Seventeen82

  Over the past several months I’ve been somewhat slowly going through the Book of Deuteronomy in my private devotions. In many ways it is my favorite book in the whole Bible. From beginning to end it is a testimony to the love of God for His covenant people as well as a display of His wisdom. What is basically happening in that portion of Holy Scripture is you have Moses preaching to the Israelites on the plains of Moab to prepare them to go into the promised land. They need to know why they are at the shores of the Jordan and how they are to order their society after the conquest. This generation didn’t grow up in Egypt. They’ve been born since the Red Sea and have experienced so much about the ways of the LORD, but they need to understand more deeply about why God has done things in the manner that He has and also what He expects of them in the future. Remedial training is helpful for all kinds of folks, but most especially for those who have not been through it before. Most...

Do you seek God’s direction in every aspect of your life? Or, do you have the same struggle as I do in which you make your decisions and then ask God to bless those decisions or to rescue from their consequences?   If you had the chance to ask the Apostle Paul any one question, what would it be? Would it be theological? Would it practical? Would it be historical?   Because of my pragmatic nature, I think I’d ask him to give me 3-4 things that a Christian should do to grow in his or her faith.  Since I can’t ask him that question, I’ve thought about what actions he might identify as essential for a Christian to live a faithful life as I’ve worked my way through 1 Thessalonians with our congregation. I’ve concluded that he would say there are four things that we must do, in addition to placing our faith in Christ, in order to be faithful throughout our lives. They are:  Read and believe the Bible (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Live your life in accordance with the Bible...

In his first post of the new year titled, “ Growing as a Christian ,” Pastor James McManus wrote about the importance of growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ from 2 Peter 3. His post encouraged my heart and I trust that it did or will encourage yours as well.   If you will allow it, I would like to jump on the James Train in this post and draw our attention to the beginning thirteen verses of 2 Peter 3 where Peter gives us a three-fold philosophy for living faithful lives in light of the impending return of Christ.  Let me set the stage.  By the time we get to the beginning of 2 Peter 3, the Apostle has written (for the better part of two letters) to a group of congregations full of Christians and Christian families who have been “grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6). They were marginalized by their society, led astray by religious leaders they trusted, and exiled from th eir families for their commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. They were i...

In a Bible Study last fall, our congregation had a lively discussion as we studied Westminster Shorter Catechism Question #20, which asks, “Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?” The answer is: “God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.” Our teacher, Buzzy Elder, did a good job unpacking the answer in three parts – God’s motivation for his salvation, the subjects of his salvation, and his method of salvation. We were encouraged to hear that God chooses to save his people (us) from their (our) sin and its effects out of his own pleasure and that he accomplished this salvation through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. As Buzzy prepared to move on to Question #21, someone asked the question, “Well, who is actually saved?” I thought, ...