Category: Religion

It Packs a Punch

There is a video circulating online of a fight club somewhere in a warehouse. There is no ring, just an overzealous crowd looking for a good fight. The two fighters couldn’t have been more opposites. One was a native islander with his tribal kilt, war paint, and long hair. The other was a shirtless marine with a buzzcut. The islander tried to intimidate the marine by shouting and screaming and doing all these flips. When the bell rang, the marine rared back with his right hand and punched the islander right in the face, knocking him out. The marine walked away. His fist packed a punch. God has a one-two punch, His lovingkindness, and truth.

‭‭PSALMS‬ ‭117:2

“For His lovingkindness is great toward us, And the truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD!”

This is the shortest of the Hallel psalms but the most powerful. Spurgeon wrote 36 pages about this psalm alone. It has prophecy about the Gentiles, revelation, instruction, and admonition, all in TWO verses! You could say it packs a punch. God’s lovingkindness and truth are great toward us. They are everlasting, so we should praise the Lord. The Almighty God shows us tender, loving mercy when He could easily be distant and cold. You can trust what He says because it never changes.

No Small Disturbance

There is a story about a man wrongly imprisoned in an eastern European country. The reason the man was being sent to prison? Leading a Bible study. The warden harshly treated him, but each morning he would get up and sing a hymn for all the prisoners to hear. This went on for years, and on the day he was to be executed, he was given his release papers instead and shoved outside the prison gate. His Bible study never stopped meeting nor praying for his release. When he got home, there was no small disturbance.

‭‭ACTS‬ ‭12:18

“Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter.”

Peter had a habit of breaking out of prison. I’m joking, of course, but he was broken out of jail on several occasions. Soldiers have a sense of pride in doing their work. Peter was gone. He had escaped, but they couldn’t figure out how it happened. This was hard to accept. God sent several messages through this jailbreak. To Peter, the message was keep preaching the Gospel. No one is going to stop you. The message to the Scribes and Pharisees was, “Don’t mess with me.”

When You’ve Been Wronged

Everyone one of us has been wronged by another person. What do you do when you’ve been wronged? Do you seek revenge? Do you file a lawsuit and take them to court, or do you isolate yourself and sulk? How you process your hurt will dictate your future. The Apostle Paul suggests an alternative to when you’ve been wronged.

1 Corinthians 6:1-2

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

Stop the Scandals

So many people who are easily offended these days. The Greek word for offense is scandalon, from which we get our word scandal. Originally the word was used to refer to the bait used to snare a wild animal. Paul uses it to refer to anything that hinders our walk with God. Paul puts his foot down and tells the Corinthians that it is not the way it is supposed to be in the church. This had become a problem in the Corinthian church, and Paul wanted the leadership to handle things differently. When we go to court, it is already a defeat for the church and us because it destroys our witness.

Confronting Immorality

Very few things are as devastating as discovering immorality in a marriage. It impacts far more people than the couple. If there are kids, they are thrust into a state of confusion. Extended family and friends don’t know how to proceed, which will often divide churches. Sadly, the offender is often let off the hook because no one wants confrontation. Confronting immorality in the home and the church is difficult but essential.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 

It is reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Confronting Immorality

The church has a process for confronting immorality. There were some sexual sins in the church at Corinth that the pagans didn’t tolerate. A man was with his step-mom. Even the thought of that is sickening, yet the Corinthians did nothing. They were arrogant about it. It gave God a bad name and was a sad witness for the church. This should’ve caused mourning and remorse for the sin, but it didn’t. The Corinthians had become calloused to sin. Paul demands that this person be removed from the church and delivered over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

Feet to the Gospel

The Gospel takes feet for it to get out. Isaiah tells us that those who take the Gospel spread the beauty of Christ. The church needs to mobilize and put feet to the Gospel by being the light of the world. When we bring the Gospel, it spreads peace and good tidings. The world needs this more than anything. We are the delivery system.

Isaiah 52:7
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Jesus Started It
Isaiah is talking about Jesus here. He brought the good news (Gospel), proclaimed peace and salvation, and encouraged his followers with glad tidings. The Gospel is a beautiful thing. Jesus opened up a new avenue for us to come to God. We can live for eternity because of the salvation he brought.

Prepare the Way

In Medevil times, whenever a king would enter a city or a room, there would be a herald who would announce his coming. People would make way for his vehicle and bow when he entered the room. It was a signal to prepare the people how to act. Before Jesus came, God sent a messenger…

Revive Your Spirit

God has hundreds of promises in His Word. One of those promises is that he looks after those who are humble and contrite. Here in Isaiah, God promises to revive your spirit if you are humble. Everyone is going to get down and need some encouragement. Even the humble and contrite get discouraged. God sees…

Still In Need of a Savior

The more you become an expert in something like music or sports, the more you need to practice to remain at that level. Baseball players take more groundballs and musicians play more scales. One area where we don’t need any practice is being a sinner. Nothing comes more naturally to us than sinning. It constantly…

Jesus Carries Your Sorrows

.When you are struggling, you can have others come alongside you and support you, but they can’t carry your sorrows. Loved ones can surround you, but they can’t feel the pain of your disease. While their love and support make the sorrow easier, it is yours to carry alone. When it comes to your sin,…

Sing for Joy

What fills your heart with joy? Is it your family or friends? Maybe it’s your hobby? Whatever it is, it fills your heart and puts a song on your lips. Did you know that you fill your heavenly Father’s heart with joy? You make creation sing for joy. The mountains break forth into singing because God…