Psalm 36:5-6 describes four qualities of God in the following manner:
— :5a “Your lovingkindness, O Lord, reaches to the heavens”
— :5b “Your faithfulness to the skies”
— :6a “Your righteousness is like the mountains of God”
— :6b “Your judgments are like a great deep”
Four specific qualities are listed: lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, judgment. And what this Psalm tells us about each of these is remarkable: Continue reading
“And when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you …’.” (I Corinthians 11:24)
These words the Lord Jesus spoke have become so familiar to many of us that it can be hard to really “hear” them. But pause for a moment and meditate on what Jesus was saying: “MY body … for YOU.” Jesus’ attitude was that His body was not “His own”, but was for the purpose of glorifying God, and the good that it could do others. Contrary to slogans which have become popular in some segments of our culture today, there was no “my body, my choice” attitude from Jesus. Continue reading
A few years back, in a state prison in Hominy, Oklahoma, they had an area in the kitchen they called the “pig slop” pit, into which they would throw all kinds of animal renderings and other food wastes, which they would put into big barrels there. Every so often, at regular intervals, a vendor would come by and pick up those barrels and haul them off, and use the waste to feed his hogs. One of the inmates of the prison, being creative, saw an opportunity there, and one day he slipped into the area unnoticed, and climbed into one of those barrels. The truck came and took him off, and he was for a very short time successful, but when he climbed out of the barrel at a service station, someone reported him, and he was arrested and sent back to prison.
This morning we are looking at the story of another man who found himself in trouble in pig slop – the story of the Prodigal Son. It is probably one of the best-known “stories” of all time. One of the reasons this story is so famous is that it is very much “the story of us all”. We have all experienced the things the son in this story went through, in one form or another — and the truth is, we must experience some of them if we ever want to have a relationship with God and see heaven. See if you can recognize yourself in this young man’s story, and if you can say: “This Is My Story …” Continue reading
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you …” (I Corinthians 11:23)
In this passage Paul was writing to the Corinthian church about what he had passed on to them about the practice of the Lord’s Supper. He said that what the Lord gave him, he passed on to them — and he then proceeded to delineate the details of the ordinance. Something we should not overlook in this passage, however, is the faithfulness of Paul’s stewardship of what the Lord gave him. Continue reading
King Hezekiah was dying in Isaiah chapter 38 — until God intervened. The Lord told him through the prophet Isaiah that he would not die, but live — another 15 years. And God did absolutely heal Hezekiah — no question about it. But :21 of that chapter also indicates that He used some MEANS to accomplish His ends: Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” They did, and he did. But it wasn’t the figs; it was God. Continue reading
“‘Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.'” (Isaiah 36:16-17)
Isaiah 36 describes how Sennacherib’s army invaded Judah, seized all of their strongholds, and surrounded Jerusalem. The Babylonian general, Rabshakeh, mocked the beseiged Judeans, and called for their surrender. And he also made them an offer, found here in :16-17, to give them peace and provision in exchange for their surrender: “eat each of his vine … until I come and take you away to a land … of grain and new wine …”. Basically the offer was: trade the perilous place that your God has you in, for safety and prosperity — and surrender to the enemy. Continue reading
“He plans wickedness upon his bed; he sets himself on a path that is not good; he does not despise evil.” (Psalm 36:4)
The first verses of Psalm 36 describe the ungodly person. Verse 1 labels him the “ungodly”, and says “there is no fear of God before his eyes.” The following verses describe this person in even more detail. The present verse (:4) lists three additional qualities of the ungodly: Continue reading
“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (I Corinthians 10:31)
In the book of I Corinthians, the Apostle Paul shares several “nuggets” of truth which can help us in our decision-making. One of is found in 9:23, “I do all things for the sake of the gospel”, and another in 10:24 “Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. Applying these verses to our situations can help us to make godly decisions: we should consider the impact of our decisions on others (see devotion on 10:24 here), and on the witness of the gospel (see devotion on 9:23 here). In the present verse (10:31) we find another consideration: the glory of God. Continue reading
During the Second World War, when Hitler conquered France, he immediately shut down the borders to keep the people from leaving the country. But one small border town saw its population diminish rapidly, so the Germans searched for the answer. It turned out, this town had a cemetery that straddled the border with the neighboring country, which was free from Nazi control. The locals opened up an ancient gate in the wall of the cemetery, and they kept having “funerals” – except the people never came back! They went out to the tombs, but they just kept on walking, right out the back gate, to their freedom!
This morning, our next “story” is the story of a man who also found “freedom” in a cemetery – it is the story of the Gerasene Demoniac – a man who was bound by the power of Satan, but who found freedom among the tombs by the power of Jesus. We have talked before about how a good outline of a testimony is to share your life “before” Christ; then how you came to know Christ; then your life “after.” We are going to follow that outline this morning as we look at the “story” of the Gerasene Demoniac from Mark 5:1-20 … Continue reading
“Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor.” (I Corinthians 10:24)
Having already stated in I Corinthians 9:23 that his first consideration in decision-making was the gospel (see post here), Paul here offers a second: consider the impact your decision will make on others. It is not merely what is good for YOU that ought to consider, but the impact it will have on OTHER people. Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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