tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65252468957021492462024-03-14T00:21:05.754-07:00It's That SimplePsa. 71:18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. (ESV)walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.comBlogger230125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-30911237093946220232017-10-31T11:21:00.000-07:002017-10-31T11:21:01.970-07:00A Grateful Wiser ManWhile riding in my car a few minutes ago I was listening to @RickWarren remind us of the generational impact of Daniel standing for God. He pointed to the Wise Men as probable recipients of the grace of God through Daniel. I too am a recipient of the blessings handed down from Daniel's stand for God. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Daniel myself.
Then, again while riding, I remembered walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-23747564389418402152017-04-21T11:39:00.003-07:002017-04-21T11:39:36.211-07:00Tribute to a Dear Friend: Glen Paden
The Gospel of John tells us: “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an
Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” (John 1:47) I’d like to
share with you briefly about a man I knew in whom there was no deceit. His name
is Glen Paden. If I could have shared at his memorial service here is what I
would have said.
Glen
Paden was one of the finest, godliest Christian walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-90155373900331852402016-02-23T06:23:00.004-08:002016-02-23T06:23:42.411-08:00Saints TogetherREAD 1 Corinthians 1-2
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walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-41180696106090024102016-01-26T06:57:00.003-08:002016-01-26T06:57:18.310-08:00Some truths are just too big for our minds to fully comprehendREAD John
17-18
Who
did Jesus pray for in the upper room? Let’s see what he says. In 17:9 he
clearly states that he is not praying for the world. Rather he is praying for those
whom the Father has given him. So this prayer is only for those who were a gift
from the Father to the Son before the foundation of the world.
Does
this include more than the apostles? See 17:20. “I do not walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-13838995900131589902016-01-25T08:00:00.001-08:002016-01-25T08:00:16.892-08:00Peace...in the midst of the storm...right nowREAD John
15-16
Where
is the source of our peace? When we are faced with difficult times, difficult
situations, difficult people — where do we turn to for peace? Do we turn to
medication to mask our discomfort? Do we turn to other people for their
comfort? Where do we turn?
Jesus
makes it clear that our peace is in him. It is not to be found in this world. “I
have said these things walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-12995542901199849652016-01-18T07:24:00.000-08:002016-01-18T07:24:42.910-08:00Walking Home in FaithREAD John
3-4
My
curiosity often comes into play as I read the Bible because of things we are
not told. Obviously, these are things that are not necessary for us to know in
order to understand, but they are still things that spark our curiosity. Such
is the case as I read the story of the official’s son being healed in 4:46-54.
At this point in the gospel of John Jesus has only done onewalterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-71609932537127986602016-01-12T06:29:00.002-08:002016-01-12T06:29:29.940-08:00Spiritual StudsREAD Luke 17-18
A common occurrence in the Gospels is for Jesus to tell a
parable that the disciples don’t understand. Afterward we find them asking what
does this parable mean? But in Ch. 18 Luke reverses this pattern. He relates two
of the parables of Jesus and, before he gives them, he tells us what the
meaning and purpose of the parables are. Notice this is v. 1 and v. 9. I want
to focuswalterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-47628113316377197872016-01-04T07:21:00.003-08:002016-01-04T07:21:51.698-08:00The ListREAD Luke 3-4
Do you find yourself tempted to jump over the genealogies in
the Bible? I admit it. I do. Oh, sure there are some nuggets of gold to be
found in these genealogies but normally they read like public records at the
court house.
But I found myself slowly reading the genealogy in 3:23ff
this morning. One significant fact stood out to me as I read. Most of these
names I had walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-10427202517007004722015-12-30T08:17:00.002-08:002015-12-30T08:17:40.569-08:00A Life to Match Your LipsREAD Mark 13-14
Oh, Lord, how I want my life to match my lips. Peter and the
disciples didn’t. They blew it. “Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him,
“ Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will
deny me three times.” But he said emphatically, “ If I must die with you, I
will not deny you.” And they all said
thewalterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-26264240931231451682015-12-22T06:13:00.003-08:002015-12-22T06:13:18.658-08:00If You Are WillingREAD Mark 1-2
So often, when I read the story of Jesus cleansing the
leper, I am touched by two words that Jesus uttered. The leper came to Jesus
and said, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Then Jesus said to him, “I
will, be clean.” The two words that grab my heart are “I will.” The leper had
asked him if he was willing and Jesus replied that he was. That seems to be the
heart of Jesus, walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-22401054277104209182015-12-18T07:54:00.000-08:002015-12-18T07:54:13.392-08:00Word-doing Is More Important Than Sign-watchingREAD Matthew
23-24
“Wherever
the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” (Matthew 24:28) What a strange
verse this is but not one that should cause us difficulty in understanding.
What is Jesus doing? He is telling about the “the sign of [his] coming and of
the end of the age” (v.3). In the midst of this information he interjects this
note about the vultures. So what does he mean?
walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-64717691448277596932015-11-23T08:25:00.003-08:002015-11-23T08:25:16.629-08:00Sinister SyncretismREAD Zephaniah 1-3
One of Zephaniah’s accusations against Judah is very fitting
for today. It is perhaps one of the chief sins of those who call themselves
Christians today. Wherever we turn, we see this manifested in so many lives of
those call themselves by the name of the Lord. We find it in chapter one verse
five: “those who bow down on the roofs
to the host of the heavens, those who walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-1902673625259916642015-10-28T06:24:00.002-07:002015-10-28T06:24:53.625-07:00Every Real Pastor's DreamREAD Jonah 3-4
Every real pastor’s dream! That’s what Jonah experienced
when he first went to Nineveh. God gave him a message to preach and he preached
it. Then the people heard the message and believed God and responded obediently
to what they had heard. Hear the words yourself again, “And the people of
Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the
greatest of walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-35850462956037112062015-10-27T06:34:00.002-07:002015-10-27T06:34:22.960-07:00"Good Guys" on Jonah's ShipREAD Jonah 1-2
Sometimes those who do not know and worship God still do
noble things. Just one verse in today’s reading prompted my thinking on this.
The sailors on Jonah’s ship to Tarshish were religiously syncretistic as a
whole, with a sort of a “Heinz 57” amalgamation of different gods that were
worshipped (1:5). Obviously, none of them was a believer in the One True God,
Jonah’s God. walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-44819481103486472322015-10-23T07:23:00.003-07:002015-10-23T07:23:59.135-07:00Worship-minded PeopleREAD Amos 5-6
Once again we see God rejecting the worship of the people
(5:21-23). This time the focus is on their dealings in the marketplace and in
the gates (5:10-12). God is wanting them to see that their dealings with people
need to be just and righteous (5:24). These are just as much acts of worship as
gathering together in feasts and solemn assemblies.
You and I also need to walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-35098760054908308982015-09-24T06:14:00.000-07:002015-09-24T06:14:02.364-07:00Sanctifying Christ as Lord in the example of DanielREAD Daniel 5-6
In 1 Peter 3:14-17 we have instructions from the Lord about
how we are to live in a culture that is in opposition to our faith in Christ. “But even if you should suffer for
righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be
troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being
prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-63117248302378860042015-09-17T07:13:00.003-07:002015-09-17T07:13:53.971-07:00What's For Dinner? Blood & Quail MeatREAD Ezekiel 35-36
Sometimes it is a sign of judgment (or possibly discipline)
when God gives us what we want. In his prophecy against Mount Seir God says, “Because
you cherished perpetual enmity and gave over the people of Israel to the power
of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final
punishment, therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, I will prepare you forwalterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-77286681396064423602015-09-11T06:38:00.003-07:002015-09-11T06:38:58.936-07:00A Good Reminder for 9-11After writing this devotional this morning I looked at the date and was reminded what day it is. Hence the title.
READ Ezekiel 25-26
As we read Ezekiel’s prophecies against the nations surrounding
Israel (Ammon, Moab, Seir, Edom, Philistia, Tyre), we can’t help realizing the
awfulness of the judgment of God. And that is as it should be. We should recoil
at the idea of being judged by a holywalterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-12274344919739715612015-09-05T08:13:00.002-07:002015-09-05T08:13:45.115-07:00God, make me stop...really?READ Ezekiel 15-16
Be careful what you pray for. Have you, like me, ever prayed
about a particular struggle with sin in your life and asked God to do whatever
it takes to make you stop? Seems like
a transparent and vulnerable prayer of deep honesty, doesn’t it. But I wonder
if we really want to pray that way.
In our passage today Chapter 16 is one of the longest and
most explicit chapterswalterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-51002072468578278182015-09-01T05:20:00.001-07:002015-09-01T05:20:05.325-07:00Before It's Too LateREAD Ezekiel 7-8
I am reminded of the potentially sad implications of one of
the most uplifting passages in all of Scripture. “Therefore God has highly exalted
him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-65250288980595328242015-08-31T08:10:00.001-07:002015-08-31T08:10:11.773-07:00Prostitution: You and me??READ Ezekiel 5-6
God hates idolatry. He so constantly punishes his people in
the OT for their idolatry. But notice the word he uses in 6:9 as he describes
what the idolatry truly is — “whoring”. For us that is a most despicable word.
We get it. We understand what it means. Spiritual harlotry is a horrible evil.
God sees Israel as his bride. And yet they have gone off into “whoring” by
makingwalterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-52351108077246659432015-08-25T06:39:00.001-07:002015-08-25T06:39:23.836-07:00God Knows That He Is GodREAD Jeremiah 51-52
Never miss this one stunning irrefutable fact: God knows
that he alone is God. You might think that is obvious but it’s not for
everyone. Some even think that God exists for our pleasure rather than the
other way around. No, he alone is God and he will not give his glory to
another.
Where do we see this in Chapters 51-52? In the prophecy of
the utter destruction of walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-56684858800106080602015-08-20T05:42:00.002-07:002015-08-20T05:42:40.341-07:00He Watching Over Israel....READ Jeremiah 43-44
What is God doing in 44:27? “Behold, I am watching over them
for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of
Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of
them.” He says he is watching over the remnant who have disobediently gone into
Egypt. But his “watching over” is not a positive one as normally comes to mind
walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-86424446166575218972015-08-19T04:49:00.003-07:002015-08-19T04:49:41.532-07:00Heart-hearing a SermonREAD Jeremiah 41-42
In 42:1-3 the remnant of people who were left in Judah come
to Jeremiah and ask him to pray to the Lord on their behalf to tell them what
they should do: “…that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and
the thing that we should do.” (3) So Jeremiah does as they request and ten days
later gave them the word of God. However, he knows that they have no walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6525246895702149246.post-11369080998822736972015-08-08T07:31:00.001-07:002015-08-08T07:31:49.942-07:00No Place to Hide...Glory!READ Jeremiah 23-24
There’s no place to hide…from God. Notice what he says to
Jeremiah: “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a
man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord.
Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.” (23:23-24) The theological
word is omnipresent. God is everywhere at all times and he sees and knows
walterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07957013431931683879noreply@blogger.com0