Category: THEOLOGY
Blessed Are Those Who Hunger and Thirst
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) opens with the well-known list of qualities and rewards known as “The Beatitudes” (5:3-12). According to Jesus, rewards like the kingdom of heaven, the inheritance of earth, comfort, mercy, satisfaction, identification as God’s children, and the privilege of enjoying...
A Tale of Two Therefores
Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead. It was such an incredible miracle that when the Jewish leaders found out about it, they knew they had to act. They convened a council largely made up of Pharisees and Sadducees, men who were all part of...
A Clash of Kings
The young Aristobulus had the misfortune of being popular. Because of this, Herod the Great invited him to his magnificent palace in Jericho, where Aristobulus ate and drank, splashed playfully with the other young men in one of the shimmering pools, and drowned . . ....
The Conversion of Charles Haddon Spurgeon
The great nineteenth-century English pastor and evangelist, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, was converted to Christ as a young man on January 6, 1856. In Spurgeon’s own words, it happened like this: I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not...
A Story That Does Not End Well: Marianne Hearne
Marianne Hearne experienced her first real crisis of faith when she was just five or six years old. She attended a good church with her family and learned to love God through the teaching of her parents, church and extended family. So it was natural that...
By Faith Alone: The Conversion of Martin Luther
It was the moment he had been waiting for. His father was in the audience watching, as were his fellow monks. It was time for Martin to offer his first mass, and he was overwhelmed with the solemnity of the event. He led the congregation, saying,...
The Unrepenting Repenter
The believer in Christ is a lifelong repenter. He begins with repentance and continues in repentance. (Rom. 8:12-13) David sinned giant sins but fell without a stone at the mere finger of the prophet because he was a repenter at heart (2 Sam. 12:7-13). Peter denied...
The Binding of Satan as Seen in the Birth (and Survival) of Jesus
Jesus once said, “No one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man” (Mark 3:27). The “strong man” Jesus was alluding to was Satan, and his house was this world—Satan’s realm of influence and power. The Old...
God’s Provision at the Appointed Time
And Samuel said, “Here is what has been reserved! Set it before you and eat, because it has been kept for you until the appointed time. . . .” (1 Sam. 9:24). Saul was astonished to find himself sitting in the place of honor at a...
If It Walks Like a Goat . . .
A recent news report told about two robbery suspects who were being pursued by the police in a third-world country. When the officers rounded a corner, seconds behind the fleeing suspects, all they saw was a goat. The robbers had vanished. What the officers did next...
