Posts from August 2018

Posts from August 2018

Help Wanted

I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.  Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 24:30-34) Tomorrow is Labor Day. Scripture has a great…

What Are You Doing Here, Elijah?

It must have been a sobering experience for Elijah, hidden away in a cave, to have God ask, What are you doing here Elijah? How Elijah found himself in that cave and where he went from there make an interesting story, a story from which we can learn a great deal. It is recorded in 1 Kings 19:9-18. Elijah bursts upon the scene in 1 Kings 17during the reign of the wicked Ahab, King of Israel, with the prayer that…

The Church is on Fire!

If you have listened to enough sermons over the years, you might have realized that you often hear different preachers using the same illustrations. My dad has always referred to those as “Preaching 101” stories. One of them concerns a church building in a certain community that was on fire. Naturally, that kind of news spreads fast, and the entire community rushed out to see the excitement and watch as the firemen fought the flames. Among those drawn to the…

Jesus at the Wedding

At almost every wedding – it may be at the rehearsal or at the ceremony itself –there is at least one mistake or moment of crisis. I remember our wedding, for example, where the bride did not arrive until an hour after the ceremony was supposed to commence. She claimed that they ran behind getting everyone’s hair fixed and the delay was compounded with an exceptionally foggy night, making travel to the church building take twice as long as normal.…

Judge Righteous Judgment

Judge not that you be not judged. (Matthew 7:1) This might be the most frequently quoted passage of Scripture in contemporary America. At least, it’s habitually cited by people who rip it from context without any idea of what Jesus meant by this statement. It is a convenient verse to have in your back pocket to prove what you already want to believe. Accordingly, it is often used to advance moral relativism. “You live your lifestyle, and I’ll live mine.…