The idea of the End of the World has a kind of morbid fascination for us. We are conditioned to think in terms of beginnings and ends of things, so it becomes not so much …
Pentecost: Not Yet Fulfilled
View PostThe First of Weeks
We have long taken special interest in those eight scriptures that speak of the “first day of the week”. We have made the point that if authority for Sunday observance is to be found anywhere …
A Mother to Remember
What would happen to you if you were down and out and there was no one to help? Where would you be if you were sick and broke in a strange city with no place …
The Words of Jesus #38
How would you like to know—step-by-step—all the events leading up to the end of the world? Maybe you’d rather not know. We really have a morbid fascination with the end of the world, don’t we? …
The Words of Jesus #37
Power corrupts. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely. It is one of the reasons why men have rejected absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings. But forget about absolute power for a moment and think about …
The Words of Jesus #36
When you consider the mess the world is in right now, you might wonder if God has written us off as a bad investment. But if you read the Bible, you know that the world—at …
The Words of Jesus #35
There is a name that will live forever in our memories, and there is probably not a culture in the world that does not understand the significance of the name…Judas. Judas is hard to understand…almost …
The Gospel of Luke #21
And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came …
Expectations of Marriage
When on vacation, celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary, my wife and I happened to notice a magazine article entitled, Marriages That Last (Is Yours One?). That was irresistible under the circumstances. Our marriage seemed to …
The Words of Jesus #34
If I could tell you a way whereby you could live forever, would you be interested? Well, the question was put to Jesus, and Jesus gave a straight answer. Would you like to hear it? …
The Words of Jesus #33
The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye …
The Words of Jesus #32
A very wealthy man had a manager who had allowed a dangerous cash flow situation to develop. Various customers had built up debts and were slow to pay. The manager had allowed this, not so …
The Words of Jesus #31
Is it hard to be a Christian? Or is it relatively easy? What is demanded of us to actually be a servant of Jesus the Christ? I suppose it depends on your theological perspective. If …
The Gospel of Luke #20
Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spoke again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil has he done? I have found …
On Prayer and Fellowship
What did the First Christians believe about prayer? Did they believe that it really mattered; that it changed outcomes? Or did they believe that God carried out his will regardless of how they prayed? Sometimes …
The Words of Jesus #30
The chances are pretty good that you know someone who has had a miraculous answer to prayer. There are a lot of people walking around out there who ought to be dead. But people have …
Prayer: What Does God Require?
Prayer is in a way something of a mystery. How can a mere man talk to God and be heard? If you’ve read much of your Bible, read about God, and realize his greatness, his …
The Words of Jesus #29
It doesn’t seem that praying should be all that hard. It certainly isn’t when you are in trouble. Lord help me comes quickly enough. And we probably have some childhood prayers we memorized. The first …
The Gospel of Luke #19
And when the hour came, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I …
The First of Weeks
We have long taken special interest in those eight scriptures that speak of the “first day of the week”. We have made the point that if authority for Sunday observance is to be found anywhere …
Passover at Home
View PostWhy Do You Believe What You Believe?
Where did you get your beliefs? Can you remember your first ideas about God, or how old you were when you first became aware of the existence of God? Maybe you remember praying as a …
An Uneasy Thanksgiving
As I sit down to my Thanksgiving dinner this year, one of the things I am thankful for is that we still have Thanksgiving Day. And I find myself mildly surprised that we still do. …
Saving the World
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has …
The Day of Atonement
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also …
Trumpets and the Resurrection
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, …
Is There Life After Divorce?
“Let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord the God of Israel.” Divorce is painful. If you have been through a divorce, you need no one …
Baptized with Fire
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall …
The Body of Christ
The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for …
If Not Christmas, What?
Jesus was not born on December 25. On the evening of Jesus’ birth, there were shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Shepherds, they tell us, would not have been …
Tracks of the Devil
If you were in the forest and were looking for evidence that a particular kind of animal lived in the area, you would look for the unique signs and tracks that would tell you the …
Church Music: Blessing or Burden?
Maybe I shouldn’t be so critical of contemporary church music. After all, even Johann Sebastian Bach was reprimanded by his pastor for his “modern music”. Bach was criticized, not because his music was bad, but …
An Anxious Faith
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Mark 9:24 Jennifer’s husband was going into the hospital on Monday for open heart surgery. …
Could Christ Return Tonight?
View PostThe Design
I have to see my eye doctor three times a year, and I am always left waiting in his examination room. The walls there are covered with pictures and diagrams of the human eye. I …
Governing Sheep
What is the shape of a flock of sheep? This probably belongs on a list of the world’s most meaningless questions, for a flock of sheep has no shape. It is a collection of living …
Basic Christianity: The Opening Gambit
The Christian faith must seem downright confusing to an onlooker. Even the largest, seemingly the most monolithic Christian denominations are, in reality, composed of many factions. Unless you are an insider, you can remain unaware …
Second and Third Tithes
View PostA Funeral Service for Anyone
When we are young, we are a little unsure about funerals. We don’t like to think about death and we are uncomfortable being around people who are grieving. We don’t know how to feel, and …
The Words of Jesus #39
The idea of the End of the World has a kind of morbid fascination for us. We are conditioned to think in terms of beginnings and ends of things, so it becomes not so much …
Pentecost: Not Yet Fulfilled
View PostA Mother to Remember
What would happen to you if you were down and out and there was no one to help? Where would you be if you were sick and broke in a strange city with no place …
The Words of Jesus #38
How would you like to know—step-by-step—all the events leading up to the end of the world? Maybe you’d rather not know. We really have a morbid fascination with the end of the world, don’t we? …
The Words of Jesus #37
Power corrupts. Absolute Power corrupts absolutely. It is one of the reasons why men have rejected absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings. But forget about absolute power for a moment and think about …
The Words of Jesus #36
When you consider the mess the world is in right now, you might wonder if God has written us off as a bad investment. But if you read the Bible, you know that the world—at …
The Words of Jesus #35
There is a name that will live forever in our memories, and there is probably not a culture in the world that does not understand the significance of the name…Judas. Judas is hard to understand…almost …
The Gospel of Luke #21
And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came …
Expectations of Marriage
When on vacation, celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary, my wife and I happened to notice a magazine article entitled, Marriages That Last (Is Yours One?). That was irresistible under the circumstances. Our marriage seemed to …
The Words of Jesus #34
If I could tell you a way whereby you could live forever, would you be interested? Well, the question was put to Jesus, and Jesus gave a straight answer. Would you like to hear it? …
The Words of Jesus #33
The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye …
The Words of Jesus #32
A very wealthy man had a manager who had allowed a dangerous cash flow situation to develop. Various customers had built up debts and were slow to pay. The manager had allowed this, not so …
The Words of Jesus #31
Is it hard to be a Christian? Or is it relatively easy? What is demanded of us to actually be a servant of Jesus the Christ? I suppose it depends on your theological perspective. If …
The Gospel of Luke #20
Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spoke again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil has he done? I have found …
On Prayer and Fellowship
What did the First Christians believe about prayer? Did they believe that it really mattered; that it changed outcomes? Or did they believe that God carried out his will regardless of how they prayed? Sometimes …
The Words of Jesus #30
The chances are pretty good that you know someone who has had a miraculous answer to prayer. There are a lot of people walking around out there who ought to be dead. But people have …
Prayer: What Does God Require?
Prayer is in a way something of a mystery. How can a mere man talk to God and be heard? If you’ve read much of your Bible, read about God, and realize his greatness, his …
The Words of Jesus #29
It doesn’t seem that praying should be all that hard. It certainly isn’t when you are in trouble. Lord help me comes quickly enough. And we probably have some childhood prayers we memorized. The first …
The Gospel of Luke #19
And when the hour came, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I …