evangelism / faith / Theology

Are the Bible and the koran the Same?

Joshua 8.18 records hold out toward Ai the curved sword in your hand, for I am handing the city over to you.

I was listening to two men discuss religion today. The first commented that the Muslims are a real world problem, their book commands them to kill everyone who isn’t one. The second guy commented that the Bible says the same thing so it and its adherents are just as bad.

The first guy rebutted his friend by stating now we live by the teachings of Jesus so Christians are better. This didn’t convince the second guy that there is any difference between ISIS and Baptists. Do both of these books record God telling His people to kill everyone? (more…)

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March 21, 2017
faith / heaven / Judgement / Theology

Why Should We Please God?

2 Corinthians 12.21 records, I will grieve for many of those who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced.

The knock on Christianity from adherents of other religions is the ease by which Christians are able to get to heaven. Christianity is the only religion that claims it’s means to heaven is the receiving of it freely from God as a gift imparted by God’s grace through faith in His love and kindness. (more…)

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March 13, 2017
faith

The Process For Increasing Our Faith

Matthew 17.20 observes, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here toimage there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.

Mustard seeds are really small; really, really small. I don’t know if any of us have faith the size of a mustard seed. Why not? (more…)

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October 17, 2016
Christian Living / faith / Suffering

The Fools Will Win the Culture War

1 Corinthians 3.18 commands we stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’simage standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.

The cultural war around us is a war of ideas. The battle lines have been drawn between God and science and between the Bible and public opinion.

The war analogy is meaningful because there is much hostility brewing among those who oppose God and the Bible toward those who believe in God and the Bible. (more…)

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August 29, 2016
Christian Living / faith

God Makes Big Promises

Isaiah 45.19 records God stating, I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek Me if I could not be found. I, the imageLORD, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.

God knows He alone is God and that He lives regardless of the opinion of humanity. In our pride and in His humility, we are allowed to live, talk and think as though God were not real but we are sadly mistaken. (more…)

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June 13, 2016
faith

What Faith Really Is.

Isaiah 7.9 warns, unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.images

When God says He cant, He means He wont. God cant do something because it violates either His character or His commands.

Without faith God warns, it is impossible to please Him therefore those who come to Him must believe He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.  Our faith is integral to God’s work and presence in and through our lives. (more…)

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May 9, 2016
faith / heaven / Judgement

Working Hard is the Result of Our Faith, Not the Reason

Philippians 2.12 commands, work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep imagesreverence and fear.

Easter has just passed for most Christians: it is the time for celebration of the life, death and resurrection of God in Jesus the Savior. It is a celebration because humanity no longer is required to be perfect in order to get to heaven. It is a celebration because humanity is no longer measured by their own performance for earning heaven. It is a celebration because God is offering a pardon for all disobedience against Him by every person who has ever lived who will simply ask God for His pardon through Jesus the Savior. (more…)

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March 28, 2016
evangelism / faith

Speaking of Jesus

John 7.13 observes no one had the courage to speak favorably about Him in public, for they were afraidimage of getting in trouble with the Jewish leaders.

While watching a popular sports talk show yesterday I noticed the interviewee easily referenced his commitment to God but not to Jesus. As he was wearing a cross around his neck I am assuming he would identify with Christianity as his religion.

This comfort with God and discomfort with Jesus is age-old and helps explain why we are so broken in our current culture. (more…)

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March 17, 2016
Christian Living / faith / Judgement

Who Defines Wisdom?

1 Corinthians 3.18-19 commands, if you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to imagebecome a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”

Recently deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia put it this way, ‘God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools…and He has not been disappointed. Devout Christians are destined to be regarded as fools in modern society. We are fools for Christ’s sake. We must pray for courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world. If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.’

Justice Scalia’s challenge is immensely timely for this generation of Christians. (more…)

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February 16, 2016
faith / obedience / Suffering

Faith is Working With God through Difficult Circumstances

Esther 4.16 comments, If I must die, I must die.image

One of the heroes of the Bible is the young woman Esther. An oft quoted statement from the book in her memory is ‘perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this.’

The story of Esther is one of tragedy and triumph, of faith and courage, of God’s faithful work behind the scenes when people risk all for His purposes. (more…)

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January 28, 2016