The Same

Some consider the God of the Old Testament to be a God of anger and wrath and the God of the New Testament to be a God of grace and mercy. They think of God as constantly growing and changing. They fail to consider that God, before any of the world was even created, already […]

Some consider the God of the Old Testament to be a God of anger and wrath and the God of the New Testament to be a God of grace and mercy. They think of God as constantly growing and changing.

They fail to consider that God, before any of the world was even created, already knew what he would do to offer saving grace to mankind. He had already determined that those in Christ would be His chosen ones and adopted children (Ephesians 1:3-5).

So much of what God does in the Old Testament is preparing man for the receiving of His great gift of grace. The Old Testament was intended to bring us to Christ, God’s great gift to us.

This idea of a changing God can lead to many misunderstandings.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Heb 13:8)

The writer of Hebrews reminds us of the sameness of God and Jesus in the context of a warning to not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.

Stay with Jesus and what He has said. Do not allow the thoughts and ideas of men to move you away from Jesus and what He has said. The very words He has spoken will be the same words that will judge us in the last day.

Jesus is not changing. His word and will are not continually developing. It has been once and for all delivered to us. It is the same as it was and as it will be.

Kidmin 101

This past Sunday night, I shared five core values that our Children’s Ministry is founded on. These values are what helps keep each event, activity, and class in line with our overall mission. The core values are: 1. Know: Our children will learn to know God and the...

Faith On a Shelf

I have this hat that my dad brought back to me from a business trip to Atlanta when I was 9 or 10 years old. You can see that I’ve worn it a lot. In fact, I wore it to just about everywhere I went during the summer when I was a kid. Church camps, grandparents’ house,...

“Jesus Loves Me”

After being led in this song by two of our young men Sunday night, I was reminded of a quotation from Karl Barth. On April 23, 1962, Karl Barth (the renown 20th Century Swiss-German, neo-orthodox theologian) spoke at Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University...

That’s Not a Candle

Several years ago, there was story shared about a woman from Connecticut whose power had gone out during a storm. She left her house to go to a local hardware store to purchase some flashlights, but the store was closed. She returned home and found what she thought...

The Post-Christian Problem

I attended the New Day Conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee at the end of last week with a small group from Riverchase. It was a good conference and I left encouraged about the opportunities we have to fulfill the call of Christ to make disciples. On Friday evening,...

Josiah’s Reform

In the thirty-one years of his rule, King Josiah proved to be a faithful man of God and a great king of Judah. He served God from the beginning as a young king and grew into a greater understanding of God’s will and a determination to follow that will. He made a...

You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat You’ve heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Simply defined, it means that you should eat healthy if you want to be healthy. This phrase can trace its roots back to the early 1800’s. It came from the 1826 work The Physiology of Taste, in which...

It Is Well

Above the piano in our house is a large wood sign with the phrase, “it is well with my soul” on it. Kimberly and I purchased it during a season of our life together where we were not completely sure what the future had in store for our little family. Since then, the...

Do Over

  I messed up on recording my recent radio programs. The sound quality was so bad Mark could not run them on the air. So, I deleted them and recorded them again.   I sure wish I could do that in real life with all the other mistakes I make. Just delete them...

Don’t Believe Your Preacher

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9 ESV) Here is the test. The “teaching of Christ” is, of course, the very word of God. So, if your...