Roots by the River

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter (Isaiah 5:20). This has been going on since Isaiah wrote this in the eighth century B.C., and probably before. However, now across this country it has reached pandemic proportions. And Christians are involved. It started out with euphemisms were sins were described with words that sounded not so bad. Adultery = having an affair Fornication = sleeping around, being “sexually active” Male homosexual = gay These words have now become “good,” and political correctness has made those who are critical of homosexuals the bad guys. In other words, evil has become good and good evil.

We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children…. For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. (1 Thess. 2;6-7, 11-12) Did you know that the Apostle Paul likens himself to a gentle nursing mother and like a father who encourages and comforts ? Are you that kind of a father to your own children? Are you that kind of father to your spiritual children?

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were a liens in Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:17-19) "And you are to love those who are aliens." If we were to sum up all of history in all nations, it would be "Hate the aliens." God's directions are contrary to the world's. On the whole, Christians do not hate aliens. They just ignore them or avoid them. That is saying that Christians don't love aliens, either. Please pray for an opportunity to love an alien.

My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jeremiah 2:13) Do you see the difference between these two sins? The first is forsaking an artesian well, a flowing well of life-giving water. There is no end to the supply. God is this life-giving spring. To forsake this source is evil and foolish. The second sin is salvation by effort. It recognizes the need for water but wants a cistern, a reservoir of water. The sin is in digging the cistern. That itself does not provide the water for the cistern. If there were a provision of water to put into this reservoir, the result would be stagnant water. However, we have another problem: it is a broken cistern, a leaking reservoir. Soon there is no water, not even stagnant water. To dig this cistern is evil and foolish. It is a works effort for life and does not provide life. Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will be t...

Many years ago, I was speaking at a men’s conference from an evangelical church. At the first session, I gave each man a 3 x 5 card and asked them to answer three questions on their card, but not write down their name. These were the questions: • How many years have you been a Christian? • How many times have you read the Old Testament in its entirety? • How many times have you read the New Testament? After collecting the cards, I added up all of the years and all the times and then divided the total times into the total years. If my memory is correct, the Old Testament was read once every 27 years, and the New Testament once every 17 years. Since then, I have gotten averages of 7 ½ years OT and 2 ½ years NT. If you are a very slow reader, you can read the whole Bible in less than 80 hours. How do I know? That is how long the audio Bibles are. The first time I read the Bible through, I had been a Christian for about three years. I have now been a Christian for more than...

This is an excerpt from How I Know God Answers Prayer by Rosalind Goforth, a missionary to China in the early 1900s. It is a book I have given away many times over the years. I grieve to say that the new life in a foreign land with its trying climate, provoking servants, and altogether irritating conditions, seemed to have developed rather than subdued my natural disposition. One day (I can never forget it), as I sat inside the house by a paper window at dusk, two Chinese Christian women sat down on the other side. They began talking about me, and (wrongly, no doubt) I listened. One said, “Yes, she is a hard worker, a zealous preacher, and—yes, she dearly loves us; but, oh, what a temper she has! If she would only live more as she preaches! ” Then followed a full and true delineation of my life and character. So true indeed was it, as to crush out all sense of annoyance and leave me humbled to the dust. I saw then how useless, how worse than useless, was it for me to come to Chin...

Dear Jim, What is a godly attitude to have towards different theologies [Reformed, Baptist, Free Church, etc]? My church is being torn up by doctrinal differences. Several families have left so far; once they start listening to the other doctrine, they feel they can no longer fellowship with us. Our pastor believes the teaching they are getting is divisive, because these families are going to another church now. I have read the books they are reading; the sermons and teaching are excellent. N Dear N, First, the answer is different if it is a question of the gospel, as in Galatians 2:11-14: “When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barna...

Join thousands of believers across the world in reading the whole New Testament through the summer. If you get behind, just jump in on today’s reading so we can continue to #samepagesummer! Find Facebook groups and the downloadable schedule here .