In these times of war, we can expect to hear much about the price of oil. Twenty percent of the oil that the world consumes must pass through the Strait of Hormuz, but a demonic enemy of mankind threatens to destroy the oil tankers if they dare to pass. Under these circumstances, the media would have us believe that our world revolves around the price of oil. But what if crude isn’t even the oil that we need to be concerned about? Jesus told a parable (Matthew 25:1-13) about foolish virgins who paid too little attention to their oil. In [...]

Of all things that we must learn from our Teacher, how to pray is near the top of the list. The “Lord’s School of Prayer” (Luke 11:1-4) outlines 7 aspects of a strong prayer life. Continued teaching on the subject (Luke 11:5-13) and some object lessons (Luke 11:14-28) round out a 10-point lesson on how to pray. Point #1 Address God as “Father” (Luke 11:2), recalling his love for you. Ordinarily, we pray TO the Father, THROUGH the Son, BY the Spirit. Point #2 Begin your prayer with words of praise, like “hallowed be your name” (Luke 11:2). Point #3 Align [...]

Keith Green wrote a modern-day song that will likely be remembered forever as one of the great hymns of the Church age: “There is a Redeemer.” In the simplest of terms, Green captured something of the value we find in having a redeemer. “There is a redeemer, Jesus, God's own son, Precious lamb of God, Messiah, Holy one.” Let’s look to the life of Boaz to help us think about the glorious truth that Keith Green was celebrating, that there is a Redeemer. Boaz was a Kinsman Redeemer who paid some money (Ruth 4:5) and handed over a sandal (Ruth 4:7) [...]

If ever there was a time for the Church to support Israel, it is now! Israel, ethnic national Israel (not the Church), is still the apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8). The Church is the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:32), and as such, is specially loved by God. But God also loves Israel and still has a special plan for their future. Right now, the people of Israel, the apple of God’s eye, are in the world’s bullseye. We haven’t seen hatred of the Jews ramp up like this since the 1930’s. It wasn’t until May 14, 1948, after the [...]

Mark was a quitter. He committed to a mission trip with Paul and Barnabas, but he bailed when the going got tough. "Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John (Mark) left them and returned to Jerusalem, but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia” (Acts 13:13-14a). While the mission went forward, Mark pulled a Jonah and sailed in the opposite direction. Mark’s abandonment was a big deal to Paul. Later on, another opportunity arose for a second mission trip, “Barnabas wanted to take with them John [...]

Being a Christian is a lot like being an athlete. Paul loves to make the comparison (2 Timothy 2:5, Philippians 3:14). “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it” (1 Corinthians 9:24). Paul understood that Christians need to think like athletes. There is a prize for all the hard work we need to do. The better the performance, the bigger the rewards. Like athletes, we need motivation. When NFL teams clash on a Sunday afternoon, they are highly motivated. Each team is striving [...]

Prophets are known to use sarcasm at times. Elijah famously told some Baal worshippers that their “god” was silent because perhaps “he is relieving himself” (1 Kings 18:27); he encouraged them to “cry aloud, for he is a god.” Isaiah used sarcastic irony to convey contempt for those who cut down a cedar tree to make an idol, who then pray to it, saying “Deliver me, for you are my God!” while they burn the rest of the cedar wood and say, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” (Isaiah 44:16). These are famous examples. But have you [...]

There are two ways to describe what happened to the shattered plate lying on the floor. One is in the passive voice; the other is in the active voice. One would be an irresponsible answer to the owner of the plate who discovers it lying on the floor; the other would be to take responsibility. The guy who dropped the plate could say, “It fell from my hand,” or he could say, “I dropped it.” Both constructions form true statements, but one sentence is better than the other. To say “It fell from my hand” might seem like the better [...]

There were no migraine headaches in the Garden of Eden. No back or hip pain. No cancer. Adam and Eve wouldn’t even have been sore in the morning after going for an especially long walk the day before. The pains of this life came into existence through the fall of man into sin. Genesis 3:17-19 records the curse: “And to Adam he said, ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you [...]

Hudson Taylor called it “the exchanged life.” It was his spiritual secret, his superpower. “If I had a thousand pounds, China could have them all. If I had a thousand lives, I’d give them all to China. No, not to China, but to Christ. Can we do too much for such a Savior?” The exchanged life is letting this life go for God’s eternal reward. The exchanged life is the paradox that “whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39). Jesus offers abundant life to anyone who lays [...]