Posts with the tag “repentance”

Why not be a hypocrite when you fast? Of course, no one wants to be known as a hypocrite, but Jesus doesn’t give instructions about hypocrisy for everything. Matthew speaks about hypocrisy in prayer, ...  Read More

In modern American Christianity, a testimony is often what one person tells another person, usually a friend or acquaintance, about what God has done for them. Sometimes it can be a long story about h...  Read More

Who is a God like you? As we hear the final sermon this Advent season from the prophet Micah, we end with Micah’s statement, who is a God like you? He is the God who forgives sin of those who repent a...  Read More

We know hypocrisy in others when we see it. We see it in the TV preacher who acts holy but seems most interesting in getting his viewers’ money. We see it in the politician who rails against the rich ...  Read More

Jesus also crossed the brook Kidron, leaving Jerusalem with his disciples. His betrayer, Judas, had already left to gather the forces who will come to arrest Jesus. There, on the Mount of Olives with ...  Read More

For one hundred years Noah preached to his neighbors to repent, for God was going to destroy the earth by water. The world was incredibly wicked, and no one but Noah and his family would survive. Noah...  Read More

Some of the best stories in the Bible involve fasting and ashes. In the book of Esther, before Esther goes to speak to her husband, the king, she fasts, and her cousin Mordecai sits in sackcloth and a...  Read More

After six days, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to a high mountain by themselves. Like the six days which led to the culmination of creation, this sixth day leads to the culmination of Jesus’ earth...  Read More

The baptism of Jesus is recounted in three of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and in John it is mentioned after already having happened. You can be sure that when an event in Jesus’ life is in a...  Read More

There is an odd trend of people treating the year 2020 itself as if it were a person who brought about all these problems....  Read More

The myth is that when we see that false god is only a man all of his power is taken away. Think of the wizard of Oz, no longer so impressive when we look behind the curtain. Yet what we fear, love, an...  Read More