'Scripture' Tagged Posts
Why Is Preaching A Big Deal?
Henry Bullinger (1504-1575) is not a common household name. Many readers of this blog have never heard of him. But Bullinger is a name Christians should be familiar with. He played a key role when the church was in desperate need of reformation in the sixteenth century. We could write many blogs on how God used Bullinger to reform the church in a more biblical direction. But I want to focus on one way God used him. Bullinger was one…
How Can Your Children See God in All of Life?
According to Ephesians 6:4, Christian fathers and mothers have a high and noble calling to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. The Old Testament equivalent of this New Testament passage is found in Deuteronomy 6:7: “You shall teach them [the words of God] diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise…
How Do I Know God’s Will for 2021?
How Do I Know God’s Will for 2021? As we enter 2021, what does God want from you and me? How can I know God’s will? If you are a Christian, you desire to follow God and do His will. Sometimes, however, you are unsure what God wants you to do. Does God want me to move to Florida? Does God want me to buy a minivan? Does God want me to date him or her? As Christians, there are…
What is the Bible About?
I am convinced that many Christians functionally read their Bible as if it is about them. For example, the temptation of Jesus by the devil in the wilderness is a well-known event. What many Christians do (I have done this in the past) is they read Matt 4:1-11 and ask the question, “How does this passage apply to me?” What they take away many times is this: Jesus memorized the Scriptures; during his hour of temptation he quoted Scripture to…
Meditation in a Distracting World
I remember a day when my print version Bible sat on my nightstand. I would read it before bed. Now, instead of my Bible on my nightstand, I have something “better”—my smart phone. With my smart phone, I have access not only to a Bible in multiple translations, but I also have access to blogs, calendar, email, to do lists, and my alarm. And, oh, did I mention, a notepad to draft a blog post about meditating in a distracting…
The First Commandment in the First Petition
Christians of previous generations have considered the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer to be very important portions of Scripture. For example, in the 17th century Westminster Shorter Catechism, a summary of the Christian faith, roughly fifty percent is dedicated to the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. This is a relatively high percentage if you consider all the other important doctrines (e.g., Trinity, Jesus Christ, salvation, the church, etc.) the Catechism must contain to be a summary of the…