In Exodus 11:1-2, it appears that God instructed the Hebrews “to borrow” jewels from the Egyptians, which they never intended to return. Those who doubt God have interpreted this as an occasion when God ordered sin. Knowing that God is good, and cannot tolerate sin, how does the Christian explain this? When something in the [...]
Posted on June 30th, 2009 by doc
Filed under: Old Testament, Word study | 1 Comment »
There are at least 21 Hebrew names for God recorded in the Bible. Names were very special to God’s people. Jacob (meaning he deceives) had his name changed to Israel (struggles with God) by God Himself. Most people in this country name their children after close friends or relatives, or because they just like the [...]
Posted on June 28th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Announcement, names of God | Comments Off
You’ve been looking forward to this for the last 5 days. Now it’s Saturday and you’re settling down with that book you’ve been meaning to read. Just when you kick your shoes off and get comfortable, you hear a knock at the door. Sorta sounded like the way the FedEx lady knocks when she has [...]
Posted on June 25th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Christian Example, Evangelism, Faith, Missions, Obedience, Witness | Comments Off
30Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32He [...]
Posted on June 22nd, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Bible Characters, Forgiveness, Grace, Growth, Humility, Love, Old Testament | Comments Off
Although they totally take Jefferson out of context, our government seems dedicated to “separation of church and state.” And maybe that’s a good thing, in some respects. However, if that is really their intent, I have to question some recent activity of the government. The First Amendment to the Constitution, in the Bill of Rights, [...]
Posted on June 18th, 2009 by doc
Filed under: Authority of Scripture, Christian Example, Evangelism, Faith, Sin | 2 Comments »
Tim Challies wrote last Saturday in a Crosswalk.com blog that he’s witnessing a disturbing trend: Christians coming to worship not with a traditional paper & ink Bible, but an electronic Bible on an iPod, smart phone, or other such device. He encourages his readers not only to not bring an electronic Bible to worship, but [...]
Posted on June 17th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Bible study, Technology, Worship | 2 Comments »
It’s 10 AM on Sunday morning. (Maybe your services don’t start at 10 AM, but humor me here.) Worship is about to start. How will you know when it does? The song/worship leader begins to sing a song. Someone in the audience spontaneously begins to sing a song, and the congregation follows. An elder gets [...]
Posted on June 15th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Worship | 8 Comments »
At the cross? Allow me to suggest that’s only partially true. Ask many Christians about the sins of the Israelites, and they’ll explain that the sins were “rolled forward”, and forgiven at the cross, as if each Israelite kept adding sins to his account until the day he died. I’d like to also suggest this [...]
Posted on June 12th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Contradictions, Forgiveness, Grace, Jesus, Old Testament, Salvation | 1 Comment »
That’s the title of a book I started reading over the weekend. It’s actually a fairly short book, but with other things stealing my time, it’s taken me a while to finish it. Part fiction, part nonfiction, it’s taken a good bit from the experiences of the author, who lost both parents as a teenager [...]
Posted on June 10th, 2009 by Bob Mathews
Filed under: Christian life, Faith, Fellowship, Forgiveness, Love, Obedience, Society, Stewardship | Comments Off
In Acts 15:19-20, the statement is made that the Gentile Christians were to abstain from “eating of things strangled and from blood.” Does this restraint hold for Christians today? Yes, it does. Even though we do not have the problems the early Gentile churches had, the dictum still stands. They were from pagan religions which [...]
Posted on June 9th, 2009 by doc
Filed under: Authority of Scripture, Obedience | 6 Comments »
