It is God the Father of whom the Lord speaks to the Samaritan woman–the One who is God in nature and Father in relationship. The name Father seldom occurs in the Old Testament and is never there in the New Testament sense. As used in the Old Testament, The Triune God is spoken of as […]
I have never read Looking Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe, but there is a line from it in one of my books of quotations. Harry Tugman (whoever he is) is asking Luke where he is presently stationed. The response goes like this: “At the p-p-p-present time in Norfolk at the Navy base,” Luke answered, “m-m-making […]
To glorify God is to acknowledge and make known His character, or give credit to Him. There are a variety of ways in which we may do it. The sight of a man lame from birth leaping and walking and praising God awakened a crowd to glorify God (Acts 3:1-9; 4:21). According to Peter, those […]
If the lambs are asking, “Where are the shepherds?” the elders aren’t doing their job. Elders should be there, vigilant, looking out for the welfare of the flock. Who are the Shepherds? How do you recognize a shepherd? Paul gave us a description of one in 1 Timothy 3:1-7. Much of it has to do […]
Ephesians 4 could be called The Peacekeeping Treatise where we have the four essentials regarding peace. The first is the essential command to peace (vv. 1-3): “I…beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the […]
The premiere issue of The Barley Cake (Jan. 1881), the first North American assembly magazine, announced the fifth Hamilton, ON, conference. By inference the first was held in 1877. Assessment of the conference, in the direct style of the editor, Donald Ross, followed in the February issue: “A considerable number of Christians from the province […]
The importance and value of biblical preaching is illustrated in the experience of Ezra: “Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). These three activities are most important, and so is the sequence in which they occur. […]
It’s easy to be a destroyer, but much more effort is required to be a builder. One of the tools used by builders is encouragement. The word used in the New Testament is sometimes translated comfort, consolation, exhortation or entreaty. If you want to be an encouragement to your assembly here are at least ten […]
Obviously time is a relative commodity: a half hour in a hammock on a Saturday afternoon is hardly the same as a half hour in the dentist’s chair. We call someone in Europe late on a Saturday night; they are already into the new week. Or we stand under the stars and watch them as […]