Forms of Worship When it comes to honoring God, there are all sorts of different ideas about what that should look like. Even among those who claim to follow the Bible, there are many ways people seek to worship him. Some may be accustomed to liturgies and pipe organs, others topical sermons and electric guitar….
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A New Word
The Firsthand Message In 1 Kings 13 there is a record of a prophet whom God sent to declare a judgement against the alter Jeroboam. He had put up this alter up in Bethel for the worship of a golden calf he had put up for Israel to worship instead of worshiping God in Jerusalem….
Ahab’s Perspective
The section of 1 Kings that chronicles Ahab’s life is easy to read from a perspective of Elijah as the main character. There are parts of the text that focus entirely upon where God sends him and how he was cared for. However, Ahab didn’t see himself as a supporting character in his own life….
Deceptively Generous Rulers
There is a great deal of discussion about if leaders care about us. As I discussed in another post, the God given role of government is to be a wrath against wrong, not to provide for us. We have a corrupt view of the purpose of government when we try to make it our care…
The Root of Wisdom
The book of Proverbs was written mostly by King Solomon (a man uniquely blessed by God with wisdom) because he wanted to pass on what he knew about the world and how it worked to future generations. Lately, I’ve been going through this book with my own sons (so expect more proverbs posts) and one…
What Is Cultivated Grows
Be Careful to Grow Goodness The book of James starts out with a series of steps which start with having ones faith tested. When your faith is tested and you hold to God, it will produce steadfastness as a character trait, which eventually leads to perfection when one is completely unshakable. Count it all joy,…
Boldness Vs. Pride
Paradoxically, the word “confidence” has a positive connotation in our culture while the best forms of confidence are often decried as arrogance, self-righteous, or close-mindedness. It has been a very effective way for the spirit of this age to keep Christians unsteady and lacking in boldness. You can revel, publicly, in nearly any sin and…
When “Nice” is Evil
A nice person can be very appealing. Obviously, nobody wants to be around someone who is mean, but beyond that a person who is nice goes even further out of their way to make us feel happy. Because of this, we naturally have a desire to be around nice people as much as possible. However,…
Comfort in Judgement
Punishment is an uncomfortable thing. If it weren’t, it wouldn’t be punishment at all! However, sometimes entire groups of people (nations, families, congregations) have allowed wickedness to thrive within their community and incite a corporate judgement. In these cases, not all members of the group have acted exactly the same. Perhaps some have not participated…
Commonwealth of Israel
There are two views of Israel often discussed within the church today. One is the dispensational view, where we are currently in the “church age”. God has set aside the nation of Israel for a period of refinement or judgement for their unbelief, and then it will be restored to God at the end of…