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Empty Phrases

Jesus said that when we pray we should “not heap up empty phrases” (Matthew 6:7). Later he lamented a hypocritical form of worship by quoting the indictment that first came through Isaiah: “These people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew15:8). We must be so careful

Future Perfection

Isaiah poetically affirms that one day “every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it” (40:3-4). This may be hard to imagine, but...

Exalting Evil?

One of the challenges of living a godly life in an ungodly world, is the pressure we face when the world perpetually exalts those who are evil, and expects the rest of us to applaud. As with Isaiah, we live in a culture filled with “those who call evil good and good evil” (Is.5:20). Jesus made it clear that

Smallness

While the world works desperately to bolster our sense of personal significance and individual importance, biblical truth drives us in the opposite direction. A hallmark of biblical humility is the realization that we are infinitesimally small, juxtaposed with a growing

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...

Christ’s Return

The Bible warns that many will ridicule us for our confidence in the second coming of Christ. “Where is he?” they will scoff, “It seems to be taking him a long time” (cf. 2 Peter 3:3-4). While we may respond defensively...

Trinity

he Bible presents us with a mathematical dilemma when we study the nature of God. From the beginning we are told that there is only one God. That revelation became the doctrinal rally point of ancient Israel – “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). And yet, also from the beginning, there has been a kind of uncontainable “plurality” to that one God. Not only do we find

God Hates Pride

While it may not be vogue to ponder the things God says he hates, it would do us well if we are to be people resolved to please him. It should not be hard for most of us to recall the repulsions at the top of God's list. For the Creator has repeatedly

God’s Dwelling

When King Solomon had completed construction on the most magnificent, costly and beautiful edifice Israel had ever seen, he admitted during his dedicatory prayer that their new and expansive house of worship was far too...

For God’s Sake

While most people believe God saves people for "people’s sake" (i.e., because of his attraction to them and his inner compulsion to promote and honor them), Psalm 106:8 tells us that God is in the business of saving sinners...

Worship God Now

One day God will make all things right. He will straighten out what’s crooked and smooth out the rough places (Is.40:3-4; Lk.3:5), not the least of which is the humiliation of the proud. For “all mankind will see God’s salvation” – a salvation most have chosen to ignore and...

Weakness

As sinful and fallen people we hate the feeling of weakness. On the other hand, we love feelings of strength, dominance, control, power and independence. But the reality is, that as creatures of the One who “gives all men life, breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25) all of our perceived...

Hope Misplaced: Pharisees

We’ve all heard about the Pharisees. The religious leaders of Jesus’s day who clung to the letter of the Law and placed heavy, over-reaching rules on the people. What is interesting is that...

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...

Ask Pastor Mike Live

February 8, 2024

Questions in this episode: - Where in the writings of Josephus do you find mention of Jesus Christ? - Is Cyrus from Isaiah 45 the son/grandson of Queen Esther?…