One of my favorite books of the Bible is the prophet Haggai. In two brief chapters he records God’s words to the leaders of Judah and to the people of Judah, and I often find his words comforting. Haggai offers very precise dates for his oracles. The book begins with a word from the Lord…

As of today we are halfway through the month of December. Many people love December in Michigan, and what other place can compare? Whether it’s waking up to a beautiful layer of clean, pristine snow or it’s enjoying an incredible day of sunshine, Michigan in December can be gorgeous. But it’s usually not. It is…

It is no surprise that much of Scripture is foreign to us. The most recent part of the Bible is over 1,900 years old and was written in a language most of us don’t know and was written to people living in cultures very different from ours, people with a very distinct perspective on the…

In the ancient Roman world letter writing was quite common. People traveled much more than we generally think, though travel was by foot or by boat and, perhaps, by horseback. Travel was much slower than today, yet it was quite common. This made letter writing much more feasible as merchants traveled all over and would…

In last Sunday’s sermon we saw how God’s real mission and method in the conquest of Jericho is still his mission and method today. While we do not go around declaring cities to be “devoted to destruction” and burning them down after the people flee elsewhere, we saw that God’s real mission was the salvation…