Human suffering remains one of the greatest obstacles to faith in Christ. Yet Scripture does not avoid the issue- it addresses it directly, assuring us that even pain has purpose.
Peter’s first letter was written to encourage believers who were suffering for their faith. He reminds them, and u...
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Our Lord Jesus lived His life on earth as man filled with the Holy Spirit and with complete trust in the Father. In this He serves as the perfect example for how we are to live. In becoming man our Savior did not cease to be divine but did, in fact, limit His divine attributes so as to fully ente...
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“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” Proverbs 3:27
Last week, my thoughts centered on doing good, specifically, the blessing that comes from serving the needs of others. Today, I want to focus on the object of our help: “those to whom it is du...
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“Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it.” Proverbs 3:27
When you look at the life of Christ in the Gospels, you see a life lived for others. Peter summarized our Lord’s earthly ministry by saying that He “went about doing good.” Jesus Himse...
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"Submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time." (1 Peter 5.5-6)
One of my fa...
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Along with thousands of other pastors across America I wish to pay tribute to John MacArthur who passed away Monday night after being hospitalized with pneumonia. He was eighty-six and had served Grace Community Church in Los Angeles for more than fifty years. At first, when I heard yesterday tha...
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In Matthew, our Lord Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for speaking against the Holy Spirit, asking them, “How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:32)
Pondering this verse in my quiet time, I turned it around and thought of Jesus...
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Affirmation in today’s world isn’t just clicking a “like” or “love” button. Nor is it flattery, which is often insincere praise motivated by selfishness. We flatter people because we want to be liked, gain influence, or avoid consequences. In Scripture, flattery is usually mentioned in negative ...
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My wife and I recently watched the miniseries “Band of Brothers”, a World War II drama based on the Stephen Ambrose book by the same name. In one episode it’s pointed out to Captain Winters, the main character, that they’re surrounded by the enemy. He cooly responds, “We’re paratroopers, we’re su...
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A number of years ago Richard Dawkins was cancelled from speaking at an event sponsored by Berkeley’s KPFA radio. The station cited Dawkins’ offensive and hurtful language against Islam as the reason which was being contested by Dawkins and other supporters. The evolutionary biologist and best-se...
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