The month of March has been filled with plenty of bad weather and for some of us a lot of bad news. Just this past week I have had two friends lose unborn children to miscarriages. Several brothers and sisters in Christ, close to our family, have passed from this life all too suddenly. Even the daily news brings images of earthquakes and continuing wars that tear at our emotions. And in these circ...  Read More

In a previous post from Matthew 5:3 we learned something that is still true today: the indispensable condition of receiving the kingdom of God is to acknowledge our spiritual poverty and surrender ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. For God still sends the proud away empty because the way up in God’s kingdom is the way down. This is countercultural wisdom.In the next verse of the Sermon on ...  Read More

In the Sermon in the Mount, we read the first of 8 beatitudes or blessings: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. (Matthew 5:3 NIV) In the Sermon on the Plain, Luke’s version of this beatitude Jesus simply says, “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20).It is interesting that some have dropped “spirit” from Jesus’ words and interpreted the ...  Read More

I have been spending a lot of time in the Old Testament these past few months where there are so many examples of what the Lord expects from His people. Case in point, King Saul’s story that reminds us of the importance of obedience and humility before God. We will see that he started out well but ended in tragedy as a result of pride that led him to disobey God over and over again.Saul’s story be...  Read More

In the modern West, Satan is often dismissed as a myth, a relic of ancient superstition. Many, including some who claim the name of Christ, deny the existence of a personal being known as the devil. Research from the Barna Group found that only 21% of self-described Christians believe in the existence of Satan. But this denial is a deception of the enemy himself. Scripture testifies that Satan is ...  Read More

Strength, Weakness, and RedemptionIn Hebrews 11:32 we read,“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:”The four judges, a king and a prophet in this chapter of faith were all flawed in some way. Yet one stands out above the others as a character whose life was marked by impul...  Read More