Church Blog (Page 16)
This Calls for Wisdom #1. “I speak as to wise men.”
We have all seen those Reality TV Shows that encourage strangers to show off their talents. Though some are very good, others are so bad that they are embarrassing. Assuming that they are not all unemployed actors playing a part, you have to wonder how people with so little talent ever imagined that they could compete on the world stage. Everyone goes through stages where they believe themselves to be the sole proprietor of the Corner of Wisdom. But if…
This is the Day #12. “The Lord’s Day.”
If the apostle John thought that his Sunday morning on the Isle of Patmos was going to reflect the state of boredom often associated with incarceration, he was in for a shock. And if the document we know as the Book of Revelation is revealed in eternity to be Jesus’ Sunday morning sermon for John, I, for one, will not be surprised. Nothing I have ever read and listened to has come close to the mystery, imagery, depth, and excitement…
This is the Day #11. “Day and Night.”
Recently, I excitedly showed a brother in the Lord the Bible Audio App that I have been listening to for years now. He listened briefly to the voice, and then, being an expert on the subject, informed me that it was not the voice of a real man. Instead, it was a voice generated through Artificial Intelligence. Though I did feel like a bubble had been burst, I had to smile to think that the voice that I had listened…
This is the Day #10. “Day of life and death.”
Lot and the Prodigal Son had this in common: They both gleefully moved to places that ultimately brought them misery and loss – it almost cost them everything. However, as much as Lot’s soul was tormented by the moral degradation of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Peter 2:8), the torment was obviously not enough to make him move away before it was too late. The infamy of Sodom and Gomorrah was added to by Lot’s wife becoming a salt stature and…
This is the Day #9. “Concerns of the Day.”
A person’s daily concerns say a lot about them. Find a man who cares what others think of his social standing and you have found an unhappy soul. He will either be borrowing money to speed his image along, or he will work night and day to lift himself above his peers. Either way, he will be consumed with the concerns of consumerism, unable to find peace, and much to be pitied. God cannot force you to give up your…
This is the Day #8. “A Day of Vengeance.”
If you haven’t been the subject of the judgements of others, you are either the nicest person on earth, or you don’t get out much. But assuming that it is your desire to advance the Kingdom of Christ, I can assume that you have been gossiped about, lied about, deliberately excluded, sworn at, threatened, and possibly even assaulted. Thus, some people have made it hard for your to not wish God’s vengeance upon them; they really are that mean! I’m…
This is the Day #7. “Encourage one another daily.”
In 1976 a friend of mine sold me a 1967 Suzuki 150. I was in High School, where money was scarce, and petrol was expensive. Daily, if not multiple times a day, I had to calculate how much petrol I had, and how much I needed. I even began carrying a small container of petrol in my bag, lest I miscalculated and found myself stranded. Such were the forced disciplines of doing what needed to be done to get to…
This is the Day #6. “Good Day—Bad Day.”
Job had it all, until he didn’t! For most people, Job is remembered as the wealthy man in the Bible who the devil tried to destroy through intense suffering. It was James who gave us the expression: “The patience of Job” (James 5:11), and centuries earlier, Ezekiel had grouped Job with Noah and Daniel as examples of men who had soul-saving righteousness; in contrast to Ezekiel’s readers (Ezekiel 14:14). Never before had there been a man of faith and integrity…
This is the Day #5. “For this day is holy to our Lord.”
As Ezra read the Law of Moses (Nehemiah 8:1-18), it was translated for those who couldn’t understand what he was reading. Israel, compared to its glory days under King David and King Solomon, was in a bad way. The reading of God’s Word revealed to them the reasons why God had rejected Israel and had allowed them to be taken into captivity. Thus, the people reacted with tears of sorrow at the new reading of the Scriptures. On another occasion…
This is the Day #4. “The Day of Victory.”
“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). To this day Ethiopians look back to the day that Philip baptised Queen Candace’s Chancellor of the Exchequer as the beginning of Christianity in their country—and indeed it was! It was a day of defeat for the devil, but a day of victory for the Kingdom of Christ (Acts 8:26-40). You and I must always stop and praise God when we hear…