Arise!

Last Sunday was the first time that I missed worship and Bible study on the Lord’s Day in quite a long time. I missed it in two senses: first, I missed in the sense that I wasn’t there. Because I was still recovering from a cold with fever, chills, etc., I wasn’t physically able to attend. And second, I missed worship in the sense that I wanted to be there but I couldn’t be.  I feel all too often many…

The Lord used Moses to rebuke Pharaoh, to liberate the Israelite nation, and to lead them on their journey to the Promised Land. In our Bibles, we find Moses among some of God’s most faithful (Hebrews 11:23-30). However, Moses was not without sin. Perhaps the most well-known occasion comes from Numbers 20. The Israelites arrived at Kadesh without water and they were thirsty. The people complained about their condition. The congregation reached such a level of distress that in their…

The word “fear” is found 367 times in Scripture and takes on a variety of meanings. Sometimes the word refers to dread or terror. We see this usage in passages like Genesis 3:10, Jonah 1:5, Matthew 1:20, and 1 Peter 3:14. But other times the word is used in reference to God and refers to reverence, awe, and healthy respect. Ecclesiastes 12:13, Proverbs 1:7, and 1 Peter 2:17 are just a few of the many passages where the word is…

Though he was not an elder at that time, Jesus could see Peter’s future and know that he was ready to sacrificially follow Him—and part of that would be in shepherding the New Testament church (see 1 Peter 5:1-5). In John 21, Jesus gives Peter four charges that are worth an eldership looking at carefully, and also for a congregation to look and see if their eldership is actually doing these things. #1—Feed My Lambs: give attention to the young…