One of the tenets of bibliology is that Scripture is the self-revelation of God. Through the words of the Bible, we discover truth about the nature and character of God. And sometimes, that self-disclosure by God is particularly evident. Consider, for example, the declaration, “I am the Lord.” Though the Lord only makes that declaration […]
Read More “I am the Lord”What we deem to be necessary for our lives and what God deems to be necessary for us are often in conflict. We idolize simplicity and solitude and ease. God desires our sanctification and Christlikeness. And sanctification rarely happens in ease and leisure. So God — decreeing what is necessary for us (1 Peter 1:6) […]
Read More Necessities of lifeFor 2013, I customized two chronological Bible reading plans — one for the Old Testament (plus two of the gospels) and one for the New Testament (plus the Psalms). You can download those plans here in PDF format. For those who use the Bible program Accordance — my favorite for the Mac, and one I […]
Read More Bible reading plans for AccordanceThis year, our church has read through the New Testament and Psalms. (In the coming year, the plan is to read the Old Testament, though we’ve also provided the NT plan coordinated with the 2013 dates.) Part of my desire was not only to read through the plan, but to blog every day about what […]
Read More The end of the year — a spiritual summary“And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Rev. 22:2; NASB) Heaven. What pictures come to mind when you hear that word? Streets of gold? Pearly gates? “St. […]
Read More The tree in heavenIndicators of skewed priorities in churches abound. Yet this morning’s newspaper contains a statement from a pastor of a “sound,” “evangelical” church that pinpoints the problems in too many contemporary American churches: “We’re really building a community center, more than we are a worship center.” It’s rare to read or hear such an open acknowledgement […]
Read More Praise the LordIt’s often hard to see the good in the midst of hardship. When a child receives a diagnosis of cancer or a long-time employee is laid off before Christmas or a college student fails a required course in the semester before graduation or the girl says no to the marriage proposal or the friend betrays […]
Read More Looking for — and seeing — God’s gloryIt has become somewhat popular in certain spheres of Christendom to be apologetic about Hell. Not only do unbelievers ignore or even scoff at the realities of Hell, but even believers are prone to minimize what awaits those who reject Christ. But the Bible is unapologetically clear about the eternal future of the unredeemed (see especially […]
Read More Eternity for the unredeemedOld Testament believers were often (approximately 50 times) called to praise the Lord with the Hebrew word “hallelujah” (which literally means, “praise the Lord”). Yet in the New Testament, that word appears only four times — and all four of those references are in the first six verses of Revelation 19. From these few references, […]
Read More Five reasons to praise the LordThe babe in the manger whose arrival more than 2000 years ago we celebrate today was as helpless as any other child ever born. He who created the vast expanses of the heavens and the stars that fill them and the atoms that comprise them was dependent on the care of his teenage mother and […]
Read More The end has comeNo, the good news is not of a last minute sale with free delivery by Christmas morning. The good news is that there is rebellion against God and there will be increasing rebellion against God, but that rebellion does not mean that God is overwhelmed. To the contrary, the good news is that God is […]
Read More Good news the day before ChristmasFor several years, our church has read through the Bible annually. Last year, we created another plan in which individuals could read chronologically through the New Testament and consecutively through the Psalms. This year, we have not only updated last year’s plan to correspond to the dates of the new calendar, but we are also […]
Read More 2013 Bible Reading PlansIt is perhaps the most oft-spoken objection against circumstances and God: “That’s…not…fair!” Virtually every hardship will elicit that comment — everything from overcharges in a store or a flat tire to a five-year-old’s cancer or a tsunami that destroys tens of thousands. And certainly it is the primary complaint against God’s judgment of the unrighteous. […]
Read More They deserve itIt seems somewhat inappropriate to think and write and talk about the wrath of God at Christmas time. Shouldn’t we be thinking about gifts, friends and family, food and fellowship, joy and happiness? How can we think about wrath — God’s judgment and condemnation at Christmas? Yet the wrath of God is linked to the […]
Read More Two truths about God’s wrathIt is the nature of the ungodly to seek to escape God. In introducing his important book, The Long War Against God, Henry Morris writes, The denial of God — rejecting the reality of supernatural creation and the Creator’s sovereign rule of the world — has always been the root cause of every human problem. […]
Read More They want to get away
Words of Grace 