I love verse 12. “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord,” I mean could you get anymore fitting. Everything being done has been done for Jesus and we’ve been using his strength to do it. Paul is thankful into verse 13 that he was even saved from his old life.…
These verses say a lot about our culture today. The saying, “Don’t judge me” is all too common now-a-days. “the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient.” Then, Paul proceeds to write a long list of offenders. I have so often looked at this list and said, “Not…
Speaking without knowing. That is my biggest blunder that I frequently make. I’ve gotten better in recent years the older I get but when Paul writes “desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make CONFIDENT assertions” I realize he’s talking about me.…
Paul just finished talking about what we shouldn’t do with God’s plan for us which is have meaningless discussions for hours upon hours wasting our time. Now he’s talking about what we need to focus on which is a “pure heart” and a “good conscience” and a “sincere faith”. I don’t have time to do…
“you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine.” I can’t decide if this is a good charge or a bad charge. It all depends on if the person is already teaching different doctrine and what is meant by different. We find out in verse 4. “nor to devote themselves to myths and…
I’d like to try journaling as I study a passage. I think it will help me understand and remember scripture. Verse 1: this seems like a standard greeting other than the “by command.” I’m reading the ESV so mine might be different but when you think about it this makes all the difference. He is…
Aw man. There’s so much. So many. So many changes. A new house that we will probably soon be moving out of (long story). A new baby on the way in June. A new job that’s so different…SO DIFFERENT! I feel like I’ve never been stretched so much either. Money is tighter than it has…
(If you are not one of my students, read this. If you are. Skip down to the 2nd paragraph. I am writing this to my students. I wish to speak to them one last time and give them a way to keep in touch with me if they so wish. I think this is something…
Let’s face it, we all run into disappointment. Now the part that everyone expects to come next is one of two things. Pep talk or rage against the machine. I could do either. I could pep talk myself up saying over and over again, “You’re such a good teacher. You’re a great person. You deserve the…
I heard on the radio the other day about an issue going on in Houston, Texas at the moment. The short version of this story is that two daycare workers at a private daycare center were fired because they refused to refer to a little girl as a boy at the request of her gay…
Oh boy. This has always been a doozy whenever I hear an answer to this question. This is an all too common question that some can’t answer. I actually thought of an analogy while checking paper, go figure. I was checking paper recently and I set a standard on them. I wanted all the papers…
I was reading Oswald Chambers this morning and the entry for this day painted a picture. This picture looks strikingly different to what all other religions and people strive to be in life. I have never heard of another religion or system trying to make people into not themselves with no promise of power, gain,…
I haven’t done many things in my lifetime. I realize this now that I’m old enough to say I have A LOT to learn and young enough to say that I at least have to time undertake the challenge or experiencing some of it. The most recent experience that I undertook was becoming a parent.…
She is here. Little Hope Marie Nikkel came right on her due date on October 12th. I can’t believe that it actually happened and that I’m a father and that my wife is a mother. Well, I always knew she’d be a great mother but I’ve just been doing what comes natural. I love her…
There have been clear signs that baby girl Nikkel is almost upon us. I have all my sub plans figured out. Everything is ready to go with school and the paperwork is all wrapped up. We’ve had a shower and we’ve made quite a few purchases which I’m sure won’t be our final purchases for…
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