God’s love endures forever
When we begin reading Psalm 136, we discover that this psalm is different from the rest. Just look at the first few verses:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love endures forever. He alone does great wonders. His faithful love endures forever” (Psalms 136:1-3 CSB). Continue reading “God’s love endures forever”
God exists
Living in a world where a chorus of competing voices would pull us toward opposing viewpoints on a great many topics, rather than avoiding such subjects, we would do well to consider the evidence. Regardless of the topic, in order to fairly explore a subject we will need to sidestep a host of logical fallacies such as sweeping generalizations, personal attack, appeal to fear as well as begging the question. Instead, we will need to focus upon: “What is the evidence?”
So, is it reasonable to conclude God exists? The Old and New Testaments announce that the world itself reveals truths about God and his existence (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20). Here are some initial brief excursions into some areas meriting further examination. Continue reading “God exists”
A profound loss
Well, it has happened: In the so-called “worship wars,” the advocates of contemporary worship have won. I can see it in your young people who now know none of the songs written more than twenty years ago. I see it when I lead a song in my college classes; they simply don’t know the old songs. Their faces fall, and they remain silent, motionless.
It’s not their fault. Continue reading “A profound loss”
‘One’ reason why I am still just a Christian
God is one. That means there is only one way to God. Continue reading ‘One’ reason why I am still just a Christian
Meditating on God’s word
“How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, who obey the law of the Lord. How blessed are those who observe his rules, and seek him with all their heart, who, moreover, do no wrong, but follow in his footsteps” (Psalm 119:1-3 NET).
Psalm 119 lies almost in the center of our Bibles. The actual middle chapter is the two verse Psalm 117, which is also the shortest chapter in the Bible. Psalm 119 is the longest with 176 verses. Continue reading “Meditating on God’s word”
God never requested a blind leap of faith
Some people find it surprising that God has never requested blind trust. Rather, God has consistently provided good reason to believe and to obey prior to asking anything from us. Continue reading “God never requested a blind leap of faith”
Ten blessings of baptism
What are the blessings of Baptism? What does the Bible say baptism does for us? Perhaps we are under the impression that baptism does only one thing – save. Others suggest that though it is a good thing to do that it has little or no bearing on our salvation. Make no mistake, it does, but submitting to baptism does many other things for us, too.
Baptism’s Blessings Continue reading “Ten blessings of baptism”
Good for you?
Tomatoes….poison or panacea? The Solanum family includes deadly nightshade, along with peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. I once had a neighbor in Iowa who told me to use deadly nightshade in my cooking. She did it all the time! She pointed to the plant growing under our deck — the one the USDA was warning about sickening the local livestock — and urged me not to “waste it.”
Her native China may have a plant that looked similar, or maybe she built up an immunity to it, along with her Caucasian husband and their lovely, healthy son. Or maybe deadly nightshade (Belladonna) is not as poisonous as we once thought. I really didn’t have the inclination to try it! Continue reading “Good for you?”
Heritage
“But Naboth said to Ahab, ‘The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you” (1 Kings 21:3 NKJV).
Real estate is considered to be one of the safest and best investments one can make. This is true not only in developed nations but worldwide. As the earth’s population increases dramatically, its available space remains fixed. Until oceans are filled or space is colonized, the land we see is all that we will have. That makes usable land highly sought after. In Bangladesh for example, land prices in even rural settings are comparable to costs in significant cities of the U.S. There is just not enough to go around, so demand is great. Continue reading “Heritage”
Do we want to be wise?
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding” (Psalm 111:10 ESV).
Wisdom. What so many people desire, yet do they understand how to get wisdom? In fact, what is wisdom?
Many confuse wisdom with knowledge. Knowledge is the gaining of facts and information. Just because we know some things does not mean that we have wisdom. We can have knowledge without wisdom. Continue reading “Do we want to be wise?”