Practicality! Now, that’s an interesting – even challenging – concept when thinking of the Bible. All too often, we respond in entirely impractical ways when we read the Bible. We see that we are supposed to love everyone – neighbors and enemies included – and become...
I’m sure that the title to this lesson has left many readers puzzled – questioning if it is not redundant to have a chapter on meaning following the chapter on understanding. Perhaps the best way to address the issue is with a story. Daniel chapter five records the...
Once you have decided which Bible you are going to study and made the determination in your heart that you are going to be the plot of the fertile soil that Jesus referred to as becoming productive when it received the Word of God, the first step to getting some...
A clever little acrostic to help understand the proper attitude we must have toward the Word of God spells out “word”: the letter “W” represents worshipfully – read the Word with reverence. “O” stands for orderly – read systematically. “R” means regularly – read it...
When asked where to start, the obvious answer is, “At the beginning.” By that, I’m not meaning to simply open the Bible to the first page and start with, “In the beginning…” Rather, I’m speaking of the most basic need to any Bible study – a Bible. With approximately...
The lessons in this series may be a bit painful at first because they may force you to challenge some of the ideas and “truths” that you presently hold dear. Let me encourage you to enter this study with an open mind – and, more importantly – an open heart so that...
The mediations for the following few months will continue along the theme that we have been following for the past couple of months – how to read and understand the Bible more effectively. The national director, who coordinates all our mission work in Nepal, and his...
In many ways, this month’s meditation is a sequel to last month’s teaching on the seventh man at the well. Both studies follow essentially the same approach in that they are stand-alone investigations of biblical truths while they – at the same time – serve as lessons...
The purpose behind this study is two-fold. Not only do I want to suggest some new insights into an old story, I also want tp present an approach to studying the Bible that can revolutionize your personal time with the Word of God and expand the horizons of revelation...
The story is told of a New York City news team who uncovered the relationship between two men in their city. One was a homeless man on the streets who always slept over the steam vent beside one of the skyscrapers in the city’s business district. The other was a...
Also, no matter how much we try to adjust it, if the thermostat is faulty, we won’t get any results from the furnace. In the spiritual realm, we can have defective hearing, which will short-circuit the effectiveness of the Word of God. There seem to be several basic...
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:6) I often imagine a light switch when I read this passage. When we flip the switch up, the lights come on; when we flip the switch down, darkness invades. The same is true...
In describing the influence that Jeroboam had upon the people of Israel, II Kings 17:15 uses one significant key word – vanity. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and...
Meditation October 2020 - Jeroboam Jeroboam proved himself to be an industrious young man and a mighty man of valor in the courts of Solomon; therefore, the king elevated him to a position of authority in the nation – not knowing that he would eventually rise up...
God asked one requirement of Solomon when He established him on the throne of his father David – that he walk according to the legacy that his father had established. (I Kings 3:14, 9:4, 11:38) However, Solomon failed to do so (I Kings 11:6) and set in motion a...
William Carey – after being told to sit down and shut up – eventually won the privilege to stand up before the top leadership of the British churches and convince them that it was the responsibility of European Christians to evangelize the “heathen” of lands they had...
I’ve spent essentially the whole time up to this point dealing with the question of why bad things happen to good people; so, now it is time to consider why good things happen to bad people. But before we do any theological study on the point, I’d like to invite you...
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?...
The humanitarian aspect of my missionary work has taken me around the world in relief projects associated with every kind of natural disaster short of a volcano eruption. I’ve seen firsthand what the insurance companies refer to as the “acts of God” – a legal term...
Have you ever noticed how it’s always the Democrats or Republicans who are at fault? We always want to blame the President – and always without even giving him the respect of prefacing his name with the title “President” or even “Mr.” It’s just “Clinton” or “Bush” or...