The Song of Songs, or the Song of Solomon, is the kind of love poem that might make a junior high boy blush. Which, frankly, makes it a little awkward to say that it’s also a song about God. But is it? Can we find the gospel here or is this simply a song about love between two people that pleases God? Is it somehow both? 

Domestic abuse often isn’t on our radar. And because it’s not something we assume is happening in our congregations, we do not make application points about it. We preach a sermon on anger from Ephesians 4:26-27 and talk about getting cut off in traffic, but we don’t even think about how it might relate to domestic abuse.

Oh, Little town of Bethlehem…

Bethlehem may be one of the most famous little towns in the world. It is known as the birthplace of Jesus. But where is it located? Is the Bethlehem today in the same location of the Bethlehem of biblical times? What can we learn about the town from archaeology? Are there other things we can know about Bethlehem. Here are 7 things to know about this historic little town.

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Who was the Gaza of the time of Amos? And what did they do to incur God’s judgment?

In order to see the gospel in Psalms do we need to analyze every single chapter? Are these not individual songs? Or is there a unified theme to the Psalms which also points to the gospel?

We are absolutely exhausted, beat up, worn down, about to give up and we’re even a little upset at God because he isn’t giving us the strength to get through this. But the problem isn’t that God isn’t giving us strength to obey, the problem is that God doesn’t give strength to disobey him.

True biblical discernment isn’t about spotting out every error and every deviation from truth. True biblical discernment is instead about highlighting the work of Jesus. In a world with many decisions, discernment sorts through what is vital.

Alex is a college athlete. As a young man, brimming with overconfidence, he decides to trek up a treacherous mountain. He has more arrogance than supplies. When he gets halfway up the mountain reality punches him in the throat. He doesn’t have the endurance or the supplies to go further up the mountain. What could Alex do to strengthen his chances of making it up the mountain?

The reality here is that Alex could have strengthened his chances of a successful climb if he had taken it seriously from the beginning. When you find yourself in the middle of difficulty and suffering, that’s not the time to ask the question. Suffering and difficult times reveal the veracity of our faith.

Yet, God’s grace reaches down to ignorant mountain climbers who weren’t prepared for the days ahead. Yes, it is far better to have been prepared before the difficult times set in. But thankfully God also helps us to grow even in difficult times.

Here are a few practical tips for strengthening your faith in difficult times.

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Yes, the absence of God’s name is striking in a book of the Bible. But that absence is an invitation to see His work even when it seems that He is silent or absent. In the midst of what appears to be godless chaos and the capricious rule of a tyrant, the story of Esther reminds us that God is still at work redeeming His people.

Could I, with straight face, say to my children, “I find you acceptable only when you do your chores”? Could I expect to have a growing relationship with my wife if I said, “I find you acceptable when you do the things I want”? Of course not. We instinctively know that a relationship isn’t healthy when one party is consistently seeking approval. Why do we think it’s different with God? 

As a pastor, I’ve had the opportunity of being around several people as they are dying. I can tell you that in these moments, if they are cognizant, their words and actions have a profound significance.

One could argue that Jesus was always intentional. Yet, there seems to be added significance to events leading up to His death. He was fully aware of the impending culmination of His earthly ministry, and these actions often held deep symbolism and theological importance.

There were many things Jesus did in the days leading up to His crucifixion. Here are five which hold great significance.

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This heart change, as we read from the other prophets, would require a new covenant. Jesus, and His work of redemption, is what the “thud” in Nehemiah 13 is crying out for. Real “revival” only happens when hearts are transformed.

His anger was as obvious as a neon sign in the dark. He was glowing hatred of God. I should probably make that a lower case “g,” though. It wasn’t the God of the Bible that he was raging against. He described all the reasons why he hated God — then informed me that is the reason why he doesn’t believe in God. 

Forget for a moment the irony of being incensed at something you believe to be imaginary. His hurt and pain were real. If God was like this, he didn’t want anything to do with him. That’s when I was able to tell him that I didn’t believe in that God either. He truly was angry with a god who doesn’t exist. 

One of A.W. Tozer’s most popular quotes is fitting here. Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” It’s true, because we are formed by the God (or god) that we behold. In his book, Practicing the Way, John Mark Comer gets at the import of this, and outshines even Tozer:

“If a person’s vision of God is distorted — if they view him as harsh, demeaning, or chronically angry…or as liberal, laissez-faire, and simply there to champion their sexual pleasure — the more religious they become, the worse they become. Because we become like who we believe God is.” (John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way, 104)

This is why it is helpful to look at things the world (and at times even us church folk) believe about God that simply aren’t true. Here are five of those.

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This claim that the Bible doesn’t contradict itself is often questioned. The discrepancies between the creation accounts of Genesis 1 and 2 cause some to call foul. Do these contradict each other? Can we resolve this?