CHRIST the WINE-MAKER: “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” (Jn 2:10). As a young preacher, I came to the final night of a series of Bible teaching. Greeting folks at the door, one […]
“The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain” (2 Tim 1:16). The name Onesiphorus comes from joining two words. The one means to “bring joy” or “be profitable,” as used in Philemon verse 20, there a play on the similar name “Onesimus.” […]
“For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (2 Cor 4:5). Charles Spurgeon revealed the secret of his effectiveness: “I believe that those sermons which are fullest of Christ are the most likely to be blessed to the conversion of the hearers. Let your sermons be full of Christ, from beginning to […]
We’re not only the richest people in the world, but the richest in all of history. We’ll give account for that! In our previous study, Job graphically describes the wrongs perpetrated on the poor and vulnerable in society (Job 24:1-17). What a pathetic scene, multiplied too many times in our own lands. “The wilderness yields food […]
CHRIST the ABIDING ONE: “Abide in Me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4). James Hudson Taylor was born May 21, 1832, the only son of a druggist in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England. A frail child, his education was sporadic, mostly taken at home. In 1849, he picked up a tract on holiday and was struck with […]
“How awesome is this place! This…is the gate of heaven!” (Gen 28:17). There’s a remarkable spiral staircase with no central support at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. But no, it isn’t a “Miraculous Stair” built by Joseph. When local carpenters couldn’t link the main floor with the choir loft (other than with […]
When Jim and Lil Dickson arrived in Taiwan (then Formosa) in 1927, .there was one unreached tribe of headhunters known as the Tyal (or Atayal) living in the mountains. Chi-oang, an elderly woman, was the first convert. Some objected to enrolling her in Bible school. What could this old woman do? But she persisted. The […]
“When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong” (Eccl 8:11, NLT). Job agrees. Since the days of Job, times have obviously changed. Traditions have changed. Travel has changed. Technology certainly has changed. But the human condition? Not so much. There are still the haves and the have-nots, still those […]
CHRIST the FORGIVING ONE: “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you” (Mt 9:2). What is the payment made so that God can forgive us? “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:14). To whom should this forgiveness be preached? “…Repentance and remission [forgiveness] of sins should […]