“So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” (John 11:3)
What an amazing little sentence the sisters’ call for help was: “Behold, he whom You love is sick.” One of the striking features of their cry was the way they referred to Lazarus, as “he whom You love.” How much that says about Jesus — and about us! Continue reading
“He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” (John 8:47)
Here Jesus gives us one of the BEST tests of whether a person is a genuine Christian or not: do they have a love for the word of God? Continue reading
In 2014 the Radical Islamic group ISIS made headlines when they captured the historic tomb of the Prophet Jonah in Mosul, Iraq, lined the bottom of it with dynamite, and blew it up, totally destroying the tomb. This was just the latest of a number of desecrations and outright destruction of historic sites of Biblical backgrounds by the group. Sam Hardy, a professor at the American University of Rome, told The Washington Post that he believes this shows that ISIS wants to destroy, “basically pretty much anything in the Bible.” He added, “It indicates they are going for total eradication.” The bottom line: ISIS hates the Bible, and they are doing everything they can to destroy anything related to it.
What we need to understand, however, is that this is not the only war against the God of the Bible which is going on today. The one the Book of Revelation calls “The dragon, the serpent of old, the devil, Satan”, hates God, hates His word, hates His people, and he wants to do whatever he can to oppose and desecrate His glory in our world.
One of the primary fronts we see this war taking place today is in regard to marriage. Continue reading
Our passage for today describes how Jesus saw Peter & Andrew, and James & John, with their boats and nets and relatives, that He said to them, “Follow Me.” And they got up, left everything, and followed Him.
What would YOU do today, if Jesus Christ came to your office — or to your home — or stood before you in this church — and said, “Follow Me”? Let me tell you: HE IS! Continue reading
Last week Emma Watson won an award for best actor for her role in the new musical “Beauty and the Beast”. It was not “Best Actress”; just “best actor”, because these were the first “non-gender specific” awards given — it’s not going to be “best actor” or “best actress” any more; just “best actor” — because they don’t want to encourage “gender.” And this is going to be the new trend.
I saw where someone on Twitter asked “WHY … WHY is that such a big deal?” WHY is gender so bad? What is so wrong with being a man or a woman? Continue reading
“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.'” (John 8:3-4)
One of the many shortfalls of the scribes & Pharisees was the lack of any genuine concern for this woman and her situation. They were just “using her” as a “test case” in order to trap Jesus (:6 says “they were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him.”) Their real concern was not for the righteousness of the Law, and certainly not for this woman’s soul.
May God in His grace preserve us from that same kind of attitude towards people. Continue reading
“The officers answered, ‘Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.'” (John 7:46)
These officers (basically the Temple police) were no trained theologians, yet they could recognize what is plain to everyone. No one — ever — has spoken like Jesus did. And His words are such a powerful witness for who He really was — and is! Continue reading
“As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.” (John 8:30)
The Bible tells us that when Jesus spoke the words He did in John 8, that “many came to believe in Him.” Sure, there was controversy, as this chapter relates. The Jewish religious leaders opposed Jesus because of His word. But “many” DID believe, as they listened to the things He said.
Is this not just what Romans 10:17 teaches us: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ”? When Jesus’ words are proclaimed, faith arises in hearts, and people will believe and be saved.
This should instruct our ministries today. Continue reading
My wife Cheryl & I will have been married for 35 years on May 28th. (She has already informed me that we are not going to be here that Sunday — so I am informing you! 🙂 As you can imagine, with all those years together, she has a lot of stories to tell on me. One of her favorites is the time when we were living in Tulsa, and the control pad on our garage door opener wasn’t working. So we got out the directions to the control, and we were both looking at it, and I noticed that the directions were printed in several languages. So I started reading the directions in French, which I’d had in high school. As I read, I was really pleased at how well my French pronunciation sounded, even though I didn’t know what all of the words actually meant, and didn’t know what it was telling us to do. In the mean time, while I was reading, Cheryl, having read the directions in English, FIXED the control pad! (This will save Cheryl from telling each of you this story personally — we’ll just get it out there for everyone now!).
But those directions were not for “reading pretty out loud”; they were supposed to guide our actions. Unfortunately that little episode can be a parable of how many Christians are NOT using the word of God as we should. The scriptures were given to us by God to guide and direct our lives, and to point us to His saving light in Jesus Christ — but too many of us aren’t really using it the way that God meant us to. God’s word should serve both as the model for our lives, and as the guide to the Light we need to save us. And we see both of those things in our text for today in Matthew 4:12-17: Continue reading
“And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.'” (John 8:11)
Jesus’ response to the woman caught in adultery was an amazing display of His mercy and grace, and the story has touched the hearts of millions who have heard or read it. But we must not miss the last sentence He spoke to her: His consequent admonition that she sin no more. Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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