A Prayer to Prepare for Easter
This is a guest post from my good friend and colleague Dr. Randy Millwood, Church Services Consultant for the Maryland/Delaware Baptist Convention, FBC Frederick member, and best Real-Beard Santa Claus in the world. He wrote it as an email to the ministers of BCMD for Maundy Thursday, but it speaks to our situation on this Holy Weekend and so I offer it to you, with the necessary alterations, to help you in your preparation for Resurrection Day. In the Christian calendar, the Thursday of Holy Week is...
A Maundy Thursday Prayer (Psalm 88)
Despair is difficult when the Resurrection hovers nearby. For two millennia the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection have been told and retold, celebrated and feted. Everyone knows how the story ends. It doesn’t end with “It is finished.” Rather, with “”Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here, but has been raised.” It’s difficult, therefore, to read the Passion–the betrayal, the arrest, the beating, the mocking, the...
The Relevant Temptation
The other day our son Austin asked Pam and me if we had ever gone through anything like the COVID-19 pandemic before. The answer, of course, was no. These are unprecedented times. People are fearful, anxious. Angry. Some are complacent. Some are in denial. We are isolating ourselves from each other. If ever we needed a word from God, it is now. As one who weekly speaks to people about God, on behalf of God, and maybe, every once in awhile, delivers a word from God, I feel the weight of that need to hear...
You Don’t Learn Wisdom From a Book Like Proverbs
Let’s talk about the Book of Proverbs. Hey, wait, where are you going? Get back here! Sheesh, hear me out for a second. I know it doesn’t sound very exciting, but hang on, I’m gonna bring on the excitement in a minute. Well, no, probably not, but hang with me for a second anyway. The Book of Proverbs has been called “God’s Instruction Book for Life,” which sounds awesome. Not content with that pithy title, another person said, “Proverbs is actually a book of instructions on how to live a life pleasing...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Aug 7, 2018 | 0 comments
“Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,” the Israelites were enjoined. “Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:15) Thus Moses instructed the people of Israel. Remember. Remember what it was like to be a slave. Remember when every day was the same—rise, make bricks all day, go to sleep at night, rinse and repeat, day after day after day. Monday is...
Our Treatment of Outsiders...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Aug 2, 2018 | 0 comments
What do you mean when you say you are a Christian? In a Christian-majority country like ours, people mean different things when they claim the Christian label. At the lowest, most basic level, you claim being a Christian because you aren’t Muslim, Jewish or Hindu. But it also means that you aren’t an atheist. You believe in the existence of God, and that belief tends to take the form that Christians...
If Jesus Gives Eternal Lif...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jul 25, 2018 | 2 comments
I’m from Maryland. There, I’ve said it. There used to be a time when I wouldn’t have said that. I would tell people I’m from Alabama, because that’s where I was born. But saying you’re from some place means more than just you were born there. It indicates heritage, culture, and roots, none of which are really a part of me with regards to the state of my birth. I was born in Alabama, but only lived there...
A True Patriot–and C...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jul 3, 2018 | 0 comments
History repeats itself, they say. They’re wrong. We’re just too stubborn to learn from history. The Maccabean period of Jewish history, which started with the revolt led by Judas Maccabeus in 167 B.C.E., is crucial in understanding the times in which Jesus lived and the New Testament was born. It also has a lot to say about current events in the United States. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear....
What Killed Jesus Will Kil...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jun 24, 2018 | 0 comments
There was a whole lot of Bible-quoting going on in the news last week, and most of it poorly done. That’s what happens when you marshal selected verses out of context to provide support to whatever policy you want to justify. The verse in question was Paul’s statement in Romans that human government has a God-pleasing role in society and we are to respect that role. “Let every person be subject to the...
The Bible, Government, and...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jun 21, 2018 | 1 comment
Growing up in a Baptist church I was always taught the importance of inviting Jesus into your life. Sin had messed up our lives, and we each needed to ask Jesus to come into our lives and save us from the mess that sin had caused. Truth be told, however, my life wasn’t all that messed up. Seriously, the situation into which I was born was a leg up on that of many others in the world. Both parents were...
Don’t Invite Jesus I...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Jun 19, 2018 | 3 comments
In evangelical circles there is an ongoing debate between two views of the proper relationship between husbands and wives as prescribed by the Bible. The first, most traditional view, is the Complementarian View. In this view the husband is the head of the household and holds ultimate authority over the family. The wife’s plays a complementary role in managing the household. She willingly and graciously...
“Me Too” is Sh...
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Welcome!
I am a lifelong student of the Bible, and have been a pastor for over twenty-five years. My desire through this blog is to help people see things in the intersection of Scripture and real life that they might have missed. The careless handling of the Bible is causing a lot of problems in our churches and our culture--and is literally turning people away from the church, and, sometimes, God. I hope to treat Scripture with the respect it deserves, and, even if you don't agree with what I say, give you some insight.
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