Sometimes the Lord permits us to see “just over the hilltop” to know our future. A growing chain of circumstances seems to be challenging the contemporary church to recognize to understand more clearly how to live faithfully in challenging times. We know the Spirit “blows where He wills” (John 3:8), which means we may not always know immediately the direction our lives are headed. However, we may ...  Read More

John Stott once said, “How did Jesus expect His disciples to react under persecution? In Matthew 5:12 He said, ‘Rejoice and be glad!’” Good News is, after all, joyful news for which the early Christians were willing to suffer and die. As Spurgeon once said, “Never did the church so much prosper and so truly thrive as when she was baptized in blood.” News flash! Most of you will never suffer physic...  Read More

“What’s this world coming to?” has become a common expression to voice shock and grief. Even a casual awareness of current affairs will lead a person to mourn the injustices in our communities. Call to mind the horrific losses from wildfires in California and the subsequent looting from nefarious individuals. Think also of the victims of hurricanes, whose efforts to rebuild have been drowned in bu...  Read More

Following a most brutal miscarriage of human justice and a horrific crucifixion, the resurrected Jesus Christ appears before His disciples and spreads peace. His disciples, formerly war-filled in the Garden of Gethsemane, are presently worshipful at His appearing—and in the years to follow. No counteroffensive is planned and implemented; instead; they become intent on spreading the peace of Christ...  Read More

John Newton, the famous author of "Amazing Grace," was not always a good man. Born on 24 July 1725 in London to a merchant ship captain and his wife, Elizabeth, little John grew up as an only child. He remembered eagerly learning about God from his beloved mother, who also taught him to read and memorize Scripture, how to pray and sing hymns. She was a "Dissenter," one who separated from the Churc...  Read More

"Who is my neighbor?" will bring to the minds of most Christians the "Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. The question is morally load-bearing because Jesus exposes the depth of depravity in the heart of a man who outwardly was recognized as being a law-keeper. Hopefully, my pen will cause you to imagine the change in tone when I ask the question in light of a global moral issue, human traff...  Read More

I recently viewed an investment video where a wealthy man stated that a person who invests in one of the stock indexes and stays committed to it through their lifetime will reach life’s end with an incredibly large sum of money. He warned, however, against moving money out of stocks anytime there is a drop in the stock market. He counseled that one must be willing to remain committed to the market...  Read More

A horrific tragedy occurred early New Year’s morning in New Orleans. Fourteen people, as of this writing, were killed in an act of domestic terrorism. Dozens of others, some of whom are still in critical condition, were injured in the killing rampage. In a city that is often swamped by savage storms with winds and rains, news reports began to surface in recent days of families and friends who are ...  Read More

Chronology governs our lives more than we care to admit. We schedule our days, our workouts, our social time, our bedtimes and wake times, and even set alarms so we do not miss important events. We may subconsciously read Genesis 1:1-2:4 as though the point was God’s creation of hours and days. While we may read Genesis 1:1-2:4 chronologically, it actually provides us with a theological introducti...  Read More

“I believe very strongly in the principle and practice of the purity of the visible church, but I have seen churches that have fought for purity and are merely hotbeds of ugliness. No longer is there any observable, loving, personal relationship, even in their own midst, let alone with other true Christians” (Francis Schaeffer, The Mark of the Christian). Talk about a disconnect between Jesus’ pra...  Read More

Charles Dickens once said, “It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” The great author’s words ring true, and hold profound significance, but we must not miss the key doctrine that undergirds our salvation. The crucial principle to which I refer is the doctrine that we call “the Incarnation.” It boggles the mind to think tha...  Read More

“We often learn more of God under the rod that strikes us than under the staff that comforts us” (Stephen Charnock*). This opening statement seems like a depressing and discouraging way to begin a devotional! Nevertheless, there is a vitally important lesson in Hebrews 12 to be learned today about God’s discipline and our endurance. Let’s open our hearts to receive the Lord’s encouragement for us ...  Read More