Blog

We just celebrated the first Sunday of Advent. Christmas is less than a month away! The long established magic of the season is trying to gain traction, but Covid is pushing back. The online shopping, house decorating (apparently there’s a huge run on Christmas trees),and Zoom connections are all in gear, but the elephant in […]

Key Verse: John 11:50 “…it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people…” The raising of Lazarus from the dead was the final straw. The religious authorities were running scared. “If we let him go on like this…the Romans will come and take away our place (temple) and our nation”, they […]

Key Verse: John 9:25b “I was blind but now I see!” What a great story we read in chapter nine! Let me summarize it. Jesus is walking along and sees a man who was born blind. The disciples ask a question typical of orthodox religion of the time, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, […]

Key Verse: John 8:31 “If you abide in My words, you are My disciples indeed.” I like the way the NIV puts it, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples.” The word  “hold” is a strong verb; it speaks of mothers embracing their newborn, and ship-wrecked sailors clutching the life-line, refusing […]

Matt. 5 Retaliation vv. 38-42 – Part 1 Revenge is not vengeance. Revenge is vindictive. Vengeance, on the other hand, is retributive justice. Revenge is subjective; vengeance is objective. That’s why the victims of an injustice cannot avenge — only a court of law, or better yet, God himself, can bring vengeance. “Vengeance is mine; […]

Key Verse: John 7:43 “So there was division among the people because of Him. The setting for this chapter is Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles. As you read it, you get a fascinating insight into the uproar surrounding Jesus in the public sector: He really rocked the boat. For instance, He was an amazement […]

Key Verse: John 6:51c “…the bread I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” Jesus certainly was skilled in alienating people. First of all there were His very exclusive claims to deity. Secondly, there was His flagrant disregard for the religious sensibilities of the Pharisees. Then there […]

Key Verse: John 5:46 “…if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.” Can you trust someone who says he is God? Not likely. Maybe you heard the story of the pastor visiting a mental hospital. He walked by tow of the patients sitting on a bench in the sunshine outside […]

Key Verse: John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” I love this story. For several reasons. First, because Jesus was such a free spirit that He had no qualms about talking to a woman on equal ground. That ground, in this case was at Jacob’s well […]

Key Verse: John 3:3 “…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Have you ever been challenged to explain what you mean by the term, when you refer to yourself, or to someone else, as a “born-again” Christian? Maybe you’ve found it a bit difficult to say what you mean. If […]

Key Verse: John 1:18 (NIV) “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.” I was riding the commuter train the other day and overheard a conversation between two college students sitting behind me. They were dismissing Christianity as untrustworthy because, “Noah’s […]

Matthew 5 Oaths vv. 33-37 – Part 2 “Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord” (Lev.19:12). “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God…” (Ex. 20:7). In Jewish thought the name of God was binding. To abuse his name by […]