Month: June 2018

Digging in Deeper: Hebrews 10:24-25

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“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

“Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to an auto parts store makes you a mechanic.”  Ever heard something along those lines?  “I can worship just fine when I’m on my own, so I don’t need to be in church all the time.”  How about that one?  Or maybe this: “I connect with God better out in the woods than I do in a roomful of people.”  Or perhaps this: “The church is full of hypocrites; it’s better for my faith to not be around all those people very often.”  You know what?  There’s at least a little bit of truth to every one of these. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Joshua 18:2-3

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e”There remained among the people of Israel seven tribes whose inheritance had not yet been apportioned.  So Joshua said to the people of Israel, ‘How long will you put off going in to take possession of the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

When the people of Israel conquered the land, they did so by sacking the major cities, decimating the Canaanite resistance.  But they didn’t finish the task God gave them.  Over and over again in the course of the last several chapters of the book describing the dividing up of the land among the various tribes, we are told that they failed to completely drive out the peoples of the land as they had been instructed to do. Read the rest…

The One Thing

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This Sunday I focused my attention specifically on the graduates we were honoring.  If you’ve got a graduate in your life, this is a great message to share with them.  Even if you’re not a graduate, though, this is a message you need to hear.  In what follows I offer an answer to the question of how we can be prepared to give a reason for the hope we have in an increasingly non-Christian context.  Thanks for reading.

The One Thing

I don’t know about you, but new things always make me at least a little bit nervous.  I thrive in environments that are stable and consistent.  I can tolerate a little bit of change…a very little bit of change…but it’s got to be within preset limits.  Beyond that, I’m outside my comfort zone.  Perhaps the most nervous I have gotten at various points in my life is when I have started a new job.  I remember starting work at OfficeMax in seminary.  The first week was nice because I got to sit in the back office and take training courses on the computer.  They were functionally meaningless since I didn’t remember any of them once I left the room and in any event I learned everything I needed to know while I was actually doing it, but I did get to spend the whole first week hiding out.  Once I hit the floor, that’s when things got scary. Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Joshua 2:9-11

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“and [Rahab] said to the men, ‘I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.  For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.  And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.'”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

When we set out to follow God’s lead into new and challenging places, what we often don’t think about is that the place we are going is not new to Him.  He’s been there ahead of us, preparing the ground for our arrival. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 4:28

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“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

God’s love moves outward.  That’s its nature.  It exists for the benefit of the other, whoever the other happens to be.  If we think we have love for someone else, but that love is not primarily oriented toward seeing them advanced in the direction of who God made them to be regardless of any benefits such a commitment might have for us, what we have is something other than love.  It might be strong, positive feelings, but it isn’t love. Read the rest…