Focal Passage: 1 Samuel 25:14-17, 23-28, 32-35  What is wisdom? I’ve heard it said like this, “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.” Spurgeon elaborates on the relationship between knowledge and wisdom in a more spiritual and serious way, “To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal and are all the greater

Focal Passage: Philippians 3:12-21  Have you ever had a teacher say something like “if you remember one thing from my class period remember this …”? It seems as if Paul is doing something similar for us in Philippians 3:13.  He writes in the last part of the text, “But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” When Paul, the greatest missionary and

Focal Passage: II John 1-9  “Goblin mode.” I bet you are as confused as I was when I first read that phrase. Every year the Oxford dictionary picks one word that reflects the “ethos, mood or preoccupations of that particular year.” And yes, 2023’s word is goblin mode. I’ll leave it to you to look up what it means.  The word of the year for 2016 is a bit less

Focal Passage: Romans 12:1-5, 9-13  Have you ever had a brain freeze? A brain freeze is a rapid onset headache you get when you eat or drink something cold too quickly. The technical name for a brain freeze is sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. This occurs when cold hits the receptors in the outer covering of the brain. The cold creates a dilation and contraction of arteries, causing the pain. Romans 12 leads

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 2:6-16  I have heard it said that Baptists have their own Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Bible. Obviously, this humorous statement is meant to highlight the lack of emphasis that a lot of Baptists put on the third person of the Trinity.  Let me be clear what this article is about. We are not going to explore the reasons why

Focal Passage: Romans 6:5-14 “A picture is worth a thousand words.” While some have attributed this saying to Napoleon and some to Einstein, we don’t really know for sure who originally coined this phrase. Regardless of who said it first the meaning remains the same. Pictures can communicate multiple and complex ideas in a single snapshot while it would take many words to accomplish the same thing. I’m pretty sure

Focal Passage: Psalm 99:1-9  “Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from Heaven above … .” My guess is that you finished singing that line in your head before reading this sentence.  “Awesome God” originally written by Rich Mullins was a favorite in churches and youth groups some years ago (and for some, it still is).  If you’re like me, you couldn’t forget that song even if you tried.

Focal Passage: Acts 16:1-5, II Timothy 2:1-2, 3:10-12  The term oxymoron is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.” Some short examples of an oxymoron are open secret, clearly confused or my personal favorite — jumbo shrimp.  We might like to think that II Timothy 3:12 would fall into this literary category. Notice that the desire for godliness and

Focal Passage: Acts 9:26-28, 11:22-26, 15:36-40  Isn’t it encouraging to read about the conflict between Paul and Barnabas? What?! How can their disagreement be encouraging? Critics and skeptics attack the Bible with striking regularity.  One of the arguments they make is that the Bible is merely a compilation of contrived stories to serve a religious purpose rather than eye-witness accounts of actual events. If this was the case then why

Focal Passage: Esther 2:5-7, 4:8-17  Why are you reading this article? Instead of saying “I’m not sure, I have some other things to do,” and put it down, keep reading.  I know I’m about to wade into some dangerous waters but are you reading according to the sovereignty of God or your free will? Think about that question.  The physical abilities necessary to read and the class you may be