One Way

This morning I read 1 John 3 and 4. These chapters are so stuffed full of good, insightful, convicting verses, I don't know where to start!! These passages are definitely not an ear tickling ones, with several verses like: "No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him." (3:6) We know that from hermeneutics and from the rest of Scripture, that the word "sin" is referring to habitual sin. Some of these sins are listed in Galatians 5:19-20: "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-20) Interesting to note that hatred, jealously, and fits of rage (anger) are all listed here. I think ...

I read 2 Peter 2-3 this morning--a very insightful passage about false teachers. We can learn four important characteristics of false teachers just from the first verse of chapter two. The first thing we learn about these false teachers is that they are there, just like "there were also false prophets among the people" in the days before Christ. (2Pe 2:1a) As Christians, we sometimes like to put on rose-colored glasses in this area. Wake up and smell the coffee! These false teachers are out there even now, distorting the truth, and turning people from the path, as angels of light. Although there are many good reasons to actively stay in the Word, one of the most important is to be able to discern between what is truth and what are lies. Don't just let your ears be tickled--check the Word! Secondly, they are secretive (2Pe 2:1b). These people are not going to be on the street corners yelling out false doctrine that is obviously heretical (okay, some might, but in gene...

Today I read 1 Peter 3 and 4. Some great verses here, but one that really got me thinking... "For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you." (vs.3-4) In context, this passage is talking about suffering for Christ, and the readers of the time were doing just that, and were being encouraged to stay strong. This verse especially is talking about being slandered as suffering for Christ. 1 Peter has a fairly wide audience--"strangers in the world, scattered throughout..."--and they would have been both of Jew and Gentile background. In the pagan cultures they are living in, they see these sins every single day to the extent that others would wonder why the Christians don't join in. I strongly believe that the Church needs reformatio...

Today I continued my journey in 1 Peter to chapter three. It talks about wives submitting and respecting, beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, how husbands are to treat their wives, living in harmony with one another, being without fear, always being able to give an answer, and something else interesting that I'd never caught before... "...He {Christ}  was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism..." (vs.18b-21a) The note in my Bible on this verse says that some think, "between his death and resurrection, Jesus descended into Hades and offered to those who lived before Noah a second chance at salvation. But this doctrine is without scriptural support. Others say that it was simply an announ...

Good morning! Today I read in 1 Peter, the second half of chapter one, and chapter two. There were actually some really great verses that reflected yesterday's sermon/discussion. For those of you who weren't there, we had more of a discussion time (kind of like a Bible Study) rather than an actual sermon. There were a list of questions, only two of which we covered, but it was still a great sharing time. The passage was in Romans 9, and the discussion centered around God's Sovereignty and Man's Will. Though many ideas were discussed, the main conclusion the men came to is that, ultimately, we most likely will never fully understand how it all works out, but God is God. One of the men shared this, and I paraphrase... "All receive justice. Some receive mercy. None receive injustice." So the verse that reflected these ideas in 1 Peter is: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare ...