Life doesn’t make sense sometimes.  Why must a little child contract a horrible disease like cancer?  Why should a parent have to bury his/her own child?  Why do teachers and those in authority take advantage of (often sexually) young children in their care?  Why does a gunman go into a church (of all places) and shoot innocent worshipers?  Why? There are some…

So, you know what you are supposed to do. You know what is expected of you. You know what you want and need to do, but how do you get motivated to do it? In Romans chapter twelve, amongst a list of Christian attributes, there is this phrase, “not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (12:11). If we…

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). There is so much more in this verse than the average reader of the Bible may see. This is likely because we fail to notice the uses of the expression, “the…

In one of the most practical, real-to-life books in the Bible, James urges his readers to be more than just passive, forgetful hearers of God’s Word.  He charges us to be “doers of the word” (1:22), which requires “looking” into God’s Word (1:25).  The word “looks” in verse 25 involves a close, intent examination.  It’s the same Greek word used of Peter,…

There are those events in our lives which become a catalyst to enhance spiritual truths we have known for years. It is not that we have forgotten the truths, but familiarity may have dimmed our appreciation of them. Let me share with you truths made more vivid as we dealt with the hurricane, Irma. Irma reminds us that God is omnipotent. He…

It has been said, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.” I would like to suggest that what you do know could keep you from hurt. Sometimes knowing makes all the difference. In the case of Paul, there were some things that he knew that made all the difference in his life. He knew Jesus. “For this reason I also suffer these…

Have you ever grown increasingly frustrated with someone who would not respond positively to your efforts to touch their lives with the gospel?  You tried and tried and tried, but they rejected and rejected and rejected at every turn.  Most likely, every one of us have been there, and every one of us have been tempted to just give up trying.  But,…

Our Lord had sent out the twelve on the limited commission of going to the Jews to tell them about the coming Kingdom. They had been given power to heal the sick and to cast out demons (Luke 9:1). When they returned to Him, they told Jesus of all that they had done. He took them away from the multitude to a…