Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. .. – Acts 16:16-40 (NIV) Paul and Silas were in Philippi, and a girl with a demonic spirit (a spirit of ‘Python’) followed them around town saying that they were of God and were proclaiming a way to be saved. That they let her do this for days makes me wonder if they were weighing the advantages and disadvantages of this free advertising. The girl was proclaiming that Paul and Silas were teaching a way of salvation. Maybe someone who wouldn’t pay attention to a couple of Jews would listen to her. But …Continue reading →
During the three months of our engagement, my wife, Wanda, and I went through pre-marital counselling with Jeff, our pastor. (I recommend pre-marital counselling for any couple who intends to tie the knot). During this time, we studied and discussed the various aspects of our relationship with each other, learning what we could do to keep our relationship healthy and growing. I view the marriage relationship as a picture of our relationship with Jesus Christ. How Christ loves us and how we are to love Him is the way we should love our mates: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. – Ephesians 5:25 (KJV) This expresses the type of love …Continue reading →
it’s amazing how God designed the human brain to be able to pick out individual voices in a crowd. There could be any number of people talking all at once in a crowded room and you could mentally focus on one conversation and then another without having to move around in the room or tilt your head to hear better. The brain uses the different characteristics of each voice to give it something to focus on. This makes for an interesting experiment (and powerful sermon illustration). Suppose several people were in a room all speaking at once. The room is totally dark so you can’t see them. To make things worse, you don’t know any of these people. If I …Continue reading →
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are. – 1 Corinthians 1:27-28 (NAS) God is no respecter of persons. We know this as it relates to God’s judgement and His love, but it also applies to who He uses to do His will. God choose David to be king of Israel. David did not come from a royal line of descendants. He was a shepherd and the youngest of eight sons. …Continue reading →
Some Evidence For The Deity Of Jesus Christ From The Old Testament There have been many opinions through the centuries as to who Jesus was. Today some think of him as a teacher, a prophet, a martyr, or a fool. Everybody has their opinion, but who did Jesus himself claim to be and what evidence did he give to support his claim? Jesus made many radical claims about himself. He claimed to be a king ( Matthew 25:31-34) and Lord ( John 13:13), the good shepherd (John 10:11,14), the Jewish Messiah (John 4:25-26), and the Son of God (John 10:36-37). He also claimed to be able to do anything God could do (John 5:16-24) because he claimed to be God …Continue reading →
(I did this study when I first started writing.) “Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all things to God’s glory.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31 Author’s Note: This is a study on what it means to glorify God and how we believers can become more effective at it. Why did I do this study? Well, I knew the Bible says that we are to do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), but I didn’t have a clear understanding of what that meant. Obviously it meant something good – to please God, to honor Him – but I wanted to know more than just the general meaning. I don’t remember ever hearing a sermon …Continue reading →
