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The Who …
1 Timothy 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 1 Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. I Timothy 2:3 reveals the proper pronoun for the “Who” found in the prior verse. Simply put, God desires for all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus died so that we might live. He made the ultimate sacrifice for us to be saved. This is the nature of the Lord in that His great desire is to seek and…
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Apostolic Doctrine
Consider the words of the Apostle Paul: 2 Tim 4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works: 2 Tim 4:15 Of whom be thou ware also; for he hath greatly withstood our words. 2 Tim 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Paul reflected on those who opposed him, which reveals his troubling times. In the prior verse he spoke of Demas, a backslidden brother. The losses of Paul’s life had mounted toward the end. Yes, there were…
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Stedfast …
The word “stedfast” is mentioned 11 times in the Bible. In each case, the origin of the word is congruent with the next so that each retains the same basic root meaning. The Greek word in I Cor. 15:58 is hedraios, which simply means “settled.” Hebrews speaks of stedfast as stability when it says, Heb 3:14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. Consider the average family in America today. They are described as bored, unsettled; seeking for entertainment and often aloof. The average person will move 11…
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Dual Action
Acts 14:8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked Acts 14:9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Acts 14:10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. The historical account of the Acts of the Apostles was never more powerful than Paul’s experience in Acts chapter fourteen. A lame man, born crippled, “who never had walked”, heard Paul’s sermon. Something about the preached Word enlightened…
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Freedom costs …
The latter part of the Book of Acts depicts Paul about to be flogged for an obscure offense. The people hated his doctrine. They considered his preaching as hate speech because his was an exclusive message. Jesus and His story caused a riot to break out. The Roman guards decided to imprison Paul and scourge him over the matter, but right before they were to punish him, Paul declared his Roman citizenship. The revelation of itself made the guard nervous because the law dictated a trial for all Roman citizens. Thus the guard quickly went to his commander who in…
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Hope …
Paul ended his beautiful exhortation about love in I Cor 13 with a declaration of life’s most precious things. He listed the three great remaining attributes of life: Faith, Hope, and Love. Love was the greatest among the three as the apostle gave a descriptive discourse, but I offer this word today: Don’t discount hope. Job saw his life as a tree cut down, and yet, he said that there is hope of a tree, that if it is cut down, it can grow again. The patriarchs of old hoped for something and it drove them to pursue the Lord.…
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Who’s In Charge?
Prov 20:7 The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him. Among the myriad of complexities that attend our times, there has been a detrimental role reversal among fathers and children. As one author asked, “Who’s In Charge?” The glaring issue is the increased gap between fathers and their children. Instead of the father, children are now leading the family in thought and ideology; a place that the father once occupied. Adding to the problem has been the rapid technological advances that seem to separate the family, especially in communication. The core problem has been the…
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God knows where I am …
Job 23:8-10 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. The above text leads to a myriad of questions. Could it be that God purposely hides His plan from our eyes in order to develop our necessary trust in Him? Could it be that our trials and difficulties…
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Three months…
Summer is finally upon us for which I am thankful. In relation to the school season and the many vacations that are planned, I offer this word to you. Three months is the traditional time between the school season which often dictates our year. It’s also just enough time to change the course of your life. Three months out of church can leave lasting scars from which many never recover. However, three months of devotion is the right amount of time to birth a powerful, life-long change for the good. It only takes a small time heading in the right…
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Selfless Directive
JFK’s best quote has been debated for a few decades. I tend to lean toward this one: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” While Kennedy probably took the quote from a private school professor where he attended, the truth behind the words are profound. The statement is a selfless directive. It rebuts the consumer mentality which has afflicted our age. Jesus lived the life that embodied the idea of selflessness. The disciples’ deaths, found in Fox’s Book of Martyrs, describe the same. They were not self-seeking or egocentric. They…