Appreciating your clergy…

8 ways to encourage your pastor…
have you encouraged him lately?

2 Kings 11-13 “God Thwarts the Plans of the Wicked”

2 Kings 11-13 “God Thwarts the Plans of the Wicked”
Athaliah killed the entire royal family, or so she thought. There was a baby name Joash, who was taken and hidden in the house of the Lord. He later became king and Athaliah was eventually killed.
How can you not believe in providence? God chose Moses before [...]

1 Peter 4:12 “Deal With It (Suffering)”

1 Pt. 4:12 Deal With It (Suffering)
1 Pet. 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
Is it just me or does it seem like most believers are perplexed when trials befall them? Do we not try to find [...]

Psalm 137 “When Worship Music Becomes Entertainment”

No, I am not mocking contemporary worship or dealing with the regulative principle or any of that. Instead, I am responding to what Israel’s captors asked of them in Psalm 137:

3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

Babylon is making a mockery [...]

2 Kings 1-2 “Fire From Heaven”

King Ahaziah sent two groups of 50 soldiers to apprehend the lone prophet Elijah and were destroyed by fire that Elijah called down on them. The third group of 50 begged for mercy and Elijah was permitted to go down with him where he subsequently prophesied the King’s death. In 2 Kings 2, the ascension [...]

Jesus on the Cross = Penal Substitution AND Sanctification

My evening readings were in 1 Pt. 1-2 and there is so much precious truth in it all, however 1 Pt 2:24 sticks out  for me today:
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
I [...]

Psalm 136, “His Love Endures Forever”

My afternoon reading today was from Psalm 136. The refrain, “His love endures forever”, occurs in all 26 verses of this Psalm and was recited in responsive fashion before the congregation.
I know that some folks don’t like ‘7-11′ choruses in Church (7 words sung 11 times), and I would be the first to say that [...]