As believers in “by faith alone through grace alone in Christ alone,” if there is one word that makes us nervous, it’s “works.”  But it is also a word that brings wisdom and understanding, assurance and reverence for God.  What prompted my thoughts about “works” was Jesus’ response in Jn 10:22-30 to the Jews’ question, “How long are You going to keep us in suspense?  If you are the Messiah, tell u...

Isaiah 43:2 “When you Pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”Have the hard times in your life swept you away or burned and destroyed you? That is not their purpose. I can tell you with certainty that it was the hard times in my life t...

Imagine there’s been a catastrophe of some kind and there is no food in your home. None. The pantry shelves, which are usually lined with cans of tomato sauce, refried beans, and peaches in light syrup are all empty. Where you would reach for a bag of egg noodles or white rice there is nothing but dust. There are no remnant jars of least-favorite jam in the far corner, no boxes of instant mashed p...

God’s love for us and others is so deep and high and wide. God loved the world so much that He sent His Son Jesus, the one and only time God became a human. In Jesus, God demonstrated His love for us. He suffered and died on the cross to open the only way to be saved. This was the one and only time God made a way to be saved. There are many false religions that say there are other ways to be saved...

I always perk up and pay attention when something is mentioned in the sermon that then shows up in my quiet time, and this week was no exception.In my Scripture reading this week, I came upon accounts of the Sadducees (and the other divisions Pastor Ben mentioned in his message) not once…not twice…but three times in Acts 4, 5 and 6!As I read these chapters in Acts, I was struck with how each group...

We Are Never, Ever, Ever . . ."We are never, ever, ever getting back together…" — Taylor Swift"Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will perform for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again, ever. The Lord will fight for you, while you keep silent." — Exodus 14:13-14 Breakups can be tough. Just ask Taylor Swift.For a while, o...

Recently while I was reading the very familiar account of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, verse 46 stood out to me.To set the scene, the Israelite and Philistine armies were facing each other on opposite hills, lined up tor battle. Each day Goliath, a Philistine champion, stepped forward and challenged the Israelites, mocking God as he did so.David, the youngest son of the family, was normally a...

“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”         1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV)A few days ago, my 10-year-old daughter showed me something that she had made: a cardboard cutout of a smartphone complete with all the apps that she would want (including the Faith Bible Church app). If you are around children for any amount of time, you know they tend to mimic adult behaviors and actions, whether good or ba...

Have you ever had the experience that God takes you somewhere you thought you would never go. It could be a location like Thailand or Lubumbashi, Congo (look it up). But more often, God might take us to an experience or to a person we might have thought of as unlikely or impossible. You might even say “I would never (fill in the blank)”. But when we are listening for God’s voice and asking his Spi...

Does your family have a funny saying or inside joke that others might not understand? Most families have funny things they say or actions they do that are not something others would “get”. A family might adopt a sort of inside joke based on a specific event they experienced together, or will use a unique word or phrase that just became a part of the family lexicon. One of ours was the phrase “usef...

There is a quality about faith, especially in childhood or in new belief, that many find deeply comforting: it is steady, warm, and unquestioning. In these early stages, it feels natural to trust, to believe without hesitation, to carry certainty as though it were unbreakable. But life has a way of unsettling even the strongest confidence. Loss comes, prayers seem unanswered, and what once felt ce...

“Surely I spoke about things I did not understand, things too wondrous for me to know… I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.”Job 42:3b, 5 (CSB)I cannot even begin to imagine the suffering that Job went through. And to add to his suffering, Job’s wife and friends were worse than no help to him! Through all of Job’s suffering, it seemed that God was distant from him, that God...

One of the words that will be heard around the world this Sunday is “Hosanna”, not a word that we generally hear outside of Palm Sunday except in a few worship choruses.  It is a word that comes directly from the Hebrew into our usage, just as “Hallelujah” or “Yahweh”, meaning save now, help now, or save we pray thee.  The word was offered in praise on Jesus’ triumphal entry as the One prophetical...

Hebrews 12:5-11 "The hard lessons we learn from disobedience"Hebrews 12:5 "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as children, My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him."The most wonderful thing that can happen to a person is to be born into God's family. What a privilege to have the Holy Spirit living in our life as a true believe...

The Joy of Telling the Good News!There is no deeper joy for me than to talk to not-yet-saved folks about how to be saved. If I see a person sitting on a bench or at a table as I go about my day, I see a wonderful opportunity to tell them the Good News. If I am in a store and a salesperson approaches me to ask if I need a new phone, a shower remodeling, a water filter, or many other things, I am th...

1Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon, and placed it beside Dagon. 3When the Ashdodites got up early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.4But when they got up early the n...

Are there Scriptures that kind of frighten you? There are for me! Mark 6:5–6 (see also Matthew 13:58) contains a statement that I find kind of scary, and certainly very sad:“And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief.”What’s going on here? The Sovereign Lord, who made all things, was hindered i...

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.  Psalm 119:37 (ESV) In December of 2022, a computer science researcher entered a humorous prompt into a newly released program called ChatGPT. His request was simple:WRITE A BIBLICAL VERSE IN THE STYLE OF THE KING JAMES BIBLE, EXPLAINING HOW TO REMOVE A PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH FROM A VCR.The prompt (and ChatGPT’s hilariou...

I laughed last week when Mike put up the slide demonstrating static cling when he was discussing Psalm 119, verses 25-32. I also have been the victim of negative clinging. There is a rug in my office that if I sit on the floor, white fuzz clings to my pants, and I end up resembling an animal shedding a winter coat of fur on its bottom half. Not a great look.This, of course, is an example of the ne...

In my recent studies of Colossians, especially the “Christ Hymn” in 1:15–20, I’ve been reminded just how many names, titles, and descriptions we use to talk about Jesus.For starters, there’s his name: Jesus. It’s the name given to him at birth. We often say it means “God is salvation” or “the Lord saves,” and that’s true, but it really wasn’t until his death and resurrection that the full weight o...