Subscribe to Our Emails
We won't ever sell or give away your email address. Your privacy is important to us.
WordPoints Privacy Policy
A Ransomed People (October 5)
Reminiscent of the Passover lamb in Israel, Jesus was a greater sacrifice, enabling God to justify mankind from its sins. John the Baptist said on one occasion as he saw Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
The Washing of Water with the Word (October 4)
Christ gave Himself up for the church in order that “he might sanctify her.” The whole plan by which Christ was able to have a “set apart” people depended on His dying for those people. The Messiah had to die for our atonement (Isaiah 53:4-6).
The Church in Philippi (October 3)
The church in Philippi had begun in unusual circumstances, and they had been a great encouragement to Paul. The salutation of his letter to them (Philippians 1:1) is a good snapshot of what a local congregation was in the days of the New Testament.
The Heart Can Help (October 5)
We must want what is good with all of our hearts. Like our Lord who “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,” we must be moved primarily by joy and hope. The prospect of one day seeing God’s face must be the main part of our strength.
Traces of God (October 4)
Just as surely as any work of art ever revealed the heart of the artist, God’s creative work tells us that He is a God of love. A world like the one we live in could not have been made by a God who did not take delight in beauty and joy.
A Labor of Love (October 3)
Let us not trifle with our responsibilities, but let us also not forget the manifold goodnesses of God that have made us want to accept those responsibilities. When the final tally is made, our labor will matter little if it was not a labor of love.
Fighting the Undertow (October 5)
Though the way of escape will always be provided, it has to be taken before it will do us any good. The Lord’s protection and help are not automatic or involuntary — they have to be appropriated by a free-will choice to say “No!” to sin.
Between Promise and Performance: A Gap? (October 4)
Even in terms of our short-term spiritual growth, we need to make more specific plans than we sometimes do. If all we have is a vague, unspecific desire to make progress, we won’t move ahead much. We have to commit ourselves to some specific goals.
Christian Pessimism (October 3)
A. W. Tozer wrote, “Strange as it may be, the holiest souls who have ever lived have earned the reputation for being pessimistic.” Have you ever considered that spiritual growth might require you to start being more pessimistic about some things?
Profitability (October 5)
Profitability can also mean being advantageous or beneficial. In this sense, every single one of us ought to strive to be profitable. That is, we ought always to be asking the question: how profitable am I to those who are connected to me?
Worth (October 4)
It is work that creates worth. And we might as well admit that work requires sacrifice. To gain the things of highest value, some lesser things will have to be given up. Indeed, the very highest things may cost nothing less than life itself.
Pathways (October 3)
We must create paths that others can follow. Life is not about being served but about serving, and there are few forms of service more profitable than pathfinding. To get through a difficulty and leave a helpful path is a very thoughtful thing to do.
DFBS 341 – As Christians, we are God’s own special people
As special as the relationship was that God entered into with the nation of Israel, that relationship was only meant to foreshadow and prepare for the even more special union between God and spiritual Israel, which is the church of Jesus Christ.
DFBS 340 – The church is a place where we should be challenged to grow
Whatever secondary benefits there may be to membership in a local congregation, the main one is spiritual growth. We always need to be asking: are we helping one another to grow toward maturity in Christ? If not, some adjustments need to be made.
DFBS 339 – Confidence in the reliability of the Scriptures leads us to have faith in God Himself
The knowledge of God comes through the truth about Himself that God has revealed in the Scriptures. There is no knowing God without taking into our hearts the words of the Scriptures. To know God, we must learn what the Scriptures say about Him.
September 2026
As Labor Day arrives and I prepare for the work that must be done before the end of the year, I am excited about finishing Walking in Christ, the book I’ve been working on for the last several years. We’re coming down the home stretch!
July 2026
I just returned from a trip to Meridian, Mississippi, where I worshiped with the small band of disciples who meet on 7th Street in that city. They asked me to preach, but when I’m with a small group of hearers, what I do is not really “preaching” — it is simply “speaking from the heart.”
May 2026
I have begun a blog on Substack where I will post bits and pieces of the preliminary thinking that will, I pray, someday mature into a book. It’s called “Ecclesiastes Workshop” (https://ecclesiastesworkshop.com). You can subscribe to receive the posts by email or view them on Substack.