The Law of the Firstborn: from failure to victory

Last week I posted an article based on the first sermon in my Christmas series this year. I had plans to write up each message in full, but life intrudes. Today I’d like to summarize the series to give a coda to the opening overture of last week. The first message dealt with failure and…

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Three Eggs

Life was wonderful! Paula and I finished college and on the heels of marriage began deputation, which was actually our extended honeymoon. Nine months later we moved to southern Texas to study at a Spanish language school, which we excitedly saw as the final hurdle to becoming missionaries to Mexico. I was 24, Paula was…

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When Nations Are Shaken (Part 1)

Daniel 11:5-12 How do you feel when you see a plan come together? Now sometimes, plans are hard to make. There are just so many variables, so many factors that you must consider. How do you prepare for the “what if’s?” What if this were to happen? What if that were to happen? It’s one…

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God’s Control

In reading through the book of Daniel, it is obvious that Bible prophecy is unique. There is no other religious book on Earth that even remotely matches the exactness, accuracy and majesty of the Bible’s statements concerning history and God’s control over it. Prophecy is God’s mark on history to let mankind know that He…

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The Problem of Psalm 91, Part 2

In part 1 of this post, we introduced the interpretive problem of Psalm 91 and examined some less than satisfactory answers to that riddle. In part 2, we will discuss how Jesus’ own life, death, and resurrection helps us to interpret Psalm 91. However, before we get there, we must build some more framework. We…

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The Problem of Psalm 91, Part 1

Psalm 91 is arguably one of the most beautiful chapters in all of the Bible. I remember being drawn to it as a kid when I heard it read publicly at our church. More recently, I was drawn to Psalm 91 after the Coronavirus outbreak. I even preached a sermon on it a couple of…

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Providence

George Stiekes The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD. Proverbs 16:33 We laugh when any one shares incidents related to Murphy’s Law. Examples: The Law of Variation – If you change traffic lanes, the one you were in will always move faster than the one you…

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Providence in the Incarnation of Christ (2)

Layton Talbert The following is an excerpt from the book, Not by Chance: Learning to Trust a Sovereign God (Greenville, S.C.: BJU Press, 2001). Part 1 recounted the providential context of the birth of Christ in history (politics, commerce, language) and then began discussing providential arrangements of specific circumstances including matters concerning John’s conception and…

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