Posts by Kyle Lewis (Page 6)
Morning Fuel – Exodus 20:5 – God Is Jealous
In Exodus 20, God is giving ten commandments to the Israelites. After he gives the second commandment (don’t worship idols), he then explains WHY in verses 5. He says, “…for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…” What he is saying is that he doesn’t want us to worship other “things” because he wants the worship for himself. He is a JEALOUS God. What does it mean for God to be jealous? After all, didn’t Paul say in…
Morning Fuel – Exodus 20:4-5 – God Cannot Be Contained
In Exodus 20:4-5, God continues the Ten Commandments by giving commandment two. He says, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…” So in commandment 1, God says that we should worship only him. That we should not put anything or anyone else to his level. No one else deserves our worship!…
Morning Fuel – Exodus 20:3 – No Other Gods
God says in Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other gods before me.” This is the first of the 10 Ten Commandments. The word “gods” refers to exactly that: gods. Supreme beings. God is referring to not putting anyone or anything up to the level of himself. This was a major temptation for the Israelites, and later on we see it play out in Judges (among other places). Most of the time, the Israelites would not flat-out reject God and…
Morning Fuel – Exodus 20:2 – I Am The God
In Exodus 20:2, God says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” These words are his introduction to the 10 Commandments. Notice it’s a SHORT introduction. Before he lays out the ten most important commandments for the Israelites, he simply says, “Hey, I am the Lord.” The English word that we translate into “Lord” is the Hebrew word Yahweh. Yahweh is God’s “personal” or “proper” name. Just like my…
Morning Fuel – 2 Corinthians 4:16 – Aging Bodies, Renewing Spirits
I am now in 40s and am slowly seeing the effects of aging in my life. It is harder to lose weight. Health problems are creeping in. When I get up in the morning, I am more sore than I used to be. Anyone who is older than about 20 can see this in their life as well. Our bodies just do not hold up! I don’t want to depress you today. But that is the reality. Thankfully, that is…
Ask The Pastor: What is the Trinity and why is it important?
Question: I’ve heard the word “trinity” used a lot, but I don’t quite understand what it is and why it is so important for Christians. Can you explain? Thanks for asking! You are correct, the doctrine of the trinity is a very important doctrine of the Christian faith. It is unique in that the word “trinity” is never actually given in the Bible. However, the idea of the trinity is given throughout Scripture. First, what IS the trinity? In his…
Morning Fuel – 1 Samuel 15:22 – Obedience
In 1 Samuel 15:22 (NIV), Samuel says… “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. Have you ever stopped to think about what it means to “obey” rather than “sacrifice”? Samuel, who saw thousands of people coming to God and giving sacrifices, said, “Hey, those sacrifices are good, but obedience is even better!” That would be…
Morning Fuel – Ecclesiastes 5:2 – Listening To God
In Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon is giving us some words of wisdom about interacting with God. And in verse 2, he says… Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. Why is saying this? In the Old Testament, part of the sacrificial process involved the priest reading from God’s law and then explaining it. So…
Morning Fuel – 2 Corinthians 3:12 – Boldness and Hope
In a previous devotional I talked about how being filled with the Spirit can make us bold in speaking about Jesus. Today I want to talk about boldness again, but this time as it relates to approaching God. In 2 Corinthians 3:12, Paul writes, “Since we have such a hope, we are very bold…” There are two things to see here. When Paul says “hope,” he is referring to what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Once Jesus died and…
Morning Fuel – Acts 4:8 – Boldness in Evangelism
Sometimes people tell me, “I wish I could be bolder in sharing about Jesus!” Heck, I know I have felt that in my own life! Now when it comes to witnessing, there is an element of courage. When you are new at it, you sometimes just have to “get over that first hump” and do it before it starts to get easier. So there is a part of it where you just need to work at it and it will…
Morning Fuel – Ecclesiastes 4:1 – Leaders Can’t Save Us
I read an interesting study that looked at judges and their rulings based on what they ate! In 2010, researchers tracked 8 judges in 1,100 parole-board hearings over 10 months. The judges averaged 22 years of experience. Their findings? “The chances of a prisoner being granted parole depended on the time of day that the judge heard the case.” Prisoners’ odds for getting their parole granted were highest in the morning right after breakfast. About 65% were granted a parole…
Morning Fuel – Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 – The Problem of Injustice
We would all agree that this world can be horribly unfair. People die and suffer. Evil seems to rule. Just a quick look at the news shows us that all around the world there are unjust things happening. Solomon made that same observation thousands of years ago. In Ecclesiastes 3:16, he said, “Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness.” Solomon was…