1 John 3

Greetings!

3     How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has [...]

1 John 2

Greetings!
As always, it is important to read the context of Bible passages.  If you just take the first part of verse 1 you would have a false teaching that we might never sin again.  But reading on you see that sin is still going to be in our lives and we have Jesus in our [...]

1 John 1

Greetings!
This is a short but powerful chapter.  John jumps right into an apologetic (a defense of the faith) by noting how they heard, saw and touched Jesus.  He was fully human and fully divine.  Some false teachers held that Jesus wasn’t really human, because they thought material things were essentially evil and needed to be [...]

I John - III John introduction

Greetings!  The Bible includes three short letters that the Apostle John wrote (in addition to the Gospel of John).  The first has five chapters and the next two only have one chapter each.
They were written to encourage Christians everywhere in their faith and to combat false teachings.  The church wasn’t very old but was already [...]

Proverbs 16

Greetings!  Here is another major dose of wisdom from the Lord.

16     To man belong the plans of the heart,
but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.
2 All a man’s ways seem innocent to him,
but motives are weighed by the Lord.

People are really good at rationalizing away their sins.  I know I [...]

Psalm 42

Greetings!

BOOK II
Psalms 42-72
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

I have always liked [...]

Psalm 41

Greetings!
God loves mercy and protection for the weak. 

For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 Blessed is he who has regard for the weak;
the Lord delivers him in times of trouble.
2 The Lord will protect him and preserve his life;
he will bless him in the land
and not surrender him [...]

Psalm 40

Greetings!  Patience is one of the great challenges in life.  So often we sin and cause pain when doing things on our time instead of God’s.  For example, sex is a gift from God - at the right time and situation - but if we do it on our timing it can be disastrous.

For the [...]

Isaiah 65-66

Greetings!  This wraps up our study of Isaiah.  I’ve learned a lot, but must say it has been one of the most challenging books I’ve studied.  The largest barrier is the many people and places I am unfamiliar with. 

Judgment and Salvation
65     “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found [...]

Isaiah 63-64

Greetings!
God has great patience, and mercifully his patience comes before his judgment.  But He will eventually judge, and the outcome is not pretty.
In chapter 64 their is a wise repentance and acknowledgement of all that God is and has done.  Confessing isn’t telling God something He doesn’t know, it is seeing things the way He [...]

Isaiah 61-62

Greetings! 

The Year of the Lord’s Favor
61     The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year [...]

Isaiah 59-60

Greetings!

Sin, Confession and Redemption
59     Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are stained with blood, [...]

Isaiah 57-58

Greetings!
57     The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
2 Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

I don’t think this is a Heaven / [...]

Isaiah 55-56

Greetings!  This opens with a beautiful passage where God invites us to come to him - for free!  Our souls can “delight” and “live” because of what He has to offer. 
Note the many examples of God offering his grace to all - through the Israelites, but not just for the Israelites. 

Invitation to the Thirsty
55     “Come, [...]

Isaiah 53-54

Greetings!  These are some of the most important passages in the Bible.  They reveal much about Jesus, the Messiah, and how He would come.  Yet they defied what the Jews had been expecting.  Who would have thought God would come as a humble servant?  It seems to be the opposite of what one would expect. 
53     Who [...]