Articles (Page 6)

Articles (Page 6)

A Merciful Awakening, Please Lord

Though one can in some ways understand the desire to be inclusive (without expecting repentance) in the name of love as espoused in most mainline churches, it is a sad pattern that has emerged by that conviction —- the more inclusive they have become, the more they disintegrate. This pattern has been almost painful to watch, as literally millions have left these churches while they press on to disregard the true exclusivity of the gospel, that is, the good news…

Don’t Let God Rob You

The music was quietly playing before the offertory when my brother Tom stepped up solemnly to the podium and uttered these words: “Don’t let God rob you.” There was a pause. Clearly he was in a hard place. He had misspoken, but he wasn’t one who liked to admit such blunders at such moments in those days. He had said it very deliberately. I know, you would have said, “Whoops! I meant, ‘Don’t rob God.” Not Tom. His strengths were…

Let Us Resolve This . . . A Few Thoughts About Personal Resolutions

As this year draws to a close and the prospect of a new year reminds us again that time marches on, many will see the turning of the calendar as a their annual stimulus for personal change. Those who are stirred in this way will often try to make January 1st the day to make significant and hopefully lasting improvements in health or physical fitness, or in the area of personal or spiritual disciplines. We have come to call these…

Reading Scripture Rightly

When reading a section of Scripture, we will find that a passage almost always comes across weighted on one side of an issue or another. I mean this: a passage is written intended to drive a certain point home, aimed at a particular audience, for a specific reason by an author who knew what was needed. He drives his nail to the heart. That passage should stare at us, disturb us and call us to action and faith. We should…

The Change of Mind

The young man was dying—without Christ. “I have a habit,” he said, as he looked up from the bed that had been moved into the living room for his last few weeks on earth. “I know that it is sin and that God does not permit it. I want to continue my habit, however, and I honestly don’t intend to stop it. On the other hand, I desperately want to go to heaven. May I become a Christian?” How would…

God’s Purpose Isn’t Ruined by Unbelief: Don’t Be Discouraged

It isn’t “The Parable of the SOILS” in Mt 13:1-23, but The Parable of the SOWER, as Jesus himself called it (v18). The importance of this title is to show that it was CHRIST’S word, or the gospel, that is sown and that it is HIS intention to sow seed on the soil (people) who will NOT believe, as well as on those who would. Jesus is not ambiguous. He clarifies that the gospel is able to be understood by…

Fiscal Hilarity

It would be difficult to imagine any giver doing so often or generously without joy in doing it. I began to be curious about giving early on. In fact, I can still picture the book on giving that my mother read to me, one of only two children’s books I remember. Later in college, my first book on George Muller, the man who fed and clothed over 10,000 orphans, made the deepest impression. I was drawn into a lifestyle that…

A Dangerous Religious Presumption

There is a religious assumption that each of us is worthy of God’s love, even though some of us tragically think so little of ourselves that we struggle to have any morsel of self-worth. But this view is more therapeutic than true. No, we are not worthy of God’s favor. The self-respecting Pharisee thanked God he was not like others, even that compromised, broken tax collector praying close by who couldn’t lift his head up to God. He had no…

A More Spontaneous and Genuine Evangelism

It was not Jesus’ intent to say that the individual Christian must change locations in order to evangelize. But it is most certainly the whole church’s responsibility to see to it that we make disciples where we are, now. Evangelism is not to be done later when the move takes place, or when the trip is taken to another far off country, or when the special evangelistic project commences, though it is certainly inclusive of these. Yet, nothing is more…

Don’t Be Like the Ant

Don’t be like the ant who thought that it was his strong legs that pushed the log down the river. He overestimated. No pastor, teacher, or serious Christian could possibly know accurately what God does through our words and work. Not really. Evaluation of effects is futile and frustratingly unpredictable. It may be years before gospel seed germinates. How can you know if or when or how He does that? And your most effective moment may come and go without…

My Friend’s in Hell

John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, said that is “better to be born a toad than to die unconverted.” Why? Because toads don’t go to hell and humans do. The subject of hell is so solemn that our natural instinct is to either ignore it or reject it. Yet, like the cancer patient before his doctor, it is better to hear the whole truth. Once a woman told me, with an nervous giggle, that she “guessed it would be…

Revival May Not Bring What You Expect

Christianity survived and grew in totalitarian regimes in its first centuries and has done so many times since. We need revival desperately, but it does not necessarily create a political/cultural reversal except in individuals and churches. It more likely will increase polarization and bring on added misunderstanding and persecution as it did in the earliest days recorded in Acts. Revival is even strongly associated with splintering among denominations because of the inability of revived people to continue in their old…

Something Like Hell

I once saw a horrible sight at the coffee shop while discussing the Bible with a friend. A man, obviously in an advanced stage of dementia, gnashed his teeth, shook violently in anger, and cringed with fear for several agonizing minutes. I’m often moved by the plight of mental anguish. My mother died of Alzheimer’s. We cannot always tell which direction dementia will take. Will it turn a person angry or will he be docile? So, with respect, and with…

The Old Covenant Ends and the New Covenant Begins Here

Observe the exact time when the New Covenant began and the Old Covenant, whose sacrifices never could take away sins or make anyone perfect, was made obsolete (Heb 8:13;10:4): “Then He [Christ] said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will.’ He takes away the first [covenant] in order to establish the second [covenant]. By this will we have been sanctified [as in consecrated] through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb 10:9-10) The New…

Jesus Loves Me, This I Know

The little girl talked fondly to her. In fact, she had never done otherwise. And though she had only one eye, and was blind in the other, and though deaf and unable to speak, she was adored. When the other children entered into the room she instinctively embraced the helpless doll even tighter. To her, this baby was precious and nobody else could have her. But the time would come when other interests would compel the little girl to forget…