Satanic Miracles in the Bible
Gary asks a great question in response to a blog I wrote on Matt 7:21-23: Is it possible that these were unbelievers doing miracles by the power of Satan? The devil is not against good; he’s against God. If he can deceive people through miracles, keeping them from the truth, I’m thinking he’d do it. […]
In the Days of Herod (Luke 1:5a)
Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities opens with the memorable line, “It was the best of the times, it was the worst of times…” Some periods are infamous for their difficulty. Merely naming the age evokes the hard times that people experienced, as with the Irish Potato Famine, the Holodomor, the Great Depression, Vietnam, […]
Luke’s Method (Luke 1:1-4)
In the last blog, we explored Luke’s purpose in writing his Gospel, and I suggested it was quasi-apologetic—meant to stabilize or to reinforce faith in Christ. Now we can ask a second question: what was Luke’s method in writing his Gospel? The prologue gives us five clues. Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to […]
Four Ways Jesus Fulfills the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17)
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matt 5:17). Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. In other words, the Lord was giving a purpose statement for His ministry, and whenever someone does that, you […]
Beware of Cults
Unwittingly my parents enrolled me in a cult when I was six. It wasn’t until the start of my senior year in college that I came to faith in Christ and escaped the clutches of the cult. Every religion has cults. A cult is a group that deviates from the fundamental teaching of that religion. […]
The Word “Righteousness” in the Book of Romans
One of the most interesting things about studying the book of Romans is how Paul uses the word “righteousness.” It is used over 35 times in the book. And that is counting just the noun, not the verb. Sometimes the word is translated “righteousness,” and other times it is translated “justification.” Most famously, it is […]
The Purpose of Luke’s Gospel (Luke 1:3-4)
People write books for specific reasons, and understanding those reasons can help you understand a book as a whole. So why did Luke write his Gospel? What was his purpose? Consider a contrast: John’s Gospel was written with what you could call an evangelistic purpose, where the “good news” is about how to be individually […]
Jesus Was the Founder of Easy Believism
A friend named Ken sent me this intriguing email in response to a blog I wrote: I agree with you that modern evangelistic methods are wrong in their approach to the invitation to receive eternal life. I think Jesus made the invitation very simple and easy to grasp. I’m seeing something in the corner of […]
Start with the Cheese (1 Samuel 17:17-20)
People often ask me, “How can I get started in ministry?” The answer is pretty simple. You start with the cheese. I’ll explain. Do you remember when God raised up David to defeat Goliath? That was certainly one of history’s most impressive examples of being used by God in ministry, right? But do you know […]
William Barclay on Faith as Allegiance
If you’re a preacher, you probably know the name William Barclay from The Daily Study Bible Series commentary. Barclay is a dangerous resource to use. On the one hand, you will almost always find him making an insightful, practical, and/or “preachable” comment on any given text. At least, that’s what I’ve found. On the other […]