Preach The Word

In a bulletin article a few weeks ago I mentioned the courage of Jeremiah, who stood before kings (who had the power of life and death over him) and delivered God’s message of doom and defeat. I even indicated that we all (and especially the preacher) should pray that God would give us that kind of courage to witness and speak His Word to others. And then we get to the book of Ezekiel, and we find...

There are some things that will cause us to fail to consider the reality of Christ’s return, and Jesus mentioned at least a couple of them in Matthew 24 . In Matthew 24:12 He said, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” This is the same condition that He said existed in the church at Ephesus. In Revelation 2 the Lord praised their labor, their endurance, their testin...

We all are familiar with the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (or, their Hebrew names, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael). Like them, we will experience pressure on us because of our walk with God. That pressure will come from the world, the flesh, and the devil. Anyone who lives for the Lord will understand that the Christian life is difficult! We have found that we are at odds with this wor...

Many will look at these verses of our text and consider the actions of Joshua as cruel. After these five kings hid themselves in a cave he imprisoned them and set a guard over them until he got back from battle. Upon his return he brought them out, had his men stand on their necks, and then killed them. But we have to remember that there was a battle going on. There was a war going on. The battle...

One of the great problems in the Lord’s churches today is that we have developed a “professional ministry.” Too many preachers are more concerned with pleasing the congregation than they are with pleasing God. And too many congregations are happy to let them do it. Elijah didn’t mince words. He was plain spoken. He had not learned the art of saying something without saying anything -- of almost sa...

At the outset of this message I want to share two verses of Scripture and two certainties that have to do with the thoughts I am about to present. Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord . . . ” and Psalm 9:17 says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” There was a time when we were happy and blessed as a nation. God was at least in our...

The attitude of so many in the world and so many worldly believers today is: Size equals success. (“If it’s bigger it must be better.”) Some believe that size and wealth equate to God’s blessings. That is not always the case. The devil will give the world what it wants in order to draw it to him. Remember what the Lord said to the church at Smyrna in Revelation 2:9 : “I know thy works, and tribula...

Proverbs 24 deals with the problem of neglect of and satisfaction with one’s spiritual condition. It sounds an alarm to any who suffer from this problem. Solomon says he went by a field, noticed a vineyard, and realized something was wrong. The field was overgrown with thorns and thistles. The wall that had once protected it was broken down. In those days farmers and vineyard husbandmen were respe...

This present world is Satan’s realm. In Revelation 2:13 , to the church at Pergamos Jesus said, “I know . . . where Satan’s seat is . . . ” (SEAT = throne, by implication, power.) Satan’s circuit is throughout the world, but it seems that his throne is in some places that are infamous for sin, wickedness, error, and cruelty -- Ancient Rome, Hollywood, Washington D.C. And the seat of persecution of...

Why does God allow trials in our lives? Chastisement? Sometimes He allows the consequences of our actions to be the chastisement for sin in our lives. To show us how strong we are in Him? “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” ( James 1:3 .) To teach us? “ . . . we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; (4) And patience, experience; and expe...

How often do we think about God? “Well, I pray before I eat and before I go to sleep at night, and maybe when I get up in the morning if I think about it. So, that’s about 4 or 5 times a day.” Let me rephrase my question. How often do we think deeply about God? What do I mean? I am talking about regularly considering the greatness of God -- His power, His knowledge, His wisdom - so that we get an...

The story of John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania. In teaching on the last days, Jesus reminded us several times that we are to be ready for His return and be faithful to the end -- to do the work He has given us to do. Matthew 24:42, 44 : “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Vs. 44 "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Ma...

This psalm is the second of the so-called “penitential” (or penitent) psalms. It is the first of the 13 “maschil” psalms (“maschil” = for instruction). (David is going to teach us something.) It was almost certainly written after David had committed adultery and premeditated murder. In Psalm 51:14 he prays, “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness . . . ” (BLOODGUILTINESS = the shedding of blood that caus...

The practice of using set forms of prayer (i.e. prayer books, memorized prayers, etc.) finds no justification in the Psalms. Here and throughout the book we see a complete disregard for “mechanical praying.” When you have a burning concern, prayer comes from the heart, not the head. Such prayer gets straight to the point. It reveals our need without regard to words and phrases. Much modern-day pra...

God’s Word teaches us that, as believers, we can bring our requests before Him. Philippians 4:6 says, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can “come boldly unto the throne of grace” to “obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Note that it says we can come “bo...

Nehemiah was a man of vision. When he received news of the condition of the people of Judah and of Jerusalem, he stepped forward. God had prepared him for this time. He had been promoted to a place of political power. He was the king's cupbearer ( vs. 11 ). It was, more or less, a rather cushy job. He lived in the palace. He was greatly trusted by the king. The job only had one drawback - he had t...

Fear is probably the greatest tool Satan uses against us today -- fear and laziness. There is the fear of failure. We are afraid to witness (or try) because we fear we might fail. There is the fear of security -- of what might happen to us (if we do witness). But God said, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee." There is the fear of the future. Sometimes we fail to serve because we're afraid of what...

This is “Resurrection Sunday!” (Of course every Sunday is “Resurrection Sunday.”) Today, at a time that coincides with the Jewish Passover we place a special interest or acknowledgement on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Passover marks God’s freeing of His people, Israel, from Egyptian bondage. If there had been no Passover, if God had not sent that final plague on Egypt, the Israel...

      We began this series of messages several weeks ago by presenting the politically incorrect Jesus. As we pointed out, by the world’s opinion today, He is neither politically nor religiously correct. This present world has “conformed” the Son of God to its liking, but the world’s Jesus IS NOT the Jesus of the Bible. Next we joined Jesus in Pilate’s judgment hall and he...

Have you ever been a substitute? A substitute is “a person or thing acting or serving in place of another.” Here is the example that was given: “soy milk is used as a substitute for dairy milk.” I agree with the definition, but I heartily disagree with the example. I tried substitute teaching once. (I think I would rather drink soy milk!) We are going to talk about THE SUBSTITUTE, the ONLY substit...

It is very easy, sitting here in comfort on a Sunday morning, to condemn Peter for denying the Lord Jesus. We have grown up enjoying the blessings of liberty as Americans. One of those blessings is what we often refer to as freedom of religion. For that reason many, if not most, Americans take that freedom for granted. They have the attitude, “I’ll go to church if I want to, and if I don’t want to...

In case you haven’t noticed, in our society today it is politically incorrect to claim Jesus, to  speak of Him, or even to invoke His blessings upon our nation, our homes, or our families. Now, I’m speaking of acknowledging the REAL Jesus. I’m speaking of the Jesus of the Bible. The “hip” religious crowd today is offering the world a different Jesus – a “modernized” version of the Son of...

There is an unbridgeable gap between the best of human wisdom, human understanding, and human counsel and the sovereignty of our God. The writer of Proverbs, Solomon, declares that none of these can stand “against the Lord” ( AGAINST = in opposition to; which can be compared to; which can avail, or prevail against Him) Someone put it this way, “Nothing clever, nothing conceived, nothing contrived...

The believers to whom Peter is speaking are being encouraged to continue in the faithful, sanctified life EVEN IN THE LIGHT OF PERSECUTION and because of the day in which we live. In vv. 1-2 he says “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (2) That he no longer should live t...

We have studied the holiness of god and the sovereignty of god, and we have seen: 1) God’s holiness is His chief characteristic; 2) God is sovereign because, “It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves.” God’s great love for us comes out of His holiness and His sovereignty. The word that is used to relate the love of god is, of course, the word “agape” (AGAPE = good-will, benevolence, love.)...