A war is about to begin. King Jehoram of Israel is going to war with the king of Moab. He sends to Jehosh-aphat, king of Judah, and urges him to join with him in the battle. They decide to invade Moab from the south through the land of Edom, whose king joins with them. But […]
While it is a great privilege as a shepherd to be called on to perform a wedding, it is also a solemn responsibility from the Lord to teach the couple and shepherd them in His paths of truth. Pre-marital counselling has become a necessity due to the volume of incorrect information a couple receives by […]
Our reservoir of hymnody is both vast and deep. And the number of the hymns is matched, in most cases, by a richness of thought and beauty of expression that stirs the spirit and fills the mind with the most Christ-honoring thoughts and emotions. As Paul writes: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and […]
I recently saw a sarcastic bumper sticker which read, “What’s next, gravity?” The reference is to the opposition by Christians to public school indoctrination of students with the religious beliefs of evolution. The inference is that “you Christians are dumb because you reject the absolute truth of evolution and if we tolerate this then perhaps […]
In 1880, D. L. Moody came to St. Louis, Missouri to conduct evangelistic meetings, the local newspaper, the Globe-Democrat, announced that it was going to print every word he said. Moody made up his mind that he “would weave in a lot of Scripture for the Globe-Democrat to print, and that might count if my […]
“If a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness” (Gal. 6:1). Confronting another person about sin is not easy. Sometimes it’s downright frightening! I once had to approach a fellow-believer about his sin of adultery. A tough ex-Marine, he was strong both in […]
I am ’way too comfy. If you looked at the stuff I’ve gathered around me, you could easily get the impression that I was planning on being here for ever. As a friend in Ireland facetiously said while we toured some recent renovations on his property, “Signs of our pilgrimage everywhere!” Is there any indication […]
God must do everything that will be of eternal value. “So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase” (1 Cor. 3:7). However, although He can speak through asses, and even rocks if need be, generally the Lord uses people to be the agents of […]
THE ROUTE THAT HE TOOK “He [Jesus] left Judea and departed into Galilee. And He must needs pass through Samaria” (Jn. 4:3-4). This was a divine “needs be.” It was not a geographical necessity but a moral one. Reverently speaking, the Lord had no other choice. It was the constraint of sovereign grace. The performing […]