Days, Feasts and the Crucifixion

Many don't realize there are more sabbaths described in the Old Testament than simply every 7th day of the week.  In addition, it is helpful to understand that the Hebrew days were counted from sunset to sunset rather than midnight to midnight as they are in modern times. Putting these things together may serve to …

Victims and Vengeance

                                                       Victims and Vengeance I would like to share a short story with you about something that happened to me the other day, my failure, and the lesson I am …

Emmanuel, God With Us

                                                 Emmanuel, God With Us The Christmas season is again upon us.  As I drive through my neighborhood, I am impressed at the kaleidoscopic array of Christmas lights, the elaborate decorations, and …

David Numbers the People: The Three Choices

                                          David Numbers the People: The Three Choices Relevant passages: I Chronicles 21, II Samuel 24 When I was a young boy, it would seem I had a predisposition for mischief.  It’s true—but it’s not …

The Will of God and the Means to Do It (Part 4)

“…for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find” (Rom. 7:18b).  In our last post (Part 3) we examined the wrong way believers sometimes go about trying to perform that which is good—human effort, vows, resolutions, a determination to self-reform, gritting our teeth, etc.—in a word, …

The Paralytic (Mark 2)

Some notes and thoughts on the Lord's healing of the paralytic in Mark 2. 1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.  2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He …

The Will of God and the Means to Do it (Part 3)

 “…for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find” (Rom. 7:18b).  In part 1 of this series we gave some general thoughts concerning the truth of this verse, and in part 2 we discussed the first half of the verse: the will or inner desire to …

The Solitary Place

Each of the four Gospel writers portrays different aspects of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ.  In Mark’s Gospel, we see Christ as the perfect Servant of Jehovah, the One who “[took] the form of a bondservant” (Php. 2:7) and at every turn accomplished the will of God the Father.  As we read the …

The Will of God and the Means to Do It (Part 2)

– Part 2: The Will – In the first post in this series we began to deal with the very real struggle all of us face in our lives as believers—the struggle of how to do good.  For oftentimes we desire to “do good” but then find ourselves instead doing what we hate.  The Word …

The Will of God and the Means to Do It – Rom. 7:18

I thought it might be good to begin a series of meditations on something the Lord has taught me recently, and I must add, taught me with much patience and longsuffering.  May the Lord help each of us to walk in a way pleasing to Him, “finding out what is acceptable to [Him]” (Eph. 5:10). …