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by Greg Moore Outrage against God’s men never sounded so heroic. “You have gone too far!” they shouted at Moses. “For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” (Numbers 16:3). The hundreds of men at the entrance lobbied for the people. They demanded notice. Far from peeking around avatars…

At the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ is forgiveness. It is the central key to unlock the power and grace of Christianity. Yet unforgiveness plagues both the Christian believer and the church and threatens destroy our witness for the Lord Jesus Christ and our journey to be like Him. We live in the age of unforgiveness. Lashing out with disdain, hatred and revenge is the norm. How dare they…

Christmas is such a huge holiday all around the world, but why do we celebrate Christmas? Why do we celebrate the birth of Christ? What is so special about this season? To answer these questions, let’s go back to God’s first promise of the Messiah in Genesis. Genesis 3:15 (Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible): And enmity shall I put between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed,- He…

Fighting for Faith in the Entertainment Age

By John Piper We Christians also fight for faith. We fight for faith because the world and the flesh and the devil conspire to spiritually deaden us. They come at us with sleeping pills, with tranquilizers of relaxation, with the offer of a life filled by the hypnotic trance of digital amusements. And what Jesus wants us to see is that “faith and hope and love are the antidotes to the soporific…

Keep in Love with God

We as humans have a hard time staying in love with something for a sustained period of time. We get bored, we get distracted, we get our fancy tickled by something else, and we usually walk away. Then we do it all over again. This is the cycle of love that engulfs the world. We toss things away when they lose their relevance in our lives. The book of Timothy warns us that perilous difficult…

My sermon notes for Sunday

I am drawn to adventurous movies of warriors and superheroes fighting against evil. Or a boxing warrior like Rocky fighting against impossible odds to achieve victory. I love the war movies of people fighting throughout the ages in the struggle against evil. Have you ever thought about God like this or is our view of God more passive. Exodus 15:3: The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name.…

Don’t Underestimate the Enemies of Your Soul

Don’t Underestimate the Enemies of Your Soul

Spiritual warfare is not a metaphor. It would be more accurate to say that human warfare is a metaphor — and an expression — of the even more real and pervasive spiritual war being waged all around us. And unless we engage it seriously, we will not be serious players in it, and may be swept away by it. Demonic powers are in no way impressed by our intellect or other abilities. What impresses…

Isaiah 40:9: Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Have you paused in your busy life to reflect on our awesome God? What do you perceive God to be in your heart? A.W. Tozer says in The Knowledge of the Holy: What comes into our minds when we…

The Real Jesus Doesn’t Burn

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a w ise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear;…

Excuses! Excuses! The Example of Moses

Sometimes the mental pictures we have of certain Bible characters are not quite right. Once we get a particular image in our brain, it’s almost impossible to get it out. Take Moses, for instance. When I think of Moses, I see Charlton Heston in my mind’s eye, about to part the Red Sea. It’s Moses and then it’s Charlton Heston and then it’s Moses. Such is the power of the silver screen that for…

Me, Myself and Lies: The Spiritual Dangers of Isolation

    Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1) In March of 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first-ever phone call, which, in time, came to dramatically transform how we relate to one another. On the surface, the communication revolution has seemed to render isolation something of an endangered species — we’re more connected than…

Who Do You Trust in This Chaotic World?

Trust is defined as the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability or strength of someone or something. Trust is to have confidence in someone or something that they will not harm you. All of us regardless of age, background, or location in life trust in something or someone. What do you trust in every morning when you get up? What do you trust in throughout the day? What do you trust in when…

Ecclesiastes and Christian Living : Contentment

By John W. Ritenbaugh Not until I purposely took a break from this series on Ecclesiastes did I realize, while meditating on some of the material we have covered, that we have been covering a sub-theme that flows just below the surface. Solomon never names it directly, but it is nonetheless present, especially in chapters 4-6. Perhaps, if I can put a modern name to this theme, it will help bring…

The Call to Love in a New and Wonderful Way

“Love” is a feel-good word in the English language. We even have a holiday dedicated to it.  But the world does not really know the true meaning of love. Our culture thinks love is to tolerate everything under the sun with open arms and heart, embracing all ideals no matter how destructive or rooted in sin they may be. Sin is thrown to the ground in the name of love.   In the world, love is a…

Mordecai and Esther: The Saving of a Nation

In the book of Esther, we see the incredible example of how the holy desperation of one person can change the course of history. Let me set the stage for you. The people of God lost the presence, provision, and protection of their heavenly Father because they dealt lightly with the things of God. As a result, they were conquered, captured, and spent seventy years in Babylon. Babylon itself was…