Many people today believe that we can worship God on our own terms, but God’s Word gives us direction with regard to his plans for our worship. Scripture: Deuteronomy, chapters 10-12; Mark, chapter 16 Deuteronomy 12:1-11 (NLT): These are the decrees and regulations you must be careful to obey when you live in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must obey them as long as you live. When you drive out the... Read more
The “privilege of holiness” is not some special benefit that we earn for “good behavior”; instead, holiness is the privilege! Scripture: Deuteronomy, chapters 7-9; Mark, chapter 15 Deuteronomy 7:1-6, 25-26 (NLT): When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, he will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you. When the Lord your God... Read more
All of us experience times when it feels as though God has tossed us aside. Psalm 43 helps us to understand how to respond and experience God’s joy again. Scripture: Deuteronomy, chapters 5-6; Psalm 43; Mark, chapter 14 Psalm 43 (NLT): Declare me innocent, O God! Defend me against these ungodly people. Rescue me from these unjust liars. For you are God, my only safe haven. Why have you tossed me aside? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed... Read more
Satan does not usually try to shout at us and bully us into evil; instead, sin whispers... Scripture: Deuteronomy, chapters 3-4; Psalm 36; Mark, chapter 13 Psalm 36 (NLT) Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are. Everything they say is crooked and deceitful. They refuse to act wisely or do good. They lie awake at night, hatching sinful... Read more
We may not always understand how God works, or why he works in the ways he does, but when he tells us to not “go back into the village,” we need to listen! Scripture: Numbers, chapters 28-29; Mark, chapter 8 Mark 8:22-26 (NLT) When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and let him out of... Read more
Moses asked God to raise up a leader to follow him; God already had a plan! He told Moses to “take Joshua,” because “the Spirit is in him.” Scripture: Numbers, chapters 24-27; 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 Numbers 27:12-23 (NLT) One day the Lord said to Moses, “Climb one of the mountains east of the river, and look out over the land I have given the people of Israel. After you have seen it, you will die like your brother, Aaron,... Read more
God sometimes allows – or even sends – “poisonous snakes” into our lives. What can we learn from these difficult circumstances? Scripture: Numbers, chapters 21-23; Mark, chapters 6-7 Numbers 21:4-9 (NLT): Then the people of Israel set out from Mount Hor, taking the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient with the long journey, and they began to speak against God and Moses. “Why have you brought us out of... Read more
“What Should I Give Up for Lent?” The purpose of “giving up something for Lent” is to create more room in our lives for God, and our relationship with him. “What is Lent all about?” I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene in the 1960s. The Church of the Nazarene is part of the “Wesleyan-Holiness” stream of Christianity. Our church developed out of the Methodist Church in the late 1800s. Like many... Read more
Scripture: Exodus, chapters 30-32; Acts, chapter 8 Exodus 32:30-35 (NLT): The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a terrible sin, but I will go back up to the Lord on the mountain. Perhaps I will be able to obtain forgiveness for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed. They have made gods of gold for themselves. But now, if you will only forgive their... Read more
Scripture: Exodus, chapters 28-29; Acts, chapter 7 Acts 7:30-38 (NLT): “Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the Lord called out to him, ‘I am the God of your ancestors – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with terror and did not... Read more
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