By David Phillps
The Command to Rejoice
Have you ever given much thought to the fact that God has commanded us to rejoice? No? Well, me either. At least not as much as I should have. Many would probably say that rejoicing is something we should do on those occasions when we feel good, and everything is going our way. How’s that working out for you? The fact is that rejoicing doesn’t have anything to do with feelings, neither are favorable circumstances a controlling factor.
By David Phillips
The Fruitful Heart
Jesus makes it clear that the honest and good heart is a critical part of the equation for bearing spiritual fruit. We know how important it is to God that we live spiritually fruitful lives, based on what Jesus said in John 15:8 – By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. One of the things that Paul prayed for on behalf of the church at Philippi was they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ…(Philippians 1:11). More than just eating a spiritual apple a day, this filled with the fruit has a view toward what we do as a result of having this fruit. It’s there in the last phrase of the verse: to the glory and praise of God.
By David Phillips
Looking Ahead
I wish I could say that I’ve always done that, always made sure of what I was getting into. Truth is, I haven’t always done that. I’ve barreled ahead blindly into more than one decision in my life, and then had to deal with the bumps and bruises that resulted from them, often missing out totally on whatever it was that I was in such pursuit of. I am thankful to be able to say that, as I’ve gotten older and more thoughtful (signs of maturity, I hope), I tend to approach choices and decisions a little more carefully now, even carrying along a handful of “tools” to help bring about a more pleasing result. What’s that old saying, Most good judgment comes from experience and most experience comes from bad judgment.” Hopefully, we are all good learners.
By David Phillips
Good morning! Thought you had gotten away from me, didn’t you? Well, not so fast. For a lot of us, quarantine is mostly over, at least so far as church services are concerned. But for a lot of folks, it still is in place, due to health problems, immune deficiencies, and so forth. For the rest of us who are able to return to the assembly, we’re still under some burdensome restrictions, so technically, it’s still going on. We had a very good service on Sunday, with 70 worshippers present, and it was really good to see us back together again. We look forward to when everyone will be comfortable with sitting together, hugging and shaking hands. We’re getting there, a little at a time. In the meantime, I’ll try to continue these messages, spaced a little farther apart now, until we get back closer to normal.
By David Phillips
The dictionary defines “resolve” as firm determination to do something. In the New Testament, the word follows this same pattern, usually indicating the result of careful deliberation which produces a firm sense of purpose. In fact, the word purpose, as in 2 Corinthians 9:7, as he has purposed in his heart, so let him give… comes from the same root.
By David Phillips
…My tears in Your bottle…
Psalm 56 is a psalm written by David during the time he fled for his life (recorded in 1 Samuel 19-30), as Saul jealously resented him for being chosen by God to be in line to be next in line on the throne of Israel. While the details furnished in 1 Samuel are instructive and interesting, we actually gain deeper insight into the turmoil David endured as we read his writings in the book of Psalms, as they often take on the nature of “live reporting” from the various scenes.
By David Phillips
Walking in the Light
There is great assurance to be found in the words of 1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. From this verse, we understand that for the child of God who is walking in the light, the cleansing blood of Jesus works continually not only to cleanse one from past sin, but to cleanse us in an ongoing way, of sin that works its way into our lives, despite our efforts to walk in the light.
No question about it, there is no such thing as a sinless human being, not even one who has obeyed the gospel and become a child of God. No one lives without making mistakes. 1 John 1:10 makes this abundantly clear: If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
By David Phillips
Glad
Psalm 122:1 says, I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Sometimes we are given an indication of the time or of the setting in which a particular Psalm was written. Of this one, the superscript only informs us that this is a song of assents, written by David. A song of ascents is generally accepted to be a song that was sung by the worshipers as they made their way up to Jerusalem to worship at the three solemn feasts. These Psalms were not necessarily written upon the occasion of ascending to Jerusalem, but were writings from the past that were typically used for the occasion of approaching the city, or the temple to worship.
By David Phillips
Ice Cream and Chewing Gum
“According to what you are accustomed to…” We judge many things today by that very standard. In fact, that criterion alone is the basis for certain decisions in many people’s minds. If you’ve gotten hooked on Blue Bell ice cream but in these tight times you’ve decided to try the cheaper store brand, you’ll see all kinds of problems with the cheaper stuff, mostly because it is not what you are accustomed to. All of this also calls attention to our sense of adaptability, because if you stick with the store brand for a while and develop a taste for it, even when times are flush again, you’ll stay with it because not only have you become accustomed to it, but it saves money as well, so now you can afford more chewing gum.
By David Phillips
Uncoverupable.
Yep, Microsoft Word definitely drew a red line under that one. That’s my new word for this week, and I really like it. No, I didn’t get it from George W. Bush (remember “they misunderestimated me”?). It did come from a talk radio host, though, and I believe he was commenting on the unusual fact that members of the very liberal press have weighed in on what a travesty certain rogue members of the US Department of Justice perpetrated on General Michael Flynn, resulting in what now appears to be an unjust conviction for lying to the FBI. What was done by those agents “must have been uncoverupable.”