"But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.' Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as… [continue]

Yesterday we read how a man that was blind from birth was given his sight by the Lord Jesus (see John 9). Today, we will read where this same Jesus took away the sight of a man who had been able to see all his life. On the surface, this might seem a paradox, but behind it all was the Lord’s intent to give a tremendous… [continue]

“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works… [continue]

  “Therefore the sisters [Martha and Mary] sent to Him, saying, ‘Lord, behold, he whom You love [Lazarus] is sick.’ When Jesus heard that, He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ Now Jesus loved Martha and… [continue]

Do you think you know the world’s most deadly poison? Well, I’ll admit right up front that this is sort of a trick question. You see, the world’s most deadly poison is not one which affects the central nervous system, or the cardio-pulmonary system, or the digestive system, or the liver, or the kidneys,… [continue]

We know what He [God] will do because we know what He did! That is the crux of Paul's argument as he affirms that “...all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8.28). What did He do? He proved His love beyond all human expectations… [continue]

The past is, from a purely human viewpoint, the best predictor of the future. In the world in which we live, the future of things (such as housing sales, the weather, a baseball team's performance, entertainers, automobile reliability, human behavior, etc., etc.) that matter to us are predicted using the past. The… [continue]

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he… [continue]

Thank God for Unanswered Prayers was a huge number one country hit for Garth Brooks in the 1990’s. The entire basis for the song is the fact that we just don’t always know what is best for us, even in our prayers. Beyond that, it is also an indisputable fact that God always knows what is best. That… [continue]

Our focus text reads: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession… [continue]

“I have some good news and I have some bad news. Which would you like to hear first.” This line has been the lead in to countless comedy routines. Jesus didn't ever use this phrase to the best of our knowledge, but He surely experienced times when He could have said it. Today's message centers around… [continue]

No peeking! Play fairly! Guess who or what I am. “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, When there were no fountains abounding with… [continue]

Our study today will be essentially a word study, but with a couple of twists. I promise you it won't be dull, so I beg you to stay with me. Specifically, we will look at a Greek word which appears only four times in the New Testament. We will consider the ways this word is translated and used in Scripture. The first… [continue]

An axe and an adze are tools that are frequently used for hewing. Sometimes the hewing process is intended to give an object a desired shape and at other times hewing is simply intended to divide or chop an object in two. Now hear God's word through Hosea: "Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain… [continue]

Some of God’s actions cannot be mimicked. All of man’s actions, on the other hand, are capable of being repeated (or even bested) by others with time. Man, by definition, acts within the natural realm. God, on the other hand, is capable of acting within both the natural and the supernatural realms. That is why… [continue]

Pat and I were recently privileged to see some wonderfully scenic landscapes and seascapes in the state of Maine. I know we used the word beautiful repeated to descripe the things that we saw, but physical beauty really is quite subjective. I knew of a person who was actually frightened by trees and saw them as an… [continue]

To “Owe no one anything…” according to Paul’s written admonition (see Romans 13.8) is but one of the moral and ethical rules that ought to govern our lives. However, the believer is in debt from the time he or she commits the first sin until death takes us away. This debt is not a material… [continue]

No one has to tell you, the reader of this article, the importance of words. Verbal communication is as old as mankind and it is one of the unique and significant differences between humanity and other living creatures. Just as human communication via words differs substantially from the various forms of communication that… [continue]

  We hear a lot about truth. Witnesses in legal proceedings are duty bound to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Under many circumstances, consumers are advised of certain facts under the truth in lending laws. Children are taught the value of truth and the honor that inheres with always… [continue]

I suppose it would be nice if life had no downs, no moments in which the spirit takes a nose dive and expresses it with a sigh. One popular public definition of sigh is “...an audible exhalation of air arising from tiredness or emotion, usually sadness, which itself could be stemming from feelings of… [continue]

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” This is not scripture, but it has a scriptural basis. This modern proverb evolved over centuries to its present form, having in earlier days simply been stated, “Hell is paved with good intentions.” In today’s message, our interest is in the… [continue]

The time was almost eight centuries before Christ (BC). The powerful nation of Assyria was breathing out threats to all who stood in her aggressive ways. Israel was no exception. However, in spite of the fact that Israel was steeped in sin and stood under God's condemnation for her worldly ways, God's warning to… [continue]

I asked my friend what was the most radical position, in a religious context, he had ever seen where a matter of judgment was held to the exclusion of doctrine. In other words, what had he witnessed people do that may have been right in itself, but when pressed to extremes, became harmful or even contradictory to other… [continue]

    Jesus was “…declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1.4). Paul further wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the… [continue]

  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Romans 1.1). This text has for long ages been called the thesis statement of the book of Romans. As such, this statement that Paul puts forth… [continue]

    Ready is such a common word! It simply carries the idea of preparedness, maybe even without desire. I may be ready to go to the dentist, but I may not want to go. I may be ready to pay my monthly bills, but that exercise is seldom executed with exuberance. The word Paul used in Romans 1.15 is a word that… [continue]

  A debtor, very simply put, is someone who owes a debt, or is bound by some obligation to another. Paul declared himself to be a debtor when he wrote, “I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome… [continue]

    “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Ephesians 3.14). The point of this devotional message is not to look at the things for which Paul prayed on this occasion. Rather, it is to look at the phrase “I bow my knees…”… [continue]

“Trying to make sense out of nonsense can drive you crazy!” Have you ever heard this statement? Well, I can testify to the fact that it is true. I guess you can jump one step ahead of me and say, “Ah, so that's what's wrong with you.” Jesus knew that some actions of men just cannot be explained… [continue]

“Its not what you know, its who you know!” Have you ever heard that statement? Usually it is applied to how we as human beings ascend (or descend) on the ladder of success. Let someone get a promotion at work and as likely as not, someone will affirm by this statement that the promotion was unwarranted based… [continue]

Political Correctness (PC) is not a new thing, but it appears to me that the blight has grown stronger than I have ever witnessed it. We live in a culture in which virtually every public figure (actors, athletes, politicians, etc., etc.) has to have a “handler” to keep them straight. One wrong word, or for that… [continue]

What do you think about the priesthood? No, not the one that has been unfavorably cast in news headlines of late; rather, I speak of the one about which the Bible speaks, the one in which God ordained that all believers serve as priests (see 1 Peter 2.5-9). This priestly service is not elective; it is mandated… [continue]

There were times when the speech of Jesus was veiled to one extent or the other. Although people were somewhat ready to accept the moral truths that He taught, there was a greater truth that very, very few were ready to accept. The focus text in today's message sets forth a change in the strategic approach… [continue]

I've heard of people who have a real knack for turning a phrase. Well, today's devotional is about turning a phrase in another way. We will begin with a quote from Jesus and the sermon on the mount. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who… [continue]

What do you think of yes men? Almost everybody has known one or two, if not personally, certainly in the media. Yes men are an essential for egomaniacs. They are needed to sustain the mistaken concepts that such mental aberrations demand. Yes men are not an invention of the twentieth century; they have… [continue]

A biblical priest, by definition, is someone who was appointed to serve in the very presence of God. Additionally, the service which the priest rendered had to do with sanctified things and activities. In the Old Testament, the priest was an intermediary, so to speak, between God and man. In the role of a priest, sacrifices… [continue]

God has promised many things in the Bible. There are books written by uninspired men which capture and catalog these promises. One of these books, Precious Bible Promises, gives a long and quite extensive list of God's promises divided into over 100 categories. Another book of promises is actually a calendar… [continue]

When our expectations rest on one and only one person, hope vanishes unless that person delivers. A pinch hitter in the last of the ninth with two out illustrates this principle. If he fails to deliver, then there is no hope; the game is over. However, a pinch hitter in the bottom of the ninth with no outs is quite another… [continue]

Question: When is a door not a door? Answer: When it is ajar. Question: When is my doctrine not my doctrine? Answer: When it is of God. Jesus responded to some who questioned the source of His teaching in just this way. He spoke of His doctrine, but He said it was not His doctrine. By paying careful attention to His statements,… [continue]

See if you can finish this sentence: “Don't bite the hand that ________ ______.” In the English language, this is one of countless picturesque idioms (a phrase whose meaning differs from the literal image that it portrays). Of course most folks will recognize that the two missing words are “feeds you.”… [continue]