The Sound Word

Simplicity, Separation, Peace  Crying Out for the 'Good Old Days'     2 Corinthians 6:7     "Therefore, "Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."   Back in the Old Days. The way it used to be. The "New Testament" Church. When things were simple. There is much to be said for our current wave of technological advances. There is simply no arguing its intrinsic benefits. Areas such as health care, communication, emergency response and so much more have benefited in such a way that mankind is far better off. But at the same time technology can be a curse. What technology has a tendency to do is detach us from our focus on Jesus - and everything else for that matter. When I was a young boy, Star Trek (reruns that is, I'm not that old...) was a popular TV show, and I remember having to watch it before my Dad got home from work, because I knew he's have been made for 'wasti...

Proof-Texting (This has nothing to do with your cell phone...)   Acts 20:25-32   " Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.  "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. The reforma...

Galatians 5:2-6 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Coming from a legalistic church upbringing, I can smell a legalist a mile away. But my approach to a legalist is changing. I don’t want to change their mind by arguing scriptural text as much as I desire to affect their heart. It is so easy to get caught up in the do’s and do not’s of ‘the law’. It’s easy for us to think this way as it is the way of human nature. Do the right thing, get rewarded. Do the wrong thing, and get punished. And let’s face it, God has his hand in furth...

Colossians 1:21-22 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation I was reading for my devotional time this morning, and I’m not really sure how, but I ended up in Colossians when I thought I was reading I Peter again. Sometimes electronic books can trick us. But there I was reading such a great passage of scripture, I knew it was something the Lord wanted me to share with you all today. 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the begi...

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...

Daniel 10:12 ...“Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. I recently listened to a fellow pastor share an encouraging word to his congregation via the internet. Speaking right before Christmas, and encouraging his church to stay focused on Jesus this season, he reminded them to remember the 'joy' of the season, but to not take it too far. This is itself is a great reminder. As true Christians committed to Jesus and His ways, we should be able to find joy in all things. This however is only possible if we are focused on Jesus and not self. The trouble in today’s modern Christianity is that pastors and teachers are all too often afraid to give people the truth in love, because the truth is sometimes hard, and often offensive. Let’s face it, if we are told that we are being selfish, that we are not focused on Christ, and that ...