Category Archives: Uncategorized

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”

This is the message we heard from Jesus1 and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth.                                                                                1 John. 1:5-6 NLT ThereContinue reading “Lies About Sin”

“Without holiness no one will see God.”                                                                          Hebrews 12:14b NIV                                                                              Too often we have given the impression that salvation is a change of state accomplished through a judicial transaction. While that is not untrue, it is, unfortunately, to miss almost all that God is about with us. A reasonably careful reading ofContinue reading “The Way”

We have staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the ten commandments of God.                                                                                     James Madison, fourth President                                                                                     PrimaryContinue reading “Happy is the man . . .”

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.Continue reading “The House of God-2”

This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are the LORD’s people may go there for this task. And may theContinue reading “The House of God-1”