“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture…” – 1 Timothy 4:13a We believe that when Scripture speaks, God speaks. This leads us to commit ourselves to Bible reading schedules, Scripture memorization, Bible studies, reading books about the Bible, biblical sermons, and more. But there is a unique component of our Bible interaction that we should not overlook: the public reading of Scripture. As soon as there was written Scripture, it was read publicly. Moses, after meeting with the Lord on Mount Sinai, “took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.” And the people responded, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient” (Ex. 24:7). The reading of Scripture invoked a response precisely because of what it was: the words of God to his people. When Israel entered the promised land, the people stood in front of the twin mountains of Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim, and there Joshua read all the Law: “There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel…” (Josh. 8:35). He read all the commands to all the people. Together, they learned how they were to live as they listened to Scripture read. Centuries later, Josiah, the last righteous king of Judah, read the re-discovered Scriptures to all the people of Jerusalem. “And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the LORD” (2 Kings 23:2). Even in the last days of the kingdom, the people needed to hear all the Scripture read. After Israel’s exile and return, and after the rebuilding of the Temple and the repair of the Jerusalem wall, the people gathered and told Ezra to bring the Book of the Law, which he read nearly all day. “And he read from it … from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law” (Neh. 8:3). The listening was as important as the reading, for they did their listening with attentive ears. This was to set the direction of their lives in the land. It should come as no surprise, then, that one of Paul’s commands for the right conduct of the church was devotion to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim. 4:13). If it was important for Israel to hear the words of God, how much more then, for the church? We must hear God’s voice in order to trust his promises and do his will. This is more than private devotions, as important as those are. This also includes hearing God’s word with attentive ears and hearts resolved to do what he tells us and doing it together. This is why we have committed ourselves on Sunday mornings to open the worship service with the reading of God’s words. The opening reading of God’s word is not a portion of the service we can neglect. We ought to approach it with reverence and attentiveness as together we hear the will of our God for us and then pray together that we may follow his revealed word. We need to hear God’s words. And we need to hear them together as God’s people. Revelation, the final book of Scripture, promises blessing for its public reading and heeding: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Rev. 1:3).

There are times when we are called by different names. I’m not referring to name-calling, but nicknames and titles. When our receptionist would get a phone call for me and the caller would ask for me as “Ricky,” she would tell me that one of my cousins or aunts must be on the line. She knew that they were the only ones who used that particular nickname. Titles, however, are a bit different. We all have them. I’ve had a few as well. Mister, Airman, Sarge, Boss, and even the occasional Sir. Plus, a few more that are business and community related. Some are earned, others not.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8). This verse is used as a proof text by proponents of the false teaching of “positive thinking.” They say, “See it’s right there in the Bible! We should think positively.” Word of Faith teachers say, “Always think positive thoughts, always speak positive words.” Conversely, they teach that we are to never think negative thoughts and never speak negative words because the power in your words will bring about what you dread. This is not true!

UPDATE 9/5/2023: My article below concluded that Milton Wright, though a Christian minister, was wrongly silent when it came to speaking of faith in Christ to his famous sons, Wilbur and Orville Wright. I recently received a link to a well-researched article that persuasively challenged that conclusion. I gladly retract my statements about Milton Wright. He evidently did write and speak to his children about the truth of Scripture. We will leave up my original only so you can be referred to a better and more exhaustive treatment on the subject in the article “Christianity Amongst the Wright Brothers,” by Matt Yanney, which can be accessed here: https://wrightbrothershistory.blogspot.com/2014/05/christianity-amongst-wright-brothers.html

For this review of Good and Angry, I will quote for you the entirety of chapter two, titled “Do You Have a Serious Problem with Anger?” Here is the entire text, unabridged and unedited: “Yes.” End of chapter. If you read the rest of the book, you'll find out why you have a serious problem with anger. This book offers two unique contributions to the discussion about anger. First, it helps define anger with greater clarity. Anger, Powlison writes, is “at its core very simple. It expresses, ‘I’m against that.’ … [It is] active displeasure toward something that’s important enough to care about” (p. 39). The second contribution is that it unpacks the implications of this definition with regard to our often skewed and selfish preferences that motivate our anger, and then it shows us the righteous anger of God.

Jesus hates hypocrisy. He warns us to beware of it (Luke 12:1). He even describes the place of judgment as the place of the hypocrites (Matt. 24:51). In the gospel of Luke, Jesus mentions hypocrisy several times, each time adding to our understanding of this sinful disease of the heart. The straightforward meaning of hypocrisy is: “creating a public impression that is at odds with one’s real purposes or motivations” (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1038). But Jesus extends this word, netting people in their hypocrisy in ways we may not typically think are hypocritical.

At the end of the Lord’s model prayer (Matt. 6:9–13), we find these words: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (v. 13). Jesus says in verse 9 to “pray then like this” or pray in this manner. We see Jesus giving instructions throughout this passage as to what to pray for and how to pray for it. So what exactly would the Lord have us pray for when we pray, “Lead us not into temptation” (v. 13)? James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” If God does not tempt us to sin, why would we ask him not to do what he has already said he would not do?

While the apostle Paul was imprisoned in Rome, awaiting the decision from Caesar regarding accusations that he was an enemy of the state, he confided to the church at Philippi his inner debate as to whether he wanted to live or die. It would only be a matter of time before Paul met his end with the swing of a sharp blade or was set free. On his mind, at least as expressed to the Philippians, was not the verdict from Caesar but whether death or life would be better. There was no frantic searching for the best attorneys in Rome. Paul almost puts Caesar out of the picture and simply contemplates the virtues of living and the virtues of dying. In his ponderings, he felt torn between remaining or departing. “Which I shall choose I cannot tell,” he says to his Philippian friends (1:22).

They were getting what they deserved. We don’t know what they had stolen but they had both been convicted of capital crimes and shared the same sentence. They echoed the same insults as the rest of the crowd that had gathered on that lonely hill in Jerusalem on a peculiarly dark afternoon. They said that if He was who He claimed to be then surely He could rescue Himself. After all, many of them had witnessed His many miracles. Then something that would have eternal consequences happened. One of the thieves who was hanging there on that Roman cross said “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us.” The other man, who was under the same sentence, suddenly changed; in a moment of time. He said “Do you not even fear God, since we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.” We are not told what went on in his mind but in that short statement this criminal admitted that he was a sinner, deserving of his punishment. There was not time to innumerate everything that he had done