The late gospel preacher Frank Dunn, in his book Know Your Bible, noticed five great lessons from the book of Ezra, each of which is relevant to the present-day Christian. ((Temple: Frank and Yvonne Dunn (1997), 163-165.)) I have adapted these five lessons here: There are disastrous results from failing to study God’s word. The people’s ignorance […]
Naaman and Us
March 11, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
The biblical account of Naaman, the commander of the army of Syria (2 Kings 5:1-14) is a beautiful living picture of how God saves man. Naaman was afflicted with leprosy, a terrible disease. His wife had a servant girl who had been captured from Israel. The Hebrew servant girl urged that the family consult with […]
What If Apollos Had Said…
March 5, 2015 by · 1 Comment
The Alexandrian saint named Apollos is a great friend to every Christian. In Acts 18:24-28 we read about his powerful, Bible-based preaching, by which he refuted Jews who were claiming that Jesus was not the Christ. We should emulate his development of skills in apologetics. Before Apollos could preach both eloquently and rightly, however, he […]
Running From Repentance
February 19, 2015 by · 1 Comment
In a society that is increasingly secular, there is pressure on Christendom to take the focus away from sin (the most pressing human problem) and salvation from sin (the most pressing human need), and instead focus on merely helping people feel better about themselves and about worldly gain. Secular people want either to be entertained […]
The Kingdom in the Model Prayer
January 29, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
I have paragraph headings in my Bible, and the paragraph heading above Matthew 6:5-15 says, “The Lord’s Prayer.” This is misleading, for the prayer in the passage is a sample or model for prayer given from Jesus to his disciples, and not a prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father. (If you want to read […]
Do Bible Topics Get Too Old?
January 7, 2015 by · Leave a Comment
Once in 1893, the great preacher and scholar, J.W. McGarvey, was preaching on baptism. ((McGarvey’s Sermons (Delight: Gospel Light, n.d.), 109-121.)) He began by noting that many people in his audience might think it strange for him to focus on a topic that religious teachers have covered so many times without producing a general consensus. If many preachers […]
“Back to Christ”?
October 21, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
The devil is deceptive. He is the father of lies (John 8:44) and endorses “lying wonders” (2 Thessalonians 2:9). Jesus portrays folks who teach false ideas as wearing sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15), so it should not surprise us when we find people using language that sounds good on the surface, but really promotes a false idea. […]
What the Devil Wants Us to Do
September 2, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
Dr. Thomas B. Warren, the great Christian preacher and philosopher, once preached a sermon about the various things that the devil desires for us to do and to become. I have adapted Warren’s remarks here, showing that the devil has a multi-layered plan for us: Initially the devil wants us to be atheists, because he […]
A Pyramid Scheme
June 24, 2014 by · Leave a Comment
Those of us who are engaged the Restoration Movement are opposed to all man-made creeds and manuals for religion. Instead, we beg our friends and neighbors to return to simple obedience to the Bible and nothing else. Some have objected to the Restoration by saying something like this: “Creeds are actually good. Everybody in Christendom […]
A Christian’s View of a “Christian Worldview”
June 14, 2014 by · 2 Comments
I grew up hearing a lot of Bible-based sermons, but nothing about “worldviews”. I became a Christian without knowing that I even had such a thing as a “worldview”. I did not start hearing regularly about the so-called “Christian worldview” until I went to some conferences on education where there were many denominational folks and […]