Articles by Marty Kessler

#1  Pray for your child and their future spouse  - use the passion you have for them as James says that the prayer of a righteous man does much good (5:16). Remember that they are God’s children too, and He wants to be a major player in their upbringing.  Invite Him often and passionately.  Cast all of your (parenting) cares on Him, because He cares for you,...

Solomon has written in the Psalms (127:3-5) that children are a gift of the Lord.  They are gifts, however, that come as do-it-yourself kits.   It takes a child to make a father.  Yes, I know we usually think of it the other way around, but it is true.  It is true biologically, and it is especially true relationally.  A man is not truly a father unless he be...

God looks on the heart.  No one can see our hearts but Him.  Regardless of the strength of my faith, it does no one any good whatsoever if all I do is “have” it.     So God has sent His Son to teach us, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in heaven”, Matthew 5:16.   People ca...

Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came to see him and the Israelites after they had been delivered from Egypt (Exodus 18:1-27).  Seeing Moses serve as a judge over all of the issues that arose among the people from morning until evening, he counseled him to make a change.   Jethro told Moses to choose able men who feared God, were honest and who hated dishonest gain. &nb...

One of the saddest, most tragic events recorded in scripture is the death of Uriah the Hittite due to David’s attempt to cover his own sin.  The account is given in 2nd Samuel chapter eleven. Below are seven observations about Uriah based on Samuel’s account.  I believe every member of God’s kingdom would do well to emulate him.   1. Though he was a foreigner ...

You may notice if you read the Revelation that there are at least five seeming counterfeits to God’s originals.   First there is the figure of God’s servants pictured as being “sealed on their foreheads”, 7:3.  Contrast this holy sealing with the “mark of the beast” on those who worship the  beast that rises up from the earth, 13:16. &nb...

1. Be sexually pure because it is right.  God even used the image of sexual purity to express righteousness in Revelation 14:1-5.  Genesis 1:26-31 and 2:18-25 make it clear that marriage is a pure relationship (so do many other Biblical passages).  Defilement comes from sexual relationships outside of marriage.   2. Be sexually pure to maintain your dignity and s...

In an environment where sin rules, anyone who attempts to introduce God’s teachings will almost instantly be vilified.  This is how the world responded to Jesus.  If we do  things His way today, we should expect the same.   Isaiah said there were those who in his day called evil good and good evil.  They substituted darkness for light and light for darkness, bit...

The word god is not God’s name.  That is not to say that using the term flippantly is a virtuous practice.  All references, even allusions to the creator of the universe should be of utmost respect.  But “God” is not God’s name.  So what is His name?   When Moses asked this question, God told him that he was to refer to Him as I Am Wh...

The above word is the name that was given to the place where Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried.  It means “oak of weeping”.  Genesis 35:8 is nearly the only passage telling us anything at all about her life.  There is one other reference in 24:59 simply reporting that when Rebekah left home to become the wife of Isaac that “her nurse&rdq...

Christmas is over.  Homes and businesses previously decorated with bright and cheery holiday lighting are all taking those lights down again.  What about you and me?  Jesus was speaking to people just like us when he said to them, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14-16).  He defined their “light” as good works that they could do...

God did not design us for violence. Sin, however, changed everything and it became the responsibility of righteous people to take violent situations in hand.  As soon as Noah stepped off of the ark God instructed him that any man or beast who took the life of another man was to be put to death, Genesis 9:5-6. God had noted for us in Genesis 6:5 & 11 & 13 that mankind ha...

'Church' these days has been turned into a show by many in the religious world. Worship is for them a big production that is performance oriented and entertainment driven. Such assemblies beg for applause and they get plenty of it. It seems to me that it is a lot of hype with very little of God in any of this. But getting back to the question about applauding at a baptism, or some g...

God said it.  He said it to Joshua.  He said it three times (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9 & 18). The third time God told Joshua to be strong and courageous, He also asked him, “Have I not commanded you?”   Doesn’t that sound to you like God wanted Joshua to understand that since He had commanded him to act, that there was no reason to be timid or afraid?  Go...

God teaches us that it is right to punish those who do wrong. When He or those authorized by Him (see Romans 13:1-5) punish evil as He designed, it is justice. When individuals take things into their own hands, however, it is usually for revenge. Justice is a matter of comparing one’s behavior with a recognized code of behavior or law. When the law is broken, justice demands a fitting punish...

Jesus said the above in John 7:24. We usually hear people claiming that the Bible says not to judge and they are usually making this claim having judged someone for having supposedly judged someone else. They seldom catch themselves, however. Actually, the title quote above is incomplete. Jesus’ full statement was, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgmen...

“For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.” Romans 7:19 What evil do you want to do? I have mine. You have yours. Even the apostle who wrote the above had his. Need a list? Just off the top of my head I can think of gluttony, envy, arrogance, drunkenness, promiscuity, vulgarity, adultery, physical and/or mental abuse, theft, dishonesty, bul...

I cannot recall what it was like to be in my mother’s womb. Of course at that point I was incapable of understanding any of the wonders of the created universe into which I would eventually be born. But having been born, I would never go back. As children, we always looked to the next “phase” of our lives. We wanted to play with the big kids, to go to school, to go to the next gr...

You see it often in the gospels; Jesus reaching out with his hand to touch people. He touched Peter’s wife’s mother on the hand and took away her fever (Matthew 8:14-15). He touched the eyes of two blind men and gave them sight (Matthew 9:27-31). He touched the ears and the tongue of a deaf mute and gave him hear-ing and speech (Mark 7:31-35). He even touched a leper to make him clean ...

I find it interesting that there are no specified instructions for how to hold a funeral service in scripture. There isn’t anything teaching us that we must have one, nor even any direct instructions as to what to do with the body. Yet God teaches us that there is something very special about death, especially the deaths of those who die having been faithful to Him: Precious in the sight of ...