When the Mission Sunday contribution was displayed on the screen at the end of our worship, there was a collective gasp of overwhelming joy, mutual accomplishment and calming excitement.  In the tremendous financial stresses under which we are living, expectations about Mission Sunday were uncertain, to say the least.  As such, the contribution amount displayed much more than a number of dollars…

In response to the first temptation that the devil threw at Him, Jesus taught the premier truth that must ring in the ears of every Bible student.  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). The instruction in this verse is both fundamental and comprehensive.  It does not get any…

The death penalty was enforced in the Old Testament for what we would consider “heinous crimes,” such as murder (Lev. 24:17); kidnapping (Ex. 21:16); killing unborn children (Ex. 21:22-23); bestiality (Ex. 22:19; Lev. 20:15-16); adultery (Lev. 20:10); homosexuality (Lev. 20:13); rape (Deut. 22:25); and witchcraft (Lev. 20:27). God also condemned to death some acts in the Old Testament that we might consider…

In our Sunday morning Bible class series on “What God Wants,” we had an insightful study this past Sunday on “God Wants Your Worship.” (I encourage you to go to our website, listen to the class and download the PowerPoint slides.)  While we always have good discussions, I thought the comments made by folks in the class this last Sunday were particularly…

When one reads the accounts provided of the life of Jesus in the New Testament, the knowledge and respect that He had for the Old Testament Scriptures ought to impress upon us the same urgent need to increase our own knowledge and respect for God’s Word. Jesus believed the words of the Bible. When He taught about the resurrection of the dead,…

What does it mean to have an “open marriage”?  At one time, it indicated that a person was open to marry whomever he/she would choose and was not restricted by any social or parental regulations.  It later came to denote married couples who had open communication or flexibility of their roles in the home.  No longer does it refer to what could…

One of the best known personalities on television today, and one whose comments I typically respect, was defending the Bible on his show recently, but actually did more harm than good.  I’m not interested in evaluating this individual’s motives, but more concerned about how his views of the Bible are typical of “well-meaning,” Bible-believing people today. The guest who was on this…

One of the most descriptive and fascinating metaphors for the Bible is the picture presented in the writings of Paul and James.  Look first at James 1:23-25, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what…