April 2024
The Changing Mind of Paul
Paul’s conversion to Christianity is unique. Not only did Jesus Himself take the lead in seeking his conversion, but Paul’s change of mind was nearly as sudden as the flipping of a switch. One minute he was breathing threats and murder against the church, but then came the voice on the Damascus Road, “I am […]
The Road to Emmaus
There’s something gripping about an eyewitness account, isn’t there? It’s one thing to hear a news anchor report on some far away happening, but it is quite another to listen to someone give a firsthand account of what they actually witnessed with their own two eyes. After Jesus was raised from the dead He appeared […]
March 2024
Easter
I can recall witnessing the baptism of a young man while I was on staff at Camp Maranatha in Southern California. The young man had put his trust in Jesus for salvation that very night following an hours-long conversation with his youth pastor, a man named Jack Williamson. I don’t recall the exact time, but […]
Palm Sunday
The way Jesus entered Jerusalem on His way to the cross on that first Palm Sunday was very deliberately done to fulfill a prophecy that we find in Zechariah 9:9. 9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is […]
Abounding in Every Good Work
Ever since last fall, I have tried something different in my personal devotions. Rather than reading my way through books of the Bible I selected ten blocks of scripture and set out to memorize them over the course of the winter. I printed them out and stuck them in my car, the pockets of my […]
The Sacrifice of Isaac
Genesis 22 records some unexpected words that God spoke to Abraham. He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Now, those words are surprising for […]
Here We Go Again
Repetition is something we see a lot of in the Bible. Joseph had duplicate dreams with the same meaning. Pharaoh did too. Jesus told the parable of the lost coin and the lost sheep and the lost prodigal son all in a row to communicate the same, singular truth. On two separate occasions two different […]
February 2024
Sodom and Gomorrah
Today, “Sodom” and “Gomorrah” have become almost bywords for unchecked depravity and divine judgment. The author of Genesis highlights the sexual immorality and violence of these cities, and the author of Ezekiel highlights their pridefulness and their fat-hearted disregard for the needy. (Ezekiel 16:49-50) We find the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:20 […]
Choices
Some of you are undoubtedly wrestling with big decisions right now. According to a study cited in Psychology Today human beings make an eye-popping 35,000 choices a day. If that’s true, and I must admit that is a hard number to believe, then an average person makes 12,775,000 decisions a year. Multiply that over the […]
January 2024
Certain of What You Cannot See
At Houghton College there is an indoor pool contained within the athletic complex. During my years there it was kind of a tradition for students to break into the gym after hours and go swimming in the dark. I was always kind of a stick-in-the-mud, rule-follower, and so I never took part in this particular […]
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