Tommy Mann

  God gave Moses precise instructions on how to construct the tabernacle, and He equipped certain people with the skills to complete the task. Then He called for all the people to have some skin in the game, so the tabernacle would be furnished by each tribe bringing contributions. In Exodus 35:4-5 we read, “Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, ‘This is the thing that the LORD has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD’S contribution: gold, silver, and bronze.’” Each family was encouraged to do what they could so that the whole camp could benefit from a place of worship. We should still follow that model today. In a 2013 article in  Relevant  titled “What Would Happen if the Church Tithed,” the author found that only 2.5% of Christians per capita give to the church, and that if all professing believers would give their 10% there would be an additional $165 billion, or enough ...

  In the last letter Paul ever wrote he mentioned three people that we know almost nothing about. At the end of the book’s opening chapter we read of Phygelus, Hermogenes, and Onesiphorus. The former two were fierce opponents of the apostle, while the latter was a dear friend.   In 1:16-17 he wrote, “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me.” Onesiphorus refreshed Paul. That verb is only used this one time in all of Scripture, and it means to relieve. The Amplified Bible translates the phrase this way: “he often braced me like fresh air.”  What an amazing word picture! Who doesn’t love to take in fresh air, especially after being cooped up inside for an extended period of time? Paul knew about being cooped up; he wrote these words from a prison cell, after all.  We don’t know what exactly Onesiphorus did for Paul, aside fr...

  In Isaiah 40 there is an interesting conversation between the prophet and someone else (possibly an angel). It says:   A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever (v.6-8).   At the beginning of the chapter Isaiah is told to speak a message of comfort to God’s people, which was not typically part of the prophet’s job description. Condemnation and correction, yes; but comfort? Never. But in this instance God wanted to make sure His people knew He still loved them even after calamity came.    Isaiah did not seem to be in the mood to deliver the message. It’s as if he says, “Why should I? They haven’t listened to me all these years, and now I am supposed to comfort them?”    Isaiah was in his...

  The United States Constitution is referred to as a living document because it can be amended. Some people use the phrase living document to say the Constitution adapts with society, so that we broaden or narrow the meaning of old language based on current events or understanding.    I’m not here to weigh in on just how living the U.S. Constitution may be. I have my beliefs, but this isn’t the place for them. Instead, I want to weigh in on another, much more important, living document.    The author of Hebrews wrote, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (4:12).”    If the Constitution is living because it can be amended, then the Bible is absolutely NOT living in that sense. If the Constitution is living because it adapts to a changing society, then the Bible is absolutely NOT living i...