October 9 Read Jeremiah 7 There are two thoughts that we can focus on in today’s reading. First, we see the prophet taking an unpopular stand in bringing to Israel the reasons for its distress. Second, we see the depths of sin into which Israel had fallen. Are you able to point out to your […]
No one, other than the Son of God made flesh, has been used by the hand of God to do more for the Christian church than the apostle Paul. The apostle was human, sinful, and had strengths and weaknesses like anyone of us sinful creatures, but God raised up in Paul a mighty man. Paul […]
Introduction Romans 1:16 begins with the word “for.” Whenever that word begins a verse, what follows gives a reason for some previous statement. Paul had said, “I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also.” He desired to go to Rome, but was “let,” or hindered hitherto, and he prays […]
What is my only comfort? That I am not my own. My faithful Savior owns me, Whose blood for me atoned. The devil’s strength is broken. My Savior’s on the throne. What is my only comfort? That I am not my own. My Keeper so preserves me, Each hair of mine is known. No […]
2 Timothy 1:7-13: 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the […]
A man had two sons. His younger son, the problem child of the family, asked his father for his inheritance money and ran away from home. He squandered his money on a frivolous lifestyle, and when he was penniless and hungry, he returned home. The father greeted him with open arms and even threw a […]
Isaiah 54:4–8 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; […]
With Jane’s approval, I add to her moving article on marriage, divorce, and remarriage what she herself could not comfortably write. When she was cruelly and wickedly abandoned and then divorced by her husband, she was assailed by especially two powerful temptations. One was despair. Using her distress, and for a woman, especially a young […]
I was born August 18, 1975 in Pipestone, MN, to Jim and Gloria Bleyenberg, and am the second oldest of five children. My earliest years were spent on a farm outside of Edgerton, during which time I attended the Protestant Reformed Free Christian School for two years and was instructed through the preaching in Edgerton […]
Welcome to the age of distraction. We have screens and gadgets that will take us anywhere we want to go, whenever we want to go. Everything is “high-speed” and “on-demand” to satisfy our impatient and fast-paced society. There are so many ways we can be distracted! A distraction is something that pulls or diverts us. […]