The Sound Word

Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope. I’ve been doing some research on a project I’m working on and it has been quite rewarding, yet tragically revealing at the same time. In the process I have been reading quite a few testimonies and stories of people’s lives as they have become Christians. Nothing is more powerful than a personal testimony of the life changing event in one’s being as the Holy Spirit takes control. A fundamental understanding of Christianity is ‘conversion’. The conversion is seen and understood in a great many different ways by individuals and denominations. What exactly constitutes a conversion? What should it look like? What are the (if in fact there are any at all) tell-tale signs that manifest themselves at the time of conversion? There is much discussion in this area, but the one thing that all can agree on is this: conversion requires change. I know that my confession of Christ and my submiss...

Romans 13-:1-2 1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. As Peter wrote his first epistle to the diaspora, those believers who had been living in exile (as by that time Christian persecution was already rampant in may areas of the then known world), he wrote it to give instruction and encouragement to so many who were living lives of servitude or under social or political pressures that severely limited their freedom. That context is critical to the passages that follow. Yesterday was a cold day, relatively speaking for the Seattle Tacoma area. Here, anything under freezing is not too common, and temperatures in the low twenties or teens are very cold for this area. I've lived in colder climates, so I am not squeamish when it comes to cold winter weath...