Keep Up The Prayin'

1 Timothy 2:8 8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. This has been a hard verse for many because of a few issues: 1) Where does it fit in relation to the preceding and the following verses; and 2) What does it mean to pray lifting holy hands?; and 3) What about the women, are men only to do the praying?It seems clear from the conjunction...

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There is One God. Period.

Paul in his letter to young Pastor Timothy notes that it is God who "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4).We must know that there are two desires mentioned in the Scriptures. First is what we may call God's desired will. This is what God would want and desire. It is the Greek word thelo meaning "I wish or desire." This is the word used here in 1 Tim 2:4....

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A God of Strength

Every morning, as I begin my prayer time with the Lord, I read through a Psalm in the Hebrew and endeavor to pray my way through it. This morning, I was on Psalm 86. I read through the Psalm, put down my text, and prayed and worshiped. I worshiped God. I was so overcome with the majesty, glory, protection, honor and loftiness of our great God that I simply worshiped Him in adoration.Furthermore, as...

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Prayer for Leaders

1 Timothy 2:1-4 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. The first...

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Devotion from Paul's Letter to Timothy

There are two things to observe this morning:First, 1 Timothy 1:16 16 And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.Have you ever noticed this verse before and meditated on it? It says that Paul was shown mercy in order that Jesus Christ may demonstate...

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A Savior For Sinners

In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul makes the (familiar) statement:1 Timothy 1:15 15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. One thing worthy of note regarding this verse is that Christ Jesus came into this world as a man (yet still fully God) for one purpose, to glorify the Father in redeeming a people purchased...

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Superabundant Grace of God

Paul writes:1 Timothy 1:12-14 12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service; 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; 14 and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ...

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A Study of the Pastorals

I have been completely overwhelmed by the Pastoral Epistles as of recent months and so I have determined to make it my ambition to know - I mean, really KNOW - them in and out. I want to make it my goal to understand these letters so well that I understand Paul's thought in every chapter and in every...

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Honored by God

John 12:26 26 "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant also be; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. This is one of those verses that I read this morning that seemed new to me. I must have skimmed over it before. But to think that Jesus - and this is a week before he is crucified - tells those who are with him that if they have the desire to serve...

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Ministry Lessons from Mark Dever

Instead of listening to me, listen to Mark Dever as he shares his heart with these two lessons that have stood out to him in his ministry:Read that blog HE...

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Best Dance Video

If everyone is as much into dancing as I am, then you will appreciate this lovely video that is perhaps one of my favorite scenes in all of "moviedom."Watch it HERE....

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Cat Lover

Deep down I do enjoy cats, but these make me laugh.Watch the one and a half minute funny video of CATS he...

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Is Inspiration Historical?

Norman Geisler has a great quote regarding the historicity of the Word of God by saying:“The history of the Christian church is in overwhelming support of what the Bible claims for itself, namely, to be the divinely inspired, infallible, and inerrant word of God…this is true of the earliest Fathers after the time of Christ, as well as down through the centuries following them up to modern times" (Geisler,...

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Know Your Greek, Baby!

Tomorrow a good friend of mine is out of town and he asked me to fill in for him in teaching the Greek class at the Master's College. I am excited.As I was preparing for the course, read some of these quotes I came across. I am encouraged by these: Martin Luther said: “The languages are the scabbard...

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Your Personal Meditation with God

George Muller, (1805 – 1898) who is famous for establishing orphanages in England, joyfully depended on God to meet all his needs and the needs of the thousands of children under his charge. In the text below, he lays out how he sustained a vital daily time with God. I have read nothing better:It pleased the Lord to teach me a truth…I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary...

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The Pleasure of God in God

1 Timothy 1:11 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. In this text, Piper says that this is "the good news of the glory of the happy God." One thing that impacted me this morning in reading a chapter of Piper's from the book The Pleasures of God was the fact that "God is most glorified and happy in His Son." The radiance of Christ's face shines first...

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The Silent Enemy

Listen to this helpful quote I came across today:"The idea that Christianity stands chiefly in danger from the forces of materialism, or from secular philosophy, or from pagan religions, is not the teaching of the New Testament. The greatest danger comes rather from temptations within and from those who, using the name of Christ, are instruments of Satan to lead men to believe a lie and to worship...

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God's glory in everything

It seems to me that Deuteronomy 28:36 is a good verse to recognize in understanding God's sovereignty:Deuteronomy 28:36-37 36 "The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. 37 "And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the LORD...

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The Pastor's Piety

Pastors, "Be Holy." This is the cry that is blasting forth from the seminars here at the Shepherd's Conference @ Grace Community Church.I just attended a seminar by Rick Holland (who is the man to the right in this photo) who did a seminar on "The Peril of Becoming Too Familiar With God." Sound like...

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Bestsellers at Borders - Man is this depressing...

So today I had an hour to spare while I was waiting for a ring to be resized so I decided to walk to the Borders which is close by. I figured that I'd spend 30-40 minutes in no other place but the front shelves that hoist up the "Borders Bestsellers."Upon entering Borders, this was the first book I...

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Agonizing in the Pulpit

Yesterday I preached twice at church. It was a long day and a tiring day. Paul says it this way:1 Timothy 4:10-11 10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. 11 Prescribe and teach these things. When Paul says that we labor, he uses the Greek word kopiao which means "to toil, to labor; to toil with...

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Evangelicals who do NOT read

In his excellent work, Disciplines of a Godly Man, R. Kent Hughes mentions a quote by a famous radio talk show host. Bear in mind he is a Jewish man, not even claiming to be a Christian. Read his observation on p.78: "One thing I noticed about Evangelicals is that they do not read. They do not read...

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Transcendent and Immanent God

Deuteronomy 4:7-11 7 "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? 8 "Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? 9 "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from...

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Study Station

You may think that locking yourself up in corner may work to study. And it may. But may I suggest a better (haha) "station" for studying?If you have iTunes,1) Go to the "radio" icon on the left bar;2) Then click on "electronica" under the music genre;3) Finally, 12 stations down is one called: "1.FM...

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