Simply Gospel

May my steps be worship. May my thoughts be praise.

  • Putting Away My Sword

    Some days are easier to practice the example and the teachings of Christ than others. 9-11 is not one of those days. In the midst of remembering those who died in the attack on the twin towers, remembering those firemen who put themselves between life and death – sometimes at the cost of their own lives – and remembering those who have been sent into harm’s way in the wake of the attack, it’s difficult to avoid feelings of vindictiveness and rage toward those who could be responsible for such a horrible event in any way. Knowing we would all… Continue reading

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  • Am I a Liar?

    Calling someone a liar is an accusation with serious implications. It is not a charge we deal with casually. Whether a child or an adult, liar borders upon being a dirty word in our society. It is not a term to be thrown around casually or lightly because of the light cast upon the character of one accused of lying. To accuse one of lying is to accuse of being knowingly misleading, confusing, and deceptive. The concept of lying is addressed in the New Testament roughly thirty-five times. Titus 1 and John 8 refer to God and Satan lying. Titus… Continue reading

  • Elijah & Discouragement

    It’s a common phrase: “I am just so discouraged.” None of us are strangers to discouragement in our lives. The problem is when that discouragement leads to despair and depressions, leading us into a cycle where we grow content in our malcontent. Elijah, in I Kings 19:1-19, experiences a despair with which we may be able to relate. These events come after Elijah’s triumph with God over the Baal priests upon Mt. Carmel, and he immediately finds himself running for his life. In the context of this great event, the king and queen of his land turn against him and… Continue reading

  • You Are a Light to the World

    Back in June of this year, author, marketing expert, and blogger Seth Godin wrote what is perhaps one of my favorite blog posts of all times. Here it is: When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter. When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter. When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter. When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter. When you teach and… Continue reading

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  • Honoring the Name We Wear

    We take pride in the names we wear. Our family names serve as a form of heritage and pride. Those names earn a reputation and reflects upon others in our family. The same is true of our name as Christian. Like we can bring honor or shame to our physical family, our conduct reflects upon other Christians and on Christ, the head of our family. Some family names are honored or scorned for their places in history. What reputation are we building for our spiritual name? In Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, and I Peter 4:16, we find the only places… Continue reading

  • Examining the Chiasm of Matthew 17-20

    In the Bible, we sometimes find a structure called chiasms, and these will follow a pattern of ABC CBA and occasionally ABC D CBA, with everything building up to a central point and then returning from that point to the opening statement. Such a structure exists between Matthew 12:22 and Matthew 20:19. Beginning in Matthew 17:22, Jesus speaks of His own deliverance to death. The parallel point begins in chapter 20:17, where He returns to the declaration of His death and resurrection. These serve as bookends to a chiasm building to a very important point between them. The structure is… Continue reading

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  • Biblical Appeals

    In Ecclesiastes 3:11, the author observes that God makes everything beautiful in its time, setting eternity in the heart of man. The latter part of the verse explains that God has given us a sense of something greater in our hearts, some recognition that we owe our existence to One greater than us. Our compulsive drive to understand the forces behind the world around us results from our creation after the image of He who set these forces in motion. We come to a better understanding of God and ourselves when we study from God’s word. Wanting God in our… Continue reading

  • The Christian Journey

    We sing a song about a shepherd who goes through pain and agony to find his lost sheep. Every one of us are sheep that have lost our way, and our good Shepherd suffered and died to redeem us. The Christian life after redemption is sometimes called a walk our a path, and Psalm 119 describes God’s word as a light for our feet. We have to consider where we have been and where we are going. We will not reach our destination on accident. A Walk, A Race, A journey Ephesians 4:1 calls on us to walk according to… Continue reading

  • Seeing Ourselves in Job’s Friends

    In the book of Job, three friends approach him in whom we might find ourselves. It is a book about an individual who is referenced by God, along with Noah and Daniel, in Ezekiel 14:13-14 as righteous. James 5:10-11 refers to the patience of Job alongside that of God’s prophets. We know him to be an exemplary individual who undergoes tremendous trials, never once defiling God with his lips. His friends, though, do not see him as such. When they come to him, he has lost everything – his children, his possessions, even his health. In Job 2:11, his friends come… Continue reading

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  • John’s Picture of the Messiah

    Each of the gospel writers have a slightly different representation of the Messiah. Matthew, Mark, and Luke bear several similarities in their presentations and focus, but the Gospel of John stands out from the others. John records only seven miracles in his gospel, and five of those are unique to John. He portrays Jesus in a very specific way, but, unlike Matthew, he does not continually refer to Levitical scripture to reinforce his points. Rather, he focuses on Jesus’ words describing Himself. Imagery from John In John 2, we see Jesus driving the merchants and money changers from the temple,… Continue reading