God can do anything! (Sing the chorus). Many of us learned that great chorus. We know that in our heads. We read it in the Bible, but do we really believe it? Do we live like we believe that God can do anything? God is not a genie that offers three wishes to a lucky […]
Melody and I recently celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary. On Saturday, the 7th of June 1980, at 2:00 p.m. before a crowd of relatives and friends, Melody and I vowed to take each other as our wedded spouse from that day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, […]
In Romans 15:4 we read, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” The small book of Jonah is one of God’s books for our learning. In it, we learn the story of a man who ran from God’s call, […]
In 2 Corinthians 3, we learned of Paul’s ministry that had changed lives. He was a minister of the New Testament that gives life, that provides righteousness, and that is much more glorious than the Old Testament law that killed and condemned. He referred to that ministry as he began chapter four. Though his witness […]
So far in our study of 2 Corinthians, we looked at God’s Comfort, Christian Teammates, Biblical Love, and Conquering Discouragement. In the third chapter, the Apostle Paul describes the character of his ministry, message, and method. Character may be defined as “A characteristic property that defines the apparent individual nature of something.” WordWeb Paul’s ministry […]
This unnamed woman in the audience was complementing Jesus by blessing His mother, Mary. Years earlier, the angel who told Mary that she would bear the Messiah, told her that she had found favour with God (Lu 1:30). Elizabeth said that Mary was blessed among women (Lu 1:42). Jesus followed this word of praise by […]
Someone wisely noted, “Behind every shadow there’s a light shining.” Author unknown Think about that! Shadows are dark and dreary, but they can only exist because something is blocking the light. Discouragement is like a shadow. It exists because the Devil has gotten between us and God’s light. To conquer discouragement, we must look past […]
The Apostle Paul, after starting the church in Corinth, learned of some serious problems in the church. He wrote 1 Corinthians to address those problems. This helped to resolve some of the problems, but not everyone in the church understood his motives. Here in 2 Corinthians 2:1-11, Paul seeks to correct the misunderstanding by explaining […]
A woman was trying hard to get the tomato sauce out of the bottle. During her struggle, the phone rang so she asked her 4-year-old daughter Amanda to answer the phone. Kids view the world differently sometimes. Literally. She answered the phone obediently, “Hello, this is Amanda. Mommy can’t come to the phone to talk […]
Why do bad things happen to good people? That question has been asked countless times. The primary answer is that we live in a sin-cursed world. Bad things like death, pain, sorrow, and loss are the result of sin. God created a perfect world, but Satan tempted Adam and Eve, they disobeyed God, and plunged […]