The Sound Word

Luke 6:48 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. It has unmistakably been a common thread in so much in my life this year that: I just have to share on the subject. It has to be from God, and I'm sure of it. I had a brief counseling session with an old friend this is week. It came up. I had a visit from a missionary working in Kenya, it came up there. In a book I'm reading, it came up there. Emails, questions in my voice mail, comments on on-line forums, everywhere I look. Here is what the Lord is putting on my heart: Christians in America have lost their knowledge, and worse yet, their zeal for a biblical foundation in the doctrine and life. I put the blame on the 'church' corporate, and I put the blame on pastors and teachers. The information is there. Christian doctrine is there. As...

Psalm 51: 10-13 Create in me a clean heart, oh god. Renew a right spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me again, the joy of my salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to sinners, and they will return to you.   I have read the verses in Psalm 53 a thousand times. But today they become new again. When an offense is made, what shall we do? We have plenty of biblical direction in this area, both Old and New Testament. In the OT, sacrifices are made. A predetermined penalty is paid based on the offense under the law. In the NT the Law is fulfilled, we are no longer under the legalism of the law, but rather the law of love in our hearts. I can see, and hope that you all can as well, that in some cases when we make mistakes, and feelings are hurt, that it would be much easier to pay a legal fine, present a sacrifice or pay some sort of physical restitution or do some sort of penance...

John 18:38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all. In my studies of Martin Luther's life and experiences as a bit of Christian history that just grabs my attention, I notice that there is in fact quite a bit about what Luther went through that was unique. But at the same time, there is much, sadly way too much that he went through that parallels the Church today 493 years later. But then again, Luther sought nothing more than what Pontius Pilate wanted himself. As I shared this Sunday in my sermon, 'those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it' (a quote often accredited to Winston Churchill, but more likely first coined by Spanish poet and novelist George Santayana). What I'm seeing today is that the struggle that so often lies within the heart of man, to know truth; and that since truth is true, that we therefore have to believ...