Focal Passage: Psalm 119:1-16

Psalm 119 opens with reminder that obedience to the Word of God is the key to happiness. More than owning a copy of the Bible or simply reading it, we must do what it says! While some people tend to dismiss the requirement of obedience as legalism, the psalmist reminds us that living according to God’s decrees and instructions flows not from a desire to earn His favor, but from seeking Him with all your heart (Psalm 119:1-2). 

The legalist views God like the man in the Parable of the Talents who buried his money in the ground because he viewed his master as a shrewd and harsh taskmaster (Matthew 25:24-25). The motivation of the legalist fails to ask, “How may I serve Him?” and chafes under the weight of “How can I finally satisfy Him?” Yet even when the work remains incomplete, he takes great pride in his accomplishments “for God.” [Read more…]

The Book of Psalms begins with the contrast of two life paths; one leads to happiness, the other leads to ruin. The psalmist clarified that the pathway to happiness consists in part of actively avoiding the pathway to ruin. In our walking, standing, and sitting (all of our waking hours) we must avoid the wicked, sinners, and mockers (Psalm1:1) who champion godlessness. 

However, it is not sufficient merely to avoid evil people. Christian Fundamentalists have often been critiqued for their frequent recitations of what Christians must NOT do. If all we do is avoid sin, we have accomplished nothing more than sitting on the fence of moral neutrality.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: II Peter 3:8-18 

My family has an elderly friend who will soon be with Jesus. One thing is for sure — there will be no deathbed confession. Why? Ms. Jean has been confessing her faith in Jesus for decades. Whether you were family, friend, home health nurse, or total stranger, she would tell you about her faith in Christ, and that she was ready to go home. 

Have you ever met someone who was banking on their deathbed confession? Several years ago, I witnessed to a young father and then asked him what he thought about the truths I had shared.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: II Peter 1:3-8, 16-21 

When you are sending your child away on a trip, you may ask, “Do you have everything you need?” What if the question was broadened to address your life as a whole? Typically, we would answer the question with several items from our wish list, which may include some critically important things. 

Yet when we consider the true definition of “need,” we realize that most if not all the items on our list technically qualify as wants. Even many of the things that are perceived as needs are actually created needs, like your cell phone. All but the last forty years of humanity survived without one!  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: II Peter 2:1-3, 17-19; Jude 17-23 

I am currently teaching Contemporary World Religions in Seminary Extension, because the nations are coming to our cities and we need to know what they believe. The course is mostly a study of spiritual darkness. It reveals the numerous pathways, both at home and abroad, that people are taking to avoid the cross of Christ and embrace intricately woven lies. Peter warned that false prophets would infiltrate the early church with heresies that deny Christ and bring spiritual destruction (II Peter 2:1), and the battle continues today. 

False teachers become a poison in local churches because people follow their “depraved ways,” and malign the truth (v. 2:2). Notice the exchange. In spite of what the kingdom of darkness wants people to believe, one cannot simply choose a contradictory set of beliefs and follow them.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: I Peter 5:1-11

A CEO is much different than a shepherd. In the final decades of the twentieth century, an excessive emphasis on numerical growth began to “flip the Script[ure]” and many churches put the shepherd model out to pasture. He was replaced by a man with surplus self-confidence, a type A personality, and maybe even an advanced degree in business, who knew he could turn the ship around. And turn he did! While not all aspects of the church growth movement were bad, several priorities became distorted, especially the need for pastors with shepherding hearts. 

Peter made it clear that elders must shepherd the flock. What does that mean?  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: I Peter 4:12-19 

I had been a Christian for several years before I heard anyone speak on God’s purpose in suffering. I had heard preachers affirm Paul’s desire “to know Him and the power of His resurrection,” but they often failed to finish the verse: “…and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10). 

The false gospel of prosperity idolizes health and wealth, because it wrongly associates suffering with either sin or a lack of faith. On the contrary, the Bible teaches us to expect suffering. While God often uses suffering to produce spiritual maturity and perseverance in us (Romans 4:3-4, James 1:2-4), the Bible more frequently connects Christian suffering to our identification with Christ.  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: Mark 15:33-39; 16:1-8 

The suffering of Christ on Calvary is impossible for us to fully understand. The Son of God who laid aside His glory (Philippians 2:6-7) and took on our flesh (John 1:14) experienced all our temptations (Hebrews 4:15), and went to the cross to satisfy holy justice (II Corinthians 5:21) by paying the sin debt for everyone who would look to Him by faith (Isaiah 53:3-10).

On the cross, the Son who is coequal and coeternal with the Father experienced abandonment, a painful break in the fellowship they had always shared. [Read more…]

Focal Passage: 1 Peter 4:1-11  

When I was in elementary school I received a report card every six weeks. In addition to the fear and trembling activated by the grades, there was a preprinted set of behavioral concerns that teachers could mark each grading period. Multiple times I earned a checkmark by the box reading, “Needs to refrain from unnecessary talking and movement.” It was a convenient way for teachers to say, “Troy needs to stop goofing off and do his work!” 

Thankfully, a few marks for bad behavior in elementary school did not wreck my life. The intervention of godly parents regularly pointed me toward God’s expectations! In a much more critical scenario, Peter exhorted his readers that enough time had been spent “doing what the Gentiles choose to do” (I Peter 4:3).  [Read more…]

Focal Passage: I Peter 3:13-22 

As Christians our lives should draw a clear line between good and evil. Our suffering should be for the sake of righteousness and our testimony should affirm the same truth. First Peter 3:15 puts “Lord” first (the emphatic position), revealing the Lordship of Christ to be first and foremost in Peter’s mind. Nothing calls us to righteous living like worshiping Christ as Lord. 

When we set apart Christ as Lord, understanding that the title refers to His active authority and not just part of His name, we submit every aspect of life to His command. Nothing is outside His Lordship! His glory seen in His finished work on the cross becomes the reason for our hope. When we wave the banner of the cross and not human philosophy or efforts, our message answers every objection with gentleness and respect and disarms the enemies of the cross (v. 16). [Read more…]