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Then the Lord said, "Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him." – Genesis 18:17-19 HCSB

Fathers, may I speak to you for a moment? Yes, I know you are busy with your career, family, church and hobbies. You may even have a ministry to which…  ( Click for more )

The Angel of the Lord came, and He sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine vat in order to hide it from the Midianites. Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Gideon said to Him, "Please Sir, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened? And where are all His wonders that our fathers told us about? They said, 'Hasn't the Lord brought us out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to Midian." The…  ( Click for more )

The Lord says: “I will not relent from punishing Israel for three crimes, even four, because they sell a righteous person for silver and a needy person for a pair of sandals. They trample the heads of the poor on the dust of the ground and block the path of the needy. A man and his father have sexual relations with the same girl, profaning My holy name. They stretch out beside every altar on garments taken as collateral, and they drink in the house of their God wine obtained through fines.” - Amos 2:6-8 HCSB

God said, “I will not relent from punishing Damascus…  ( Click for more )

“Now if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, please teach me Your ways, and I will know You and find favor in Your sight. Now consider that this nation is Your people." Then He replied, "My presence will go [with you], and I will give you rest." – Exodus 33:13-14 HCSB

Ah, love’s sweet boldness. What courage rises within the lover’s heart! A tzaddik, after initial doubts and fears[1], here finally discovers the true possibilities of d’vekut, the mystical communion between God’s Spirit and ours.

When first called, Moses…  ( Click for more )

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds. – Matthew 14:45 HCSB

It’s amazing how the cycles of life affect us. Even the Son of God was subject to them. Jesus’ popularity had grown to the point that He had to preach from a boat floating offshore so that the crowds could see and hear Him.[1] Even his hometown people were at first amazed by His wisdom and power.[2] Soon, however, the crowd’s amazement transformed into jealousy and resentment.[3]

Another cycle began when His…  ( Click for more )

Man born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. - Job 14:1 HCSB

When he said this, Job was experiencing some of the worst trials faced by any man who ever lived, except for Jesus. He learned the lesson of this verse the hard way. Yet Job never failed to believe in God.

Oh yes, there were times when he grew weary of life. And who wouldn’t in his circumstances? Job had lost everything. His home was wrecked, his children were dead, his servants were gone, and his wealth had been destroyed or stolen. Even his health had left him leaving him completely desolate.…  ( Click for more )

Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord's work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. - 1 Corinthians 15:58 HCSB

There is a story that goes like this: Years ago one of the largest, most powerful battleships that the world has ever known, the USS Missouri, was cruising off the coast of Nova Scotia. A gale wind was blowing, whipping the waves into a frenzy.

The great ship, nicknamed the “Mighty Mo”, commanded the seas wherever it sailed. Every ship that approached her would quickly give way for no one…  ( Click for more )

Man born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. - Job 14:1 HCSB

The three Hebrew youth, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, knew this lesson all too well. They faced the hottest, fiery trial possible, that of being cast into a fiery furnace because they were not willing to compromise with the world, or go back on their belief in God. They were steadfast and unmovable[1], even in the middle of the flames.

I like their answer to King Nebuchadnezzar when he commanded them to bow or burn.

· Daniel 3:16-18, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to…  ( Click for more )

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind. I hated all my work at which I labored under the sun because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile. – Ecclesiastes 2:17-19 (HCSB)

Even the best of jobs can become too much to bear at times. Doing the thing we love best can also become overwhelming. What was once therapeutic…  ( Click for more )

But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God's grace. - Acts 20:24 HCSB

Paul learned to put God first in his life. At the end of his life, when he had faced the fiery trials and tests of his long and profitable service to the Lord, his final testimony was, “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. In the future, there is reserved…  ( Click for more )

If we say, "We have fellowship with Him," and walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, "We have no sin," we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 3:6-9 HCSB

A lot of people claim that they have fellowship with God[1].…  ( Click for more )

God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came, and then morning: the sixth day. – Genesis 1:31

One of the weaknesses of American fundamentalist Christianity has been a very weak eco-theology, making room for their being characterized as ecological rapists – right-wing, capitalistic materialists.

This is primarily because some of these professed Christians have mistakenly taken God’s commandment to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it; rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls…  ( Click for more )

If the God of my father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed. But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and He issued His verdict last night… The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor-the gods of their father -will judge between us." And Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac. – Genesis 31:42,53

Years ago, as I was pulling into a mall parking lot I passed by two young men. I heard a loud bang, looked in my mirror and realized that as I went by, one of the two had kicked…  ( Click for more )

And they brought the donkey to Jesus and threw their robes on it, and He sat on it. Many people spread their robes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. Then those who went before and those who followed kept shouting: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven! – Mark 11:7-10[1] HCSB

When Jesus approached Jerusalem, the scene was intense because He had arrived at Passover time. A crowd of Jewish religious pilgrims had already flooded the city. And…  ( Click for more )

And they brought the donkey to Jesus and threw their robes on it, and He sat on it. Many people spread their robes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. Then those who went before and those who followed kept shouting: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven! – Mark 11:7-10 HCSB

What’s a “Carnival Christian?” A Carnival Christian is someone who only enjoys the fun. They get caught up in the excitement of cheering for Jesus, but…  ( Click for more )

Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith. – Habakkuk 2:4 HCSB

Many Christians love to quote Paul’s famous verse, “God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.[1]” It is the flagship verse of those who take grace to the point where they claim that works are totally unrelated to righteousness. But these misguided folk fail to recognize the history behind this verse. Paul is actually quoting Habakkuk who clearly taught that faith is not…  ( Click for more )

And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. – Luke 2:36-38

Albert Einstein once said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.…  ( Click for more )

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven…A time to keep and a time to throw away. - Ecclesiastes 3:1,6

Most people think of hippopotami as fat, lumbering, slow, inoffensive creatures. But they can actually be very fast and very dangerous. They can become a serious problem when humans and hippos try to share the same space.

Many years ago in the country of Chad, a hippo had been kicked out of its territory by other hippos. It decided to take up residence in an area of the river where the villagers swam, washed…  ( Click for more )

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31

We use reminders to help us constantly: calendars, alarm clocks, watches or PDAs. Why do those who are married wear wedding rings? It is not merely to identify our state to others, but also to remind ourselves of our vows!

Not all of us need to nail mezuzot to our doorposts. But all of us need to be looking for ways to include our Beloved into our daily lives. It is far more important to incorporate Christ into our day-to-day activities than it is to set aside time…  ( Click for more )

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. - 1 Corinthians 10:31

There once was an elderly, righteous and holy man, who was determined to incorporate God into every aspect of his life. As he sat to eat, he breathed a prayer of gratitude. As he taught his children, he mentally begged for God’s guidance and for His blessing on the children. Even when he dressed in the morning, he tried to dress in such a way that God would be praised by his clothes.

Over time, the old man built ritual into every aspect of his days so that his…  ( Click for more )

The reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone and, as I directed you, to appoint elders in every town: someone who is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of wildness or rebellion. For an overseer, as God’s manager, must be blameless, not arrogant, not quick tempered, not addicted to wine, not a bully, not greedy for money, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy self-controlled, holding to the faithful message as taught, so that he will be able both to encourage with sound teaching and to refute…  ( Click for more )

An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an able teacher, not addicted to wine, not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, not greedy – one who manages his own household competently, having his children under control with all dignity…Furthermore, he must have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the Devil’s trap. – 1 Timothy 3:2-4,7 HCSB

The church is not a monarchy. The pastor is not the supreme ruler. The church is not a republic.…  ( Click for more )

"No! You will not die," the serpent said to the woman. "In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate [it]; – Genesis 3:4-6 (NASB)

There is a recurring theme throughout the course of history that finds its source in this initial act of rebellion. Our ancestress Eve longed for divinity and in reaching for that unattainable state,…  ( Click for more )

He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. - John 14:21 (NASB)

A tzaddik was approached by a young construction worker seeking reassurance that he was on the right path. When the elder gently pointed out sins the young man was contentedly living with, he was answered, “Yeah, I know that those are probably sins, but I attend church, and I provide for my wife and I don’t steal. Surely in the end God will accept me.”

The tzaddik countered,…  ( Click for more )