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Repentance From Mercy
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up” (Jonah 1:1-4).
Jonah is most associated with the whale, or huge fish, depending on your translation. We can have a tendency to see the whale as a disciplinary measure toward Jonah. I would argue the whale is actual a sign of God’s mercy.
The account of Jonah starts very simple: God told Jonah to “Go to Nineveh” and “cry out against it.” God told Jonah exactly where to go and what to do. Despite direct contact from the Almighty Himself, Jonah decided to go in the opposite direction, instead boarding a ship headed to Tarshish. That was not the correct response.
read moreStaying Your Mind
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).
All men desire peace in their lives. The world defines peace as the absence of calamity and turmoil. However, as we look at the Scriptures, there is a different type of peace that the Lord offers the Christian.
For the sake of this article, we will label these two different types of peace as WORDLY PEACE and BIBLICAL PEACE
Jesus references this BIBLICAL PEACE, in John 14:27 and provides us some descriptors of this BIBLICAL PEACE when he says “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
read moreFearing Man
The Bible has much to say about fearing God. In fact, the command to fear God is mentioned over 100 times throughout Scripture. But what does the Bible say about fearing man?
“And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
In 1 Samuel 15, we see an example of what happens when we fear man instead of God. In the beginning of the chapter, God gives King Saul clear instructions to “strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have” (v3). Saul was not to spare anyone or anything – no person, no animal. Saul and the army of Israel do in fact defeat Amalek, but they took King Agag alive rather than killing him and they took the best of the sheep, oxen, fattened calves, and lambs.
In v. 11, God speaks to Samuel and says that he regrets making Saul king because “he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” When Samuel confronts Saul the next day, Saul speaks first and says that he has performed the commandment of the Lord. When Samuel questions him, Saul defends his actions by saying that it was so they could offer sacrifices to God. Samuel reiterates the clear command that God gave to Saul – destroy everything. Once again, Saul then defends his actions as to why he did not obey God’s instructions.
read moreTwo Lives
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life “(John 6:63).
God has structured our existence with two lives: 1) the one that finds our hope in what we see, feel and experience in this lifetime and 2) the life of the Spirit, one characterized by a hope in the unseen.
The first is a temporary hope because all that is seen eventually vanishes or rots away. As a result, it is a hope that cannot be fulfilled. Ironically, it is embraced and encouraged by the world and claims to reward those that seek it.
It has an end. It is dead (spiritually). It leads to death (physically). It is used by Satan to entice us and to deceive us. It seems right but does not satisfy—It leaves us always wanting more.
“There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
In the end, this temporal life disappoints. It is empty, void of any legitimate hope and meaningful purpose. Ecclesiastes describes it as vanity, it is like a wasteland. It promises much, but delivers only enough to keep you pursuing.
read moreHumility and Gentleness
“Walk in a manner worthy of the calling” is the call to believers out of Ephesians 4:1-8. We have a duty to uphold, being adopted sons of God and imitators of Christ.
Humility is freedom from pride and arrogance. However, it is not thinking poorly of ourselves. Instead, humility is the recognition that everything we have comes from God, that we are sinners saved by grace, that we are not superior to others, and that God is the ultimate authority—not us. Humility must be learned, because our natural instinct is often to exalt ourselves.
Philippians 2:3–8 gives a clear example of this humility in Christ. Paul tells believers to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but to regard others as more important than themselves.
read moreCease Striving
For most of my adult life, I have been a striver. I wanted to excel at work. In leadership. In health. In every measurable category available to me. If there was a scoreboard, I wanted to be winning. Success was tangible. It could be tracked. And over time, I accumulated some wins. But with each win came reinforcement of a definition of success shaped more by the world than by Scripture. I believed the gospel. I believed salvation was by grace.
Yet I often lived as though approval—God’s and everyone else’s—still depended on my performance. Paul’s question to the Galatians challenges me: “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3).
Much of my striving wasn’t ambition. It was fear. Fear of failure. Fear of letting people down. Fear that if I stopped producing, I might matter less. Striving feels noble when people depend on you. As men, we are called to work, to lead, to take responsibility. Those are good and biblical callings.
read moreInsincerity and Lying (by Walt Henrichsen)
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, ‘The first.” Matthew 21:28-31
In the closing days of our Lord’s ministry, prior to His crucifixion, Matthew records this parable given to the Jewish religious establishment. The Savior follows the parable with the following application: “Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you. that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it. repented not afterward that ye might believe him”(1)
As you can see, the application centers on the response of the second son. He said he would obey his father. but did not. Was this son insincere, or was he lying?
read moreWho are your Leaders?
One could correctly conclude that the overarching theme of the Bible is Authority. If it is not “the” theme of the Bible, it certainly is one of a number of themes. All men live under authority in some form or fashion. The Bible teaches us that there is even authority in the Godhead (I Cor: 11:3). A child lives under his parent’s authority, an employee lives under the authority of his employer, citizens live under the authority of their government. Biblically, we can rightly conclude that authority is good, necessary, and profitable for man.
Jesus states in Matthew 28:18, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” Universally, without question, all men are under the authority of Jesus Christ. However, man is afforded two differing options: the option of choosing to acknowledge and voluntarily live under that authority now, or refusing to do so and at judgement being compelled to live under and acknowledge that authority as he is cast into Hell.
The immutable fact about authority is that all authority is conferred, not usurped…
read moreOur Powerful Gospel
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16)
“it is the power of God” (1Corinthans 1:18).
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:24).
“And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might” (Ephesians 1:19).
“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:9).
1 Corinthians 15:1-6: The Gospel:
1) “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2) by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3) “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…”
First importance! The summing up of God’s purpose: the redemption of His own, the culmination of the power and theme of the entire Bible—the Gospel, starting with Genesis!
read moreBiblical Wisdom
Biblical wisdom is more than intelligence or accumulated knowledge; it is the God-given ability to rightly apply truth in a way that honors Him. While general definitions describe wisdom as discernment, sound judgement, and skillful living, Scripture presents wisdom as being rooted in who God is and how we respond to Him.
The Bible refers to wisdom hundreds of times, particularly in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word chokmah emphasizes skillful and practical living, while the New Testament word sophia highlights divine insight. Together, they reveal wisdom as both understanding and practice rather than abstract knowledge alone.
Proverbs 1:7 states, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
True wisdom begins with humility, submission to God, and recognition of His sovereignty. Biblical wisdom is inseparable from obedience and stands in contrast to pride and self-reliance (see Colossians 1:9-10).
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