kingdom

“[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). All people yearn to belong and to be known. In the quest for relationship and acceptance, people often seek to please, but who we are pleasing has eternal consequences. Let’s look at some different kinds of “pleasers.” The People-Pleaser: Some people spend their whole lives trying to please other people. Consider the adult child of a very successful businessman who feels obligated to take over the family business. He may not have the temperament or the natural skills to follow in his father’s footsteps, but he trudges on in an unfulfilled life out of a sense of duty and obligation. Likewise, many Christians continually look at what others are doing to make sure that they personally measure up to others’ expectations. When the apostle Paul was accused of people-pleasing, he […]

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. . . . we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Our fears, anxieties, and hurts are very real. But if we focus only on these earthly problems, then very soon the spiritual realm becomes foggy and unreal. We lose sight of God and slide into pessimism and even depression. Life loses its joy and excitement. If we limit our thinking to this world alone, it will grind us down into the dust from which we were created. No matter how difficult or unjust our circumstances become, we can exercise our free will and choose to praise God rather than ignore Him. As we see in the Psalms, praise has a strong emotional dimension—but it is […]

“Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever” (Psalm 145:2). Our culture places great emphasis on clothing. Magazines and television shows are dedicated to describing the latest fashions. Consumers spend countless dollars on designer labels. Our closets are overflowing, yet we claim to have nothing to wear. We follow every clothing trend in the hopes of finding self-worth in our appearance. Instead of viewing clothing as a covering, we view it as a status symbol. Yet there is a garment that is more valuable than a high fashion suit and more precious than a wedding gown. This garment is a gift from God: the garment of praise. The Scriptures refer to praise as a garment. God gives us “a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3). Yet a garment is something that we must choose to wear. Even a garment that is freely given to us must be put on […]

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). In 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, Paul laments: “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” When Paul says he fears the Corinthians will be seduced away from a “sincere and pure devotion to Christ,” the word “sincere” is not the best translation. The […]

“And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). The cycle of unfaithfulness, exile, repentance, and deliverance goes all the way back to our first parents, Adam and Eve. They chose to go the wrong way, and they set in motion this cycle of rebellion and suffering that has echoed down through history. Now we in the Christian church, in Western civilization and throughout the world, are experiencing significant suffering as a result of centuries of spiritual compromise. Western civilization was founded by the Christian Reformation—a movement that brought light and life to a world emerging from the Dark Ages. But Western civilization has fallen away from its founding principles. So we need a new Reformation to awaken the West from its slumber. We who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are not without hope. We have the greatest […]

Read 2 Samuel 22:1-51. “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies” (2 Samuel 22:4). David felt the same emotions you may be feeling today—loneliness, despair, and fear. But even though he struggled from time to time to trust God (see 1 Samuel 27:1), deep down David longed to please the Lord. He had a heart after God’s heart. And the God who sees into the depths of your heart and mind is the one who will honor you for that desire—a desire clearly displayed in David’s sacred song in 2 Samuel 22. “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, . . .” (2 Samuel 22:2-3). Over the years, David discovered that no matter the situation, the Lord never stopped watching over him, never refused to restore him. The same can be said for you. During the difficult […]

Read 2 Samuel 11:1-12:14. “Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die’” (2 Samuel 12:13). David was a man with uncommon faith in the Lord. So, when he committed adultery and then murdered the woman’s husband, it was completely out of character. Thankfully, God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David’s sin—to invite him to take the first step toward restoration. Nathan told David a parable about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man had plenty of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had one little lamb. He cared for the lamb as though it were his own daughter, even letting it sleep in his arms. One day, a traveler arrived at the rich man’s house, but rather than preparing a meal with one of his own animals, the rich man stole the poor man’s lamb and served […]

“The king asked, ‘Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?’” (2 Samuel 9:3). Read 2 Samuel 9:1-13. For fifteen long years, Saul chased David from mountain to mountain, wilderness to wilderness, village to village, seeking to kill him. And yet, shortly after becoming king, David decided to show mercy to his enemy’s undeserving family. The kindness of David foreshadows God’s grace when He sent His Son to earth searching for lost sinners. Just as God reaches out to undeserving, disobedient, and rebellious people, David reached out to Mephibosheth, the grandson of a man who had hated and resented him with every fiber of his being. Likewise, we were once enemies of God, undeserving of His lovingkindness (see Colossians 1:21; Romans 5:10). When David discovered that Jonathan’s son (Saul’s grandson), Mephibosheth, was living on the other side of the Jordan in a town called Lo Debar, he jumped at the […]

“Lord Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying ‘I will build a house for you.’ So your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you” (2 Samuel 7:27). Read 2 Samuel 7:18-29. David couldn’t stand to think that while he was living in a palace, the ark of God was outside in a tent—he wanted to build the Lord a proper temple. However, the Lord had other plans. He sent the prophet Nathan with a message for David: “This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in” (1 Chronicles 17:4). Now, David’s response tells us everything we need to know about his character. David’s seven-fold prayer in the midst of disappointment is a model prayer for all of us when we don’t receive the answer from the Lord we had hoped for. First, David acknowledged God’s grace in his life: “Who am I, […]

“The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Samuel 17:37). Read 1 Samuel 17:1-58. Twice a day, the Philistine giant Goliath would emerge to taunt the Israelites: “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? . . . This day I defy the armies of Israel!” (vv. 8, 10). To defy the armies of Israel was to defy the God of Israel. Yet not even King Saul, who had more military experience than anyone else, who was six feet, ten inches tall, who was the only Israelite with armor, who was meant to represent the living God, dared to accept Goliath’s challenge. When David entered the camp and heard Goliath’s mockery, he was livid that the name of God should be blasphemed. He asked, “Who is this uncircumcised […]