In the meantime

Unify : "to make things into one: to bring people or things together to form a single unit or entity". (1) Is that not exactly what Christ has done to every single individual who has placed their trust in Him? Think about it: if it weren't for the bond of Christ that we have a believers, would we naturally hang out with that person sitting across the aisle from us in church?  Probably not. Chances are that a lot of us would not naturally interact with many of the people we call brothers and sisters in Christ because outside of Christ, we wouldn't have much in common. We have different interests, lifestyles, backgrounds, careers, and so on. However, because we are in Christ, we have the most important thing about us in common!   It doesn't matter if I am a stay-at-home mom and you are the CEO of the company you built from the ground up: if we are both sinners washed in His blood, standing righteous before Him, that  is the most important fact...

God is trustworthy.  This begs us to ask questions such as "Why do we trust God?" "Why should we trust God?" "Is He really altogether worthy of our complete trust?" "Is trusting Him a crutch for our weaknesses?" "When we trust God, are we simply falling back on Him as our last resort?"  In light of these questions, here are a few thoughts about trusting God and His trustworthiness:   Consideration #1: If we are going to "trust God" we must understand the God in whom we're trusting.   In other words, if we're trusting God without knowing what He is like, we are blindly trusting Him, and I would suggest that such trust is not trust at all.  Take, for example, a chair.  If I trust in a chair, what does that mean?   It means that I know what a chair is.  I understand the purpose of the chair.  I understand the character of the chair to be such that it will hold me up. And because I trust the...

 "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."  (Ephesians 5:25-27) Here in Ephesians 5:25-27, Paul paints details into how a husband is to love his wife by giving us the supreme example of Christ's glorious relationship with His Bride.  Paul exhorts husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the Church.  How did He love the Church? Christ loved the Church to the extent that He laid down His life for Her. In my mind's eye, these verses portray a groom waiting at the end of the aisle, anxiously anticipating his bride to appear in the doorway, resplendent in a spotless gown of white . From the context of this passage, we understand that the Groom is Christ.   ...

Christ is risen. He is Risen, indeed.   This deceptively ordinary greeting, most commonly heard on Resurrection Morning as believers greet each other at church, is the decisive hope for our faith. I think we should use this greeting more often, for  “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.  We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.” (1 Corinthians 15:14-15) When I think of Scripture's discussion of the resurrection, no other chapter  speaks more clearly about the resurrection than 1 Corinthians 15.    With that said, go read 1 Corinthians 15, and then come back here.   Did you read it?  Ok then, here are a few thoughts:  Had Christ not  risen from the dead, we see here some direct consequences: 1. There would be no resurrecti...

Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” (KJV) The ESV helps us better understand the meaning of  “quicken”: “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” The Spirit will quicken, or make alive, our mortal bodies. We needed to be made alive because we were dead--much more dead than the corpse turned to dust after lying deep in the earth for a century. Not only were we dead, but there was absolutely nothing we could do to change our state. However, we read in Ephesians 2:5 that “even when we were dead in sins, [God] hath quickened us [ made us alive (ESV )] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).” We were dead, but through His Son’s life, God ha...

While this word is often associated with romance, the dictionary defines passionate as an “intense desire for something” or “tending to have strong feelings.”  When it comes to how God feels about His glory and name among the nations, I believe passionate is a very accurate adjective. We see this idea come out in the first two commandments that God gave to the Israelites: Exodus 20:1 A nd God spake all these words, saying,  2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:   5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God… He is the One and the Only, and there is to be no other who takes His place in our...

Ok, time to try to finish up this series that I only began years ago.  To read up on it, you can start with the post on  Advocate  or the pull up the whole  A-N Describe Him Archive . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Describe Him, the Omni. Ok, I confess: Isaac has sold me on superhero action movies.  I love superhero movies: Thor, Captain America, The Avengers, Spider Man, Ant Man.  They each have unique powers that overcome common human limitations and consequently, allow them to perform incredible feats and rescue the good guys from the bad guys… Or maybe get the bad guys and be the good guys. Whatever the case, they usually become the heroes. Sometimes, however, things turn sour.   (Like what happened in New York* or Sokovia*: Instead of rescuing according to plan, lives are lost and more destruction happens.)                          ...

For some reason, this Describe Him post has not come together very easily.  I've started it...and then a paragraph later, gotten stuck staring at the screen.  So I let it sit for a few weeks, and when I try it again, I only get stuck again.  arrrg. But now we're hardly a week away from celebrating Christmas, and what better describes God as Near than the very thing we celebrate at Christmas?  In one of the most miraculous events in history, Almighty God became flesh--a baby born of a virgin.  God became a human and dwelt among us.  Christ was a man, died on the cross, and rose again: all of it was God's initiative so that we might be reconciled with Him.  Being reconciled with Him means we now stand clothed in Christ's righteousness so that we can now draw near to Him.  Because He came near to us.  This song, The Unbelievable , says it better than I can. Christmas is the time to celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, God with ...

This post originally started as a simple look at God’s mercy.  But I didn’t get too far before  coming across passages on the mercy seat...which is why this Describe Him post has morphed into a a closer look at God’s mercy, in light of the mercy seat.   What was it? Exodus 25 gives a good description of the physical piece of furniture in the Tabernacle called the mercy seat : - There were cherubims on either side of the seat. (vs. 18-19) - The cherubims’ wings covered the seat. (vs. 20) - The seat itself was located above the ark of the covenant. (vs. 21) - The testimony [of all God’s instructions] was beneath the seat (25:21-22, 30:6) - It was located in the most holy place. (26:34) From these descriptions, the mercy seat doesn’t sound all that scary.  It was simply a piece of furniture. One more crucial tidbit: The mercy seat was God’s meeting place. (Lev. 16:2,13, Num. 7:89.)  God spoke from the mercy seat.  For this reason...

“God is love.” We hear this phrase so much that we almost overlook it and/or take it for granted.  In this Describe Him post, can I remind our proud hearts of what an incredible thing it really is that God is love?     “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) This is a statement about the greatest demonstration of love one could ever do: dying for someone that is your friend, someone for whom you care for A LOT. And God’s demonstration of love for us went above and beyond anything anyone has ever done: we weren’t His friends.  We weren’t even just “acquaintances,” if you want to call it that.  We were actively GOD’S ENEMIES.  Yet Christ died for me—His enemy. This act of love is the very core of the Gospel: “ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)  We did nothing to deserve His love.  In fact, beca...

Right now, Christ is not physically reigning as King here on earth.  But one day He will be King for all eternity, sitting on David’s throne.  Here’s why we know He will: In 2 Samuel 7:12-13 God makes a covenant with David and says that David’s seed will forever be on his throne. Psalm 89:34-37 records God declaring that His covenant with David cannot be broken.  This covenant will be fulfilled and will stand forever.  As I was thinking about the Davidic Covenant, I couldn’t help but wonder how we know for certain that this is ultimately fulfilled in Christ.  So I did some digging and here’s what I found:  Isaiah 9:6-7 prophesies that One would come who would be The mighty God and whose “ government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David… ”  Then in Luke 1:30-33 it gets even more specific: The angel tells Mary that her son would be named Jesus and that God would “ give unto Him the throne of his father Davi...

While I don't think there is a specific declaration in the Bible stating that God is joy, I believe joy is intricately wrapped up in God's character and our relationship with Him: He is the source of any joy.  He is the source of  our  joy.  In fact, Galatians 5:22 states that part of the fruit of the Spirit (who is God) is producing joy in the believer. There are several verses that specifically mention the author's desire that the reader would have "full joy":  John 15,   in Christ's incredible teaching about the Vine and the branches and the relationship of the believer abiding in Christ, He says that " these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full ."  (John 15:11)  The joy He gives is directly tied to our abiding in Him and obeying His commandments out of love for Him!  He wants us to do these things because it produces joy--full joy! 1 John 1:4  declares that "these things...

Imagine a God who changes: At one point, He may have shown love to mankind. But not necessarily anymore.  Perhaps He decided to go back on His declaration of love for the world.  He made the promise of a coming Savior and eventually, a ruling King.  But maybe He conceived of a better plan for sin’s problem.  Maybe that solution would be to demolish all of humanity and start over with a perfect race, sparing His only Son from receiving the punishment for the sins of the whole world.  I mean, maybe He’s changed His mind on providing a means of salvation for us.  If God  changes from time to time, His Word is utterly irrelevant to us, for it was written years ago, and anything it tells us about God is probably already out of date.   Thankfully though, God is immutable: God doesn’t change.   He has declared Himself to be “the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8.) He is the God “that cannot lie” (Titus 1:2.) Because ...

I’ve been slow in posting the “H” in the Describe Him series simply because,  honestly, I’ve had a hard time knowing what to say about God’s holiness.  So I’ll keep it short and to the point. God is holy, there is no doubt about that.  If you’re uncertain about how holy He is, just start reading the Bible: His holiness comes out loud and clear, from Genesis to Revelation. He has called His children to also be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16.) Sooo, how does being holy as He is holy look like in your life?  

When we say that He is God, we declare several presuppositions to be true: He is Deity.  He is the only God. He is the only true God. As God, He deserves all worship and glory. Conversely, in saying that God is God, we state that we are not gods, there are no other gods, anyone else who claims to be god is a false god, and no one else should receive the worship and glory that is given to God.  Declaring God to be God reminds us that He is over us in power and authority.  In turn, we answer to Him. This demands obedience and consequences when there is a lack of obedience. In other words, man sins and God's holy character demands that sin be punished. This leads to man's need for the Gospel, which Satan hates with a passion.  If Satan can convince man that there is no God or a different kind of god than the One revealed in the Bible, he drives man away from the Gospel and eternal life.   But no matter Satan’s lies, no matter what an individual believes, the...

He is our Father.  But we were His enemies.  For Him to be our Father, we had to be made sons and daughters.  How did He become our Father? Romans 5:6-8 calls us without strength , ungodly, sinners, enemies.  Nothing we do can make us His children.  Rather, it is Christ’s death for us at the time when we were most helpless and estranged from a holy God that has made it possible for us to be His children. 1 John 3:1  declares our adoption as sons being entirely because of God’s love toward us. What was the incredible demonstration of God’s love that has made our adoption possible?  Christ’s death and resurrection was the payment that made it possible for us to go from being God’s enemies to being His children.  His blood satisfied the Father’s righteous demands for the punishment of sin.  How do we become His children?   John 1:12 says we become the sons of God by  believing on the name of...

A while back, I started a series of posts called “Describe Him A-Z”—a post for each letter of the alphabet focusing on aspects of the character of God, Christ, and the Spirit.  I only got as far as D.  Here are the previous posts on A through D: Advocate ,  Beginning ,  Comfort ,  Doctor .  I’ve decided to work on completing this series, so here goes!   As the title already shows, the Bible presents Christ as our example.   In Philippians 2:5 we find Christ’s mind as the model for where  our mind should be: thinking and being like Christ are requirements for every believer.  As the passage in Philippians 2 goes on to show, Christ humbled Himself, became a man, and gave His life for the world.  How does this aspect of Christ’s life give us an example to follow?   Dr. Courtney, a pastor in Oklahoma and one of my teachers from Cornerstone, made several important points about this passage: -...

If you doubt whether such description should be given, take a look at the Gospel of Mark.  The very first chapter produces at least three accounts in which Christ exercises His power over physical illnesses. During His ministry, Christ healed countless people with infirmities ranging from leprosy, to fevers, to blindness and lameness.  It is in the story of Lazarus, where Christ raised him from the dead that we see a glimpse of why Christ many times healed those who were sick, or had already died: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” (John 11:4) Mark 2:1-12 declares the event of the crippled man with his friends who let him down through the roof of the house.  While this story is often told with the culmination of Christ telling the man to “Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house” (Mark 2:11), in reality, that is only a side-note.  The verse immediately preceding Christ’s comm...

Perhaps one of the unique characteristic of the Godhead is that He always WAS.  At the beginning of time, He existed.  At the end of time, He will exist.  Today, He exists.  God had no beginning and He will have no end.  Genesis 1:1—” In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  When time, history, creation began, God was there.  He is the One who created it all. John 1:1-2—” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God."  Again…the beginning.   Verse 14 interprets “The Word” for us: “ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Christ, the Word, was at the beginning, with God.” Just think: where would we be if Christ had not been made flesh and dwelt among man? 1 John 1:1-2—” That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we ...

1 John 2:1 declares “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” As I read this verse this morning, I knew I had to write on Jesus Christ, our Advocate. I am not a deep theological thinker, so simply put, Christ is the One who stands before the Father on our behalf.  We are the ones who have sinned, and He is our "substitutionary, intercessory advocate.”   Christ has not only finished the work necessary for the believing sinner to be called righteous before the Father, but He now pleads our cause after we become righteous.  While Christ has conquered the penalty of sin, the presence of sin in the believer’s life is never completely gone while we are alive here on earth. Such a state of sinlessness will only take place when the believer is in heaven. Because of the continual presence of sin, the believer still sins. The believer still needs One to stand before...