Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works. Model Church on the Outside The Ephesian church was an active church. They were doing the work of the ministry, battling off the false apostles and Nicolaitans, and staying with it when they got weary. It was a model church,…
Read More‘Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.’ – Psalm 145:3 There’s something both humbling and encouraging about our relationship with God. As finite beings, we will never fully comprehend an infinite God. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, His ways beyond our understanding. Yet here’s what’s…
Read More‘The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.’ – Acts 17:24-25 Have…
Read MoreHebrews 9:22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. You have been redeemed from your transgressions. That means someone paid the price for your sins. Transgression is likened to trespassing. You have gone somewhere you weren’t supposed to and did…
Read MoreHebrews 9:15-17 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be…
Read MoreHebrews 9:15 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. You get full family benefits when you follow Jesus. You are grafted into the family of…
Read MoreHebrews 9:27-28 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Jesus is coming back! Are…
Read MoreI grew up in churches with wooden tables placed right under the pulpit. It was where they placed elements for communion and flowers for funerals. On the front lip was inscribed today’s passage. Hebrews 13:8 was one of the first verses I became familiar with as I grappled with the meaning of its theology. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Even as a young child, I would see these words burnt into the wood on the table, and it gave me a quiet assurance that Jesus never changes.
Read MoreThe criminal justice system is a tough place to exist. I served as a chaplain at a correctional institution, otherwise known as a prison, for several years, and each week I would see the wear and tear on the men as they shuffled to the chapel. Granted, they had a place to sleep and three meals a day, which many down and out on the street do not, but the neighborhood is much rougher inside the bars than outside. The church needs to remember its brothers and sisters serving sentences for crimes they committed. Remember those who struggle.
Read MoreLong road trips are something that our family loves to take. We have traveled all over the western United States by car. Most trips have taken fifteen hours one way, but some have taken more. People asked us how our children did, and they were fine. We stopped enough for food and gas that it wasn’t too arduous. They often responded, “I could never do that with my family.” That may be true, but it makes you wonder how patient are you.
PSALMS 130:5
“I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.”
The Psalmist has learned the value of being patient. This is another of the Ascent Psalms that the Jews would sing as they climbed the mountain to get to Jerusalem. It was a long, arduous journey that took patience on the part of the sojourner. They wanted to get to the temple to worship, but their soul had to wait for the journey to end. The trip from Galilee to Jerusalem taught them patience they would apply to other areas of their lives.
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