Aug 26, 2013 | Christian Living, Psalms, The Bible
Praise the Lord, all nations; Laud Him, all peoples! 2 For His lovingkindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 117) Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in the entire Bible, but it has a lot more meaning packed...
Aug 21, 2013 | Christian Living, The Bible, Theology
You cannot grasp the theology of the New Testament unless you appreciate the fact that its writers had a strong sense that the end of the age was upon them. These people were not just reading in a book about something that God had done, or might do in the...
Aug 19, 2013 | Christian Living, Psalms
It’s sometimes hard to get to church. I remember that when our children were small, Sue and I had quite a time getting all seven of them dressed and in our station wagon on Sunday mornings. Getting to church can be hard in another way, too. It can be hard to be ready...
Aug 14, 2013 | The Bible, Theology
If you hope to appreciate any of the theology of the New Testament, you have to understand the following: the writers of the New Testament believed they were living in the great epochal moments of human history. To put it more precisely, they believed they lived in...
Aug 12, 2013 | Christian Living, The Bible
Worship is a central part, not only of the scriptural, Biblical, Christian experience, but also of the human experience. People all over the world worship. There is within the human heart a crying out, an acknowledgement that we ought to worship and bow down. We know...
Aug 5, 2013 | Christian Living, Psalms
The heart’s true home is in the presence of the living God. When we do not long for God’s presence, it’s a sign that our hearts don’t know what we need to become fully human. We looked at Psalm 84 recently at Kingsland Baptist Church, where I’m serving as the...
Jul 29, 2013 | Christian Living, Psalms, Theology
The trouble with having so many different Bible translations is that it makes it difficult for people to memorize scripture together. Psalm 23 might be an exception to this difficulty. Nearly everyone has heard the beautiful King James Version of this Psalm, and...
Jul 24, 2013 | Christian Living, Psalms, Theology
Psalm 24 is shorter than some the Psalms we’ve previously looked at in this series, and it has a fairly discernible structure. It begins with an echoing of the creation story from Genesis 1, (Psalm 24:1-2), moves on to talk about integrity, purity, and idolatry (Psalm...
Jul 22, 2013 | Christian Living, Romans, The Bible, Theology
There is no prescription for how you’re supposed to feel when you decide to put your trust in Christ. When I was about nine years old I presented myself to my church for baptism. A well-meaning person in the congregation asked me later, “Well, how did it feel?” I...
Jul 17, 2013 | Christian Living, The Bible, Theology
My father was an amazing man. He died in 1986, and I miss him terribly. He was quiet, introverted, full of wisdom, and not at all ostentatious. Dad told me something that surprised me one time when I was in my late 20s. I had just received my doctorate, and I was...
