The Attributes of God:

Having Right Priorities in Life. Revelation 22:10-21 “Behold, I am coming quick, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”                   The greatest mistake in life is when we get caught up living life for the temporal rather than the eternal, for the accomplishments of the temporal are fleeting. The book of Revelation's final words not only summarize John's whole message but also provide the final words that capture the whole of the Scripture.  The conclusion of the whole message of Scripture brings us to the one essential truth that the awareness of Christ’s return is to govern every action and thought.                     The final message that brings not only the book of Revelation to a close but brings closure to the whole revelation of God’s...

The Justice of God Revelation 19 “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God Because His Judgments are true and righteous.”                   Of all the attributes that God manifests, the one we struggle with the most is His justice.  A loving God who cares and responds to our needs is safe, a God we can approach without fear.  But a just God who brings judgment on sin is not safe, and we approach Him with trepidation and fear. Thus, we sing of God’s mercy and love but rarely sing of His justice and wrath.  However, in Chapter 19, we hear the residents of heaven singing a song of praise, not for His love and compassion, but His judgment.                     To understand God’s justice, we must again affirm His holiness.  Sin is a violation of n...

The Majesty of God Revelation 4 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created.”                   Throughout history, only five people have seen the throne of God:  Isaiah, Ezekiel, Stephen, Paul, and John.  However, only Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John give us a vivid description of what they saw. All three of them struggle to describe the vision, for the throne room of God defies any earthly comparison.  The one thing consistently described in all three visions is the celebration of the glory and holiness of God.  The glory of God is manifested by the presence of indescribable angelic beings who spend eternity celebrating and rejoicing in the majesty of God.  John gives us the most complete description of the scene when he describes the ligh...

The Terrifying  Majesty of Christ Revelation 1:12-18 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.  And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One: and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”                   The Jesus in the manger is easy to identify with and understand.  Every Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus and tell the story of the baby born in a manger.  Like us, He is vulnerable and humble.  When we think of Jesus, we can grasp His humanity, for He shared the same daily struggles.  He became tired and thirsty.  In the face of death, He expressed His misgivings.  He was compassionate and relatable.  However, Jesus was more than just a human; He was also fully God, which w...

The God Who Controls History Rev. 1:4-8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”                   The book of Revelation is an enigma.  The descriptive language and the focus on judgment make us both uncomfortable and confused.  The more we study the book and read the multiple commentaries that have been written, the more confused we become.  It seems as if no one can agree about the symbolism's meaning, especially the events' timing and sequence.  However, the book begins with a declaration that “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it;  for the time is near” (1:3). The book ends with a warning to those who either add to the text or disregard its warning (22:19).  The message of the book is both to be ce...

Finding security in an Insecure World Jude 24-25  “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy. “                   Recently, our society has become fixated on what we should fear.  Some things are seen as an existential threat, such as global warming, pandemics, and weapons of mass destruction.  Other things are seen as a threat to our health and safety: crime, the attacks of terrorists, and adversity.  But even more alarming is that we now fear those closest to us.  We fear our neighbors because they voted for a different party; we fear our schools because they are indoctrinating our children. We fear our doctors because we are told that the pharmaceutical companies are manipulating them. As the media bombards us with the tragedies that occur elsewhere, we start to see th...

Keeping Our Faith in a Fallen World “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of  our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” Jude 17-23                   Jude concludes his short letter by reminding us that this world will become increasingly sinful as it abandons God's truth. Some will ridicule Scripture's teachings as archaic and judgmental, justifying their pursuit of ungodly lusts.                     Yet, as we face a world of falsehood, Jude does not leave us hopeless.  As he closes his letter warning of false teachers, he gives us the keys to maintaining our faith and remaining steadfast in our obedience to Christ. In these final verses, Jude gives five comm...

The Judgement of False Teachers Jude 5-16 “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all and to convict all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”                   As a pastor, one of my least favorite verses, and one that reminds me of the importance of what I teach, is James 3:1.  In this verse, James warns, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”  This verse is not a caution about becoming a pastor but a reminder that I will be accountable to God for what I preach.  In Jude 5-16, Jude likewise warns those who come preaching a message contrary to the Bible will face the judgment of God.  Having warned of the dangers of false teachers, Ju...

Contending for the Faith Jude 1—4 “Beloved, While I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.                   Today, we live in the age of information.  The answer to many questions and information on any topic is literally at our fingertips.  However, the information age has also led to the proliferation of misinformation.  Today, we can find all types of distorted teaching on any topic we choose.  If you want to prove that sasquatch exists, there are  “scientific” articles on the internet that provide the evidence. The same is true regarding the Bible.  Some teachers present biblical arguments supporting the error we want to believe.  Without discernment, we can easil...

The Subtle Danger of Spiritual Pride “I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.” 3 John 9-15 Pride is perhaps the most prevalent and destructive sin that we struggle with.  In our sinful nature, we love to elevate ourselves and receive the praise of people.  Of all the sins, it is the one that is the most often condemned in the Scripture.  What makes pride so destructive is that the proud seek to elevate themselves above others and prevent them from seeking God.  Pride blinds us from our weakness, so we no longer see our need for God and His gracious work in our lives. Diotrephes was gripped by pride.  The first hint that he was focused on himself rather than surrendered to God is found in his name.  Those raised in a Greek home were often given the name of the Greek gods.  Diotrephes  reflects this tradition, for his name means “nurtured by Zeus.”  Because of this associat...

Living a Life that is Pleasing to God 3 John 1-8 “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”                   What brings us joy and happiness?  What we value is what brings us joy.  Yet joy is often fleeting.  Some people strive to obtain joy through the accusation of material possessions.  They think they would find joy and contentment if only they got this one thing- a new car, a new house, or the latest fashion.  However, once the newness wears off, the joy is gone, and they are left to pursue the next latest and greatest thing.  Some people search for happiness and joy in their careers.  They believe that if they succeed and gain recognition, they will be fulfilled and find joy.  But once again, happiness eludes them as they spend their life pursuing the next promotion only to d...

The Unchanging Word 2 John 1:1-6 “The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth; and not only I, but also all who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever.”                   When Jesus was on trial and sent to Pilot for sentencing, after interacting with Jesus, Pilate asked a question, “What is truth?”  From the beginning of time, people have wrestled with this question.  Philosophers have pondered the question, and people have debated the answers for generations.  This question is especially poignant in a world where so much information is available at our fingertips and so many conflicting answers exist.  But the search for truth and the presence of teachers who distort the truth is not new.  Throughout history, there have been those who have twisted the truth to conform to the...

The Mark of a Genuine Disciple “By this we know that we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments.” 1 John 2:1-6                   It is easy to be a pretender.  We can talk the talk, say all the right words. We can even attend church on Sundays, raise our hands in worship, and say “amen” when the preacher is preaching.  We can convince others and ourselves that we are a “Christian.”  However, Christ warns us in Matthew 7:21-23 that not everyone who claims to be a disciple of Christ is a genuine follower of Him.                   In 1 John 2, John begins with an affirmation of the hope of all humanity. When we sin, no matter how grievous the act, we have one who is an “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.”  An advocate acts as a spokesperson or r...

Acknowledgement, Confession, and Forgiveness “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:1-10                   The fundamental question we must ask is this, “Do we see God from the perspective of man, or do we see man from the perspective of God?”  In today’s culture, we strive to reconstruct God from our perspective.  We formulate our views of God and then rewrite the Scriptures to conform Him to what we want to believe.  In the end, we do the very thing that Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden: we make ourselves god by conforming God to our beliefs.  Inherent in our sin nature is our ability to make God less holy than he is and to make ourselves more righteous than we are...

The Present Implications of the Future 2 Peter 3:10-18 ‘Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.”                   There is a prevailing undercurrent of fear that our world is approaching a cataclysmic ending.  We recognize that there is something inherently wrong in the world and that we are descending towards a global abyss. In God’s movement of history, history is linear rather than cyclical.  In other words, there is a starting point of history, and there will be a concluding point of history. Just as life is a movement from birth to death, the earth moves from beginning to end.  But the end of time and history is not determined by man; it is determined by God. Yet, in God’s movement of time, there is both an end and a new beginning.  For those who reject Christ, the end brings ...

God’s Patience and the Certainty of Judgment 2 Peter 3:1-9 “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”                   Having warned of the dangers of false teachers, Peter now warns of their fate and the fate of those who follow them.  In our understanding of the nature and being of God, we must recognize that He is not only a God of love, forbearance, and grace but also a God of holiness, righteousness, and justice.  Those who overemphasize His holiness and righteousness to the exclusion of grace become judgmental and condemn people without offering grace.  They are like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, who were self-righteous and quick to condemn anyone who did not meet their external standards.  They condemn others while failing to see their ow...

Who do We Listen To 2 Peter 2:1-10 “But False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”                   The age of information has become the age of misinformation.  Today, we can search the web and find a plethora of podcasters, pundits, influencers, and “experts” who will affirm any truth we want to believe. The adage, “You become what you eat,” has now become, “You believe what you listen to.”     After highlighting the importance of being governed by the truth God communicated through the prophets and Jesus, Peter now warns us of the dangers of false teachers.  From the very beginning of the church, there have been teachers who have distorted the truth and infiltrated the...