Just a Guy and his Journey Back to God

Send us Fan Mail Vindicate me, LORD, for I have led a blameless life;  I have trusted in the LORD and have not faltered. Psalms 26:1 Psalm 26 is about integrity. David begins and ends this psalm with his integrity. He claims “integrity” in verse 1 and commits himself to “integrity” in verse 11. This focus on integrity follows naturally from the penetrating psalms that come before it. If we preach...

Send us Fan Mail Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Kent Hughes writes, "THE FINAL CHAPTER of this letter seems a bit anticlimactic. Chap...

Send us Fan Mail Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 As AW Tozer writes, "The hope of the resurrection is a matter of pure faith. It rests upon the character of God and draws its comfort from the knowledge that God cannot lie nor deceive nor change. He has promised that...

Send us Fan Mail I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified. 1 Corinthians 14:5 In chapter 14, Paul continues his focus on love. The Corinthians seemed to really enjoy speaking in tongues, but as Paul states, that only edif...

Send us Fan Mail If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 Aw Tozer adds the following thought, "So when we say, “God is love,” we mean...

Send us Fan Mail Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 Often in my life, I thought I should be some important part of the body of Christ. However, today, I'm just happy to be part of it! I don't care if I'm a finger, toe or head, I just want to be part of it.  Join me in reading chapter 12 and be e...

Send us Fan Mail Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. 1 Corinthians 11:11-12 Once again, we see God valuing men and women equally. While it's acknowledged each play different roles, both roles are critical and neither is dominant over the other. Go...

Send us Fan Mail No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 The above scripture is what we most often hear about when chapter 10 is mentioned. In fact, I'll include some Tozer today and it&a...

Send us Fan Mail To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22 In 1 Corinthians 9, we see Paul living out his passion and instructions from the earlier chapters. We see a man possessed with the desire to win others to Christ. Charles Spurgeon writes about this focus this way, "It is a gran...

Send us Fan Mail So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 1 Corinthians 8:4 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be e...

Send us Fan Mail But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own b...

Send us Fan Mail I've had a chance to leave for a conference early and visit one of my daughters and grandson. I'm out from 3/3 - 3/9. Have a wonderful week   Just a Guy and His World  

Send us Fan Mail And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 When we accept Christ, our past becomes irrelevant, we are "washed clean by Jesus and the Spirit of God". Charles Spurgeon writes this about being washed clean, "If you have only trusted...

Send us Fan Mail I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.  No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame, Psalms 25:2-3 In Psalm 25, we see that David is scared that he'll be abandoned and humiliated by God. Kent Hughes writes about Psalm 25, "Why would David be worried that God would humiliate him like this? Two problems are weighing on his...

Send us Fan Mail And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? 1 Corinthians 5:2 Kent Hughes has this to say about 1 Cor 5: "Church discipline is not a topic that comes up very often in Scripture. It’s also not something that happens all that often in the church, at least not on the scale that’s happening i...

Send us Fan Mail Did you ever notice that the 22nd Psalm exhibits "that Great Shepherd of the sheep" as laying down His life for the sheep? And that the 23rd Psalm exhibits "the Good Shepherd" with all His sheep around Him happy and restful, while the 24th Psalm represents "the Chief Shepherd" who shall appear in due time — and when He does appear, then shall His shee...

Send us Fan Mail For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Corinthians 4:7 Charles Spurgeon describes the pride of the Corinthians this way,  "Pride grows like other ill weeds. It will live on any soil. In the natural heart it flourishes, springing up without sowing, and growing...

Send us Fan Mail Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly —mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 The Corinthians lived in a meritocratic society. They were interested in being upwardly mobile. In...

Send us Fan Mail The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures,  he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Psalms 23:1-3 As Tozer is pondering the great leaders of the bible and church throughout history, he sees many differences, but also surmises there's one great similarity, "Their d...

Send us Fan Mail No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7 When considering God's wisdom and His ways being a mystery to people, even His followers, AW Tozer writes in Born After Midnight, &qu...

Send us Fan Mail For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:  “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 "I have never yet heard that the Cross of Christ was made of no effect by great plainness of speech, nor even by ru...

Send us Fan Mail 1 Corinthians was written by Paul around AD 53-55 when he was near the end of his three-year ministry in Ephesus. He was writing because he'd received reports of a church struggling with immorality, division, idolatry and doctrinal confusion.  The Setting - Paul wrote 1 Corinthians during his third missionary journey, near the end of his three-year ministry in Ephesus (Acts 1...

Send us Fan Mail I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon, of the church in Cenchreae.  I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me. Romans 16:1-2 It is often easy to skim the last chapter of a book. It can seem filled with pleasantries and greetings, really nothi...

Send us Fan Mail May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 Spurgeon writes about Romans 15:13, "Power is the special and peculiar prerogative of God, and God alone. "Twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." God is God; and power belongs to him. If he delega...

Send us Fan Mail Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. Romans 14:13-14 Kent Hughes writes, "Diversity and unity are in natural antithesis because we humans tend to criticize and...