Radio shows

As we’ve considered the first two verses of 1st Peter, we found Peter addressed his readers as God’s elect, chosen and blessed.  Let’s amplify this some more to get a better understanding of how someone becomes a Christian. Peter explains that an individua...

As we began our study of 1st Peter in the last two visits, we noted Peter was an apostle, a sent one. He was writing to believers who had travelled to different places in the world.  What he wrote to them is relevant for all believers, even us today.  He s...

The day before Jesus died on the cross He prayed to His Father, “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world,” meaning the disciples who were with Him.  Peter was leader of that group of disciples. The next day Peter, accused of being a ...

For some time I have been thinking of doing a study of the New Testament book of 1st Peter. The author identifies himself in the first verse as “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.”  As one of the twelve disciples Peter once answered this question Jesus rai...

An interesting experience we had as a family of practicing hospitality was an offshoot of going out for lunch to a local resort. While there I noticed a group of internationals having lunch at a number of other tables.  I turned to my wife and asked her if...

As promised in our last visit, let me share a couple of experiences where my wife and I practiced hospitality. Once, after a church service I recognized a man and greeted him and his family.  He looked troubled so I asked if they were free to go out for a ...

When thinking of practicing hospitality, we need to remember that it is more than just providing food and drink in your own home for someone you invite over.  The account in Luke 10:25-37 of the Good Samaritan is a case in point. “A man was going down from...

The book of Ruth in the Old Testament gives us a beautiful example of practicing hospitality. Ruth was a foreign widow who joined her mother-in-law Naomi when she returned to Bethlehem where she had formerly lived.  One day Ruth went out into the fields to...

A most practical expression of hospitality is illustrated by Abigail in 1 Samuel 25. Abigail was married to an arrogant, incorrigible fool.  During her marriage to Nabal she often found him surly and mean in his dealings with everyone.  In one encounter wi...

We have been looking at two examples of practicing hospitality found in Acts 16. Both Lydia and her household and the jailer and his household spontaneously practiced hospitality toward Paul and Silas and those with them, persuading them to share a meal ar...

In our study on hospitality, we saw the first example of someone spontaneously practicing hospitality after receiving Jesus Christ as her savior in Acts 16:15. Soon after that experience we find Paul and Silas being publicly stripped and beaten.  After bei...

In our last visit I pointed out that there are many examples of hospitality in the Bible, but sadly it is not found often in our hurried and harried society. It’s interesting to note, some who received Jesus Christ into their lives as Savior and Lord by fa...

Some years ago, my wife and some of the women of our church put together a cook book and asked me to write some comments to be included in it on practicing hospitality. As I began thinking of what to write I was reminded of the many times food and fellowsh...

Practicing hospitality is a hallmark of the Christian community as described in the Bible.  It was true of the people of God in the Old Testament as well. According to Psalm 23:5, God practiced hospitality, especially when one of His own people were in thr...

In our study of the two prophetical books of Jonah and Nahum we have seen that God “is slow to anger and great in power.” The focus of these two books has been the Assyrian empire’s capital city, Nineveh.  The people of Judah were bystanders watching their...

As we’ve been studying the dire prophecy Nahum announced about the impending destruction of Nineveh we were introduced to these words of comfort, “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.  He cares for those who trust in him” (Nahum 1:7). Again, in ...

Nineveh escaped God’s judgment when they repented of their evil ways in response to the message proclaimed by the prophet Jonah.  Gradually they reverted to their old, evil ways, so God sent another prophet, Nahum.  He proclaimed that “The Lord is a jealou...

As you read the book of Nahum, you’ll discover the truth emphasized many times throughout the Bible: You reap what you sow! Though God is slow to anger He must judge moral indifference, and wanton rebellion, idolatry, injustice, and violence.  Assyria was ...

As we concluded our study of the book of Jonah, we saw how God reached out to the city of Nineveh, close to the modern city of Mosul in Iraq, the capital of the Assyrian empire, with a message of judgment. When they repented and humbled themselves before G...

Let’s look at another reason why the Old Testament seems to be filled with more scenes of blood, gore and ruthless judgment rather than of God’s grace, compassion and love.  That reason is arrogant resistance. From the early chapters of the Bible, througho...

In our last visit we said that one reason the Old Testament seems to be filled with more scenes of blood, gore and ruthless judgment rather than of God’s grace, compassion and love, is that God’s messengers were often reluctant and even rebellious, related...

We concluded our last visit with the question, why is there so much blood, gore and ruthless judgment found throughout the Old Testament? Why, if God, as Jonah described Him, is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who rel...

In our last visit we noted that Jonah knew The God of Israel to be “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” In reference to Nineveh, God was gracious and compassionate, in that He was slow ...

People often say, “The God of the New Testament, as seen in the life of Jesus Christ, is different from the God of the Old Testament. The God of the Old Testament is portrayed as rigid, hard and ruthless. Jesus is loving, kind and forgiving.” After studyin...

When teaching on the book of Jonah I’ve often been asked, “Whatever happened to Jonah?” It seems like the book ends abruptly and leaves you hanging with a lot of unanswered questions regarding Jonah’s life. As I’ve thought about this I realized it was inde...