Treasure In Clay Jars

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth 
and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 
Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. (Isaiah 29:13 NIV) This scripture from the "ancient" book of Isaiah was written at that time about "God's people" - the Jews. Though they professed love and obedience to God, this scripture clearly says otherwise! Oh they obviously went through with the outward appearance of religion. "…honor me with their lips", but the Lord knows who are his (2 Timothy 2:19 NIV). Before us religious people of today read this and shake our heads at those hypocritical Jews of yesteryear, we should pause and examine our own behavior. It is not uncommon for Protestants (a label that likely would be applied to me) to turn up our noses at say the Catholics or other religions whose expression of worship appear to be built largely on "merely human rules they have be...

The Holy Spirit – three words that send the Christian world into an apoplectic confusion. Ask five Christians a question about the Holy Spirit and you are likely to get up to five different answers. Why would this be given that the Holy Spirit is a very relevant figure throughout the Bible and particularly so in the New Testament? The reason for the schism is varied, but generally comes down to a) a lack of serious study of the Bible by the average Christian b) a general avoidance of teaching by Church leaders on the realities of the Holy Spirit c) an over-emphasis of the surreal manifestation of the Holy Spirit as taught in the Bible (particularly by the Charismatic Christian movement) or d) all of the above. All of this has combined to create much confusion and outright dissension among Christian groups with the result being an unfortunate lack of power displayed by the modern church in the face of a relentless spiritual battle with the secular non-believing world. Power is the key w...