The Treasure

The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Matthew 13:44 Everything anyone needs to know about the coming Kingdom of God is right there in the scriptures. …

The Parable of the Tares and Final Judgement – Part 3, The Cultural Distortion of God’s Love

In Part 2 of this series about judgement, my goal was to explain from the bible why there will be a coming final judgement. I focused on the topic of why God’s love is perfectly consistent, and even demands final judgement of the unrepentant. This post focuses more on the cultural concept of love which …

The Parable of the Tares and Final Judgement – Part 2, God’s Love

The Scriptural Warning of Judgement Part 1 of this series set up an end times backdrop I think is needed to properly understand this parable. For this part, I shall attempt to answer the following question: How is final judgement of the unrepentant consistent with the Love of God? As a reminder, the Parable of …

The Parable of the Tares and the Final Judgement – Part 1, Background and End Times Context

Some Background The Parable of the Tares is about final judgement of the wicked. Final judgement of the unrepentant, otherwise known in scripture as the wicked, is a terrible and permanent reality. I thought it was time to describe what the bible says about the final judgement, particularly since I have come to the Parable …

My Focus for 2023

As 2022 closes out, its a good time to look back as well as figure out the direction for this blog over the next year. Part of that is a decision about either keeping things at status quo, making more of an investment, or taking the blog site down and saving money. It is expensive …

The Book of Ruth and the Birth of Christ – Part 3

The Reception Part 2 left off with the journey across the high country from Moab to Judea. Naomi had run out of options in Moab. She had lost her husband and her two sons and was too old to have any more children. The likelihood of finding another husband in Moab were slim. Besides, Moab …

The Book of Ruth and the Birth of Christ – Part 2

The Spiritual Environment in the Time of the Judges God’s people Israel, whom He delivered from bondage in Egypt and brought into the promised land, began a struggle with idolatry not long after the death of Joshua. Joshua was faithful to the Lord and without his leadership, Israel began to falter. Israel was surrounded by …

The Book of Ruth and the Birth of Christ – Part 1

Each year around Christmas, I reread the Book of Ruth. To me, it is part of the Christmas story, even though it predates the birth of the Messiah by about 1000 years. It takes place in the time of the Judges, before there was a king in Israel. How does a short, obscure story tucked …

The Secret of Understanding it All

There is a secret hidden in God’s Word, a secret that is the key to fruitfulness in the life of a believer. I believe it is also the secret to understanding God’s word – all of it. The parable of the sower also speaks of the type of soil required for fruitfulness as well as …

The Parable of the Soils Part 4 – Thorny Soil

Every farmer knows that harvest is reduced by weeds which compete with the crop for sunlight, nutrition, and water. If there is no intervention, weeds can reduce yield by about 28% according to a brief internet search. Soil is well prepared by farmers for planting: its well tilled, fertilized, and has the right amount of …