom and the good of his people. Many of our fruitless days have to do with a deficiency in...
The Sting of God’s Word
Some naively presume that good preaching should leave the congregation feeling good. But most seasoned Christians have come to realize that the best, most meaningful and effectual sermons usually sting, if not wound. God warned that the Scriptures are...
What’s Required?
Many have sought to discover the minimal Christianity required of them to “still be Christian”. “How much of the world can I love, or how much of my agenda can I pursue and still be okay with God?” they ask. Or, “Just how sinful, casual, or lukewarm are we allowed to be and still be saved?” Of course the Bible isn’t much help in answering these questions. The whole tenor of Scripture disallows...
Blessings and Faith
God’s blessings are great – God loves giving them and we certainly enjoy receiving them. But, one caution frequently underscored throughout the Bible is that we are to be careful that our hearts don’t learn to trust in them. When God graciously grants us...
Revenge and Faith
Trusting God may sound relatively easy when it is framed theoretically, but when there are real life pains and injustices that provoke our hearts to personal revenge and retaliation, then reliance on God gets tough. Our faith is always tested in the...
Creator Credit
Like Nebuchadnezzar strutting on the walls of Babylon (Dan.4), or Herod taking his bows in his royal robes (Ac.12), or the nine lepers thoughtlessly strolling on their merry way (Lk.17), when moderns carelessly deny God the credit for...
Family and Warfare
The familial terms like “Father,” “brother” and “sister” which are used in the Bible to describe the Christian experience remind us of the importance of love, devotion and connectedness that ought characterize our congregation. But it is important...
Are You Ready?
There are times we realize life is short. We recognize that middle age or old age has arrived without our permission. Or perhaps we open the Bible and are reminded that no matter our stage of life, tomorrow is not promised or guaranteed. Instead we are told that our transient existence on this earth is like a
Feeling It
Some rationalize their disregard for doing what is right because they say their “hearts are not in it” and they “don’t want to be hypocrites.” They may consider themselves to be off the hook in neglecting prayer, Bible study or church attendance because they don’t “feel it,” but of course they are not. God will not...
Circumstances
The biblical account of the devastating turn of events in Job’s life and his subsequent restoration is a reminder to us of just how little we actually know about the various happenings that take place in our lives. We are ignorant of many of the spiritual battles and divine purposes which affect the circumstances of our lives. We are often like Job and his friends who, without any
Worry
Jesus regularly chided his disciples for their worry and anxiety. Worldly concerns about “what bad things might happen to us” are not befitting for followers of Christ. The ultimate and eternal dangers, in our case, have been solved and settled by God’s grace and Christ’s finished work. Our relationship with him is unaffected by the hazards, risks or perils which lie around the next bend in life
Worldly Wisdom
We are far too easily impressed with the “wisdom” of this world. What our society lacks in truth, it tries to make up for with confidence. But with all the assertiveness of our culture, they have yet to settle the disparity between what they sense they need and what they actually have. In the words of
Pain and Thanksgiving
Pain hurts, and few of us would choose it if we had a choice. But often God chooses it for us, so we can experience his strong deliverance and learn to praise him more perfectly. Consider Psalm 102 (a psalm with a preface that reads “the prayer of an afflicted man”) where we...
Salt and Light
The biblical concept of “sin” has rightly been described as an aberration or deviation from the way things ought to be. Part of being “salt and light” in this world (Mt.5:13-16) is to strategically say and do the kinds of things...
Priorities
So often we discover that the challenge of the Christian life is to stay focused on the big picture of what’s eternally significant. While the demands of everyday life shout for our attention, it’s the issues of supreme importance that usually...
Thinking Christians
One of the great things about real Christianity is that it calls us to sincerely engage our minds and always check out the facts. Unlike those who say that “faith is something that is to be embraced in spite of the truthfulness of the particulars,” the Bible tells us
Thankful Always
First Thessalonians 5:18 requires that Christians “give thanks in all circumstances.” While to some this may seem crazy or at least a strange kind of spiritual masochism, the Bible has good reason for directing us to be grateful even when...
Future Peace
You cannot have a peaceful heart if your expectations about life are inaccurate. When we seek to achieve a calm and contented spirit by asking God to fix all our problems we can be certain our lives will be filled with angst and anxiety. While it may be intuitive...
Intellectually Engaged
Jesus told us that we are to love God “with all of our mind” (Mt.22:37). Of course, he listed other aspects of our humanity with which we are to love God, but this one (our mind) may seem odd, especially in a day when...
Return of Christ
This could be the year. Perhaps on God’s eschatological calendar he chose this year as the time for the completion of his Son’s work of assembling to himself a people for God’s possession. Maybe this year the Church will reach...
Vindication
The “problem of evil” with which we intellectually grapple and are personally burdened will one day be a distant memory. God will “take his great power and begin to reign” (Rev.11:16). The world’s attempts...
Uplifting Church
When, in Psalm 73, the psalmist finds himself frustrated by his daily struggles and aggravated by the inequities of life, it is amazing how quickly and simply his angst is resolved. This is especially true when...
Thankfulness
Because we live in a world that isn’t great at saying “thank you,” we tend to think that gratitude is an extra-credit Christian virtue. Like our temptation to send a “thank you” note in response to someone’s “thank you” note, we might secretly believe that God should...