Hating what God hates is not about being judgmental or self-righteous, but rather about aligning ourselves with His perfect and righteous nature. As humans, we are often tempted to make excuses for our actions and justify our sinful behaviors. However, when we truly understand and embrace God’s Word, we realize that sin is not just a list of rules to …
Finding Happiness in an Unhappy World
Adversity, affliction, pain, and suffering are a part of everyone’s life. With Satan and his evil minions causing problems, the problems we have due to the world being in a fallen state in the first place, the problems that others cause for us, and the problems we cause ourselves due to our own sin and ignorance, suffering is a given …
Grace of the Almighty God
We are grateful to God for the grace that He has bestowed upon us through Christ Jesus our Lord, as well as the promise of eternal glory that is rooted in that grace. It is only through His great mercy that we have been granted an inheritance in heaven that will never fade away. Apart from God, who could have …
HOPE: A CHOICE TO TRUST IN GOD’S PROMISE
Throughout scripture God’s people have chosen hope as a strength building virtue. Hope is not optimism. It isn’t a wish. Nor is it a fantasy. Hope is a choice to see the future according to the faithfulness of God to fulfill His promises. Hope is confident trust that God will perform the promises in His word regardless of the present …
Our Hope in the Midst of Suffering
Jesus said that those who made the decision to follow him would experience suffering for having made that decision. The early church soon found out the truth of those words and Peter’s first epistle addresses that development head on. When he wrote it the pressure and suffering had already begun and he said it would get even worse. Of course, …
Pure or Impure: The Choice is Ours
The Old Covenant beliefs were frequently faced with the possibility of becoming “impure” or “unclean” before God. Many things could create this state of uncleanness, like touching a dead body, or having open sores. In the condition of uncleanness, they were disqualified from certain rights and privileges relating to association with others and to temple worship. In like manner, New …
Back to Basics
Ever since I first heard the truth of God’s Word, my desire has been to share it with as many people as I can. Clearly, the best way for each of us to do that is to both live and speak that truth, like Jesus did. The first step in doing that is to know the truth. Titus 1:1“Paul, a …
Don’t Fear Religious People … WIN THEM!
In the past few weeks, I’ve had the blessing of guest speaking at some local non-denominational churches. These small local assemblies are full of people with a genuine love for God and a desire to know the Bible more fully. At each church, people approached me afterwards to either ask questions or to offer positive comments about the message I’d …
It’s All About Relationship
The quality of your life and mine, both spiritually and emotionally, is directly proportional to the quality of the RELATIONSHIPS we have. The more people you truly love and are loved by, the easier it is to joyfully endure the often cruel assaults on life, also known as “fiery darts,” especially with a spouse. When things are wonderful, life is really …
The Biblical Perspective of Fellowship (audio)
Fellowship in our current Western culture has become a broadly used word to describe everything from government programs to civic organizations. Is fellowship just another way of describing a collective group or community or does it imply more? The Bible offers a much more nuanced picture of fellowship; one which will thrill the heart to perceive and practice. In this …