묵상/스티브 멕베이(Steve McVey)243 The Bible As A Barrier Jesus once said something to the Pharisees that sounds strange at first. The Pharisees were known for their knowledge of the Bible and had a reputation for their meticulous attention to doing what it says. A good Pharisee had much of the Old Testament Scripture committed to memory. They were recognized as authorities on the Bible. It was to that group that Jesus said these words: "You diligentl.. 2010. 9. 15. Grace Versus Religion There's an interesting story in John 8 that shows just how low religion can sink. Jesus had been telling people about how He was the Light of the world and how that when they came to know the truth, they would be set free. As He showed them that it wasn't their religious background or affiliation that gave them status with God but that it would be their relationship to Him that mattered, the Je.. 2010. 9. 13. Are You Going Blind? Jesus encountered many people who were physically blind during His earthly ministry. However, there were only two groups that He ever called spiritually blind. One of them was the Pharisees. The ironic fact about this group is that they believed with all their hearts that they saw things more clearly than everybody else. (Modern Pharisees still believe that.) What was the cause of their spiritu.. 2010. 9. 8. Songs Of Love From Heaven Perhaps no medium on earth has the capacity to affect a person’s emotions like music. Music has been used throughout history to move people into action. It has motivated men to charge forward into battle. It has often been a prerequisite to making love. Music has caused some to sit still in reflective silence and caused others to get up and dance. It has soothed fussy babies until they drifted.. 2010. 9. 6. Don't Give Up! When we face the temptation to quit, the enemy of our souls lies to us. He points out every deficiency in us that we are willing to consider, both real and imagined. He reminds us of our weaknesses. He describes our future to us in bleak, dreary terms and tries to strip away any hope that our present course could possibly lead to a good outcome. He attacks our thoughts and tries to pull down ou.. 2010. 9. 3. C.S. Lewis on The Finished Work of the Cross "What, then, is the difference which He has made to the whole human mass? It is just this; that the business of becoming a son of God, of being turned from a created thing into a begotten thing, of passing over from the temporary biological life into timeless 'spiritual' life, has been done for us. Humanity is already 'saved' in principle. We individuals have to appropriate that salvation. But .. 2010. 8. 26. We All Died With Christ Is a person included in the crucifixion of Jesus at the moment when he believes? Does it become true for her that "I have been crucified with Christ" only if she has faith in Him? It isn't believing that makes it real. Mankind's co-crucifixion with Jesus on the cross is a reality whether we believe it or not. Here's how Watchman Nee said it: It is the 'inclusive' death of the Lord which puts me.. 2010. 8. 25. A Grace Voice From the Past Thomas Erskine (1788-1870)was a very well known theologian in the early 19th century. His writings are a great read for those who want to dig deeper into the reality of mankind's inclusion in the work of the cross. When Erskine died at home in 1870, his last words were fittingly enough: "Lord Jesus!" Here's how he explained what I've been discussing in my "Sunday Preaching" series about how sal.. 2010. 8. 25. What Flavor Is God's Church? My wife, Melanie, often buys a brand of tea called “Celestial Seasonings”. (It sort of sounds spiritual, doesn’t it?) The package contains tea bags of different flavors. She likes the Country Apple flavor. I don’t care for it, but I do enjoy a flavor called Red Zinger. The apple flavor is boring to me, but the Red Zinger — it’s a real eye opener. When a person is thirsty for some go.. 2010. 8. 24. You Should Strive To Do Right and Avoid Wrong - Not True One of the worst and yet most prevalent lies I’ll present in this book is this one. The idea that we should focus on improving our behavior so that we avoid doing wrong and consistently do right seems to be the mindset of most of Christians in the contemporary church world. Most ministries are devoted to helping people know how to act better and avoid sin in an attempt to do what they imagine.. 2010. 8. 21. Seeing Jesus in Daily Life If Jesus wants us to recognize His presence, why don’t more people see Him in their daily lives? What keeps us from identifying Him with us in everyday matters? There are several deterrents that will keep us from enjoying the reality of His presence with us. ✦ Misunderstanding How Jesus Relates To Us Will Cause Us Not To Recognize Him. Many don’t recognize the Lord’s continuos presence .. 2010. 8. 21. "You Will Be Blessed Because You Tithe" - One of the 52 Lies Heard In~ "You Will Be Blessed Because You Tithe" - One of the 52 Lies Heard In Church Every Sunday This is one of the chapters from my book, 52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday. I'm asked about this subject often so I decided to go ahead and post it here. (The book will be released by Harvest House Publishers in January, 2011) Here’s a serious hot potato! There are few more guaranteed ways to get peop.. 2010. 8. 19. Do We Proclaim A Potential Gospel or a Finished Gospel? For many years I proclaimed what I now believe was only a "potential gospel." I taught that if a person believed on Jesus Christ, then God would forgive his sin and reconcile that person to Himself. Studying the Scripture over the past few years, I've come to see how misguided, albeit sincere, my approach to the gospel was. I didn't preach a finished gospel. The word "gospel" means good news an.. 2010. 8. 19. He Lives In You "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the firmament and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1). 2010. 8. 16. A Personal Prayer Request Dear friends, As those who've been reading my blog through the years know, I said from the start that this blog would include personal matters as well as public issues in my life. This one is personal. I'm writing this blog to ask you to pray for my wife, Melanie, tomorrow. A couple of years ago, Melanie was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal disease that has become progressively worse over t.. 2010. 8. 11. New Covenant Evangelism Here's a note I received in response to last week's "Sunday Preaching." This is New Covenant evangelism . . . From Rob: "I was called to the home of a dying elderly man to sing and pray with him. A few folks from church came with me. At the house the man had lots of family around, inside and outside the house. Many were smoking outside and wouldn’t come inside with us, so I asked everyone to .. 2010. 8. 10. Knowing Peace In Troubling Times Living in a world that seems to be falling apart at times, the words of Jesus to his disciples are as relevant to us today as they were when He spoke them to His troubled followers two millennia ago. "Don't be afraid," he told them repeatedly. The question is, "How are we to live in what appears to be uncertain circumstances in our lives without being afraid?" After all, our personal situations.. 2010. 8. 4. Retroactive Salvation? There’s an amazing story in the book of Joshua about the children of Israel that I believe may point us toward a wonderful truth about the work of Jesus at the cross. It’s the story of the crossing of the Jordan River. God had told Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan into Canaan, the land of abundant living. For 40 years the people had wandered in the wilderness. God had given them .. 2010. 7. 28. Poet Needed In the movie, Contact, Jodie Foster plays a scientist who is whisked away to another planet after a special spaceship was built with blueprints provided by extra-terrestrials. In the scene where she makes contact with the space aliens, she is carried through one space wormhole after another until she finds herself standing beside a beautiful ocean on the planet to which they have carried her. T.. 2010. 7. 27. What Kind of Mood Is God In Today? I used to think that God's mood toward me depended on how I was behaving at the time. If I was doing my daily Bible reading, that helped put Him in a good mood. If I was praying like I should, that would help. If I led somebody to faith in Christ, that was sure to put a big smile on His face. My perspective has radically changed over the years. Today I don't believe that God's mood has one thin.. 2010. 7. 26. Sin and Punishment One of the biggest misunderstandings about sin is that God punishes us for the wrong things we do. There certainly are many verses in the Bible that seem to suggest that at first glance, but the fact is that there is another way of understanding these verses than many of us have considered. Nobody's interpretation of the Bible comes from a place of neutrality. Every one of us, despite all effor.. 2010. 7. 20. A Great Illustration of the Difference Between The Objective & ~ A Great Illustration of the Difference Between The Objective & Subjective Work of the Cross Recently I wrote a blog about how the objective work of Christ on the cross is efficacious whether we believe it or not. We proclaim a finished gospel not a potential gospel that tells people they can be made right with God if they will do something like say a prayer or have faith or anything else. We ha.. 2010. 7. 19. The Subjective Experience of An Objective Reality For many years, I didn't truly see the finished work of Christ as the gospel. I certainly said I saw it that way but, in reality, I saw the work of the cross more as a potential gospel. My view was that if people would ask God to forgive their sin, He would. If a person would pray to get right with God, He would answer that prayer. If somebody would come to God in faith, the great gulf of sin t.. 2010. 7. 15. Musings of A Middle-Aged Man I almost always find myself becoming introspective around my birthday every year. I'm not melancholic at all nor one normally prone to philosophical mental meanderings, but at least once a year I find myself reflecting on the core issues of life and asking myself if my lifestyle is an authentic and honest expression of those things I value most. Maybe it's just my personality, but I want to liv.. 2010. 7. 13. How Do You See God? One of the greatest effects of sin's curse when Adam fell in the Garden of Eden was the way it tainted humanity's view of God. Until he sinned, Adam had walked through the garden with God every evening. What a time of intimacy that must have been! But everything changed when sin entered in. Immediately Adam was filled with fear of God and hid himself. He imagined that God would come storming do.. 2010. 7. 2. Who Is God? The pluralism of the planet we live on today is greater than any time in history. At the same time, that fact seems to be a contradiction to the growing merging of customs, cultures and convictions. When I was a child the countries and cultures of the world each had their own distinctive characteristics that plainly delineated one from another. Those differences are becoming less and less evide.. 2010. 6. 22. Faith Expressing Love The preaching of the cross is the proclamation that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Now He has given us the ministry of sharing this wonderful message of reconciliation. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen to the person who believes. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it. Faith is the w.. 2010. 6. 5. Changing Stations From AM TO FM Some people have a negativity being broadcast inside them practically all the time. Sometimes it is a conscious broadcast. At others it is subconscious. This negativity causes them to look at a scenario and immediately see the negative aspects of it. “Do you want to get well?” Jesus asks them. They don’t even hear the question. Like the crippled man beside the pool of Bethesda, their resp.. 2010. 6. 3. If You Think You May Have Married The Wrong Man “How can something become the right thing when it clearly started out as a wrong thing? Traveling the wrong way on a street can never lead to the right destination, no matter what you do,” Linda said to me during her counseling appointment. She and Tom had been married for six years when her mom died at a relatively young age. The effect of her mother’s death had caused Linda to rethink t.. 2010. 6. 2. An Excerpt From Grace Walk If you are just beginning to seriously contemplate the difference between walking in legalism and under grace, you probably are asking the question, "Is he saying that since grace covers all sins, I can go out and sin if that's what I want to do?" Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. However, before you throw the book down, finish this paragraph. You see, the question about being able to go rig.. 2010. 5. 12. 이전 1 2 3 4 5 6 ··· 9 다음