Ecclesiastes 12:10

    When surveyed, seventy-seven percent of Americans think the nation's morality is heading downhill. Almost a third of respondents said that moral decline was a result of people not reading the Bible, eighty-eight percent of them own a Bible, eighty percent think it is sacred and sixty-one percent wished they read their Bible more.   Yet only twenty-six percent of Americans said they read their Bible on a regular basis (four or more times a week). Of those who do say they read their Bible the majority, fifty-seven percent, only do so four times a year or less.   It isn’t a matter of knowing what we need or having the ability or resources to do it, it is the doing it that seems to be the problem.   We can see what happens to a society that suffers from a lack of knowledge of God’s word (Hosea 4:6).  If we know the world needs it, do we think we don’t? God’s word is a vaccine against the diseases of immorality, a guard watching over our heav...

  Most folks go to school for the first time around age 5. Some may start earlier, some a little later but no one started as late as Kimani Maruge.    Kimani was a Kenyan whose childhood was interrupted by war. He had grown up as a soldier and survived. Many years later, the Kenyan government wanted to improve the nation's abysmal literacy rate, only 75-80% of adults could read. So, they announced that all children would be entitled to a free primary school education. The law, however, did not set an age limit for enrollment.   So, at age 84, Margue went to kindergarten. He didn’t do it alone, two of his grandchildren enrolled as well. His act was rebuffed at first but he became not only a great student but a great role model for the students.   Why was he willing to do this? He told reporters, “I wanted to learn to read the Bible and to count.” His bravery inspired other elderly to do the same. One ninety-year-old named Priscilla Sitenei went back to school for...

    I love a good story. Tales that inspire you to believe in something even though you know it is just the work of a creative mind. Characters that are real to you as your friends even though they just exist on paper or the silver screen. Stories have the power to excite us, to make us cry, to make us think, to make us care.   The Bible isn’t one of them.   It’s not that the Bible does not inspire, excite, or move us. It isn’t a story, in the sense of a story being a made-up or recreated tale. The Bible is a book of truth. The events it proclaims are facts not fiction, truth not tales, moments not myths. For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majest y. 2 nd Peter 1:16    We need to make sure we keep that thought in our minds as we read and study it. The folks in it were flesh and blood, the events were not exaggeration...

  Have you not read ?   This phrase is used several times by Jesus when someone was asking him a doctrinal question (Matthew 12:3, 19:4, 21:16, 21:42 Mark 12:26). Many times these questions were asked as traps to try to force him into offending a particular audience or to make him look bad.   Yet Jesus answered this tough question with this simple thought “ Have You Not Read ?”. In doing, so he makes the answer not his alone. He places the burden of answering on another authority. It is not because Jesus doesn’t have the authority to answer, but by doing so he shows that the question isn’t a matter of coming up with your own personal take but seeing the direction God has placed in his word.   Maybe we should do the same. People oftentimes will question our beliefs and practices. They may do so out of genuine curiosity but also may be doing so to pick an argument. Either way, the best answer is often to turn them to the scriptures for the answer. ...

 I have always thought we need more punctuation marks. One to show sarcasm for instance. As it is, we really only have three ways to end a sentence. Even those are fairly new. The question mark came about in the middle ages when scholars would write the Latin ‘quaestio’ at the end of a sentence to show that it was a question, which in turn was shortened to QO then to ?..  Yet a lot can be said with those. For example, when Victor Hugo wrote his publisher about the sales of his book Les Misérables, he simply wrote”?”. They responded “!”.    Years ago, I hear someone proclaim “ never put a question mark where God has put a period ”. That’s very good advice. Also, we might say don’t let what the Bible says is an Exclamation point become a question mark. Too many times we know what the Word says but our reaction to it puts a different spin on it. We react as if the Good News isn’t that at all.   As it is we would do well to remember the word of James ...

    The 91 st Psalm is one that teaches us about the deliverance of God. It paints a picture of God as a protector like a bird covering its young. It reminds us that even when all seems to be falling apart around us, God is there watching out. It’s a passage that encourages us to take refuge in God and to trust in him.   So it seems strange is the one that Satan quotes to tempt Jesus.   Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,   and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.' " Matthew 4:5-6      Satan knows Scripture.   He will twist it to make us think his lies are legitimate. The psalm encourages us to rest in God not test him. Yet the Devil tries to paint the message that way. It a technique...

  For those of you that don’t know it, I have a fish tank in my office. It was my sons, which passed down from his sister and now resides in my office. I had three fish in it.   Had.   A few months back, I was going to be gone for the week. Normally I feed them every day but when I’m going to be gone I put these little tablets that feed them for a couple of days or a week depending on their size. I was out of the week ones but I figure that if I feed them the day I left and the tablet worked for the next three, that would only leave them unfed for a day or two. No problem.  So on my return, I went in to feed my three fish. But there was only two. No sign of the yellow one. Now it possible that someone came in and stole on little yellow fish and nothing else, but I think we know what really happened. That little fish became lunch. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." But if you b...

  You may have heard of Occam’s razor.  It’s not the next group to take of the big shaving industry, but a scientific and philosophical rule. Simply put, the simplest answer, all other things being equal, is the best answer. Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity. Less is better. Don’t add things you don’t need. The more assumption you make the more likely you are to be wrong.   It is named after William of Occam a scholar and professor at Oxford in the 1300’s. What you may not know is he didn’t just apply this rule to science but religion as well.   In that day the Catholic Church was the dominant force but William of Occam was a critic.  He spoke out even when it was not popular and dangerous to do so.  He saw the addition that had been made to the Christian religion as unnecessary.  He remarked. “ Scripture and not the decisions of councils and popes is alone binding on the Christian”.  He insisted that Scripture...

  Most people don’t think a lot about toilets until it quits working.  However, how humans dispose of waste is a very important issue.  At least 2.4 billion people, 40% of the world's population, lack access to adequate sanitation.  In the developing world, 80% of disease is due to poor sanitation.  Those diseases claim the lives of nearly 6,000 children a day – that is over two million deaths a year.  The inability of people to know and follow sanitary practices plague the world today and not only in developing countries.  Yet many government agencies overlook the problem. No one wants to talks about this ‘dirty’ issue.  It’s interesting to me, however, that this is an issue that the Scriptures deal with. Deuteronomy 23:13 instructs the Israelites  to have latrines outside the camp and make sure waste is cover up (This prevents run off into local water supplies) Leviticus gives instruction on washing pots and utensils so the...

  Let’s say you travel back in time six hundred years or so.  Luckily, you happen across a fellow that speaks English.  Upon hearing your tale, he describes you as nice, smart, and handsome.  Wouldn’t you feel good?   You shouldn’t.  As Sol Steinmetz in his book, Semantics Antics , explains; Nice originally meant someone who was foolish, ignorant, senseless, or absurd (middle English 1300). Smart for the first 300 years of its use meant causing pain, sharp, cutting, or severe, a sense that survives in the idiom "smart as a whip.” Handsome wasn’t complimentary. When coined around 1425, it just meant easily handled; it didn’t have its current positive connotation until 1590.   You might think he said you were a kind, intelligent, good looking bloke, when in reality he said you were a foolish pain easily dealt with.   Words have an annoying habit of changing meaning over time in the same language and it becomes even more compli...

  In Psalm 19, David starts by pointing out that the very nature of creation is a wordless tribute to God and His power. Then in verse seven, he changes the focus from the works of God to the word of God. A seeming abrupt change but it’s not the only one.   David also changes at how he refers to God. In the first six verses, he uses the general name for God, one that anyone of any religion might use, but when talking about the word of the Lord he uses the personal name of God given to Moses from the burning bush. There is a message in that.      Often you will hear people remark that they find God not in a place of worship but in nature. It is certainly true that his creation is evidence of God (Romans 1:20) it is, in essence, an impersonal way of knowing him. Yet to listen to the Word of God, having His nature expressed thru his own law, is a much deeper way to connect with him. Rather than just catching a glimpse of Him, You see God much more cle...

  Ever try to read that EULA you click thru on your new software?  Have you ever tried to read the medical reports published about new drug tests?  Ever sit thru a presentation on education methodology?  Did you understand any of it?   It is not because you're not smart enough, even if that’s how it made you feel.  The reason for the misperception is the jargon and language that are used. The ‘technicaleze” that is spoken make you think that what is being told is so out of your reach that it must be on some higher intellectual plane.  So you just accept it, because if sounds this smart it must be right, right?   This technobabble tendency occurs in many areas of life. The goal of the speech isn’t always to inform but impress, to sound smart, and to woo you with the length of words rather than the content of the message.   That is what is so different about the teachings of Jesus.  Did you know the average Bible...

 Theodore Roosevelt was an outdoorsman. He'd rather be hiking in the woods or hunting in the savannah than at some gala.  But as president of the United States it was part of his job to host dignities and do meet and greets.   What Roosevelt hated most about these session is how even when speaking pleasantries and greeting one another, he found most folks paid little attention to what was actually being said. To amuse himself, Roosevelt would greet people with a smile and exclaim “I murdered my grandmother this morning”.  Most people never reacted to the statement.  But one diplomat did. After the remark he leaned in and whispered to the President, “I’m sure she had it coming to her”.   It’s not just diplomats that hear but don’t listen. People do that with the word of God all the time. You can tell because they don’t react to what it is telling them. It might pass into their ears but that doesn’t make any change in their lives. But one who ...

  I once had an elder describe a person as a Biblical since he “ appears for a little while and then vanishes away ” (James 4:14).  Some verses are easy to apply to people.  I would like to think that someone might apply Acts 18:24 to me, ( an eloquent man … mighty in the Scriptures ), but my guess is it probably is one of these; Top Ten Verses You Don’t Want Applied To You As A Preacher 1.      2nd Corinthians 10:10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible." 2.      Jeremiah 1:6 Then I said, "Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, 3.      Job 19:17 "My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am loathsome to my own brothers. 4.      1 Timothy 1:7 even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. 5....

   Preachers worry about preaching “moving” sermons.   “Moving” sermons are ones that are either going to move the congregation in a different direction or move the preacher on down the road.    Even with that worry, a preacher should always be one that preaches the “ whole counsel of God ” (Acts 20:27) and speaks the truth even if it makes him some enemies (Galatians 4:16).   That being said, there are some sermons than should never be preached. The forbidding of these lessons is not dictated by the whims of men but by the word of God. Let consider some of those not to be preached sermons: 1.      The Old Wives Talk But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women . 1 st Timothy 4:7 This kind of lesson has found its way into our modern vernacular.  An old wives tale is a superstition or traditional belief that is regarded as unscientific or incorrect. These are sermons that have a lot of opinions a...

  In 1628 the Swedish warship Vasa was set to take its maiden voyage.  The ship was built on the orders of the King of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus and was richly decorated as a symbol of the king's ambitions for Sweden and himself.  Upon completion she was one of the most powerfully armed vessels in the world. However the maiden voyage didn’t go that well.  Less than a mile offshore the ship encountered what was described as a slight breeze that capsized and sank it.     How could such a powerful war ship go to the depths so easily?     Well official inquires didn’t go too far, it seemed no one was willing to take the blame or the wrath of the King, but it was generally considered to have been built asymmetrically.  This caused the center of gravity to be off and therefore it took very little force to tip the ship.  Now how could this happen?   Well archaeologists have found four rulers used by the workers;...

  One of the most flustering things for college students has to be buying books.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, textbook prices have risen over three times the rate of inflation in the past 38 years, a 1,041 percent increase.  Students can’t do much about it since they are in essence a captive audience.  They must buy what the professor assigns.  In many cases the way to save was to buy used older books, but it has become increasing difficult to do because publishers are issuing new editions at much quicker rate.  Since the world change so fast, the books must be constantly updated in order to keep up.   However there is one book that is the text book for life and it has never needed a new edition.   In 2 nd Peter 1:3  we read, “ seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence .”  Her...

   If I called you a Nimrod, how would you feel?  If you are like most people you would probably feel insulted.  The popular definition for a nimrod is an inept person, an oaf, a maroon, an ignoramus.  The original name Nimrod really meant to be a skillful mighty hunter.  Its origin is found in Genesis 10:8-9:  “Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. " How did the mighty hunter become an inept oaf ? Well, it’s all Bugs Bunny’s fault.   Ok, maybe not all his fault.  You see in the popular cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, Bugs often times will refer to Elmer Fudd as a “little Nimrod”, a sarcastic reference to the mighty hunter of the Old Testament.  The writers might have gotten the joke but the general public didn’t.  They assumed, in their ignorance, the word was an ins...

   A young and nervous bride planning her wedding was increasingly terrified about her upcoming marriage. To calm her nerves, she decided to have a Bible verse which had always brought her comfort ( 1st John 4:18, " There is no fear in love; for perfect love casts out fear ") engraved on her wedding cake. So she called the caterer and all arrangements were made.    About a week before the wedding, she received a call from the catering company. "Is this really the verse you want on your cake?" they asked. Yes, she confirmed, it was the one she wanted, and after a few more questions they said they would decorate the cake as requested. The wedding day came, and everything was beautiful...until the reception, when the bride walked in to find the cake emblazoned with John 4:18 : " For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband. "    Well, that wasn't the right verse but we can see how the mistake w...

Crazy hypothetical: One Book of Books* You are about to be sent to a now unknown island full of inhabitants that know nothing about God, Jesus, the Bible or the Gospel. You are only able to take one book of the Bible to teach them from.  What book do you choose? Other options: What if you can take a book from each testament? What if you could take 50 chapters total but from any books? *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. This one is a good discussion starter about the need for Bible Study and the importance of the scriptures.