Simply Gospel

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

  • What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?

    Our world is not always a nice place. We see evidence of violence, sorrow, and hatred everywhere we look. Much of our common history is driven through conflict motivated by religious intolerance, ideological differences, oppression, or wonton cruelty. We are told by many political and even religious leaders to fear the world around us, to distrust those who are different from us, and to suspect anything we don’t understand. We are taught and reinforced to dwell on pain, hatred, and misery. We live in a world that marginalizes the notion of peace, that chides a loving attitude as naïvety, and… Continue reading

    ,

  • Who We Are

    Who are we? That’s a question for which we need to have an answer before we can share our hope with the world. Jesus, in Mark 8:27, asks His apostles who they think He is. He wants them to think about their perceptions of Him, and what those conclusions imply. We have the same responsibility toward ourselves. Our family names, occupations, levels of education, genders races – these factors and more provide certain assumptions about us. Beyond these, who are we spiritually? What terms define our spiritual lives to ourselves? How do others perceive us in this regard? Our actions… Continue reading

  • Is the Bible God’s Revelation to Man?

    How do we know the Bible is God’s word, and what do we base our assumption on that the Bible is God’s only message to man. Numerous other religions have existed throughout history from various cultures, and many persist today. What gives us faith in the authenticity of the Bible as God’s true message to mankind? A Reflection of Whom? In many other religions, the gods of those faiths are reflections of man. Whether Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, or others, these gods contain human flaws. They engage in immoral behavior, in unsavory attitudes, in conspiracies, in murders, and in lying. You… Continue reading

  • Important Things Versus Essential Things

    Luke 10:38-42 records Jesus visiting the home of Mary and Martha. Martha is busy doing the work of a hospitable hostess with a large number of people in the house, and she asks Jesus to tell her sister to help with the workload. She receives an unexpected answer, however, when Jesus tells her that Mary is seeking after something more important. Jesus does not negate the importance of hospitality and looking after others’ needs, but he makes a distinction between things that are important and things that are essential. Important Things in Our Lives Think about the things on which… Continue reading

  • A Blessing in Prayer

    Sometimes we want to reach out and seek some confirmation that God is indeed still here. In the Old and New Testament, God interacts directly with people and individuals, but there has been a silence for the past couple thousand years. Like the saints in Revelation, we want some evidence that God still is in control, that He does care. One way we can reach out to God is in prayer. In Philippians 4:4-7, Paul writes that we should rejoice in the Lord, putting off things that are out of our control through our prayers to God. Paul advocates that… Continue reading

  • Seeking Meaning

    We are in a time of year when we tend to be more reflective and more thankful for the things we are blessed with. We tend to give more thought to the meaning of this life. We all want purpose or a reason for living. What are we contributing? What difference do we make as individuals? Thoughts such as these take us naturally to the book of Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon seeks to understand meaning in life so he may share what he learns with others. He calls life under the sun is unprofitable. What this means is that life… Continue reading

  • Revelation In Brief

    Because the book of Revelation has become a playground of interpretations, we in the church tend to avoid studying it, seeing it a book we can’s understand. Revelation 1:1 clearly states that it is a book written in signs and imagery, but to really understand Revelation, we have to look at the book through First Century eyes. Avoiding getting bogged down in details can help us see the big picture. It is a book meant to be read and understood by Christians. Revelation is the final chapter to everything preceding it. It contains over four hundred allusions to the Old… Continue reading

  • Finding a Church to Fit Your Needs

    “We had people like you in mind when we designed this church,” reads a brochure our preacher has for a certain church. It speaks of a church that is built around the idea of appealing to a given market. You can even go to various websites to get feedback on what religion fits you best. The idea here is that what counts for a church is the programs. “What’s in it for me? What do I get out of this place?” In the name of religion, many find clubs instead of spiritual food. The aim becomes about social support rather… Continue reading

  • Making a Divine Investment

    Leviticus 19:23-25 is one of those Old Testament passages that seems to have little application to New Testament Christians. As the children of Israel enter the land of Canaan, God tells them that their crops for three years. Then, on the fourth year, all fruit of the land is to be given unto Jehovah. The fifth year marks the first time the Israelites would be able to eat of these crops. Being a farmer takes a certain amount of vision, knowing where to plant. Labor is involved, and this profession takes serious commitment. It is not an easy profession in… Continue reading

  • Jonah’s Gourd

    Jonah is a Biblical character who is familiar to most of us. Many of us, in fact, have known this individual from childhood, but there is one element of the story we seldom give much consideration. That is the vine or gourd the Lord grows to shade Jonah. The book is set around 775 B.C. in the kingdom of Assyria. This was a nation whose leaders were focused on conquest, and their military was reputed to be extremely cruel and efficient. In Jonah 1, God tells His prophet to go and tell the Assyrians to repent, but Jonah is more… Continue reading