Discover the Truth About Our Creator’s Sovereignty Most people recognize God as sovereign. Yet they may not have a good understanding of what that word means. And because of their misperception, God often gets blamed for things he didn’t do. Sovereign in the Bible The word sovereign shows up 295 times in the Bible, mostly […]
The King Confesses His Mistake and Asks God to Take Away the Guilt In 1 Chronicles 21 we read the account of David telling Joab to take a census of the people to determine how many fighting men are in the nation. This was Satan’s doing who tempted David into numbering his military. This could […]
An Old Testament Parable Warning about the Perils of Prostitution and Idolatry Ezekiel shares a story about two sisters. It’s an Old Testament parable. And it comes directly from God. The older sister is Oholah, and the younger sister is Oholibah. Oholah is Samaria, the capital of Israel and represents the ten northern tribes. The […]
We Dishonor God by Persisting in Sin Because We Assume His Grace Will Cover It A highschool friend heard about the doctrine of eternal security—which some people shorten to the more accessible mantra of “once saved, always saved”—and latched onto it. She took God’s grace for granted. She reasoned this creed allowed her to act […]
An Act of Commission is an Act We’ve Done When I think of being punished, be it by God or people, I think in terms of things I do wrong. That is, doing things that I shouldn’t have done. Some people call this an “act of commission.” They are things I have committed. However, there […]
Despite God’s Longstanding Patience Giving Us Time to Shape Up, Judgement Will Eventually Come The book of Ezekiel is an interesting one, packed with evocative prophetic imagery that portrays God’s power, patience, and eventual judgement. As follows through much of the Old Testament the people disobey God. He warns them to turn things around and […]
Jesus Died as the Ultimate Sacrifice So That We May Live The Old Testament of the Bible overflows with instructions about offering sacrifices to God and how his people but them into practice. One of those sacrifices served as an annual sacrifice for the sins of the people. The people had to repeat it each […]
Biblical Murderers and How They Relate to Us Consider some of the best-known biblical murderers. Cain Kills Abel We’re only four chapters into the Bible when the first murder occurs. Cain kills his brother Abel. The account in the Bible suggests that Cain premeditated his actions. First degree murder. But let’s not view Cain as […]
The Evil Queen, Her Good-Bad Grandson, and the Influential Priest In today’s passage we read about Queen Athaliah, her grandson Joash, and the priest Jehoiada. Here’s their story. The Evil Queen Athaliah Athaliah’s son Ahaziah is King. As with most mothers, she influences her son. But she doesn’t have a positive impact on him. Instead […]
Our Spiritual Leaders May Fail Us and Let Us Down but Jesus Never Will Relevant magazine cited a Gallup poll that revealed America’s trust in the clergy has hit a record low. And it’s fallen steadily since 2002. In the early 80s two thirds of people respected spiritual leaders. Now only a bit more than […]