Leave Outside Whatever Would Hurt or Destroy the Glory of His Untroubled Home “…how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” Hebrews 2:3 Our Savior has opened his arms and pleads for us to come to him and share in the abundance of eternal life. He asks one thing; that we leave outside whatever would hurt or destroy the glory of his untroubled home. No one is…Keep Reading

Don’t Waste Your Wounds In interpreting a passage, we must always consider the context. For example, when John wrote that Jesus is the propitiation for “our sins,” the “our” refers to believers, because he went on to say, “and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). When Paul wrote: “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,…Keep Reading

The Ground Is Level at the Foot of the Cross Over the years, I have observed that some believers are very secure in their conviction that they are saved, while showing tolerance toward other believers who have the same conviction but differ on some points. In contrast, some believers who are very strong in their conviction that they are saved are very intolerant of others with the same conviction but…Keep Reading

Even When We Are Weak, We Are Ready to Serve “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthians 1:27 It was a liberating truth the day that I understood that God did not call me to have all the answers. God has placed immortal tidings in mortal hands, and we are…Keep Reading

The Word of the Lord is “Rise Up! “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14) In the valley of dry bones, they heard the Word of the Lord, and suddenly “there was a whole lot of shaking going on” as one by one the bones responded and came back together. The vision would end with a mighty army of God’s people who…Keep Reading

It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over At an age when many men might have considered backing off and letting the younger generation do the fighting, Caleb, at age 85, was looking for mountains to climb and battles to win. He said: “So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified…Keep Reading

Compel Them to Come “And the lord said unto the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:23. “Compel them to come…” Compel is a word that we seemed to have dropped it from the church vocabulary. I suppose that is because it implies dragging someone into the Kingdom while they are kicking and screaming. It…Keep Reading

Mugged By Money We usually fear being mugged for our money; few of us take precautions to prevent being mugged by our money. It is not the money itself that’s the problem. The problem lies in our desire for money and the things it buys. Agur wrote, “First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs!…Keep Reading

Relationships and Friendships Require us to Leave a Lot of Things Alone “Just Then, as he was presiding over the court, Pilate’s wife sent him this message: “Leave that good man alone…” Matthew 27:19 I was a boy on the hill above a farmhouse where folks were sitting on the front porch. I suddenly realized that I was sharing the path with a large black snake that had raised up…Keep Reading

Being Saved by the Power of God and His Grace “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthian 1:18 Society and politics never change very much. There is a story of a newspaper that had assigned a photographer to get a “hideous picture” of Theodore Roosevelt that would turn people…Keep Reading

Piling On In football, the phrase “piling on” is used to describe the action of one or more players jumping on top of a player or group of players after a tackle has been made. The guilty team receives a 15-yard penalty for the infraction. The Corinthians were guilty of piling on and were flagged by Paul. He had rebuked them for allowing sexual immorality in the body of Christ,…Keep Reading

Don’t Fret; Wait on the Lord When we read, hear, or experience firsthand the wickedness of the world, we often fret, feeling helpless. David wrote: “Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb” (Psalm 37:2-2). He repeats the same thought in verses 8-9: “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it…Keep Reading