Category: Repentance

12/24/2024 0 Comments

Insignificant

He was born in a lowly place—a smelly stable in a manger, nursed among unclean animals because his parents were required by edict to register in an obscure village—Bethlehem, the town Micah, the prophet, foretold (Micah 5:2). His father, Joseph, nearly in secret divorced the unborn Child’s mother, Mary, until an angel intervened and informed him that she conceived through the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:19,20). Joseph was a humble carpenter, whose trade he would pass on to his Boy, raised in the Galilean town of Nazareth. “‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Nathanael asked him. ‘Come and see,’ Philip answered” (John 1:46).

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11/19/2024 0 Comments

Hidden Things

Jesus performed many miracles in the cities He walked, which should have authenticated His message, and yet most of those He encountered would not repent of their sins. Their hardheartedness kept them from recognizing the hand of God’s Son at work and connecting their need to listen to Him. He criticized them for their attitude and warned them of God’s impending judgment (Matthew 11:20-24).

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9/24/2024 0 Comments

On a Quest

Have you ever felt like you were on a journey to nowhere? Does life seem unfulfilling and taxed by unnecessary hardship? Do you find that what you thought would be meaningful is meaningless or empty? Imagine how the Israelites felt as they were exiled from their land by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Their lives revolved around loss, shame, and suffering. God told them, “You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing” (Isaiah 30:14). Like most people, the Israelites believed that they could solve problems and live however they wanted. God restored them to a worthwhile life only when they came to the end of themselves and recognized and renounced the evil of their rebellion.

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7/3/2023 1 Comment

"The Sparkle Creed"

Edina Community Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Edina, Minnesota, celebrated Pride Sunday led by their female pastor in reciting the sparkle creed whose words state:
I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads, and who saw everyone as a sibling child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.[1]
This creed is a gross perversion of theology. It represents the misguided attempts of a congregation to fit God into their inclusive agenda that will spare no expense to accommodate a world fully intent on making sexual sin something to celebrate and force upon all those who take God’s warnings seriously and strive to obey Him.

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4/23/2023 1 Comment

Because of His Majesty

How do we avoid sinning? It’s a fundamental question that has many implications for our lives. Reading through the book of Job, we can pick up some amazing insights from a man horrifically tormented by Satan for his righteous life. In chapter 31, Job identifies at least thirteen things that would be inappropriate for him to do, with verse 23 serving as the lynchpin for his profound reasoning.

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11/7/2022 1 Comment

Salvation with Fear and Trembling

Salvation is a free gift received by a heart that recognizes sin, takes responsibility for it through confession and repentance, and then places one’s faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, that He is Lord and the only One capable of sacrificing His life to pay the debt of sin, forgiving transgressions so that all who place their faith in Him might experience eternal life with Him.

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6/29/2022 0 Comments

Understanding Delay

I hope this is an encouraging word for someone—discouraged by delays, by the hiccups of life that seem insidious; by the time that goes too fast when you want it to be slow and too slow when you want it to be fast.

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5/7/2022 0 Comments

Buried Like a Donkey

Meditation
Jeremiah 22:18,19--Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, my brother!” or “Woe, my sister!” They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!” He will be buried like a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem

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3/6/2022 0 Comments

Busted

Ralph wanted to go to the movies with his friends but attending cinemas was not allowed in his church. So, he concocted a story and asked his mother if she would give him a ride to his friend Harold's house the next day to attend his birthday party. She mentioned they would need to get Harold a birthday gift, but Ralph said he didn’t want any presents. His mother must have known that was strange. The next night it was pouring rain and Ralph’s mom suggested as they pulled up to a dark house that Harold's party must have been cancelled. Ralph assured her they were in the back part of the house and ran through the rain to the front door and knocked. When his buddy opened the door and let him in, Ralph’s mother drove off. But the night’s adventures were just beginning.

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3/7/2021 0 Comments

Mama, You're Singing in the Cracks!

Randy told us the following story at our elders’ meeting. A young boy was sitting at the piano playing a well-known song when his mother came up behind him and started singing. The boy stopped playing and looked up at his mother and said, “Mama, you’re singing in the cracks!” The poor woman was off-key and the boy wanted her to know it.

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10/31/2020 1 Comment

Grace & Holiness

Meditation
James 2:18—But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (ESV)

The faith versus deeds debate is a wrestle that transcends generations. Even so, I believe that in the wrestle of today’s culture, these verses could be reapplied as so: “But someone will say, “You have grace and I have holiness.” Show me your grace apart from your holiness, and I will show you my grace by my holiness.”

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9/30/2020 0 Comments

The Return

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, “It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” On April 30, 1863, Lincoln's National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer was observed. Two days later, Lt. General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded in a freak accident where he was shot by his own troops. The loss of this powerful Confederate leader changed the course of the war.[1]

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7/31/2020 0 Comments

I & II Samuel

If you want to read great books on leadership, read 1st and 2nd Samuel. Early tradition suggests that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one book in scripture so I will do my best to examine the combined 55 chapters and share key leadership lessons. No author is named for these books but scholars largely credit the prophets Samuel, Nathan and Gad. Based on 1 Sa. 27:6, the writing may not have been completed until about 930 B.C.[1]

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7/12/2018 0 Comments

Lost Phone

Stephen and I finished a bike ride and run workout on the Air Force Academy. We loaded our bikes on the back of the truck and headed home. But when we got there I couldn’t find my cell phone. I quickly realized that I had placed it on the back of the truck by the license plate and drove off without securing it. A hundred “O no!” thoughts flashed through my mind. About to take off on an international trip to Africa, it would be a disaster not to have my phone. While most of the phone memory was backed up on my computer, it would still be a major setback and financial hit to lose that stellar black piece of technology.

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1/3/2014 0 Comments

Troglodyte!

Meditation
Revelation 3:2—Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before My God.

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5/15/2013 0 Comments

Behind Your Back

Robert Lawless was born February 10, 1949 in Wheatland, Wyoming. His parents abandoned him when he was six months old along with his 18 month-old sister and 3 year-old brother. They were left in an apartment alone for two weeks and near death when Child Services found them. After spending several weeks in a hospital a Nebraska family named Lawless adopted Bob and his brother. He would never see his sister again. His new parents moved them to Salem, Oregon and then they divorced. At the age of fourteen, Bob went to live with an aunt and uncle. As a teenager his life was full of wildness, jail time and repeated failures.

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8/16/2010 0 Comments

Lenience

Thank God we are not a heap of ashes! 1. Do you know people who believe the Old Testament God is exceedingly harsh and not the same New Testament God? 2. Have you ever done something so bad there was just no way you thought God would forgive you? 3. Do you know someone who has committed some disgusting sin and Christians will have nothing to do with that person despite his or her repentance?

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4/2/2010

Weeping

Meditation
1 Samuel 20:41—When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone Ezel, fell with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept with each other, though David wept more.

11/5/2009 0 Comments

Abaka

In 1931, a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place in Rwanda. Believers in several nations prayed for God to transform Rwandan lives. Consequently, men and women became deeply convicted of their wrongdoing and in true repentance humbled themselves confessing their sins. Those who had wronged others apologized and made restitution. At the center of Rwandan revival, new believers were called Abaka, which meant “those on fire.”[1] As A.C. Stanley Smith wrote in his book, Road to Revival, joy constantly reflected in the faces of these believers and everywhere they went they modeled powerful testimony.

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1/2/2004 0 Comments

New

Two friends drug him down. It started with watching mediocre movies and descended into pornography. Sambo felt miserable and tried to rationalize his actions against a brighter conscience. He felt trapped until one night he listened to his father, Titus, preach a message he’d heard countless times. On this evening in December of 1994, God’s Word pierced Sambo’s heart. He felt the potent pull of the Holy Spirit. Tears filled his eyes and plunged downward washing away built-up shame. Later that night he repented of his sin and honestly asked Jesus to become His Lord and Savior. Lingering guilt was replaced by enduring peace. Love came and filled a 14-year-old boy in Trivandrum, India.

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