You can tell a lot about a person when work’s to be done. Does he want a lighter load or a stronger back? The little town of Tekoa, just 5 miles southeast of Bethlehem, sits at the base of a mountaintop fortress called the Herodion. The town was fortified in the days of Rehoboam, thus […]
CHRIST the FIRSTBORN: “When He again brings the Firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him’” (Heb 1:6). The Lord says of David, Jesse’s youngest son, “I will make him My firstborn” (Ps 89:27). This is not an exception, but the rule in Scripture. The firstborn was never born […]
“Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way” (Ps 119:37). It’s the relentless battle for the eyes. Not here those whose “eyes bulge with abundance” (73:7) nor the danger of setting something “wicked before my eyes” (101:3), but merely the seemingly endless distractions of “looking at worthless things.” […]
It’s good to have some simple ways in mind to present gospel truth. For example, an outline of John 3:16, as follows, can be easily sketched on a paper napkin at a restaurant table as you speak to a friend who is searching but still without Christ. The verse can be arranged as follows: GOD […]
CHRIST the PREPARER of our PLACE: George Henderson points out that the Christian is bound to heaven by eight gold links. Our Father is there: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Mt 6:9). Our Savior is there: “Christ has…entered…into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb 9:24). […]
“To Him who made great lights, for His mercy endures forever—the sun to rule by day, for His mercy endures forever; the moon and stars to rule by night, for His mercy endures forever” (Ps 136:7-9). Do you regularly express thanks to the Lord for His specific acts of creation? The psalmist did. Explaining the […]
Eric Liddell, the winner of the 400-metre race at the 1924 Paris Olympics, was a consecrated Christian. The film *Chariots of Fire* accurately recounts his refusal to run his best event, the 100-metre race, because it was on the Lord’s Day, and that someone slipped a paper to him as he stood at the starting […]
CHRIST the TESTATOR of the NEW COVENANT: “This is the covenant that I will make with them…Their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more” (Heb 10:16-17). Sheila O’Gahagan, a factory girl, broken in health, was advised to spend time at the shore. But she knew she had a deeper problem—her sin. Sitting near […]
“Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (Acts 12:5). Do you wonder what those prayers sounded like? Some have thought these first-century Christians didn’t really believe the Lord would deliver Peter from prison because, when he suddenly showed up at the house and “they […]