22 Books I Read in 2016 Below is a list of links to book reviews for the 21 books I read in 2016. My goal was to read a book every two weeks. I didn’t reach my goal, but I came close. I enjoyed reading each and every book and I hope to continue the trend in 2017. Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation by Bruce Metzger The Theology of the Book of Revelation by Richard Bauckham A... Read more
Top Ten Goals President Trump Will Accomplish President Donald J. Trump will be inaugurated this week. He has made many promises. How many of these promises will be fulfilled? What will President Trump accomplish? I want to share the top ten goals President Trump will accomplish during his first term. 1. He will move the American Embassy to Jerusalem Trump has made the promise of moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem. He will make do on this promise relatively early... Read more
2 Timothy 2:1-2 Grace It Forward You may have heard of the expression “pay it forward.” “Pay it forward” is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor. It is a rather old idea. Pay it forward was used as a key element of a play by Menander, “Dyskolos” (a title which can be translated as “The Grouch”). Dyskolos was a prize-winning play in ancient Athens in 317... Read more
5 Ways to Trust God January 13, 2017 Year A Psalm 40:1-11 Trusting God is a hard thing for many people. We live in a society that says that we need to see results and we need to see them now. We go to a fast-food restaurant and we expect the food to come out quickly and efficiently. We go to the store and we expect the place to have the products we need. Because if we don’t, we can... Read more
The 5 Don’ts of the Call of God January 10, 2017 Year A Jeremiah 1:4-10 When God calls you to serve Him, you don’t say no. In the first chapter of Jeremiah, we are introduced to the call of God on Jeremiah’s like. Like Exodus 3, we see that God calls out a man to serve Him. In the same way, we see the doubts and hesitations that may come with being told to serve God. It is a daunting... Read more
Luke 15:1-32 The Priority of Reaching the Lost In these three parables, we see the importance God places is reaching the lost. In the first parable, a shepherd has 100 sheep. He loses one and leaves the other 99 to go after the one. In the second parable, a woman has 10 coins. She loses 1 coin. She takes all her effort to search for that one coin. In the third parable, a man has two sons. He loses one... Read more
5 Positive Prayers to Pray for the Government January 6, 2017 Year A Psalm 72:1-20 In this psalm, we have a positive prayer for the leader of Israel. We see that David prayed for the new king Solomon. David had spent the latter part of his kingship and life preparing his son Solomon to take the throne. Here, we see that David prays for the success of Solomon’s reign. What an amazing idea. Pray for the government’s success. I know... Read more
Hebrews 4:14-16 Increasing My Confidence in My Conversation with God All Christians struggle with two crucial areas that will make or break us in the Christian life: perseverance in times of trial; and, prayer. As you know, they are connected. A vital prayer life is essential to endure trials. In other words, in order to endure difficult time, I need to build my confidence as a Christian. Prayer is essential to building my faith. But what if I don’t have... Read more
I Will Remind People of God’s Love January 1, 2017 Year A Isaiah 63:7-9 It’s another New Year’s Day. Typically, people make resolutions for the new year. They make a plan about bad habits to quit, weight to lose, and projects to complete. I have none of these. Instead, I have one thing I plan to do more of this year: I plan to remind people more about God’s love. Isaiah says that he will make known God’s faithful love... Read more
The Comforting Ways of God December 28, 2016 Year A Isaiah 49:13-23 The writer of Isaiah states that everyone should shout for joy because God has comforted His people and He will have compassion on them (Isaiah 49:13). Then the people (noted by the word Zion) state: God has abandoned and forgotten me (Isaiah 49:14). Zion brings up an important reality. It’s easy to imagine that God has abandoned and forgotten me. We may feel at times that God is... Read more
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