Duple (Hebrews 4:1-12)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “duple.” I was a camp counselor for a number of years growing up in ministry. My favorite song is based on today’s verse.  I used to love singing more than the kids. When the dude up front started with a song that I like, which was all of them… me and all the kids in my cabin would go crazy.  It was a lot of fun.  And that was what I tried to teach the boys in my cabin.  They knew that learning about God and the Bible could be a lot of fun.  I was had fun.  And, God's word was always so powerful that we didn't really have to do much except for decide whether or not to follow.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” ~Heb 4:12

My question is: what are the things that pierce your heart?  I know that reading averse like the one above gives me hope that God will continue to decipher the things in my life that need to be changed or accepted.  My prayer is that each of you allows the word of God to penetrate your heart with its duple effect.  Allow God to make changes in your life today where needed.  He is always ready to move in your life.

Praying for you,

MO

Bibliophobe (2 Timothy 3:10-16)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “bibliophobe.”  I remember early on in my seminary degree program how much I disliked reading.  I'd pretty much gotten through college on the bare minimum… that was probably the dumbest thing ever.  But now that I was in a Masters program I was expected to read thousands of pages a week.  I sat down with God about three weeks into my first semester and prayed that he gave me a yearning to love books.  Otherwise, I was not going to make it.  That was the turning point in my scholastic career.  In today's passage, Paul gives young Timothy words to live by that will serve him far beyond the completion of their mentorship process…

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…

~2 Tim 3:16

My question is: how much do you lean on the Scriptures for the everyday decisions in your life?  It's pretty tough to love to read in general, and anyone who chooses to be a bibliophobe, or one who does not like books, is setting themselves up for failure.  But learning to love The Good Book is essential.  One of my mentors told me that I would only excel to the point that I read books and associated with those who were better or farther along in life than me.  My prayer this morning is that you do the same… lean on good books and good people.

Praying for you,

MO

Provenance (Romans 15:1-5)

Good morning ladies,

The word of the day is “provenance.” A frequent question I get as a pastor is how I can believe in the Bible when there is so much stuff out there to challenge it. Without going into too much about that specific question, my real thought is that as a Christian I believe in the Bible because of my experience with God. Like many who have had encounters with Jesus, there is something about the Bible that rings true. Yes, I did go to school for 1 million years and learned about every verse of every passage of every book in the entire Bible. But that is not why I believe in God's word. I believe in God's word because it is the origin, the only encouragement that I need as a Christian.

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

~Rom 15:4

My question is: how do you respond to the instruction from the Bible? We can be confident that whatever was written in former days is specifically for our encouragement, that we must endure using the Scriptures. It says right in this passage, and this specific verse, that that is where our hope must come from. My prayer is that you have this hope in your heart. Whenever you doubt anything of God, make sure you go back to the provenance, or origin. God will bring us the answers that you need. And, I am not sure that I even want all the answers. What I do want is a hope that I will be with my Savior one day. My encouragement is that you have that reassurance today.

Praying for you,

Mo