Roots by the River

Dear Joe, Before I continue, I want you to know that I have always loved you and respected you. This love and respect have been separate from your performance; nevertheless, it is real. The following are perceptions of mine. I do not think they have been automatic causes in your slowing down in your journey toward God, but they have had some effect. ·        You are competitive. ·        You have been a perfectionist in the past. ·        You have been a subject of flattery in the past. ·        You have had a desire for wealth in the past. ·        You were not spiritually ready when you got married, nor did you catch up after you got married. If these perceptions are true, so what? You and your wife have had thousands of incidents in your life together that seem more important than these six thoughts. Whether she wanted...

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church” (Eph. 5:25-29). Note the last verse. The KJV says “nourishes and cherishes.” In Ephesians 6, Paul says that children are to be nurtured and admonished . Wives are to be nourished and cherished . Children are to be nourished and admonished. You must admonish your children. You must cherish your wife. You may not admonish your wife. If there is some moral infraction on her part, then you should handle it in the light of Galatians 6:1: “Brothers, if someone is caught in...

Some time ago, I received this question: “Why did you start your own church when you moved to Moscow? I am working in ministry in my church, but I am considering being a pastor. How do I know if I should leave this church to start my own or stay and keep trying to minister to the people here?” We came out to Idaho from Michigan to spy out the land in February 1971. In October ’72, fifteen months after we arrived, I was asked to substitute at the Grange church, which my family had been attending. In the meantime, we had been holding an afternoon house church in our home. In 1976, we shut down the afternoon house church because we did not want to compete with Community Evangelical Fellowship, the Moscow church that we started from the Grange in September 1975 because the congregation there was growing. The Grange grew and divided/planted again in 1976. I pastored both churches in Pullman for one year until another pastor was able to join us. The other church I pastored until I retir...

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:5-8). “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicke...

“Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns” (Jeremiah 4:3). The Lord’s instruction to Judah through Jeremiah was spiritual instruction. He wasn’t speaking about farming. The Bible is wonderful in its clarity, and we can be awfully obtuse in our understanding. We do not operate like good farmers. We are like a three-year-old child who plants a bean and digs it up every day to see if it is growing. We have a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk view of sowing. We expect a giant plant the next morning. We are impatient for the harvest, so we are impatient in our sowing. We sow in unplowed, undisced, and unharrowed ground. We sow in weeds. We sow in the rocks and on hard ground. We wonder why no harvest. The harvest is dependent on sowing, which is dependent on us. It is also dependent upon the ground. The kind of ground is, in a sense, dependent on us. “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among the thorns” speaks of the need for cultivation. Good, soft ground with no rocks and no...

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:1-4). It looks as if the time has come. The sound doctrine that cannot be endured is simple, basic, true, and shows up in verses like the following: “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:...

1 Timothy 1:15:          “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.” That means pay attention . “Christ Jesus…” Who He is!       “…came into this world to save sinners…” The only reason for His birth in Bethlehem. “…of whom I am the worst.” This is not false humility. This is an inspired statement.     “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.” One of the specific reasons why God saved Paul is given here: Paul was the worst of sinners. When you are witnessing to someone who wants to believe, he may say that he is too bad and that Christ will not have patience with him. That is not true because Christ had already exercised unlimited patience for the worst of sinners. Christ’s unlimited patience for Paul is an example for those who would be...

“It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to a song of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:5). It may have been always so, but at present we seem to have plenty of songs from many fools. We also seem to be short on wise men. The greatest shortage, however, is in heeders . A heeder is one who listens (pays attention) and obeys what he has heard. James said it this way: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). In my early Christian life, I memorized many verses of Scripture. I succeeded in deceiving myself . I was not obeying; I was not heeding. I thought I was spiritual. Being a listener is a dangerous position to be in. There are many good teachers of the Word. There are many more listeners. They flock to good teachers. The teacher should not be pleased that he has many listeners, unless he is going to teach them how to be heeders . This is one of the clear requirements in the Great Commission: “…teaching them to obey every...

Some time ago, I received this question: “Someone told me that I am emotionally dependent. Is that like being addicted to someone? What is the cure for emotional dependency?” You may be emotionally dependent, obsessive, or “addicted” to someone, but you should not think in these terms. As soon as you define yourself that way, you have hindered the cure. You end up focusing on the problem. Here is the solution. It requires some homework. ·        Think of yourself as a child of God. ·        “ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3). Believe it. ·        Realize where you are in Jesus Christ. Read Ephesians 1:13 through chapter 3 and Colossians 1 and 2. Do not think about doing . Think about being . Look at what these passages say you are in Christ. ·     ...

“Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Romans 15:2). I want. I need. I desire. I deserve. These are much different expressions than he needs or she needs . We think in terms of another person’s needs if they are negative, as in, “He needs a spanking,” or “He deserves to go to Hell.” Both of these may be true, but the text is speaking about what pleases and builds up the other person , rather than what pleases us . We see the same in a different way in Ephesians 4:29: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” What we do and what we speak should be only for the other person’s benefit, not for our own. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

“I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:19). Notice that righteousness leads to holiness . “To rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” (Luke 1:74-75). Jesus is our “enabler.” He does not enable us to continue in sin, but the opposite, holiness and righteousness. He does this all our days. Righteousness is purity that comes from God when we receive Jesus Christ. We are cleansed from our sin. Holiness is also pure. However, it does not cleanse us. It does not take place until after we are clean. Holiness is not getting dirty. Holiness starts out being clean by the righteousness that comes from God. Most of my life has been spent getting people righteous with the gospel a...

  “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). Notice the word “completely.” Apparently, it is possible to be completely humble and gentle. We see it Philippians 2:5-7 as well: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” ·        Made Himself nothing. ·        Humbled himself and became obedient to death. ·        Even death on the cross. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” We are to be humble, completely humble, just like Jesus. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). Get into the humility harness with Jesus. Thi...

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. Blessed is ...

Every day, I come across verses of Scripture I want to preach, proclaim, shout, or sing. Here is one: “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin” (Psalm 36:1-2). This is such a good description of the sinfulness of the wicked. The wicked man cannot see, much less hate his own sin. The reason is that he flatters himself. This is the ultimate expression of selfishness and self-conceit. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com . We would love to have you reading with us.

Some time ago, I was struck by the Spiritual needs of three fathers in the New Testament and how their needs were met by Jesus Christ. ·        The first was a nobleman whose son was at the point of death (John 4:46-54). ·        The second was the Philippian jailor who was about to take his own life because his jail had fallen apart (Acts 16:22-40). ·        The third was Cornelius, a Roman army officer who was searching for God (Acts 10). All of their needs were urgent, desperate needs—so urgent that in each case the man sought help and got the help he wanted, and more, in a wonderful way. Here is something extra that blessed me in reading these paragraphs. “By this the father knew that it was at the very time when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son is living,’ and he himself, with all his household , believed in Jesus” (John 4:53). “Afterwards he took them up to his house and set bef...

Dear Friend, It has been several weeks since we have talked. In one of our more recent conversations, I promised you a letter. This is the beginning. Recently, in the car, I listened to two cassette tapes by Elisabeth Elliot entitled Me, Obey Him? I was so impressed with Betty’s graciousness and her strength. Actually, much of her talks were readings from a book called Me? Obey Him?: The Obedient Wife and God's Way of Happiness and Blessing in the Home by a classmate of hers from Wheaton College, Elizabeth Rice Handford. It has been my position, but it is more difficult for a man and a husband to teach it. I ordered six sets of the tapes and two of the books to give away. I have known for a long time your strong position on Scripture. Where you and I have differed has not been on the meaning of the text (any text) but on the application. In the teaching on these talks by Elisabeth Elliot, I am convinced that you will agree, and I hope you agree also on the application. No...

Dear Friend, As I understand it, you are convinced of your salvation because of the commitment you made to the Lord Jesus Christ many years ago. That could well be. When Jesus Christ saves, He does it for eternity. However, some of your relatives doubt your salvation or are convinced you are not saved. This is the main reason for my letter. I want to give you a list of biblical parameters that will help you know for a certainty one way or the other. The same will help others know of your salvation, but not with the same degree of certainty. I can be sure of my own salvation. I cannot be sure of someone else’s salvation in the same way. However, I can doubt someone else’s salvation without being guilty of “judging.” Here is why. 1 Corinthians 5:12 says, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside ? God will judge those outside.” The paragraph on judging is in Matthew 7:1-5: Do not judge or you too will be judged. For in...

Dear Friend, This letter is long overdue. It has been in my head for months. First, I think you know that I both love you and like you and respect you. If you do not know that, please take my word for it. You know that I am willing to be confronted without dissimulation. In the many years we have known each other, I have assumed you were a Christian. I do not have to know absolutely (God knows those who are His). You have had an interest and an education in Christianity. Even if you were not, or are not, a Christian, this does not affect my love, like, or respect for you. The last few times we have been together, you have assured me that any adultery was in the past and that you were ready to get right with the church and with your family and that you had repented toward God. You assured me that you loved your wife and your children and you were committed to them. I recognize that Christians can (and sometimes do) sin repeatedly. I also understand that it is possible for Chri...

Dear Friend, Thank you for listening to us. We both love you, and as I said we’ve been friends for a long time and have agreed with each other about many things. I am grateful for the friendship. You are right when you say I do not understand the hurt you have gone through for the last twenty years. I understand it in words, but not in experience. I have listened to you of your desires in marriage and of all the effort you put into the marriage. When I have talked to your wife, I have talked to her about her. It has been difficult to talk to you about you, at least on the subject of marriage. You have insisted on talking to me about her. 1. The last few years, you have been very angry and accusative toward your wife. Even if all of your accusations are true, your continued anger is unrepentant, unforgiven sin. You need to repent. 2. This anger has been building up for years, even though you were doing things a Christian husband should do. 3. In Luke 17:3, we have Jesus’...

“Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge” (1 Timothy 6:20). We are bombarded with “godless chatter” every day. In university towns like the ones we minister in, we are immersed in it. In all of this, there is some of God’s truth. People hear the part that is truth and consequently do not recognize the “godless chatter” for what it is. This makes the godless chatter even more dangerous. Nevertheless, Timothy was instructed to turn away from it. There are three ways to discern godless chatter: 1.      Know the wisdom of God very well. “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” ...

“The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17)   This is one of the great verses of God’s character expressed toward us. Most of us know that He is with us, that He saves us, and that He loves us. But there are two additional expressions which cause me to wonder: “He will take great delight in you.” That ought to help any Christian with a “poor self-image.” God delights in me greatly! “He will rejoice over you with singing.” Most of us love to sing praises to Him with joy. Here it tells us that He also sings with joy over us. There is grandeur, wonder, and awe portrayed in Revelation 5:11-14 where a hundred million plus angels and every creature everywhere sing “to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.” That is wonderful, but it is far more wonderful that God will sing with joy over me. This post coordinates with today's read...

There is a frightening prophecy in the book of Amos: “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it’” (Amos 8:11-12). I have no idea whether this prophecy was ever fulfilled in the past. If not, it is, of necessity, still future. It certainly is not in the present. In this world we have places where the Word of God is very accessible. The supply is greater than the demand. There is a famine in the midst of plenty because people are not reading the Word. There are places where the Word of God is not available at all. People do not know it is not available. They are in a famine and do not know that they are in a famine. There are still other places where there is a famine and people know it. They are eager for Bibles. T...