Who Will Go With Me?

Posted on 2013/11/09 by Shawn Thomas

In I Samuel 26:6 David asked a bold question of two of his most valiant warriors: “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” If this sounds daring, it was even more so because :5 says that Saul was asleep in the middle of the camp, surrounded by his soldiers!
But notice something about David’s challenge which should instruct us:
He did NOT just say: “Who will go down to the camp?”, but instead he asked: “Who will go down WITH ME.”

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A Simple Testimony

Posted on 2013/11/08 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 116:6 says: “The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.”
In keeping with the word “simple”, which opens the verse, the story line here is simple: “I was brought low — and He saved me.” This is a simple truth; a simple testimony. It reminds us that the basics of Christianity are not complicated.

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He Does Whatever He Pleases

Posted on 2013/11/07 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 115:3 is one of my favorite verses; it says: “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” The context of this statement is the question of :2, “Why should the nations say, ‘Where now, is their God?'” There WILL be times when people who do not know the Lord will question, observing our circumstances, “Where is their God?” “Why doesn’t his God heal him?” “Why doesn’t her God answer her?” — and so on in a multitude of cases. But our solace, our answer, is to be found in God’s sovereignty: “Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” God has His own reasons for what He does or does not do. We are to trust Him. When the puzzles of life confound us, we are to trust in His sovereignty.

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Many Dangers, Toils & Snares

Posted on 2013/11/06 by Shawn Thomas

As we see from this insightful segment of Richard Baxter’s The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, every single state we may find ourselves in here on earth places us in the danger of one temptation or another, due to our own wicked hearts:

“Oh the hourly dangers that we here walk in! Every sense and member is a snare; every creature, every mercy, and every duty, is a snare to us:

We can scarcely open our eyes, but we are in danger of envying those above us; or despising those below us; of coveting the honours and riches of some, or beholding the rags and beggary of others with pride and unmercifulness.

If we see beauty, it is a bait to lust; if deformity, to loathing and disdain.

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Fool Me Twice …

Posted on 2013/11/06 by Shawn Thomas

I Samuel 24:22 says: “But David and his men went up to the stronghold.”

At the end of this chapter, Saul had again “repented” of his sin of needlessly persecuting David. He went as far as to admit David’s good intentions — and even that David would surely one day be king. He sought peace with David, and asked him to swear not to destroy his descendants. All “seemed” to be well. Saul went back to his home, and one MIGHT think that David would go back with him to Israel, but he didn’t: “But David and his men went up to the stronghold.”

Why did he do this? Wasn’t all well between him and Saul? Had there not been a “reconciliation”?

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“The Little Condo on the Prairie” (11-05-13)

Posted on 2013/11/05 by Shawn Thomas

CHECK THAT:
We were watching football Saturday and I went to the kitchen to get some of our favorite chili that Cheryl had made with the Rabideaux’s deer sausage that Jacki Hunter had graciously brought us from Louisiana. We had the Texas/TCU game with the sound up on one tv, and the Missouri/South Carolina game on silent on another. Cheryl hollered in from the other room: “TCU just scored!”
“Really?” I questioned. I could hear the game that was on and it didn’t sound like what was happening.
“No, wait …”, Cheryl said, “It was Missouri on the other tv.”
And then she added: “Oh wait … and that was a replay!”

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Loyalty in Deed

Posted on 2013/11/05 by Shawn Thomas

In I Samuel 24, Saul was pursuing David, whom he accused of treason against him. But when David had an opportunity to kill Saul in a cave, he did not, and in :8-11 he called out to Saul, “‘Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you? … Now, my father, see! Indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the edge of the robe and did not kill you, know and perceive that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands …”. It is one thing for a person proclaim his loyalty to the king; it is another to prove it with his deeds, like David did here, by not taking Saul’s life.

Proverbs 20:6 raises the challenging question: “Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?”

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Book Review: Father, Son & Holy Spirit by Bruce Ware

Posted on 2013/11/04 by Shawn Thomas

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Many books, sermons — or even individual Christians themselves — may be labeled as either precise in theology, or strong in their application, but it can be hard to find in any of these a balanced pairing of both. Bruce Ware’s book, Father, Son & Holy Spirit has just that elusive combination. Arising from five, one-hour teaching sessions on the Doctrine of the Trinity at a pastors conference, this is a brief book (only 163 pages) but it marries theology and practice in a concise and exemplary way.

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We Are An Offering

Posted on 2013/11/04 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 110:3 says: “Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power …”. In Hebrew, that literally reads: “Your people WILL BE freewill offerings” — that is, they will offer themselves freely as a sacrifice and offering to God. It is not that His people will offer “sacrifices”; it is that they will give themselves.

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Hallelu-Yah!

Posted on 2013/11/03 by Shawn Thomas

Psalm 113 is a Psalm of praise for the people of God. It begins and ends with the expression: “Hallelu-Yah”! (literally “Praise Yahweh!” In most Bibles, when you see the word “LORD” in all capitals in the Old Testament, it means that in the original Hebrew text, it is not the Hebrew word “Adonai” or “Lord” which is used, but the personal, covenant name of God, “Yahweh”, the great “I AM”, which He gave to describe Himself to Moses in Exodus 3.)

It is remarkable how much the first part of the Psalm focuses on the name Yahweh. It is used seven times in the first five verses. Of course the number seven is significant; indicating perfection.

These verses tell us:

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