Blog: January 2019 — December 2019

The downfall of David’s kingdom was propelled by David’s sin with Bathsheba. Amid the pain of losing their firstborn son, God showed David and Bathsheba that He still loved them. Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon. God chose Solomon to be Israel’s next king. (See 2 Sam. 12:24-25; 1 Chron. 22:9-13.) David spoke to his son from his deathbed, giving specific instructions: “Keep your obligation to the LORD your God to walk in his ways” (1 Kings 2:3a). After 40 years of reigning over Israel, David died and Solomon became Israel’s king. Early in ...

Face App has been all the rage the last few weeks.  In case you don’t know about this viral app with over 100 million downloads, it’s a photo-altering tool that adds decades to your appearance.  What might we look like in 25 or 50 years?  Examples are all over social media. Now this has me curious:  What’s the big attraction?  I thought peo­ple generally don’t like to imagine getting old.  And yet, maybe if it’s someone else’s radical aging, then we’re captivated and want to see.  There are images of the British Royals circulating ...

The Ammonites were no strangers to the Israelites. They often fought over the region of Gilead, which stretched east of the Jordan River. David had tried showing kindness to the Ammonites, but they humiliated the Israelite ambassadors. (See 2 Sam. 10:1-5.) Thus began a war between the Israelites and Ammonites. This context sets the scene for the story of David’s sin and restoration. David had experienced a season of blessing from God and success on the battlefield. The tribes of Israel united under David. But the upward trajectory of ...

We live in a day of raging political partisanship and hysteria.  The art of patiently listening to people who don’t share our political leanings, and the act of suspending judgment and refusing to throw out the baby with the bath water when those from “across the aisle” talk, have nearly vanished from public discourse.  Figures on the left and the right blurt out bold claims to spotlight their own virtues and their adversary’s wretchedness. That’s the world we live in, like it or not.  So what are we to do?  By “we,” I mean followers of ...

Though King Saul was an adversary to David, Saul’s son Jonathan loved him as much as he loved himself. (See 1 Sam. 18:1.) Before David fled from King Saul and journeyed toward Moab, Jonathan appealed to his friend David, “If I continue to live, show me kindness from the Lord, but if I die, don’t ever withdraw your kindness from my household” (1 Sam. 20:14-15a). Following the deaths of King Saul and his son Jonathan, David was made king over Israel. The Lord was with David, and he experienced numerous military victories. David remembered the ...

If you’re not careful, you might come away from the Letter of James thinking it’s just a long, demanding list of rules.  But it’s not.  It’s a picture of how faith acts: what it looks like to trust the Lord. And to better understand James’s teaching on faith, we need to hear what he says about the One in whom we trust.  God is… Ÿ Sovereign over our trials—so we can rely on him and even take joy in the midst of hard times (1:2-4); Ÿ The generous giver of wisdom to all who ask him for it in faith (1:5-8); Ÿ Giver of every good and perfect ...

The path to Israel’s throne was not easy for David. Saul had tried multiple times to kill him, and David had to flee for his life, leaving behind his good friend Jonathan. But God had appointed David to be king, and God was faithful. Leading up to 2 Samuel 7, Jonathan was killed in battle against the Philistines. Saul fell on his own sword, and David became the king of Israel. David moved the ark of God to Jerusalem—a cause for joyous celebration—and settled into his palace there. God blessed David and gave him peace from his enemies. But ...

In his Cru Press study of the New Testament Letter of James, Rick James identifies the letter’s main theme:  maturity, or completeness (p. 8).  Spiritual maturity integrates faith with life; immaturity allows for double-mindedness, even duplicity. So what does this immaturity look like?  James calls out an array of attitudes and behaviors, such as:  wavering between faith and doubt (1:6-8); being hearers but not doers (1:22); showing favoritism toward the rich (2:1-7); claiming to have faith while lacking evidence of it in good works ...

David’s relationship with King Saul was complicated. Early on, David served the king by playing the lyre for him whenever he felt unwell. After David killed Goliath, he became good friends with Saul’s son Jonathan. But David’s success made Saul jealous. Saul could see that David was rising in popularity. He won victory after victory. Saul made several attempts on David’s life, and David fled to the land of Moab. David wasn’t alone. His family and other men—anyone who was “desperate, in debt, or discontented” (1 Sam. 22:2)—joined David, and ...

The Letter of James has been very frank about the existence of dis­harmony and con­flicts in the church—such as:  Ÿfailing to bridle the tongue (1:26); Ÿplaying favorites (2:1-7); Ÿhaving “faith” that yields no works (2:18); Ÿbless­ing and cursing with the same mouth; Ÿacting out of selfish ambition (3:14).  And that’s just up through chapter 3. To address these kinds of relational problems, let me recommend a terrific short article (pick up a copy from the ledge in the lobby): “Seven Princi­ples for Healthy Relationships in Church,” by ...

Samuel had anointed Saul as king over Israel, but it wasn’t long before Saul’s disobedience led God to reject him as king. God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to meet Jesse—a man in the family line of Judah. God had chosen one of Jesse’s sons to be Israel’s king. When Samuel saw Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, he thought, “This must be the one God has chosen!” Eliab was likely tall and good-looking. Why wouldn’t God choose someone like that? But God doesn’t make decisions like people do. Read what God said to Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7. Jesse’s sons ...

When God confronts us about the way we talk, he strikes a nerve.  Let’s be honest—we all struggle with sins of the tongue.  Whether we’re prone to say too much or too little.  Whether it’s gossip or boasting or exaggeration or slander or judging or criticism or complaining, or whatever.  It’s every believer’s battle (James 3:2, 8). And words are a big deal.  We may say “talk is cheap,” but it’s not.  It’s costly; words have a powerful impact. Of course, Christ-centered, truth-telling, love-spreading speech has immense value for good. Just ...

Gossip involves talking behind someone’s back and saying things you wouldn’t say if he or she were present.  Talking about rather than to others is like walking on a frozen pond on a warm day in March—dangerous!  Don't go there. So why do people gossip?  Because they—we—desire attention and power.  Believers who gossip exhibit spiritual immaturity; it shows we’re not satisfied with acceptance by Christ and not ready to entrust our lives to his strong, loving hands.  What’s more, when we willingly listen to gossip, it corrodes our conscience ...

This Sunday we’ll dive into a Bible passage about the power of our speech to do harm, great harm.  In 3:1-12, James stresses how much damage our words can do:  “the tongue is a fire, a world of unright­eousness”; the tongue is “set on fire by hell”; “no human being can tame the tongue”; “it is a restless evil”; it’s “full of deadly poison.”  Simply put, our words are capable of inflicting devastation. The Bible is not subtle here:  when we give into the tempta­tions of gossip, slander, lying, and any other speech sins, we dishonor our ...

The Gospel Coalition recently published a collection of twelve mini-bio­graphies of Christians who share their experience meeting Jesus and following him along his counterintuitive path:  unless we lose our lives for his sake, we’ll never discover our true selves.  “Writers from around the world tell their stories of healing and hope amid many hardships.”  They also unpack God’s Word and help us see what it looks like to take God seriously when life goes sideways. The book is Lost and Found:  How Jesus Helped Us Discover Our True Selves, ...

June 23 will be "Celebration Sunday" here at Goshen--come join us! Several things will be happening that day: Summer Schedule begins:  Sunday School for all ages at 9:30 a.m., and ONE worship service at 10:30 a.m. Our Combined Adult Class begins at 9:30 a.m. in Fellowship Hall (see here for the schedule for this ten-week series). We'll hear reports on God's leading and working thru our VBS and Waypoint ministries taking place during the preceding week. We'll witness the ordinance of Baptism during the worship service.  If you are a ...

The time of the judges was turbulent for God’s people. The Israelites had conquered the promised land of Canaan, but after Joshua’s death, they fell into a cycle of sin. This was the culture in which Hannah and her husband Elkanah lived. They were ordinary Israelites—Elkanah, a devoted worshiper of the Lord; and Hannah, a woman who wanted nothing more than to be a mother. But the Lord had closed her womb. (1 Sam. 1:5) One year, when Elimelech went to make sacrifices and worship God, Hannah went too. She could no longer hide her grief over ...

Only two books in the Old Testament bear the name of a woman: Ruth and Esther. Ruth’s story occurs at the time when judges ruled over Israel. God’s people were characterized by rebellion and immorality. At a time when the Israelites desperately needed a king to lead them back to God, Ruth’s story of faithfulness points us to Jesus Christ, a coming Redeemer who will make all wrong things right again. Ruth was the daughter-in-law of Naomi, a woman from Bethlehem who settled in Moab with her husband and two sons to escape a famine. Naomi’s ...

Samson was the last of the major judges of Israel. He was born to parents who dedicated him to the Lord as a Nazirite after the Angel of the Lord announced that Samson would be born to save the Israelites from the power of the Philistines. Samson grew up, and God blessed him with great strength. But when Samson requested to marry a Philistine woman, his parents were confused. Samson was supposed to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. Why would he want to marry one of them? But God had a plan in all of this. (See Judg. 14:4.) As ...

I’ve been pondering this impulse we have (or at least that I have) to save stuff.  Material things—like books, papers, souvenirs, furniture, art­work, or no-longer-current electronic gear.  You never know when something might come in handy!  Trouble is, our attic and my study overflow with boxes and bags and piles and files of stuff. Plus, it’s not just material things—it’s information too.  Within books and now in digital space as well, I’m always stockpiling content.  For example, by highlighting reading material and jotting extensive ...