It’s always good to have a backup plan! If something happens and you don’t have time to make dinner, what’s your backup plan? If your printer breaks on the morning when you’re presenting an important research paper, what’s your backup plan? If you’re traveling to be a guest speaker but your car won’t start, what’s your backup plan? Having a backup plan is important! However, it…

Read First Peter 3:12. What is the verb tense regarding God and His righteous people? Is the verse using FUTURE tense: “The eyes of the Lord WILL BE on the righteous, and His ears WILL be open to their prayers”? Not exactly. Is it PAST tense: “The eyes of the Lord WERE on the righteous, and His ears WERE open to their prayers”? Not exactly. Well then, the…

When I make the choice to not assemble with the saints to worship our God together, I am choosing to disregard the commands of my Father in heaven to…“love one another, as I have loved you” (John 13:34-35)…to “esteem others better than” myself and to “look out…for the interests of others” (Phil. 2:3-4)…to “give preference to one another” (Rom. 12:10)…to “greet one…

You’ve no doubt heard others say it, and you’ve probably even said it yourself—“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Advertisements, salespeople, donation seekers and spam emails can make something sound so good that you want to jump in with both feet. But, then sound reasoning sets in and you wisely hold off. Here’s the problem: NOT everything too good…

When you think of a house of great treasure, which house comes to mind? Do you think of the Taj Mahal? Or what about Fort Knox? Maybe you think of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory? Is there some reason that your own house doesn’t immediately come to mind? Proverbs 15:6 states, “In the house of the righteous there is much treasure.” Have you looked around your house lately? God…

If someone is “mostly right” about the teachings of the Bible, isn’t that good enough? A man by the name of Apollos had been “instructed in the way of the Lord” and was teaching “accurately the things of the Lord,” with one exception. “He knew only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:25). If he was “accurate” in other things, is being off on one thing,…

Apparently we have Alanis Morissette to thank for the expression, “Friends with benefits,” but of course, the concept has been around for ages. As with most modern expressions, it sounds benign and even positive. But, when sin is given a new name, it is still sin. God created man, created woman, created marriage and created sex (Gen. 2:18-25). God placed the gift of sex exclusively…

The Bible lays out a pattern for our behavior. God is loving, therefore, we must be loving (1 John 4:7-19). God is forgiving, therefore, we must be forgiving (Matt. 18:21-35). These patterns not only expect the fact of our imitation but also the measurement and length of imitation. Would this not also be true of His many other moral attributes? Consider just one. “God is longsuffering toward…