James 1:13-18 includes two great truths about God that serve as bookend to one reality about us. Context First the context.  James wrote to exhort believers to mature conduct by demonstrating their faith and wisdom through godly living (holiness) in spite of their sinful desires and the influence of the world (testing and sin). James 1:2-4 sets the stage …
Category: Bible Study
Bible Reading plan assistance
This is a repost–but since I posted reading plans, I thought I would also pass this along as a good summery to keep the big picture in mind as you read through the Bible. Bruce Waltke’s Summaries of the Stages of Redemptive History by Justin Taylor I recently came across some old syllabus notes tucked …
Bible Reading plans
For those setting goals for 2010, here are a number of Bible reading plans. If you have ever tried to read through the whole Bible, got behind and gave up—or you have children and you want to encourage them to read through the Bible, you may want to try the Essential 100. 6 options for …
Gazing at Jesus
Matthew 7:24-29, the final instruction of the Sermon on the Mount provides a wonderful challenge to go beyond hearing to doing. Jesus makes it clear that listening to Him or even agreeing with Him is not enough.  The wise build the foundation of their lives on the reading/hearing and doing of the Words of Jesus. And …
Living it out
I have often stated that teaching is information for transformation.  But what is the opposite?  What happens when we teach or when we learn but are not transformed? In a conversation with George May (Pastor of Counseling and Family Ministries at Calvary Church), he used the following quote (I need to find the author): Information without …
You are the Light of the World
I’ve just started at least a ten-part series on the Sermon on the Mount (for the audio click here).  An incredibly rich and challenging message from Jesus. The beatitudes are promises/statements not commands, but the thrust of promises should motivate us to desire transformation so we too may be the blessed. The Characteristics of the Righteous: The Beatitudes The …
Who you are. . .
I was challenged recently by a statement in a sermon by David Loveless, pastor of Discovery Church in Orlando, Florida. He made a statement to the affect of, “I get tired of hearing people, in prayer, tell God, ‘thank you for who you are.’ If you said that to your wife, she would say, ‘Who …