Author: Dwight Clough

Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. — Revelation 4:4We don’t know a whole lot about these twenty-four elders. Where did they come from? Are they some form of angels? How did they get here? What is their job? What are they thinking? What do they see? If we could spend a day with one of them, what would we learn?There’s a lot going on that we don’t know anything about. I am a half century old. Most of the…

But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery. — Matthew 5:32 What about the wronged party? For the past several days we’ve been focusing on those who commit adultery. But what about those who have been sinned against?I have two words for those who have been sinned against. The first is comfort. God wants to comfort you. He wants to soothe the deep, deep hurt in your heart. He wants to take the anger, the confusion, the invalidation, the…

"If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." — John 8:7I come back to this passage, because I think we should understand that all of us face a choice: are we going to get our needs met in God, or in something else — something like a second chocolate bar, or a promotion at work, or a few drinks at the bar, or church appointment, or a fling with someone we aren’t married to.I don’t know exactly why some people are wired to be susceptible to one temptation, while…

It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers … — Ephesians 4:11God seems to specialize in using bungling human beings, individually and in groups, to accomplish His great purposes. Stop and think about it. What could be more precious than the little baby Jesus? Priceless is too cheap a word. He should have been surrounded by strong armed angels with great flaming swords at all times. Yet God gave baby Jesus with all his human vulnerability into the hands of a sixteen year old…

to prepare God’s people for works of service … — Ephesians 4:12I don’t often do this, but today I would like to address pastors and leaders. Imagine this: Somewhere, locked up in your church, is a chest containing diamonds, rubies, gold coins, precious gems – a treasure of incalculable value. Suppose the Lord said to you, “I want you to find this treasure chest, and use its contents for the furtherance of My kingdom.” Imagine how excited you would be to find that chest, to open it, to get the best price for the treasure within, and to use that…

"I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock." — Acts 20:29 I am amazed at the number of Christians with problems who are not part of a local church. I bring this up, because we are sheep, the Lord is our shepherd, and He is not stupid. He has placed under shepherds among the flock — in plain language, pastors of local churches. Now, how do wolves operate? Do they take on the whole flock? No, they scatter. They divide. They seek out the straggler, the one separated from…

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age … — Titus 2:11-12This is one of my favorite passages. I am encouraged, first of all, to know that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. I’m not sure, exactly, how that can be, but it tells me that God has a plan to reach every person who has ever drawn a breath of air. Yes, we get to…

… give thanks in all circumstances … – 1 Thessalonians 5:18I want to speak to those who are unhappy in their marriages. Kim and I have been married for 30 years, and we have gone through seasons of unhappiness. There have been times when I really didn’t know what drug induced me to say, "I do."Jesus knows all about this, yet He says, "Give thanks."Why would He ask us to do such a thing? Is He trying to wring some last bit of holiness out of us even when He knows we are miserable?I don’t think so. I think rather…

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. — Deuteronomy 5:21What is the secret of contentment in marriage? I think my answer will surprise you.We need to receive love from outside the marriage.No, I’m not advocating an affair. Not at all!Instead, I am suggesting that working on our marriages is the wrong place to start if we want to be happily married. Rather, we need to work on opening our hearts to the Lord.I am married to a good woman. My wife is godly. She is patient. (She needs to be, living with me!) She is wise. (Every good idea I…

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. — John 1:4I’ve read several books on the Soviet Gulag. They aren’t pleasant, but I read them because I want to know what went wrong with that culture so that I can think clearly about what kind of citizen I want to be. And, within that reason, I want to know the truth about my world so that my faith isn’t candy-coated nonsense, but rather real.The truth is: We live in a messed up world. The reality is sometimes worse than our worst nightmares. Into this darkened world,…