A Spoken Message If I were to give this talk a title, it would be “A Few Thoughts on Wisdom by a Very Foolish Man.” Since I have said that, I suppose I have given it that title. It may seem contradictory for a foolish man to speak on wisdom, but one of the aspects…
In Ps. 2.7 we read that God said to the Lord Jesus, “You are my Son. Today I have begotten you.” [NASB] This verse is quoted in Acts 13.33 and Heb. 1.5 and 5.5. In Jn. 1.14 and 18 and 3.16, and 18 Jesus is called God’s only begotten. Begetting refers to the conception of…
Several years ago I read an article by Lee LeFebre in a Christian newsletter, The Exchanged Life, that the Lord used to show me something about myself that surprised me greatly. The article itself had to do with marriage, but that is not what was relevant to me. There was a principle set forth, and…
For as long as I can remember my family has loved blackberry pie. It was a favorite of my grandfather, who was born in 1879 and lived to be 95. It is the wild blackberries that we like. The tame ones are not as good. The last few years it has been hard to find…
A passage that I consider to be one of the very few absolutely foundational statements in the Bible is Ex. 19.5-6, words of God to Israel: “Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you will be my own possession from among all peoples, for all the earth is…
The Birthright The Old Testament tells of two aspects of inheritance, the birthright and the blessing. It was the custom in Old Testament days for the oldest son to inherit a double portion: Dt. 21.17: “But he shall recognize the firstborn … by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he…
Please read Jn. 18.1-19.46, the end of the account of the arrest and “trial“ of the Lord Jesus. What are we to learn from this passage? Perhaps the best way to learn its lessons is to look at the people involved. The first actor in this drama is Jesus himself. What do we see in…
The customary definition of repentance is that it is turning around and going the other way. That, however, is not repentance, but the result of repentance. Just as a doctor deals with causes, not symptoms, repentance corrects the fundamental problem, the cause of our bad behavior, rather than addressing the behavior itself. God knows that…
It is interesting that the Bible does not define the word “worship,” so we must derive our understanding of it from how it is used in the Bible. There are two primary words, one Hebrew (shachah) and the other Greek (proskuneo) that are the primary words for “worship” in the Bible. The Hebrew word means…
One of the great vital subjects of the Bible, and of the New Testament in particular, is faith, for it is by faith that we receive the grace of God that saves us and provides for every need we have in Christian life. We walk by faith, not by sight. Yet there is misunderstanding as…