Watch Out for False Teachers Peter began this letter by speaking of the divine provision for a godly life (1:1–11). He went on to stress the divine inspiration of Scripture truths (1:12–21). Now he warns against those who are threatening the church’s spiritual well being by the way they falsely treat these matters (2:1–22). 2:1 In some respects times do not change. All prophecy, whoever gives it and in whatever circumstances, needs to be interpreted. Furthermore, just as in the period of the OT there were ...
Question - What do King David, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton have in common? They all at one time entered "THE SPIN ZONE." What is "The Spin Zone"? The "Spin Zone" is when you enter into God's "No Sin Zone" out of a lust for power, sex, influence or money which causes you to sin which you then try to cover up. In the Garden of Eden God warned Adam and Eve about His "No Sin Zone" and they refused to listen, they entered into "The Spin Zone" and you know the rest of the story. Nixon had his Watergate, ...
Writer and Readers 1 By custom, Hellenistic letters began with a threefold formula: (a) the name of the sender; (b) the name of the recipient; and (c) an opening salutation. Greek writers followed the pattern “(a) to (b): greetings.” A NT example is the letter of Claudius Lysias to Felix (Acts 23:26). Jewish letters were introduced slightly differently. The opening sentence gave the names of writer and recipient. A second sentence invoked a blessing upon the reader. The three elements of (a) author, (b) ...
Probably the mother of all misprints in any book, came in the misprint of a Bible. In 1631 someone discovered a word that was missing in a newly published version of the Bible, called The King James Version. The missing word was "not" in the seventh commandment which then made the Authorized Version to read, "Thou shalt commit adultery." From then on, this 1631 addition of the Bible became known as the "Wicked Bible."[1] Well, this seems to be the Bible the world is wanting to read today. Without question ...
This pericope is in two parts. First there is the testimony of Nathan against David. A little trap is laid about another man who has stolen a lamb. David answers without self-consciousness. Nathan has to tell David, "You are the man who has stolen the sheep." "You are the one who should be punished." We are reminded of that wonderful part of the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our sins — debts — trespasses — as we forgive those who sin against us." David indeed has stolen the wife of Uriah from him. David has ...
Ethical relativists have moved into our lives like a horde of invading barbarians threatening to conquer the land. Increasingly, people seem to be succumbing to the enemy. Many today say, "Nothing is absolute, not God, not the Bible, not the Ten Commandments." The only absolute for many people today seems to be the statement, "There are no absolutes." Guess again. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) are biblical correctives for a society that too easily has been overcome by the ethical relativists who ...
Our Extreme Home Makeover is moving right along, but there is one thing we have not yet mentioned and that is – building codes. As you know, before you can occupy a home, it has to meet standard building codes. Building codes are developed by people who are actively involved in the construction industry. Their purpose is, "To provide minimum standards for the protection of life, limb, property and environment and for the safety and welfare of the consumer, general public and the owners and occupants of ...
In Kenny Rogers' greatest hit, he meets up with a gambler who gives him this advice: You got to know when to hold ‘em Know when to fold ‘em Know when to walk away and know when to run You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table There's time enough for countin' when the dealings done. In this soap opera episode from the life of Joseph, which is our scripture lesson for today, Joseph knows when to run. Maybe there is a lesson from the life of Joseph for all of us who struggle with temptations ...
Atlas, Hercules and Tantalus; a Powerful and Deadly Fruit; All About War and Rape and Divorce; Laziness and Guilt Trips and Punishment for All The Above But Don't Despair: a Touch of Salvation Too. As a boy, I was facinated with those Greek myths, the stories of Hercules and Atlas, Zeus and Mercury, Narcissus and Neptune. Let me tell you one of those - one which brings together the familiar words "Nectar", "Ambrosia", and "Tantalize". It was King Tantalus of Phrygia whose birth, as often is the case in ...
Eva Longoria married Tony Parker, the point guard for the San Antonia Spurs, on July 6, 2007, in a civil ceremony at a Paris city hall. They had a Catholic wedding ceremony at the Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church in Paris on July 7, 2007. On November 17, 2010, Longoria filed for divorce from Parker in Los Angeles, citing “irreconcilable differences.” Longoria told the media that she had discovered hundreds of text messages from another woman on her husband’s phone. The other woman was Erin Barry, the wife ...
This prophecy does not have the sound and fury of many another. Here is a sweet, gentle breeze, refreshing, invigorating. Jeremiah in his own person is much like the tone of this prophecy. If you've read much of Jeremiah, it may surprise you to learn that he was of a shy, gentle disposition. He wanted people about him. He was affectionate. In this prophecy he is talking about a new law God will write in the heart. Spontaneity of obedience will come from deep inside rather than being imposed from the ...
This prophecy does not have the sound and fury of many another. Here is a sweet, gentle breeze, refreshing, invigorating. Jeremiah in his own person is much like the tone of this prophecy. If you’ve read much of Jeremiah, it may surprise you to learn that he was of a shy, gentle disposition. He wanted people about him. He was affectionate. In this prophecy he is talking about a new law God will write in the heart. Spontaneity of obedience will come from deep inside rather than being imposed from the ...
Have you ever noticed how many rules we unconsciously follow each day? Most of us were raised with a list of rules that help us to get along with others or to achieve some goal: Share your toys. Pick up after yourself. Don’t run with scissors. Kids often get frustrated because they have so many rules to follow. Because nobody is perfect. We all bend the rules occasionally. Yes, rules can keep us safe. They can help us create a civil society. But we can also go overboard in creating rigid rules that they ...
Jesus and his faithful band had begun their final journey to Jerusalem; it was the last trip that they would take together. Along the way Jesus told them again that he would be condemned to death by the authorities, he would die, but would be raised on the third day. It would happen to him on this very trip to Jerusalem, he said. This was the third time that Jesus had made this prophecy in the presence of his followers. Yet this time, according to Matthew, there was no reaction of shock or disbelief by the ...
I believe the Bible is the Word of God and I know that many of you do as well. Let me ask you this question, "Would you give $89,500 for one Bible?" Well, you just might if it was "the wicked bible". There is a reason why it is not only called the "wicked bible", but it is so valuable. It is because it has probably the mother of all misprints of any book ever published in history. In 1631, King Charles I ordered one-thousand Bibles from an English printer, named Robert Barker. It was almost flawlessly done ...
I heard a story one time about a young doctor just getting started in his first practice out in the country. This was back in the days when doctors made house calls. Late one night he got a call from a farmer who said, "Doctor, come quickly, my wife is seriously ill." Well, grabbing his little black bag he hurried out to the farm. The farmer met him on the steps, rushed him into the house, and upstairs into the bedroom where his wife lay sick. The doctor took a look at her, told the farmer to step outside ...
Evagrius Ponticus, also known as Evagrius the Solitary, was a Christian monk and ascetic who resided in a monastery in the Egyptian desert. Concerned with the temptations that besought people, in the year 375 AD he compiled a list of the eight terrible thoughts, also referred to as the eight evil temptations. The eight patterns of evil that Evanrius listed are: gluttony, greed, sloth, sorrow, lust, anger, vainglory, and pride. The list was not to be one of condemnation; rather, it was to raise awareness to ...
A billboard with letters of red on a yellow background screams the question: WERE YOU BAPTIZED RIGHT? And underneath is a phone number where both an answer and a remedy presumably may be found. It may seem a ridiculous question to many of us, but the fact that the question is there at all indicates someone takes it seriously. Questions about the form and practice of baptism have caused many divisions in the church through the years. Persons who were baptized in their infancy come requesting baptism by ...
Every pastor has had this experience. It doesn't have to be the husband in a marriage, but let's just say that it's the husband. The man comes to the pastor's study clutching the report from the physician's office: high blood pressure, overweight, danger of heart disease. The physician has ordered the man to lose weight and to stop smoking. Sitting in the pastor's office, the man swears he is going to take better care of himself. He's said it before, but this time he really means it. He wants to be around ...
Ironically, 1 Kings 19 contains one of the most familiar, revered stories of the prophet Elijah's tumultuous life, and it is a historical-critical quagmire. There is no reason to believe that the events in chapter 19 chronologically followed those in chapter 18. The consensus is that a skillful redactor put together the two units by adding 9:1-3, thus connecting the flight to Horeb with the events at Carmel. Chapter 9 itself then combines three stories out of the Elijah tradition - his desert wanderings, ...
In the best tradition of science fiction, it is always a little, three-toed, one-eyed, green skinned creature with a radio antenna sticking out of the top of his skull that steps out of a flying saucer space ship and says to the first American he meets: "Take me to your leader." Have you ever asked yourself, if you were confronted by such a question, just where or to whom would you take this visitor from another planet? I suspect that many of us would be forced to answer: "I’d be glad to take you to our ...
Guin Ream Tuckett was asked to teach a junior high Sunday School class. All went well until she reached the lessons on sex. This is not a subject that is easy for adults working with this particular age group to broach. Although Guin worked out a well-balanced, Biblically-based lesson, her kids seemed pretty uninterested. That is, until one kid asked if there were sex stories in the Bible. Guin assured them that there were both good and bad examples of sex represented in the Good Book. Now she had their ...
Passion Sunday, the whole story of the dastardly plots and betrayals that brought Jesus to the cross, lies before us. You know the story well. It is filled with a number of subplots, all of which provide insights about the kind of people that we are and how our sins nailed Jesus to the cross. We see how the disciples (especially Judas and Peter, as well as the sons of Zebedee), each in his own way, failed our Lord. In similar ways we have failed him. We hear the story of our Lord's courage, his love of ...
An older couple was driving down the road on Sunday afternoon. She was leaning against the door on her side -- some would say polishing the chrome -- and he was driving. They were eager to get where they were going, but were slowed down dramatically by a young couple, who were cuddling in the car before them -- the young woman was almost sitting in his lap, rubbing his face, and now and then kissing him on the cheek, and ever now and then -- though it was dangerous -- he would turn around and kiss her. ...
This world's kingdoms have never been presented in a more Machiavellian fashion or more compellingly. And never before and never again have they been nor will they be targeted to one with more reason to succumb. Surely one of the great strengthening comforts of taking Jesus Christ as our Lord is that he, more than anyone else, understands our temptations. Scripture tells us, "He himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested" (Hebrews 2:18). So we can say with ...