Article
Triumphant Entry
by Hugh DeLong As we come to the ending of Matthew’s telling of the good news about the Messiah – Jesus, we come to the paragraph labeled in most English Bibles as ‘The Triumphant Entry’. In some ways this has always seemed a misnomer, for he enters Jerusalem to end up crucified. We back up…
Read MoreRemember God’s Goodness
by Zeke Flores “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen” (Deuteronomy 4:9). Deuteronomy 4 is one of the most passionate calls to remember God’s goodness. Moses tells Israel to be careful not to forget it. Forgetting isn’t about memory…
Read MoreHave You Not Read
by Hugh DeLong Matthew 19 is an important chapter concerning the biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage. However, underlying that whole issue is the issue of the Bible: its reliability and its authority. The Pharisees came to test Jesus by asking a question concerning what God allows/approves of. Where would Jesus go to find such…
Read MoreDeath a Blessing to the Saints
by Isaac Watts Do flesh and nature dread to die? And timorous thoughts our minds enslave? But grace can raise our hopes on high, And quell the terrors of the grave. What! Shall we run to gain the crown, Yet grieve to think the goal so near? Afraid to have our labours done, And finish…
Read MoreDem Bones and the Invitation
by Edward T. Rangel Every once in a while, the question comes up, the opinions make their usual rounds on social media, everybody gets their two cents in, and then the subject disappears again until “dem bones” are resurrected a few months or years later. Well, dem bones are rattling again. What is the topic…
Read MoreGreatness and Humility
by Hugh DeLong Who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? Out of all the people in Galilee, out of all the people who came to see Jesus, out of all the disciples who followed Jesus, the apostles were chosen. Is that not enough? No, they constantly argued about which of them was the…
Read MoreGod’s Victory Over Enemies
by Zeke Flores “Do not fear them, for Yahweh your God is the one fighting for you” (Deuteronomy 3:22). Deuteronomy 3 highlights God’s victory over powerful enemies, especially King Og of Bashan. Moses reminds Israel that God’s power supports them. This wasn’t just encouragement; it was a command rooted in experience. Israel had already seen God…
Read MoreShopping and Communion Kits
by Clay Gentry What do shopping at Kroger and prepackaged communion kits have in common? It starts with a small change I noticed at Kroger last night that completely changes how checking out feels. It used to be that after everything was scanned, the screen would scroll through line after line of your “Kroger Savings.”…
Read MoreUnconditional Love (Benton)
by Terry W Benton Daily Points of Light from Heaven Is God’s love unconditional? If so, what does it mean? There is no doubt that the core character of God is that His endearing quality is love. Yet that very point is not understood. We bring to the table our own concepts of what we…
Read MorePriest vs. Prophets
by Tommy Peeler An idea largely abandoned in this time to explain the religion of Israel is that the priests and prophets taught different ideas about what their God wanted and what was needed to be pleasing to Him. The idea was that the priests of Israel taught a religion that emphasized ritual, sacrifice, and…
Read MoreModesty for Men 101
by Tol Burk It’s summertime, so there will be articles about modesty, but before you ignore this one, I ask you to stop and read it. Usually the emphasis is on swimming attire and such. But modesty is much more than showing some skin—you can be immodest in the dead of winter. For the sake…
Read MoreLife
by Mark M. Chatfield via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 1, March 1996 Ken Ledbetter wrote an excellent article titled “The Emotional Issue of the Origin of Life” for the December 1995 issue of Sentry Magazine. It was thought-provoking and showed the author’s characteristic truth-seeking. It took me a couple of days considering the subject to…
Read MoreComparing Against the Standard
by Bob Dawson via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 1, March 1996 Several men speaking at Annandale (Virginia) have recently made a point in their lessons, warning against straying from the truth, as revealed in God’s word, in our worship of Him. They pointed out that even though we start out following the truth in our…
Read MoreAuthenticating One’s Faith
by James P. Needham via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 22 No. 1, 1996 Should young people go through life accepting what parents and teachers have taught them, or should they, through honest questions and serious study, authenticate their own faith, making it their own? Should we encourage questioning, or resent them, feeling that we are being rejected…
Read MoreEmotion vs. Truth
by Chadwick Brewer One of the greatest challenges that we have in walking according to the Spirit is that we are so accustomed to walking according to our emotions. We have been trained to and constantly instructed to act according to our feelings. “What do you feel in your heart?” “Be true to yourself.” “Speak…
Read MoreGod Goes Before You
by Zeke Flores “Yahweh your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf” (Deuteronomy 1:30). Deuteronomy 1 opens with Moses reminding Israel of their long journey and the moments where fear held them back. One of the most striking lines is God’s reassurance in Deuteronomy 1:30. Israel had seen God’s power, yet…
Read MoreAn Angel Saves Peter by Grace Through Faith
by Terry Wane Benton Daily Points of Light from Heaven James was killed by Herod (Acts 12), and Herod thought killing Peter would also appease the Jews. So, what we have here is Peter under wrath and condemnation, chained between two soldiers, guarded to be executed soon. The Lord sent an angel, a messenger of…
Read MoreThe Danger of Dainty Morsels
by Jeremy Hodges Humans are often highly susceptible to gossip, and the Bible’s clear statements about the danger associated with it show how susceptible we really are. (Proverbs 18:8; 20:19; 26:22; Romans 1:29; II Timothy 3:3). The one who is spreading the gossip likes the air of authority and insight it gives them without any…
Read MoreJesus, Truth, and the Word of God
by Hugh DeLong While reading Matthew 15, I took a piece of paper and made some observations. It should be obvious, but such observations do not exhaust our understanding of this text. So here are my scribbles: God commanded and said – (Matthew 15:3-4) There is a God. God has expectations of men. God revealed…
Read MoreJust How Important Is the Body?
by David Gibson The body: present and future In this life, we who are Christians are “at home in the body” (II Corinthians 5:6). At death, our spirit is separated from our body (James 2:26). After death, we are “absent from the body” and are “present with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8). When Christ returns,…
Read MoreOf Whom the World Was Not Worthy
by Terry Wane Benton Daily Points of Light from Heaven The Hebrew writer makes a great point when he speaks of the long list of persecuted and rejected servants of God who “escaped the edge of the sword…became valiant in battle… others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They…
Read MoreJesus Gave Them Authority
by Hugh DeLong “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness” (Matthew 10:1). “These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: ‘Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any…
Read MoreIf Jesus Is God Then to Whom Did He Pray?
by Jon Rowe The Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus is God (John 1:1, Colossians 2:9, etc). So, in an attempt to dismantle that claim, skeptics may ask, “Then to whom did Jesus pray?” While it is true that there is only one God, He exists in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the…
Read MoreIntegrity
by Zeke Flores “If a man makes a vow to Yahweh … he shall not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth” (Numbers 30:2). Numbers 30 emphasizes integrity. When someone made a vow, God expected them to keep it. Their words mattered. Their commitments reflected their character. We…
Read MoreOf Speaking Donkeys
by Terry Wane Benton Daily Points of Light from Heaven Critics of the Bible say: “The story of Balaam’s donkey speaking to him is considered a miraculous event rather than a scientifically plausible occurrence”. We know such cannot happen, and therefore the Bible contains myth, not verifiable truth. Response: Again, the Creator of the donkey…
Read MoreI Am With You
by David Gibson Comforting assurance By using a Bible computer program, you can type in the words, “I am with you,” and in just moments the screen displays every passage where this phrase is found. If you count all references to “I am with you” plus “I will be with you,” you will discover more…
Read MoreEasier to Say
by Hugh DeLong Jesus asked a simple question: “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’?”(Matthew 9:5). Of course, the answer is that it is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, for how does one prove or disprove that such took place? However, if one says…
Read MoreA Model of Good Works
by Edwin Crozier Not only is Titus to teach what accords with healthy teaching, but he is also to be a model of good works. That is, he should model self-control, sober-mindedness, dignity, soundness in faith, love, and steadfastness. He is to demonstrate purity. He is to place special emphasis on being a model in…
Read MoreHealthy Teaching
by Edwin Crozier Though there are some teachers who need to be silenced, as Paul explained at the end of Titus 1, teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach, upsetting whole families, Titus needs to teach what accords with sound or healthy doctrine. I have no doubt all true doctrine falls under…
Read MoreFor My Sake
by David Gibson Three of Jesus’ Promises “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven . . .” (Matthew 5:11-12). “He that findeth his life shall lose it:…
Read MoreJesus and Miracles
by Hugh DeLong Text: Matthew 8-9 When Jesus finished preaching his now-famous Sermon on the Mount, the people were astonished. Now Matthew collects a series of events in the life of Jesus that included various miracles. In these chapters, Matthew shows the demonstration of Jesus’ authority – the right to command and control. Such was…
Read MoreYour Accent Betrays You
by Bill Robinson A word to those of us who wear the Name A servant girl looked at Peter across a courtyard fire and said what everyone standing there already knew. Your accent betrays you (Matthew 26:73). He was a Galilean. He could deny it all night, and his vowels would keep telling the truth.…
Read MoreFear and Love: Two God-Given Motivations
by Chadwick Brewer Many in the religious world have become uncomfortable with the biblical command to fear God. They redefine “fear” to mean little more than respect, and some even argue that obeying God out of fear is somehow inferior to obeying Him out of love. Scripture takes the opposite approach. It repeatedly commands us…
Read MoreThe Sea of Galilee
by Bill Boyd The headwaters of the Sea of Galilee are up in the snows of Mount Hermon. The peaks of Hermon are over 9,200 feet above sea level. When waters from those peaks reach the Sea of Galilee, they will have dropped about 10,000 feet, because the surface of that inland lake is 700…
Read MoreWhat Is Truth?
by David Gibson How we view truth One of the characteristics of our culture is the belief that truth is relative—what’s true for you may not be true for me. If that’s the case, then neither you nor I have the right to say what anyone else should believe or do. Certainly there are some…
Read MoreThe Existence of God
by Samuel A. Matthews “If someone does not believe in God, He cannot please God, because the person who comes to God must believe that He lives (exists). That person must also believe that God will give rewards to the people who are searching for him” (Hebrews 11:6 Simple English Bible). Loved ones, whether God…
Read MoreResponding to the Evils Around Us
by David Gibson All around us are all kinds of bizarre behavior, sinful lifestyles, and strange ideas that currently trouble our land. How shall we respond? Wrong Reaction: Acceptance Some Christians, sad to say, gaze at the evil and are drawn into it. How easy it is to find our resistance gradually being lowered by…
Read MoreTransformation in Matthew 7
by Hugh DeLong What will you do with Jesus and His teaching? Reading the Sermon on the Mount (again – how many times? Many!), I am yet again struck by its personal demands. Believe in Jesus? What does that mean to you? Just the mental assent to certain facts about Jesus? Of course, those facts…
Read MoreMarvelous Light
by Terry Wane Benton Peter was writing his first general letter; it is believed to have been written between 58 and 62 AD, and from the book and knowledge of the time, there was growing persecution against Christians. Persecution gets tiring and wears one down. Peter reminded these Christians that God “called you out of…
Read MoreSimple Obedience
by Hugh DeLong C. J. Wright wrote concerning Jesus: “There is, then, a basic simplicity about the moral teaching of Jesus which reflects the same characteristic of the Old Testament. This is not, of course, to say that obedience is easy. There is a commitment, a cost, a challenge. There is precisely the struggle against…
Read More