How do you decide if it’s going to be a good day or a bad day? How does your heart make the call if you’re safe or out, complete or incomplete, winning or losing, being rewarded or punished? There is a verb used in Colossians 3:15 that is not found anywhere else in the New Testament. Most English Bibles translate the word…

If you believe in the one, true, living God (Eph. 4:6; 1 Thess. 1:9), you can be tremendously blessed! If you believe in the deity, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:9; 1 Thess. 4:14), you can be tremendously blessed! If you believe in the inspiration, inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Jas. 1:25; 1 Cor. 2:9-13), you…

Ok, admit it. There are some people that just have a knack for getting under your skin. What kinds of folks really irritate you? Young people? Old people? Slow people? Fast people? Rich people? Poor people? Talkative people? Loud people? Quiet people? Smart people? Not-so-smart people? Busy people? Lazy  people? Opinionated people? Non-opinionated people? Serious people? Silly people? People like you? People…

You’ve been there, haven’t you? When everything seems to be going wrong? When things at home, things at school, things at work, things at church…things with friends, things with family… personal things, technology  things, health things, financial things…e-v-e-r-y thing goes wrong? What have people told you to do? Finish the sentence: “When all else fails…” What? “When all else fails, read the…

What was Jesus’ purpose in coming? How would you answer that question? Our immediate thought likely goes to Luke 19:10–“to seek and to save the lost.” Can you think of a verse that has the word “purpose”? Approaching His final hours, Jesus exclaimed, “For this purpose I came to this hour…” (John 12:27). Peter preached that He was “delivered by the determined…

Drive-by “shoot outs” are killing faith! The Lord wasn’t kidding when He said, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21). It truly is “full of deadly poison” (Jas. 3:8), so much so that it is killing people’s faith! It is infuriating how reckless (and intentionally reckless) unbelievers can be with their tongue, by spouting off lies and…

When God inspired one preacher to write a letter of instruction and encouragement to another preacher, the Lord made it abundantly clear that He had only one message to be taught and obeyed – neither the preacher nor the adherents were to deviate from His narrow course. They were to “teach no other doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:3). To emphasize the singularity and…

How many times has God been accused of “not being fair”? When consequences for actions come to bear, sometimes God is blamed for them. However, as God explained to His people through Ezekiel, it is not His way that is not “fair” but “man’s ways.” (Notice the pronouns.) “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O…