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Scripture Text
1 Pe 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
Introduction
What if we were given a chance to start over? Knowing everything we know now we get the chance to start again; would we do it? This isn’t some fairytale, it is our post today. We can start over. So are you interested? Okay, hang on then.
Introduction
James continues the theme of faith in our next verse. Last time James taught us that faith in Jesus will produce results. Historically in our country, and even today, most people say they are Christian or believe in God. In this post we are going to dig a little deeper into the term “believing in Jesus”. The question we will be asking… Is saying “I believe” enough? Read the rest of this entry »
Introduction
Fresh off the heels of being a good listener James will challenge us now to apply listening to the Bible. We are to listen to what God’s word says, and one more thing, do it!
Taking a Spiritual Bath – v.21-25 Read the rest of this entry »
Overcoming Temptation – v.12-15
James now introduces us to the concept of temptation and unmasks the one who is responsible. Let’s start by understanding where temptation comes from: in the text it says that God does not tempt anyone; that narrows our list of suspects down to one, Satan. The design of a temptation is to get us to fail, to take our eyes off of Jesus and to destroy our credibility with those who know us. Temptation, according to verse 13, is an invitation to do evil. Satan enters our minds in the hopes of making evil look good. Satan even stands before God accusing us of evil. Rev 12:9-10 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Read the rest of this entry »
Introduction
The title of my post is a play on words of an old song entitled “Give me that old-time religion”. Our scripture text is taken from Acts chapter 7 covering the events leading up to the stoning of Stephen. Before they stoned him Stephen recounted a history of the nation of Israel. We will focus on one event in that history, the making of the golden calf. The original account of the story Stephen mentions is in Exodus chapter 32.
In Acts 7:40 the children of Israel told Aaron, Moses’ brother…“Make us gods to go before us”. Moses, as commanded, had ascended the mountain to meet with God. He had been gone, in the estimation of some, too long and his return was called into question. They saw an opportunity to make some changes due to the fact that they were already questioning Moses’ leadership. They had decided to create a god in their image and to their own liking.
You might be thinking “that’s insane”, you can’t create a god. First off I would agree, that is insane, but you don’t have to be a history major to know that since the beginning of recorded time our history is full of such efforts. In my years on this earth I have personally witnessed the birth of new man-made gods.
Why does man seek to create their own god? Clearly, in the case of Israel, they wanted a god they could see. Over and over again the children of Israel desired to be like the nations around them who served rocks, trees, crafted precious metals and even the sun and moon. An inanimate object, like the golden calf, is not going to deliver any laws. This is man’s effort to tell God how things are going to work from now on. How great is this? Decide what your god will look like and how it will act. You can then make up your own rituals and rules to fit your lifestyle. Read the rest of this entry »
Servants' Journal 