I think we can all admit that sin is a problem, even among those who are trying to obey God.  The question comes down to how do we keep it from happening so often, and to such a great extent.  The good news is that we have a few examples in scripture of how people sought to prevent breaking of God’s law, and how that ultimately worked out.

The solution employed by the Pharisees was to extend what constituted sin outward from the actual command to prevent any real transgression.  Many bible scholars and preachers have referred to them building a…

When we consider the kinds of mothers that are celebrated on days like today, we might not think of those who gave their children up for adoption.  However, one of the best examples of loving, godly motherhood did just about the equivalent of that.  She even did so after a great deal of prayer for a child.  Her name is Hannah.

When we consider what qualities reflect our modern values of motherhood, they are hard to identify in Hannah.  She was the second wife of a priest in Ephraim and was treated terribly by her rival, specifically because for a long…

There are often two song books in most congregations.  I’m not talking about the supplemental book of “new” hymns that the younger people sing, but the older disciples aren’t so sure about.  I mean that there are the songs in the book that we have available, and the songs that we know.  Those two catalogues are often very different from one another.  A good brother Ethan Longhenry wrote not long ago, “Do you want to understand the theology of a group of believers? Consider not only their song book but the particular songs they frequently sing!”

When we are choosing…

Those who come into the church in this day and age have many questions that we can sometimes fail to give the consideration they deserve.  They might ask us about things we assume are true, and have not questioned in many years.  They might ask us things that we may consider trivial or elementary, and thus have not taken the time to explain.  Sometimes they ask us things that make us scratch our heads.  When they do, then we must be careful to give them a worthy, and correct, answer.

Sometimes people who come into the church with little prior knowledge…

With the recent immigration debate, much has been made about the intersection of faith and politics.  While it is right that all of us who choose to have political insight, or engage in the process should be letting our faith guide us, we must still be careful to be authentic and consistent.  We must let our actions and communication be guided by our faith and the truth of scripture, instead of letting political opinions and leanings determine how we follow Christ.

When we seek to engage in political discussions, or even decide to exercise our right to vote to make an…

Paul's first letter to the church in Thessalonica was overall very positive.  He praised their faithfulness (I Thessalonians 1:2-10) and dedication to God's word even in persecution. (I Thessalonians 2:13-16)  This is noteworthy, because so many of the New Testament epistles have the occasion of correcting wrong behavior or addressing error.  The church in Thessalonica was on a much better track.

When he was encouraging them, however, he gave them some things in which they needed to “excel still more.” (I Thessalonians 4:1)  This means they were to do the things they had been, but more and be even better.  This…

It is sometimes hard to read the way the Pharisees completely missed the point of so much of the Old Testament. They were the ones entrusted with keeping it, yet they so often misunderstood or misused passages to justify wicked behavior.

When the Pharisees seek to trap Jesus into speaking about divorce in Matthew 19, they even go so far as to construe Moses’ words as commanding divorce. (Matthew 19:7)  This, of course, flies in the face of so many other parts of scripture (Malachi 2:13-16) that it can only show a willful ignorance.  However, I wonder sometimes if we are…

Human ingenuity shows up in a great many ways.  Take archery for example; instead of the simple bow and string, the implements of archery are a modern marvel.  The first leap in having more effective and deadly bows was the recurve bow thought to have been invented in 800 BC.  Just by having the tips of the bow curve face the opposite direction, the strength and speed of the shot was increased dramatically.

Modern bows are even more complex, due to the invention of the compound bow, patented by H. W. Allen, Jr. in as late as 1969.  Instead of having…

To deal with ballooning inflation rates, recently Venezuela tried to deal with the problem by removing 5 zeros from the ends of its bolívar notes, which is the national currency.  The socialist country is experiencing such deep financial woes, to purchase a cup of coffee takes near 2 million bolívars.  This problem is primarily due to the country’s solution to dealing with financial woes in recent years has been to print more money, but not improve the economy on the whole, thus causing hyperinflation. There is no real increase in value.

Since all value in our physical world is assigned by…

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    I’m sure we all agree it would be unusual for any one of us to awake tomorrow, hop in the car and drive off with no destination in mind. It might even be a stranger occurrence for us to drop by the ticket counter at Hobby Airport and purchase a ticket for a flight to nowhere in particular, or climb aboard a ship at the Port of Houston headed to an unknown land, sailing along an unknown route. We would not take the above actions because we want to know where we are headed and how we are going…

Exodus 13:17 – 15:21

Although the Israelites could have left Egypt and taken a more direct route to eventually reach the promised land, they did not. The Lord took them in a direction that was indirect and probably appeared to be a “road to nowhere” But while the people may have thought they were going nowhere, God was taking them somewhere. He took them in a direction where: His power would be displayed (by the crossing at the Red Sea), they would not become afraid, turn around and go back, and where they would learn to rely on Him. He would…