Studying John together, I have often found it fascinating how pedestrian the life of Jesus and His disciples was. How many people walked by Jesus and His band of disciples on the roads between Galilee and Samaria without ever having any clue that they had just passed within a few...
The two scenes differed in many ways. The courtrooms bore little direct resemblance. The judges were different. The milieu of family, friends, and press that filled the seats were different. There were also similarities. Defendants stood before juries of their peers facing such serious accusations that their entire earthly future...
What does it mean to be like Jesus? What does it mean to be Christ-like? Becoming like Him is a primary goal of the Christian life, of which we often speak. But what exactly does that mean in practical terms? It’s got to mean more than we just become a...
This past week’s portion of scripture in John 20:10-18 is about the empty tomb and Mary Magdalene. This got me wondering about this remarkable woman. Who was this unlikely servant and follower of Christ? We know that Christ cast seven demons out of her. I didn’t want to hurry too...
It’s not always easy to exhibit an open and devoted life to Christ before the world. In Church or small group Bible studies, we find no difficulty talking about our love and commitment to Christ. But we all know the nervousness when we are with people that either do not...
Having spent much time reflecting on the suffering of Christ for us, I think we might all be edified by the reflection of John Calvin on our relationship to that suffering. This short passage from Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion is helpful in reminding us of the realistic expectations...
In John chapter 18:28-32, we see the corruption and twisted thinking of the religious Jews. Their motivation had murderous intentions. They were working around their religious laws while at the same time plotting to have Jesus killed. They wanted Him out of the way. Their hatred for Him boiled because...
What do Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Confucianism, and Hinduism have in common? They all began to spread through governmental support. Judaism began as a theocracy, of course, in the Old Testament. Buddhism began to spread when Ashoka the Great in India made Buddhism the state religion in the 3rd century B.C....
So Peter lops off the ear of one of the men who come to arrest Jesus. What was he thinking? He wasn’t. At least he wasn’t thinking spiritually. He was thinking and acting in terms of human strength and human wisdom. His battle was against flesh and blood. But that’s...
The loss of our Marines, Army soldiers, and a Navy Corpsman in Afghanistan hits hard. I remember the day we lost two Marines in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We had only been in-country a couple of days. Encamped near a tributary of the Euphrates River, our Marines...
While in seminary, we had a prayer journal that was developed by the ministry of Dr. Howard Hendricks. We have a VBC prayer journal available to all that was patterned after this now out-of-print prayer tool. It was invaluable to us because, by it, we learned to pray daily and...
If Jesus prayed for unity among all His followers, why do we sometimes have disunity? To be sure, all of us have had either a severely damaged or broken relationship with another Christian. Does that mean Jesus’ prayer was unanswered? In John 17, Jesus prayed that all who would believe...
In his book, The Wonder of the Word of God, Robert Sumner tells the story of a man in Kansas City who was severely injured in an explosion. He lost his eyesight and both hands. As a new Christian, he was disappointed that He would no longer be able to read the...
It is an overused cliché in many period war movies, but it manages to be inspiring enough to endure common reuse. “Hold the line!” barks the military commander as weary soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder and the tenacious enemy surges forward. In the ancient world, holding the line was survival....
Many years ago, a friend told me an extraordinary story about her father. He lived in a small town in central Idaho. My friend and her three sons were visiting him on a warm summer day. One of her sons happened to be outside his grandfather’s bedroom window and could...
Let’s face it, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives is incredibly fantastic but somewhat mysterious at the same time. Because of the element of mystery, many writers have portrayed the ministry of the Spirit as a “secret.” It’s not uncommon to see such titles as “Unlocking the...
As I was pastoring in the 1990s, the first hate crime laws were enacted in the United States. There was a great deal of controversy at the time about whether assigning motive made a crime any worse. It’s still controversial. I am not a prophet, but I remember predicting in...
Just over a year ago I referenced a sermon in an Afterthoughts article that I would like to revisit again. It is written by Timothy Dwight who, as you may recall, was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards and whose father fought in the Revolutionary War. You can immediately tell Dwight...
One of the nights I simultaneously anticipate and dread as a youth pastor is our Senior Appreciation Dinner. It is an evening of formal attire, glorious feasting, square dancing, and the giving of books and a charge to each graduating senior in our High School ministry. Looking at the faces...
The call to be a shepherd of God's flock is both weighty and wonderful. This past Sunday, we welcomed Caleb Klontz to the Valley Bible Church elder team. It was a momentous occasion, for we recognize elders only as God has chosen them for this church family (Acts 20:28). But...