“I am the Good Shepherd,” the Lord Jesus proclaimed in John 10:11. I have often pondered: what is the definition of a “good shepherd”? Since the Lord describes Himself with such a title, how would He define the concept of a good shepherd? What are the key features that identify this Shepherd with this title? It […]
The gentleman, an expert in Mosaic law, thought it was a clever question. He posed it, says Luke, to “tempt” the Lord Jesus. Whether there was any malice in his query, or whether it was asked to test what he had heard were Jesus’ unorthodox views, the lawyer did confront the Lord while He was […]
Titus remains intensely practical because the shepherds and sheep of today face the same problems as those in first century Crete. Titus is one of the so-called “Pastoral Epistles,” along with 1 & 2 Timothy. It was written around the same time as 1 Timothy (AD 63-65) and shares certain common ideas with it, including […]
When we refuse to agree with God that we have sinned, we experience the barrenness which David experienced until he confessed his sins to God. Prayer must be listed as one of the key priorities in the believer’s life. I vividly remember crying out to God in desperation as a lost sinner, and I also […]
Why then would we see this cry of David’s as anything other than a further attempt by his bad conscience to minimize his many sins by rolling them all into one? A couple of years ago, I submitted an article to a secular philosophy journal. They returned the editor’s copy to me with the happy […]
What would you think if a young man in your assembly made the suggestion that there be a second prayer meeting weekly? Let’s be honest—most churches have a significantly lower percentage of people attending the prayer meeting than any other meeting. It would seem from the turn-out, and some of the comments that can be […]
No request is too great and no detail is too small for our Lord. What weapon does a believer wield that is more powerful than prayer? Yet, somehow we tend to overlook prayer’s potency. We treat it as our last option, when in reality it should be our first. We say, “There is nothing we […]
The highest form of worship is concerned not with what God has done for us, but with who He is in Himself. The highest, the holiest, the most sublime ministry of the church is the ministry of worship. God has given us the unique privilege of being able to minister directly to Him and thus […]
When were you last sung to in an airport? I was so treated after missing a flight from O’Hare Airport, Chicago, on November 18, 2006. But I must not get ahead of my story. For months I had been looking forward to meeting with the Kansas City part of our family for their Thanksgiving week. […]