April 2014

“Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” (Act 14:17 NKJ) In Acts 14, Paul is telling the Gentiles in Lystra how God in the past had not revealed Himself to the Gentiles, but now was calling them to repent and believe in Jesus. He says, in verse 17, that despite that fact, God had still shown the Gentiles before the coming of Christ that He is a good God, so that they always had a witness to Him. He gave them many good thingsRead More →

In a certain improper sense, I know what is meant by such a statement. I am sinful, and Jesus suffered the death of the cross to pay for my sins. Nonetheless, the statement that my sins nailed Jesus to the cross is not really accurate, and in an important way. The Gospels never present Jesus as a helpless victim. Quite to the contrary, at every step of the process, Jesus is presented as clearly in control of the situation. He could have called down legions of angels to defend Himself, and yet forbade even His disciples from any attempt to save Him. He knew JudasRead More →

Man needs justice, right down in his bones. If there is no obvious source of justice, he will invent it. If a man lies and cheats to get ahead, others will mutter about karma, “what goes around comes around.” The idea that a wicked man can be wicked and prosper from it and never be held accountable offends us at the core of our beings. Even when a man knowingly does evil he will justify it to himself, saying that it’s not as bad as others, circumstances forced him to it, or the person he is wronging deserved it somehow, or his evil actions areRead More →

I love the LORD, because He has heard My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. (Psa 116:1-2 NKJ) The Bible everywhere proclaims the truth that God is omniscient, meaning that He knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). He knows the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12:7). He sees you whether you are in heaven, hell, or the bottom of the sea (Psalm 139). This leads to worship from a number of different angles. First, of course, there is fear. There isRead More →