Isaiah 33.22 describes, the LORD is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save 
us.
This is both an apt and succinct description of the Christian God in Jesus Christ the Savior. While penned 1000 years before His arrival in human form, Isaiah saw God, and was commissioned with foretelling His coming as the Messiah or Savior of the world. (more…)
1 Peter 3.12 promises, the eyes of the LORD watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to 
their prayers. But the LORD turns his face against those who do evil.
This promise is what we would expect from a God Who is good. It makes sense to us that a good God would watch over those who do good and hear their prayers. It also makes sense to us that God would oppose those who do evil in the world.
There is a disconnect however from this logic and some of our experiences. Evil in the world is a problem for people. (more…)
Ecclesiastes 12.13 summarizes the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty.
Biblically speaking the wisest person to ever live was king Solomon. He was made wise by God in response to his request of God for ruling over the people of God.
The book of Ecclesiastes is king Solomon’s observations from a long life guided by wisdom. His conclusion is the summary verse for today: fear God and obey His commands. (more…)
Mark 12.34 observes, realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, You are not far from
the Kingdom of God.
Knowing and doing are not the same. We inherently know this in our dealings with people, especially family. We know our spouse loves us but sometimes their actions are hurtful. We know our children know what they are to do but they often fail to do what they have been made responsible to do.
On and on it goes in our experience of the gap between knowing and doing, both in our own lives as well as the lives of others. (more…)
1 Thessalonians 1.10 promises, Jesus is the one Who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming 
judgment.
Recently I was listening to a man describe why he rejected his Christian upbringing. He served as a soldier in Vietnam and couldn’t understand how a good God could allow so much suffering. He has since become a Muslim. I didn’t understand how switching ‘gods’ helped him especially to one who doesn’t describe himself as love. (more…)
Philippians 2.12 commands, work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep 
reverence 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…)
Mark 11.17 describes, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations . But you have turned it 
into a den of robbers!
What is the purpose of Church?
If the Church is the world wide ‘body’ of Christ, the faithful followers of Jesus, then it’s mission is the Great Commission. If the Church is the local building where the followers of Jesus gather then…..it gets a bit more nebulous, at least to the followers. (more…)
Romans 4.25 describes that He was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to
make us right with God.
Religion is the attempt to make people right with God. Performance is essential for success.
Even the agnostic plays this game by convincing themselves they are essentially good people deserving of heaven if there proves to be a god in the end. Being right with God by the agnostic and the religious is defined as doing more good in life than bad.
But what is good? (more…)
Acts 13.39 observes everyone who believes in Him is declared right with God—something the law of 
Moses could never do.
The One True God has made entrance into His eternal dwelling place quite easy really: repent, believe and receive. Every other religion including atheism and agnosticism, are trying to accumulate enough good works so that God is forced to accept them. (more…)
Genesis 4.4 describes Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock.
The LORD accepted Abel and his gift.
The first religious service recorded was of the first two brothers born on earth bringing their offerings to God. God rejected the offerings of the first brother but accepted the offerings of the second brother. This account is immensely instructive on the nature and ways of God considering it occurs on page 5 of His story without any indication that He had previously prescribed certain requirements for worship of Him.
The clear message from this story is that there is a right way to worship God and a wrong way. (more…)
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