(the following is a condensed excerpt for a message I recently preached) "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not goon presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace." – (Rom.6: 12-14, NASB How many times have you made a decision by flipping a coin? Honestly! This may work when deciding on pizza topping choices or the color of paint for your house, but for bigger, more important decisions we need some guidelines. Discovering if a behavior is sinful can be a bit more complicated. One preacher says it is, another says it is not. So, who is right? Possibly both, and possibly neither. The best help in navigating difficult issues is the Word of God. The following principles are based on Scripture,...

"An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.  If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.  And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it." (Ex. 20:24-26, ESV)     Immediately after giving the Decalogue (ten commandments) to Moses and Israel, the Lord cites some instructions in regard to the building of altars. These rules were important considering the worship practices of the time. The Israelites were not the only people who used altars. To distinguish between the two the Bible often referred to these as "high places." Molech, Baal, Dagon, and other "gods" mentioned in the Bible demanded sacrifices from their worshipers. Some worship went so far as t...

"Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them," (Ex. 14:19, ESV)    The Exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian captivity is both a well-known and powerful display of God's delivering power. As we play the event in our minds we usually see the mass of people standing at the edge of the Red Sea, with a cloud pillar behind them keeping Pharaoh at bay, and Moses (via God's power) parting the sea in front. Most of us have seen either a painting or some sort of depiction of this history-making event. However, there is one part that is usually missing from the image.    Chapter 14 records this event in great detail. When we get to verse 19 tells us that, we are informed that, In addition to the cloud pillar, the "angel of God" was present also. There has been a number of explanations of this phenomenon, but I believe the best explanation is t...

"Then Moses said to the Lord, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." - (Ex. 4:10, NASB)    As far as biblical folks go, Moses is my favorite, but Moses had a problem. We are not certain what "slow of speech and of tongue" means, possibly that he stuttered or had some other physical malady. What we do know is that this was a major hurdle, at least to Moses. During his original meeting with God, Moses gave several excuses for why God should choose someone else. The final one was his speaking issue. This stands out in most of our minds, for this is where God brings Aaron on board and gives him the task of speaking for Moses, leaving Moses to performing miracles and leading the people.  However, this is not the only time his speech problem is mentioned. Twice in chapter six (6:12, 6:30) we find his struggle mentioned as bein...

"He said, 'But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.'” - (Ex. 3:12, ESV)    Earlier in this chapter we are told that Moses had taken the flocks of his father-in-law to a location west of the wilderness and came to Mt. Horeb, where he met with God. It is here that the LORD tells Moses that he, Moses, will bring the Israelites out of Egypt (through God's power), and will return to the mountain. You are likely familiar with the rest of the story, for Moses does indeed lead them out, and they do return to Horeb.     There are two thoughts I want to share that we may not always connect with. First, Mt. Horeb and Mt. Sinai are two different names for the same mountain. I am aware that there are those who view them as two separate mountains. In that case, these would be two separate mountains in very close proximity of each other, possi...

" So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God".   (Rom. 10:17, NKJV)    Jesus told us that we only need faith the size of a mustard seed in order to cast the mountain into the sea. (see. Matt. 17:20) That's impressive, but was Jesus telling us that the size of our faith does not matter? I do not think so. Jesus was speaking of the power of faith in Himself. Even a small amount of faith in Jesus can do mighty things. But, what if we had a large faith? What might God be able to do? Well, faith is like a muscle, in a sense. The more we exercise our faith in Jesus, the greater our faith becomes. However, there is a danger. We can actually get to the place in our spiritual lives where we  trust in "faith", rather than trusting in Jesus, who is the the object of our faith. Faith in Jesus is always grounded in the Word of God. So, then, the real question becomes, "How can I strengthen my faith in Jesus?"     Paul's subject in ...

"For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord." - (Num. 15:15, ESV) Even a casual reading of the Apocrypha (Genesis - Deuteronomy, OT) will introduce the reader to the terms "the Stranger." The stranger refers to any outsider or non-Jew show chooses to dwell among the Israelites. We rarely hear of this as we are reading the OT works of God, but the Israelites were not the only ones enjoying the blessings and benefits of serving God. Anyone, regardless of their nationality or racial makeup could worship the God of the Jews, "...one statute for you and for the stranger." All were welcome.  The idea that God was only concerned with one group of people simply is not supported by Scripture. It was always the plan of God to offer salvation to the world, through the Israelites. We see it in the gospels,...