Building on the Foundation

  From time to time, you might hear someone say that God isn’t logical, or that logic is “man’s reasoning” and shouldn’t be used. In this case, of course, they attempt to contrast “man’s reasoning” with God’s reasoning. As demonstrated in a previous blog post , these statements are presumptuous and impudent against our Creator. It is Almighty God who is logical and reasonable, and man who tends to be illogical, irrational, and short-sighted. So here are a few examples of logical reasoning in God’s Word. There are far too many examples to list all of them — entire books, such as Ecclesiastes, are filled with logical reasoning — but we’ll look at some of them. First, one of the simplest forms of logical reasoning is an “if-then” statement. If one thing is true, then it logically follows that something else is also true. If you start with a correct premise and reason logically, then you will arrive at the right conclusion. If you start with a wrong premise and reason logically, then you w

  Last time , we talked about how we are expected to conduct ourselves if we want to be part of God’s kingdom. Now let’s shift focus slightly. Can we apply what we know of God’s unchanging character to more then just our physical actions? Like maybe our understanding of His Word and His plan for us? Of course we can! In fact, I dare say, without applying these principles, we will not be able to fully or properly understand His truth and how He expects us to worship Him. God’s Word contains everything that is necessary for us to truly get to know Him, who He is, His character and His plan for us. As we read in 2 Tim. 3:16-17 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Though it is all contained in the scriptures, it is not easy to extract. As Prov. 25:2 says “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,

What do you think of when you think of a shield? Do you think of a round wood and metal creation? Or perhaps you think of the Norman style that’s longer and a bit more narrow. Does a feeling of protection and safety come over you when you think of a shield? Maybe it’s none of these things, but whatever it is, it’s important that you make full use of your personal shield.  “I have a shield? That’s news to me,” you say as you look around your house.  Yes, yes, you do. Not just any shield, either. It is the most powerful shield in the universe. The Shield of Faith. (Cue the heavenly chorus of angels and the bright lights)  So… what is this shield, and how do we access it? Like any shield, this shield offers protection from danger and evil, and it quenches firey darts from our enemies.  Ephesians 6:16 CSB In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.   This doesn’t tell us all that much about it, though, at least we now

  Of all the things wrong with modern society, one of the worst is the rampant lack of thankfulness. We are the most blessed people in all of history, and perhaps among the least appreciative. It’s a safe bet that none of us reading this blog have ever faced the prospect of starving to death if our crops failed, if we returned empty-handed from a hunting trip, or if we failed to forage for and store enough food for the winter. No, we can simply go to the grocery store and buy the food we need when we need it. How many of us would complain if the air conditioning in our car stopped working, oblivious to the fact that for most of human history, no one had either cars or air conditioning? How many of us complain about a “slow” Internet connection, forgetting how amazed we once were to have dial-up Internet? How often do we stop to think how truly blessed we are, or to thank God for all the blessings we have? As the question is sometimes posed, if we wake up tomorrow with only the things

  Among God’s people who keep the Sabbath and Holy Days, one of the most controversial topics is the calendar. Folks go round and round arguing over which calendar we should use to determine the dates of the Holy Days. We can prove mathematically, Biblically, and historically that the correct calendar is the Hebrew calendar in use today. This calendar matches every known historical date back to at least the destruction of Solomon’s temple in 587 BC. However, that’s well beyond the scope of this post. Those are topics for other days. The purpose of today’s post is to show that the Hebrew calendar reveals Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Savior of mankind. First, let’s fill in a little background on the calendar. For those who might not know, God’s calendar, unlike the Gregorian calendar used by most of the world today, isn’t a solar calendar. Nor is it a lunar calendar like the Muslim calendar. The Biblical calendar is a lunisolar calendar, that is, it uses the moon to calculate months and

  Would it surprise you to know that the world has not always followed a seven-day week? That past civilizations often had no knowledge of the seven-day week we know today? Afterall, the seven-day week comes from God’s Word, and they didn’t have God’s Word. Let’s start from the beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Creation took six days. Then, in Gen. 2:1-3, we find this: “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” In the beginning, God established a seven-day week: six days for work, the seventh day for rest. He blessed and sanctified the seventh day, that is, He made it holy. As Ex. 20:11 reminds us, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, t