Tough Love for Troubled Youth
How do you begin with a ministry to troubled young people? You do it by reaching them one at a time. You get to know the individuals. If you're having a problem with a young person--if he's disobedient, if he...
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Catch the Vision!
We used to see it on bumper stickers and plaques, "Christ is the answer." Of course the critic asks, "What's the question?" You know the truth, don't you. It really doesn't matter what the question is: the Lord Jesus is...
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Your Keys to the Kingdom
Recently I was given a copy of the centenary edition of the Brewer's Dictionary of Phrases. It gives this definition of "to look up": "To seek information in books; to visit an acquaintance; to pay a call. Things or persons...
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The Parables of the Kingdom
Is there any difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven? The fact that some parables in Matthew are called parables of the kingdom of heaven and the same parables are designated parables of the kingdom of...
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Seven Other Parables
As we have considered the seven parables grouped together in Matthew 13, we will now consider a further series of seven parables scattered throughout chapters 18 to 25: The two debtors (Mt. 18:23-35) The hired servants (Mt. 20:1-16) The two sons (Mt. 21:28-32) The...
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The Kingdom in Mystery
The special characteristics of the kingdom in mystery are these: 1. It is the realm of the rejected King. It extends over the period of Christ's rejection, and ends with His return to establish the earthly kingdom; as the words twice...
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The Octave
It is generally stated that there are seven parables in Matthew 13. This is true so far as the most familiar parables are concerned; but just as there are only seven notes in the scale, and yet an eighth is...
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Caught in the Net
Here the Lord directs our minds to the essential feature of the kingdom of heaven, namely, the intermingling of good and evil. "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every...
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The Woman, the Leaven & the Meal
Many of the great commentators have come to the conclusion concerning the parable of the woman and the leaven in Matthew 13 that the woman is the Church, the leaven is the gospel, and the three measures of meal represents...
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