John 4.24 describes, God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth.
One of the ways we know there is a God is that humanity from all time in all places has worshiped a god. The Bible explains this propensity as the One True God placing within us a deep knowledge that our Creator lives and beckons us to Himself. (more…)
Luke 23.49 observes, Jesus’ friends, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance
watching.
A lot of people are standing from a distance watching for God to do something.
Sometimes we are waiting for Him to rain hell fire upon our enemies because we know how much they deserve it. Sometimes we are waiting for Him to heal us or our friends because we know how much He cares for us. Sometimes we are waiting for Him to bless us because we know how much He loves us. We wait, we hope but….. (more…)
Luke 16.13 observes, no one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
The Bible has many warnings against the pursuit and accumulation of wealth. It is interesting that God observes that our greatest competitor to Him will not be some strange idol from a weird man-made religion but a desire to be wealthy. Why do we want wealth? (more…)
1 Chronicles 28.7 requires, if he continues to obey my commands and regulations as he does now, I will make his kingdom
last forever.
The Jews understood and still believe, that they are God’s chosen people. Indeed, He did choose them thousands of years ago when God selected one man from all those living on the earth to be the one through whom He will build a nation culminating in His arrival as one of us, Jesus the Messiah.
God’s choice was His own, it wasn’t based upon the merits of the man nor of the people to come from the children born through that man and his wife. Today, the protestant church believes it too is the chosen people of God. (more…)
James 4.4 warns, you adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it
again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
What does it mean to be a friend of the world? Being a friend to anyone means liking them, possibly imitating them and wanting to be their constant companion. So why does God warn us about being a friend of the world? (more…)
Amos 5.14 commands, do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed.
Do you feel like the results from our election were a blessing? Do you believe we dodged a worst case scenario bullet not having Hillary in the White House? If so, should we go back to normal and wait for the Donald to make everything right? Can he even do that? I don’t think even the proponents of Donald Trump believe him to be the savior of our nation’s moral and spiritual decay. (more…)
Amos 3.8 observes, The Sovereign LORD has spoken— so who can refuse to proclaim his message?
The answer to Amos’ question seems to be most of the people of God. This was true in the day of Amos and it is true today as well. Why does this appear to be true?
As in Amos’ day, so few know the message of the Lord. This would not be true if the people of God were constantly declaring God’s message even as they lived that message. What is God’s message? (more…)
Hosea 12.6 begs, so now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on Him.
The election is over so now what do we do? Will Donald Trump solve all of our ills as a country? The resounding answer needs to be, ‘no’ if we are going to move ahead as a country and ‘make America great again.’ The quagmire we find ourselves isn’t the result of government action or inaction primarily. The situation we find ourselves in as a nation is the result of the way we as a nation have chosen to live and behave.
So what should we do now? Exactly what God says to do as summarized by Hosea. Act with love and justice and always depend upon Him. How do we do this? (more…)
Hosea 9.15 observes, The LORD says, All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels.
Gilgal was a holy place. It was where Joshua landed with the people of Israel when he miraculously crossed the Jordan river into the promised land. It was the place where Samuel the prophet would make the will of God known to those who needed His judgement.
Gilgal was where God changed His mind about Saul being king as a result of Saul disobeying God by offering the sacrifice only the priest was to perform. Perhaps it is this last act that Hosea refers to when describing the leaders history of rebellion. (more…)
Hosea 6.3 laments, Oh, that we might know the LORD! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to
us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.
When we think of God what do we think of? Our experience of Him personally combined with our teaching about Him will determine the thoughts we have about God as well as our behavior toward God.
The word God means, He Who is above all, the One Who is to be revered, honored and obeyed because He is perfect, wonderful and responsible for all that is, was or ever will be. Does that definition of God seem congruent with our thoughts about God or our behavior before God? Most likely not. (more…)
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