A whole generation (or more) of people has grown up hearing the adage, “cleanliness is next to godliness.” And I — like many others — heard many encouragements in my early years to make things “spic and span.” Importing those notions into the text of Leviticus is not helpful to understanding what God is saying […]
Read More Unclean! Unclean!This week we began reading the book of Leviticus in our Bible-reading plan. It is for most people a somewhat confusing book to read — and certainly disconnected from what NT believers understand about faith in Christ. After all, the system of sacrifices is long-departed. So how are we to understand these things? In short, […]
Read More Reading LeviticusA short Q & A about spiritual gifts — 1. What do we mean with the term “spiritual gifts?” Spiritual gifts can be defined this way: “Spiritual gifts are received from God and His unmerited grace — and they are diversely and sovereignly given to believers at the moment of salvation by the Holy Spirit […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (2/21/10)Interpreters of Ephesians 4:9 have long wrestled with the meaning of the phrase “the lower parts of the earth.” Many have conjectured that phrase means that after the crucifixion Christ went to Hell to proclaim the truth of His death and resurrection to those who resided there. Interpreters base this understanding not only on Ephesians […]
Read More Did Jesus descend to Hell?In 1874 Francis Ridley Havergal wrote the hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be” and sent it to a friend and essentially forgot about — until she saw it in a magazine four years later. She read it again for the first time in four years and was caught by the stanza, “take my […]
Read More Determined to givePart of our Scripture reading this morning is Acts 7-9. And this morning when I checked my email, I found this meditation on Acts 8 from Desiring God — “What the Ethiopian Eunuch Means for You.” What this story from Acts 8 means, the author concludes, is that Luke wants the story of this emasculated […]
Read More What the Ethiopian Eunuch Means for YouI have been challenged by something I read recently — “I worry that our lives are like soap operas. We can go for months and not tune into them, then six months later we look in and the same stuff is still going on.” The urgency of the immediate prevents us from seeing the impact […]
Read More Uneducated and untrained men – changedHow far does one go in upholding the two words “one faith?” God has united believers in Christ into one body and called those members to preserve that unity because they possess only one faith — one gospel that will save and redeem men. To what extent will one travel to uphold that truth? One […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (2/7/10)Last night while reading Memoirs & Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, I came across his response when a friend of the family had said “That she was determined to keep by the world.” What do you say about one who, like Demas, loves the world and with intention and volition walks away from Christ? M’Cheyne […]
Read More A discerning mind exemplifiedIf I go to the grocery store, I can usually distinguish between the ripe, ready-to-eat fruit from the overripe and time-to-throw-it-in-the-garbage-can fruit. Take me to a used car lot, and I have a harder time determining what’s a good ride and what’s a worn-out set of wheels. Set two people in front of me who […]
Read More A discerning mindToday we begin reading the book of Proverbs. Here is some background information (Word document) about the book that will help you understand it as you read, as well as a brief summary here: The key word in Proverbs is “wisdom,” and making men wise serves as the fundamental purpose of the book (cf. 1:2). […]
Read More Reading ProverbsA couple days ago, we began reading the book of Exodus in our reading through the Bible in a year program. Some of the books may be unfamiliar to you, so in an effort to help you understand what you are reading, as much as possible (I am fully confident I will be unable to […]
Read More Reading ExodusSometimes, in the midst of discouragement, it’s hard to see the blessings of God. As an example, consider this morning’s Scripture reading. For all the blessings God had given Abraham (an eternal covenant), Isaac (spared from death on a sacrificial altar!), and Jacob (sons who would be the patriarchs of Israel), there was something He […]
Read More Can you hear God? A meditation on Exodus 6:9With one word, Paul initiates a significant change in his letter to the Ephesians. With the singular (and easily overlooked) word, “therefore,” Paul moves his letter from theology to practice, from instruction to application. It is Paul’s regular habit to make such transitions (see the transitions between Romans 1-11 and 12-16 and Colossians 1-2 and […]
Read More On theology and practiceThe list of things that stimulate fear is long. Do a google search of phobias and you will find lists of dozens and even into the hundreds of fears (I found one list with 536 phobias) — including such things as aulophobia (fear of flutes), linonophobia (fear of strings), sinistrophobia (fear of things on the […]
Read More Why are you afraid?
