Posts from 2020 (Page 2)

Hezekiah is a good king of Israel. During his reign, he has to deal with a threat of the Assyrian king coming in to destroy Jerusalem. The king receives verbal threats, along with a letter, with a discouraging word to him, and all the people. The king “spread out the letter before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed…” (Isa 36.14-15). Hezekiah was told that his life was going to end. He humbled himself and prayed to God (Isa 38.1-3). So here…

“If you can trust God to save you for eternity, you can trust Him to lead you for a lifetime.” — David Platt There are very few absolute certainties in life. Some are simply matters of happenstance – for example, when anyone sees a newborn baby they will state “How cute!” – but there are precious few things in life that you can absolutely put all of your trust in. As a matter of fact, there really is only one…

“‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.’” (Matthew 11:3b-6) Our study today is taking a look at the…

I plead with Euodia and Syntyche to be of one mind in the Lord. Yes, I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. Philippians 4.2-3. Conflict is inevitable. Jesus taught about how we must conduct our lives. He taught the body to be different than the world. So, the ways that we deal with conflict cannot follow…

The word “sinner” is most often used in the Bible to describe a person who is given to a life of sin and is unforgiven. For example, Peter contrasts the “righteous” with the “ungodly and the sinner” (I Peter 4.18). A sinner is someone who is lost in sin, not having been washed by the blood of Jesus. The apostle Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5.8). In this sense, a true…

The word of God is powerful, and active (Heb 4.12-13). It’s power is described as a double-edged sword in that passage. A sword is special, and powerful. In the 1st Century, the sword was winning and conquering lands. It was able to be used to take the life of another, even with potential protections in place, like a shield. The aspect in particular view is the fact that it is able to “penetrate.” Like a metal sword could easily penetrate a man’s flesh, so the power of the word of…

How many times have you been given a project or a place to go and stopped to look at the instructions? For some, they read every part of the instruction manual before they even begin the project. Those same people map out their path from point A to point B before even cranking the car. Others, like myself, tend to move through the instructions as the project is taking shape or take advantage of GPS systems to travel alongside the map in real-time. The rest of you outlaws…