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Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” One day, while pastoring in Jerusalem, I was visited in my office e by a young man with a stricken conscience. He had done something very wrong and, in our Sunday […]

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18 “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” To fully appreciate any Scripture reference, it is […]

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” I call it “The New Year’s syndrome”. Every new year, people make resolutions. “I’m going to eat less”, or “I’m going to watch less television”, or “This year […]

  We’ve passed the one year mark in the Covid era. Vaccinations and variants are vying for victory. Who will win? Seems that both may prevail. The experts are predicting that Covid is here to stay but vaccination will see a plague becoming some sort of ever present flu. Who knows? One thing we know […]

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:2 “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Paul continues to defend his ministry. He speaks of the integrity and vulnerability […]

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 3:6 “…who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” As I pointed out in the introduction to this letter, there is more than a little of self-justification on Paul’s part throughout. […]

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 2:17a “For we are not, as so many peddling the word of God…” A relative of mine, who is a television producer, called me recently from Washington D.C. He’d been watching 100 Huntley Street in Boston a few days earlier. “Your program is so unlike typical televangelism,” he said. “Sometimes I […]

Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (NIV) I think a lot of us suffer from “performance […]

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 16:18 “For they refreshed my spirit and yours; therefore acknowledge such men.” There is a difference between being driven and being committed. Commitment springs from conviction, whereas “drivenness” is the product of some sort of neurotic compulsion. One can never be driven and sleep well at night — because drivenness betrays […]

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:17 “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! What does your faith stand on? Personal experience? Anything else? The Gospel? What is the Gospel? For those of us who need a refresher course, let’s analyze the basic ingredients of the “Good News”. […]

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.” Fruitfulness, however, is not an end in itself. There’s a greater end in view: God’s glory. Even the “common good” is subject to this greater end. The ultimate goal of spiritual […]

Alms, Prayer, & Fasting 6:1-18 Our Father in Heaven v. 9 (Part 3) “Your name” is a subject all of itself. I’m tempted to write an essay here, but space won’t permit. Rather I’ll make a few summary observations. In the biblical view there is nothing more holy on this space/time spaceship we call earth […]