Roots by the River

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Pre-Deployment Advice for Military Couples

“What advice can you give for Christian military couples preparing for deployment? What are the most needed things for them to focus on while the husband is deployed?” Here are five things to focus on, in order of priority. 1. The husband and wife should be in the Word daily , perhaps on the same texts. Write down your blessings from the texts. 2. The husband and wife must keep short accounts with the Lord and with each other (confession of sin). 3. Even if mail or email is not able to go out daily, the husband must write to his wife daily —even if it is just two sentences. Send the messages when you can. (If you are in a position to call her, do that when you can.) Do not write about the danger. The wife should write all kinds of news about herself and the kids. Do not write about problems, except to ask for decisions, wisdom, and prayer. 4. Husbands should regularly write separate notes to each of the children. This is very important, regardless how youn

The Only Two Types of People

Here are a few observations from my time doing personal evangelism. Mormons are not Mormons; they are just natural men. Muslims are not Muslims; they are just natural men. Atheists are not atheists; they are just natural men. And many “Christians” are not Christians; they are natural men. There are only two types of people in the world: 1. Forgiven people. 2. Unforgiven people. 1. People who are going to heaven. 2. People who are going to hell. 1. People who are saints. 2. People who are sinners. 1. People who are spiritual. 2. People who are natural. 1. People who are dead to sin. 2. People who are dead in sin. 1. People who are slaves of God. 2. People who are slaves of sin. Here are a few characteristics of the natural man: “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The Most High God

There is a name for God in the Bible that is used some surprising times. It is apparently used in the heavenly places before God revealed His name Yahweh to Moses. The name is the Most High God. Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, said to Mary, “ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:31-33). John the Baptist was called “a prophet of the Most High” (Luke 1:76). In Mark 5, the demon-possessed man called Jesus the Son of the Most High God. “When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!’” (Mark 5:6-7). The Gerasenes demanded to know who He was. Gabriel knew He was the So

Taking Men Alive

by Doug Wilson From Hammer Magazine Vol. III No. I, Winter 1984 Webster’s defines the verb astonish as to fill with sudden wonder or surprise . Its roots in the Latin are very close to our expression thunderstruck . Astonishment, of course, is that state of being amazed or thoroughly surprised. In Luke chapter 5, an incident occurred which filled certain fishermen with astonishment. They were astonished because of a powerful miracle, and yet there is more significance to the miracle than a mere display of power. In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus was preaching to crowds beside the Lake of Gennesaret . Jesus apparently found it difficult to preach with the crowd pressing Him, so He climbed into a boat belonging to Simon, sat down, and taught from there. When the lesson was ended, He told Simon to put into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon responded that they had already worked all night with no result. Daylight was a poor time for fishing, and, apparently, the nets were al

No Darkness at All

There are many favorite verses of mine in the Scriptures. Here are a few of them: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). “In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge y

More Numerous

There are a great number of parallel events in the two testaments. As I was reading my Bible one morning, I noticed the events in Exodus 1 and Acts 2-6. “But the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous so that the land was filled with them” (v. 7). “Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous ” (v. 10). “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread ” (v. 12). “God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous ” (v. 20). “About three thousand were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:41). “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (v. 47). “But many who heard the message believed, and the number grew to about five thousand” (Acts 4:3). “Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number” (Acts 5:14). “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jeru