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"Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.. (Galatians 5.19-21).

A key word in the passage cited is the word evident. That which is evident is not hidden; it is, as we might say, patently obvious. One does not have…  ( Click for more )

"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Galatians 5.16-18).

The primary lesson in this text has to do with the Law of Moses and the fact that it had ceased to exist as an authoritative system of religion; its purpose had been fulfilled and a better system had supplanted it. The Law had not failed! In point of fact,…  ( Click for more )

"For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" (Galatians 5.13-15). The key thought in this text is "through love serve one another." We will examine this phrase in this context.

The Christian religion is a religion of the heart; it literally cannot be forced or coerced! Religious…  ( Click for more )

Quoting a biblical proverb: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.” (Proverbs 22.1). David had a “good name” but the adjective to describe Solomon’s name was yet to be determined. As today’s focus text (below) indicates, Solomon was at a crossroads in his life and in the life of Israel. His name and his legacy would be what he made it to be. God encouraged Solomon to walk as David walked, but the doing of it remained completely in Solomon’s hands.

“And the LORD said to him…  ( Click for more )

“Prejudice,” says the bigot, “is a great timesaver; it keeps me from having to gather the evidence before making judgments about people!” Today’s focus text contains a record of two groups of people. The first group drew conclusions about Jesus prior to examining the evidence. The second group also drew conclusions about Jesus but only after they had examined critical pieces of evidence. Think with me as we examine this historical account and determine to which of the two groups we belong.

“So He [Jesus] got into a boat, crossed over, and came…  ( Click for more )

“Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.” (Mark 9.2-4).

To be transfigured is to be changed. In fact, the Greek word which translates transfigured in this passage is the source word for our English word metamorphosis. A shortened form of this same word which is popular in our culture…  ( Click for more )

The apostles and ministers of our Lord were not without troubles in the first century. They had those who challenged their authority just as there are some who challenge the Bible, God's source of authority today. Today’s devotional consists of a passage from the apostle Paul in which he defended His apostleship and the authority that went with it. It has great merit in every generation.

"Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are…  ( Click for more )

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (Romans 8.31-34).

Well, people were against Jesus, weren't they? After all, He was crucified by His political and religious enemies. Before…  ( Click for more )

“Then Jesus said to them, 'When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.' As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.” (John 8.28-30).

Restating, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He…” Knowledge that Jesus is the Son of Man is prerequisite to pleasing the Father. That is not all there is to it, but this knowledge…  ( Click for more )

Someone has said (perhaps tongue in cheek), “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Another person said, “If ignorance is bliss, I am happy and getting happier all the time!” Of course, nothing could be further from the truth than to believe the rule that the lack of knowledge cannot harm. In fact, ignorance of certain facts can result in everything from physical pain to spiritual death. Today’s message deals with a text in which some of the participants were ignorant of an important fact; ignorance of that fact was and is an omission with eternal…  ( Click for more )

“'Therefore I [Jesus] said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.' Then they said to Him, 'Who are You?' And Jesus said to them, 'Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.'” (John 8.24-26).

Maybe when they asked who He was, they really meant to say, “Just who do you think You are?” In any case, they were questioning His truthfulness…  ( Click for more )

The question posed by the Jews to Jesus was and is THE question of the ages; it was straightforward and direct. “Who are you?” (John 8.25). This would not be the last time the question was asked as we will see at the end of today’s message. It was also implied at other times during the ministry of Jesus. The important thing is not so much in what Jesus answered, but how He answered. This will be our focus!

Anyone can make a claim. I could claim to be Napoleon. Or, I could claim to have discovered a cure for cancer. Claims are cheap! However, even on occasions…  ( Click for more )

Unusual? Yes! Long passages are usually taboo in articles such as this. However, the text which we are using is also unusual. I beg your attention as you read and glean from this ten-verse text. There are five phrases which you will see that are presented here in bold text. These five phrases will be used as the focus text for each of this week's devotional messages.

“Then Jesus said to them again, 'I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.' So the Jews said, 'Will He kill Himself, because He says, “Where I go you…  ( Click for more )

“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.’” (Genesis 8.20-22).

There are several firsts…  ( Click for more )

“And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Exodus 8.16-19).

Isaiah’s countrymen were determined to pervert the purposes of God and to honor the pagan practices around them. Their will to follow God was much weaker than their wish to be aligned with the cultures into which they had been assimilated.…  ( Click for more )

“So the LORD said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.”’ And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. So there were lice on man and beast. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger…  ( Click for more )

He was not a stranger to pain whether emotional, physical, or otherwise. Yet, he would write, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8.18). The word consider in today’s focus text is otherwise translated reckon in many places. It indicates a reasoned comparison and analysis; it is not a capricious estimate, but a real and detailed comparison of two quantities or qualities. With this in view, the writer was literally saying, “After much and careful consideration,…  ( Click for more )

Many things which Solomon saw “under the sun” were things that were derived of his own experiences and were, in fact, flawed. Contrary to the axiom, “Experience is the best teacher,” Solomon found out that experience was sometimes deceitful and wrong conclusions could be easily drawn. However, not all his conclusions were flawed even when experience was his teacher. Today's devotional will view one such conclusion and explore the reasons why it was, and still is, true.

Solomon wrote, “When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business…  ( Click for more )

During the Watergate Investigations about three or four decades ago, Sam Ervin, the late Senator from North Carolina, was heard to say, “It sometimes is better to have a good forgettery than a good memory.” His remarks came on the heels of repeated memory failures on the part of then-President Nixon’s staff to remember critical details related to the Watergate incident. While a good forgettery may be a good thing to have in some circumstances, most of the time it is not a blessing, but a curse! Our devotional today will address the human forgettery and God our Creator. …  ( Click for more )

Once saved, always saved is not a biblical doctrine. This doctrine is also referred to by some as the impossibility of apostasy as well as the perseverance of the saints. One New Testament example is adequate to prove that this doctrine is of men and not of God. Today’s devotional will examine this New Testament example. The setting is Samaria, the preacher is Philip the evangelist, and the time is after the scattering of the disciples in Jerusalem as a result of the persecutions that came upon the early church.

First we will go to the end of the story and work our way backward.…  ( Click for more )

From the pen of Jeremiah we are able to read of the horrific spiritual condition of the fallen nation of Israel. Essentially the entire nation of Israel had gone whoring after other gods, the gods of the heathens that surrounded them. The way for this great apostasy was paved by false kings, false priests, false prophets, and covetous masses. Apathy towards the Law of God was rampant even as today’s focus text reveals.

Speaking through Jeremiah, God said: “Therefore I will give their wives to others, And their fields to those who will inherit them; Because from the…  ( Click for more )

“Then Elisha went to Damascus, and Ben-Hadad king of Syria was sick; and it was told him, saying, ‘The man of God has come here.’ And the king said to Hazael, ‘Take a present in your hand, and go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD by him, saying, “Shall I recover from this disease?”’ So Hazael went to meet him and took a present with him, of every good thing of Damascus, forty camel-loads; and he came and stood before him, and said, ‘Your son Ben-Hadad king of Syria has sent me to you, saying, “Shall I recover from…  ( Click for more )

Have you ever marveled at anything? Has anything ever amazed you? Inasmuch as Jesus was as wise as He was and knew all the things that He did, would you think that He would ever have marveled at anything or encountered anything that amazed Him? It is interesting that there are only two biblical events in which Jesus was involved in which it was said that He marveled; look at one of them with me.

“Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.' And Jesus said to…  ( Click for more )

“Let’s not haggle about the price; just give me what you think is fair!” There have been times when I have said this to a close and trusted friend. Maybe it was about a bit of carpenter work I did for them, or perhaps they wanted to buy something from me for which I had no particular need. What follows are some thoughts on fairness that came to me after a Sunday morning Bible class.

It all started while we were discussing one of Jesus’ parables, the one sometimes styled The Hired Vineyard Laborers in Matthew 20.1-16. I will summarize it here but please…  ( Click for more )