Questions to Consider for the Morning of the Church Picnic Think about this: what are some of the most terrifying verses in the Bible? Which do you think is the MOST terrifying? In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who … Read more
Dr. Harry Ironside was a gift to the Church. He was a fine Bible teacher and theologian. He pastored Moody Church in Chicago from 1929-1948. He’s said to have preached nearly 7,000 sermons that reached more than 1.25 million hearers in the years between 19 29 and 1948 and he was instrumental in the development … Read more
David was well acquainted with his sins – and like ours, they were many. I think perhaps the most difficult thing for David to wrap his mind around was that God would actually delight in him, enjoyed him. In fact, the king wrote, that God delights in him was the very reason why He delivered … Read more
David is a man who came to understand his own sinfulness before God. You know the story: staying home when he should have been out in the field with his troops; the rooftop voyeurism; the seduction and adultery; the murderous cover-up. It all reads like a Greek tragedy. Eventually, the prophet Nathan led the king … Read more
Have you ever felt unworthy of God’s love? ‘How could He love a sinner like me?’ ‘How can it be true that I – with my history of sins and ongoing offenses against Him – could be loved by Him?’ I think every honest, blood-bought Christian has asked those questions. The more I am confronted … Read more
The Hebrew and Greek words that underlie the English word hope in our Bibles combine two important ideas: waiting and confidence. Biblical hope, as has been said many times, is more than a wish for how things could be. Biblical hope is an absolute confidence that things really are the way God says they are. … Read more
Dream with me. Dream of the day when God will make everything right. Isaiah 9 looks forward to the true Christmas day, the day the Savior of the world would be born in Bethlehem. He would come to remove gloom from those who were in anguish. “The people who walked in darkness,” he said, “have … Read more
Tertullian was an early Christian apologist who lived in ancient Carthage, what is now Tunisia. Mary and I spent a few weeks in Tunisia a while back taking in the history and beauty of this important center of early Christianity. Tertullian lived from about A.D. 155 to A.D 240, but his influence continues to reverberate … Read more
I can think of no darker words than these two: no hope. Craig Biehl called them the two unbearable words. He writes: “Two small words. When heard on the battlefield, in the hospital waiting room, or in our darkest thoughts, they bring despair. Two words that carry such anguish that no one can withstand their … Read more
We all strive for purity as believers, right? We want to be like our Lord and our Lord is pure in every way. In Him, John tells us, “is no darkness at all.” That, he says, “is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you!” To walk with Jesus is to “walk … Read more