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My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end. Psalm 119:112 NIV Someone says, “Suppose your Christian faith is a delusion. Suppose you close your eyes for the last time and that’s all there is. Think of all you will have missed because you stuck to all those stupid rules.” Missed? Yes,Continue reading “Missed Chances”

“O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this, your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was bcupbearer to the king.                                             Nehemiah 1:11 ESV            Continue reading “A Leader’s Prayer”

The Apostle John tells us that there are three great lies about life, and three great corresponding truths. Lie #1 You’ve been a good person (or at least better than most other people) and you don’t need Jesus Christ to come into your life with forgiveness. 1 John 1:10 Lie # 2 You can beContinue reading “Lies and Truths”

One hears a good deal about values these days. But the emphasis is quite regularly on “my values” or “your values” or “their values.” That is, each of us chooses what is important to us, and whatever each of us chooses is just as significant and “valuable” as what anyone else might choose. That is,Continue reading “Values”

Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.  So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that weContinue reading “The Wrath of God”

Listen to me, O my people, while I give you stern warnings. O Israel, if you would only listen to me!          Psalm 81:8 NLT Psalm 81 seems frighteningly appropriate for America in these days.  What does it say? “Praise Yahweh who has saved you – don’t go after some alien god!” What is theContinue reading “O That You Would Listen”

But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. Habbakuk 2:20 ESV Not only is applause an expression of pent-up emotion, it is also a way of expressing appreciation for some performance that we especially appreciate, either for its excellence, or because we want to encourage someone whoContinue reading “Applause in Worship 2”

One of the consequences of the rootage of current Christian worship practices in the rock concert is the increasing prominence of applause in worship. I would like to suggest that applause is never appropriate to Christian worship, particularly the egregious “Yes, let’s give God a hand.” Where does this instinct for applause come from? InContinue reading “Applause in Worship 1”

These wicked people are born sinners; even from birth they have lied and gone their own way. Psalm 58:3 NLT ­­Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. You desire truth in the inward being;therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.          Psalm 51:5-6 NRS Several years ago it dawnedContinue reading “The Lie”

Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.  Psalm 55:22 ESV Sometimes those of us of a Wesleyan-Arminian persuasion give a wrong impression. In our attempts to combat the “sinning religion” that results from an unthinking adoption of the concept of “eternal security,”Continue reading “Eternal Security”