Reading Joel

The book of Joel is a warning to the Israelites that they are facing a coming judgment unless they fulfill their part of the covenant with God. There are similarities in this book to the other prophets as well as the book of Revelation 9. And like those other books, it concludes with a positive […]

Thanksgiving Thinking, Part 2

The handwriting was on the wall. God had spoken. And it wasn’t good news for the king and his minions. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. God has numbered the days of the kingdom, the king has been evaluated and found deficient, and the kingdom would be given to another empire. That night. What was the great […]

Reading 1 Thessalonians

After founding the Thessalonian church, Paul was able to stay there only a short time — perhaps as little as three weeks. And the persecution that drove him from that region was a continuing burden to the Thessalonians. This letter serves as an encouragement to the persecuted church and a call to stand ready to […]

John 3:16

Martin Luther called this verse “the gospel in miniature” because there was a sense in which the entire story of the Bible is expounded in it. Just two weeks before he died, he repeated the text with evident ecstasy and added, “What Spartan saying can be compared with this wonderful brevity? It is a Bible […]

Jeremiah, destruction, and Christ

This morning I finished reading the last few chapters of Jeremiah — prophecies of the destruction of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Elam, and Babylon. And then the account of Judah being taken into captivity in Babylon. With all the words concerning the judgments of God and then that judgment being demonstrated against His own people, […]

Reading Jeremiah

It is for good reason that Jeremiah is called “the weeping prophet.” Not only is he the author of the book of Lamentations, but his ministry is also one of continued rejection. And not only did the people reject his warnings from the Lord, but God Himself promised Jeremiah that they would reject these admonitions […]

Seven times a day I praise You

How much praise of God is “enough?” Will we praise morning, noon, and night? Will we praise in between each of those time slots of worship? The psalmist contemplates the worthiness of God to be praised — His ordinances are righteous — and concludes, “seven times a day I praise you” (119:164). He is not […]

How suffering is good

Suffering is good. Now there is a statement that is sure to raise a few questions in the minds of most readers and thinkers. Yet the Scriptures affirm that the varied kinds of suffering endured by believers really are for their good and for God’s glory. A few examples: Suffering from sin teaches us the […]

Suffering and worship

This week we finish reading the book of Job. The majority of the book contains the dialogue between Job and his three not-so-wise and not-so-comforting and not-so-biblical friends. They foolishly attempt to answer why a godly man like Job suffers (their faulty answer — “he’s not as godly as he thinks”). But in question after […]

The inclination of our hearts

Our hearts are, because of the fall of man, naturally inclined to evil and sin and disobedience and rebellion against God. Yet in His grace, God works in the hearts of men to incline them in new ways to Him. We call this regeneration. It is God making a stony heart into a fleshly (sanctified […]

Reading Job

The book of Job has long been of interest to Biblical readers for the question of theodicy (how can God be righteous if evil exists), the relationship between Satan’s activity and God’s providence, and the historicity of Job. Yet as one writer has noted, the bigger concern of the book than any of those questions […]

Reading 2 Timothy

When persecution and trouble become temptations to become apathetic, a recommitment to the standard of God found in Scripture is in order. Since Paul is soon to leave the world through death, this “valedictory” letter of 2 Timothy also serves as a commission to Timothy to remain faithful to teach and preach the truth of […]

Reading 1 Timothy

Ephesus was an important city in ancient Asia Minor. It was a port city and had several major highways emanating from it, making it important economically in its day. It was also the center of pagan worship with the temple of Diana. It also was a cultural center with a major theater, a library, and […]

Sunday Leftovers (8/29/10)

Count these among famous first words: “What hath God wrought?” Samuel F. B. Morse sent this message over the world’s first commercial telegraph line on May 24, 1844. “Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.” This message of Aug. 16, 1858, was the first official communication sent over a […]

Bring the Book!

This morning we read Nehemiah 8, which is the passage that was the basis for Steve Lawson’s sermon “Bring the Book!” at the Shepherds’ Conference a few years ago. It is a really outstanding sermon. You may download it here. (It really is worth the hour or so it will take you to listen to […]