Why should local churches and individual Christians do things like go overseas to tell people about Jesus? Why should we raise funds and leave the comforts of home and family behind in order to tell people about the love of God in Christ? In other words, why do we do missions? There are several reasons why we should do missions. We are commanded to “make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). We know that people who die without trusting in Jesus face an eternity in hell, separated from God (John [...]

The Old Testament book of Judges is probably not one that many of us have spent much time studying. It is nestled in between the books of Joshua and First Samuel, and often gets overlooked because there does not seem to be any stories in Judges that apply to us today. The one exception might be the story of Samson and Delilah (Judges 13-16). Many of us have heard this story because of Samson’s incredible physical strength and his single-handed victories over the Philistines (Judges 15). Samson ultimately failed as [...]

Meditation on Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” – Luke 4:18-19 It matters what a person says first. The first words that are spoken in a presentation or a speech are important because they let the audience know where the speaker [...]

Meditation on Numbers 20:10-13 and Matthew 28:19-20 “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.’” – Numbers 20:12 The disobedience of Moses and Aaron at Kadesh-barnea came at a great cost. The Lord had used these two men, these two brothers, to rescue his people out of slavery in Egypt, to take his people to [...]