Sound Words (Page 34)

The Best Record in History It’s a pretty big deal for sports teams to have a perfect record throughout the season.It’s also extremely difficult to maintain, especially after a team has held one for a while. For one thing, players feel the additional pressure of perfection that tempts them to strive not to lose rather than fighting to win. But they also experience a lot of extra attention as every other team tries to dethrone them. Invariably, perfect records dissolve…

Brethren or Burdens? I’ve never smelled a dead body, but I’ve been told you never forget the stench. I can only imagine, then, how cemented the scene of Cain’s seething rage must have been in his memory. What a disturbing image: the sight of his own brother’s beaten, lifeless corpse lying before his feet, as a crimson river silently flowed into the thirsty ground beneath him. And it’s that smell, the foul stench of death, that wafts through the Bible…

Naaman’s Baptism There are many types and anti-types in the Bible. Many are deliberate Old Testament stories or characters that foreshadow principles revealed in later days. Deliberate or not, there is a parallel to baptism seen in a well-known Old Testament story – the healing of Naaman. On the surface, some parallels are clearly evident. Both involve washing in water; both persons are healed and made purely clean. Beyond that, a closer look at Naaman reveals an attitude seen over…

Laying on of Hands Ken Fleeman (2019-01-20)

Discipline The idea of discipline brings up negative emotions. We instantly think of punishment for wrong doing. However, discipline is better understood as a training process. Discipline is defined as “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience” (Google Dictionary). When it comes to our spiritual training, the teacher is to “Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2 NKJV). Note that this requires patience. Punishment should…

Purpose Life can seem mundane. Life is in fact mundane. The sun rises and sets. Generations come and go. The winds run in their circuit. The rivers run continuously into the seas, but the seas never fill. Man’s work is never done. Man is never satisfied with his work. Solomon set out to understand everything done under heaven and concluded that all is vanity. He pursued wisdom, madness and folly and might as well have tried to grasp the wind.…

Revival David describes God as his “strong refuge”, his “rock” and his “fortress”. God upheld David from his birth and David gladly praised God. As an old man, David found even greater reason to worship God despite oppression by his enemies. “But I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits” (Ps 71:14, 15 NKJV). Compelled to…

Signs and Wonders Miracles played a significant role in the expression of God’s will. The purpose was specifically to confirm the truthfulness of the message. Moses was concerned that the children of Israel would not believe that God had sent him to deliver them from the clutches of Pharaoh. God instructed Moses to throw down the rod in his hand. It became a serpent which terrified Moses. God instructed him to pick it up by the tail. When Moses did…