Have you ever noticed that there is a pattern to the kinds of conditions and illnesses that Jesus heals in the New Testament? For example, on more than one occasion Jesus heals leprosy (Matt 8:1–4, Mark 1:40–45, and Luke 5:12–16), paralysis (Mark...
It’s really hard to be courteous to everyone always. Actually, it seems impossible. Not long ago I wrote a Saturday Sermon about a text in the New Testament that commands Christians to be courteous to all people (Titus 3:2). I wrote...
What is Lent? Lent (coming from the Anglo Saxon word meaning “spring”) is the forty-day period (not counting Sundays) leading up to Easter Sunday, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus (and the great hope of eternal life for all who...
“…love apart from holiness is soft, naively wishful, and likely self-indulgent. Holiness apart from love is a consuming fire. And so with respect to the first half of Wesley’s orienting concern for holiness and grace, holiness itself is...
How do we get into the presence of God? Christian theology teaches that God is everywhere at once (omnipresent) and deeply involved in the outworking of events in history (immanence). At the same time, many people throughout history have sought...
Psalm 1:1 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a...
It’s customary in Haiti for people to get married at the end of the calendar year. This being the case, we usually have our share of weddings to attend right around Christmas time. Sure enough, last week one of our best friends here in Haiti...
Christianity is all about new beginnings. Consider these verses from the Bible as we prepare the head into the new year: • “Remember not the former things, not consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth...
The name “Christmas” has its origins in the Roman Catholic tradition of having a special mass to commemorate the birth of the Christ. This mass was know as the “Christ Mass” and over time became broadly applied to the...
Things were a political mess when Jesus was born. The Romans, who controlled Palestine at the time of Jesus birth, were constantly pushing back against the subtle current of Jewish subversion and insubordination to Roman rule. There was nothing that...