Posts from 2023 (Page 4)

As the inspired psalmist, King David writes, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident” (Psa. 27:1-3). As one…

We cannot fully comprehend the horror Jesus faced that night in Gethsemane. A merciless scourging awaited Him, followed by nails being driven through His hands and feet. For six endless hours searing pain would wrack His battered body as He struggled for every breath. But that scarcely begins to describe our Savior’s woe. Who can fathom the agony of taking the whole world’s sins and bearing them in His body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24)? No wonder He cried…

The death of Christ on the cross was God’s way (and ultimately the only way) of dealing with the problem of sin. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21). Without the shedding of blood, there would be no remission of sin (Heb 9:22). This shows us at once both the horror of sin and the love of God. Jesus died…

The Bible tells us in Colossians 3:16 that we are to “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Songs were used in the Old Testament to teach, to caution and to express gratitude toward God. Songs were written for significant events such as the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15), as…

In my list of resolutions every year is to take up the sport of running again. Running keeps me motivated to lose weight and to keep myself healthy. A few weeks ago, I dusted off my treadmill and started to run again. I am doing ok so far; I am starting to get in the zone of running a few miles during the week. I am also trying to eat healthy and to eat less desserts. Three days ago, I…

“The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish” (Psalm 1:6). According to the psalmist, there are two paths in life we can take. The path we take is determined by our decisions. Here are five choices every person needs to make in order to walk the right path. 1. LISTEN TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked…”-Psalm 1:1 If we want to…

My recent trip to Mexico Last week I had the privilege to preach in several Mayan villages in the Yucatan in Mexico. Some of the congregations in these Mayan villages are facing different kinds of struggles. It does not matter what your nationality is or where you live, the devil will always try to derail the faith of those who are faithful to God. I was very happy to preach each night and spend time in each village and answer…

Would you say that doing things in the right order matters? Or as long as you complete all of the steps, does it matter in what order you did them? Have you ever assembled a bicycle? Have you ever purchased a piece of furniture from IKEA? Have you ever built a 3,000-piece LEGO set? If so, does it matter in what order you assemble these things? You probably know from experience that if you put together any of these things…

In 1998 during the winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan one event competition called the attention of the world. Most of the newspapers had articles saying something like this: “Cross-country skier Philip Boit made history when he became the first Kenyan to compete at the Olympic Winter Games, racing in the 10km classic event at Nagano 1998. Despite coming last, he was enthusiastically embraced by the winner, Norwegian Bjorn Daehlie. It was a moment that marked the start of a lasting…

We all struggle with spiritual discouragement and lethargy. Some days our circumstances threaten to overwhelm us, and we struggle just to pray. Many times, we just don’t feel like doing the things we know we should. For one reason or another, God sometimes seems far off and unreachable. David faced times like these in his life. The Psalms are filled with verses that express his despair and feeling of abandonment. Yet the Psalms also give us the key to living…

MY BABY WINDMILL PALM TREE One of my favorite plants are the palm trees. I have planted in my backyard about seven windmill palm trees. I planted them when they were babies and now, they are about eight feet tall and growing. One of the aspects I love of this kind of tree is that it reminds me of the tropical weather where I grew up in the Yucatan. Last summer, one of the palm trees had some fruit that…

OPPOSITION The place where I grew up in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico had only one Church of Christ in the whole region. This congregation was the first Church of Christ that was established in the 1970’s and there were only about seventy members. Just imagine! Seventy people who believe in Jesus Christ and had been baptized for the remission of their sins against the hundreds of thousands of people who oppose us. This was the case if you were…