Did Jesus Promise to Do Whatever Christians Ask?
Many people misinterpret Jesus’ statements concerning His promise to do…
DOCTRINE
Steadfast in Unity
We live in a changing, decaying, unraveling world. A general increase in lawlessness and crime, government regulations, high taxes, poor education, and a…
How Were People Saved in the Old Testament?
When Adam and Eve first sinned, God promised that one of Eve’s…
The Christian’s Walk
The writers of Scripture often used the word walk to describe the Christian’s conduct or manner of life. The apostle Paul instructed Christians to…
Are Christians Eternally Secure?
Many Christians are not certain they will enjoy eternal life when they die. Some doubt because they have neglected to…
One Thing I Do
Professional athletes devote their lives to the pursuit of a prize. They focus all their efforts on reaching their goals, putting aside all distractions…
Paul’s Testimony
Contending for the faith is not easy. It’s an unpopular, perilous, thankless job. It is more pleasant to be an appeaser than an opposer…
Words of Warning
Life is full of warnings. The Internet, TV, and billboards bombard us regularly with warnings, telling us what to think, believe, and do…
Paul’s Partners
The apostle Paul personally discipled several committed men who partnered with him in spreading the gospel. Most of them came to salvation in Christ during…
God’s Holy Mishkan
God’s revelation concerning the Israelites’ Tabernacle covers 50 chapters in the Old Testament, while His revelation about the creation of the world…
How Does a Church Lose Its First Love?
Christ commended the Ephesian church for its zeal and service to God. He recognized the believers’ devotion in…
Holiness Today: The New Administration
God chose Israel to be a holy nation. He told the Israelites, “You shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy…
Patterning Christlikeness
Many godly men and women in the Bible serve as examples for us of how to live for Christ. They trusted God’s…
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Most people want a stamp of affirmation when they complete a transaction. All types of affirmation exist…
The Difference Between ‘Do’ and ‘Done’
If you’re like me, you examine the guarantee offered when you buy a product. The better the guarantee, the more confident you are…
In Jesus’ Words
For many who come to faith in Jesus Christ, the phrase once saved, always saved plays an integral part in their discipleship. For others, eternal security is a false teaching…
What Does It Mean to Partake of the Divine Nature?
Originally, humanity was created perfect by God. People possessed a perfect…
Unconfused!
Paul and Peter wrote 59 percent of the New Testament’s 27 books. Paul wrote 14 (some people believe he also wrote Hebrews), and Peter wrote two…
4 Common Misconceptions About Eternal Security
As I sat at a sidewalk café with a parishioner and her husband one sunny afternoon…
The Mind of Christ
In Philippians 2:3–4, Paul admonished Christians to live in spiritual unity with one another. Nothing was to be done within the church through selfish ambition…
Q: What Is a Biblical Mystery?
A mystery is something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. It has a secret quality whose meaning is…
Spiritual Unity
The 6th-century BC Greek storyteller Aesop, whose oral tales compose the famous Aesop’s Fables, has been credited with the origin of the…
Q: Does God Really Know Me?
The answer to the title’s question is an unequivocal yes! God is omniscient and knows everything about your life…
To Live is Christ
An old martyr once told his executioners, “You take a life from me that I cannot keep and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose…”
Q: What Is God’s Providence?
Providence is God’s active care, control, and governance over everything in His created universe by His…
Rejoicing in Christ
If anyone had a reason to ask, “Why me?” it was the apostle Paul. No one who followed Christ suffered more for the gospel than he did…
God is Omniscient
Omniscience means having complete and unlimited knowledge and understanding of all things. No one fits this description but God…
Just a Closer Walk With Thee
Did you know people can be disciples of just about anything? Sports teams, fitness programs, and celebrities all have…
Just a Closer Walk With Thee
People are lonely. Research studies show that today, Americans in particular have decreasing family sizes; fewer friends with…
Just a Closer Walk With Thee
It happens almost every Sunday. When a church service begins, most of us aren’t quite ready to worship…
Paul’s Triumphant Testimony
Are you prepared to die? The last words a person utters or writes when death is imminent are usually of great importance…
Just a Closer Walk With Thee
As a boy, I got a little anxious each Sunday morning when my parents stopped at a convenience store to buy mints…
Preach God’s Word!
Knowing his life would soon end, the apostle Paul fixed his attention on completing his letter to young Timothy, his protégé and son in the faith…
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
If you learned $3 million dollars in gold lay buried somewhere in your backyard, would you try to dig it up?…
Happy New Year!
Fireworks. Noisy parties. Large quantities of food and drink. That’s how many people welcome the new year. Observant Jewish people, on the other hand…
The Bible: The Greatest Book Ever Written
Voltaire, the famous French philosopher once called the “prince of infidels,” reportedly said in 1776 that within 100 years…
Four Important Words
In explaining that we consider Scripture the ultimate authority for life, we often use the phrase verbal, plenary inspiration. The apostle Paul said…
Kingdom Now?
Of all the New Testament references to Old Testament Scripture, the verse that receives the most New Testament attention is Psalm 110:1…
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
It was a scam that worked for months. In 1849, William Thompson prowled the streets of New York City looking for…
5 Keys to Unlocking Your Bible
When newborns enter the world, they depend on others for everything, particularly for nourishment…
Q: What Was Christ’s Self-Emptying?
The apostle Paul’s statement about Jesus in Philippians 2 has been misunderstood and misinterpreted over the centuries…
Preparation For Perilous Times
The apostle Paul was martyred during the rule of Roman Emperor Nero, an evil, diabolical man whose vicious cruelty…
God’s Guarantee to Us
One of the many Scriptures Sunday school teachers encourage their students to memorize is 2 Timothy 3:16. It is God’s guarantee to us that…
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
The late U.S. President George H. W. Bush famously hated broccoli. Some claim he mentioned the fact at least 70 times while…
Facing Perilous Times
In many of his epistles, the apostle Paul warned churches that in the last days, charlatans will emerge teaching erroneous, deceptive doctrines that cause…
Living for God
Nick Foles is an NFL quarterback. He became famous for leading the Philadelphia Eagles to their first-ever Super Bowl win in 2018 and was named…
Perilous Times Predicted
People who serve Satan may not realize what they are doing. But if they distort, oppose, twist, or deny the true gospel…
19 Characteristics of People in the Last Days
Self-love heads the list of sins because human nature is always selfish. All evil desires spring from this craving…
How to Obtain True Wisdom
Advice is cheap. Wisdom is rare. King Solomon said, “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who…
Faithful in Service
What is the church? Many people think of it solely as a building—sometimes a great and majestic cathedral and sometimes an unadorned, small, simple structure…
Controlling Our Tongues
Eating crow is never fun. The good news is we never have to eat words we fail to speak. Words are powerful…
Q: What Does ‘Crucified With Christ’ Mean?
Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live…
The Lord’s Servant
Confronting false teaching is not easy, particularly for a young minister. But it is necessary, as the apostle Paul explained to his protégé Timothy…
Strengthening Your Faith
Board game or boardroom, everyone hates being neutralized. Having our influence or effectiveness nullified by an adversary…
Remain Committed
The Christian life is not a sprint to the finish line. It’s a marathon. It requires faithful endurance from beginning to end; and to live it, we must draw on…
Courageous for Christ
Eighty percent of the people around the world today being persecuted for their faith are Christians. Many live under the constant threat of violence…
From the Editor Sep/Oct 2020
At sundown September 18, our Jewish friends will celebrate Rosh Hashanah. This first of the High Holy Days initiates a new year on the Jewish calendar…
Q: How does God see time? 2 Peter 3:1–9
The apostle Peter faced corrupt, willfully ignorant teachers who argued that since the world’s creation, God had never intervened…
Four Good Reasons Why Premillennialism Matters
Premillennialism is less popular than it used to be. But it’s essential to…
Plato Versus the Bible
At first glance, Plato’s theory of forms seems to have positive traits. It attempts to satisfy the seeking heart’s cry, “There has to be more to life than this!”…
From the Editor Sep/Oct 2019
Over the years I’ve had many people tell me doctrine isn’t important. What matters, they say, is that you love Jesus. I’ll never dispute the importance of loving Jesus. But the apostle Paul spent…
Inside View Sep/Oct 2019
As long as we believe Jesus is the Savior of the world, does it really matter what else we believe? After all, didn’t Jesus come to save mankind from its sins, and isn’t that fact the basic essence of the Bible?…
God & Creation
We believe God is one being in three coequal, coeternal persons. This short statement expresses the Christian definition of the Trinity, or the triunity of the Godhead…
Jesus & the Word
We believe Jesus was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit and was born to a virgin. The virgin birth is a crucial doctrine of the Christian faith…
The Restrainer of Evil
While establishing the church in Thessalonica, the apostle Paul personally instructed believers concerning future prophecy…
Q: What is the sin leading to death?
The apostle John told Christians, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him…
What’s in a Name?
When Moses encountered God for the first time, he asked Him, “When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you..
The Great Deception
It’s easy to become discouraged and misled by false reports. That’s why it is so important to be able to discern between truth and error…
From the Editor Mar/Apr 2019
What would you do if someone asked you, “What’s the big deal about the resurrection?” That was the question a talk-show host asked a guest many years ago. The guest, a professing Christian…
The Other-Worldly War
Being a Christian has never been easy. We find ourselves at odds with the world. More often than not, our values, ethics, and morals directly conflict with those held by the majority. The reality is that…
Incontestable
Jesus Christ’s resurrection is the heartbeat of Christianity. Though most denominations have theological differences, one core truth binds the whole lot together: the belief in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ…
Comforting the Persecuted
The apostle Paul made a practice of visiting churches he had planted and providing pastoral care and counsel. But sometimes opposition to him and his ministry made the task impossible…
From the Editor Jan/Feb 2019
Both of my children came to know the Lord at age four. I’ve heard some preachers say children can’t get saved that young, but I beg to differ. It depends on the child and, of course, on God…
From Bitterness to Joy
Everybody loves a good story. God made us that way so He could instruct us in truth and illustrate it through the people whose lives are recorded in the Bible. Their stories show us, rather than tell us, how to live…
The Gold-Box Idol
During the closing period of the judges, the Israelites embraced wicked beliefs in their worship and view of God. God had confirmed Samuel as His spokesman and true prophet, but the Israelites refused to obey….
Q: What does it mean a ‘distressing spirit’ from the Lord troubled Saul?
When Saul was anointed king of Israel, the prophet Samuel predicted the Spirit of God would come on Saul, giving him the needed skill and wisdom to rule the nation…
A Hearing Heart
I have many fond memories of my mother from my childhood, but there is one memory that is far from fond. I still get a knot in the pit of my stomach when I think about it. When I was around 11 years old, we were…
‘Bring Up Samuel for Me’
Disobedience to God can drastically change a person’s life. King Saul’s disobedience dramatically altered both his life and his kingship. As a consequence for transgressing into the priestly office…
Samuel’s Big Disappointment
The expectation of great potential can be exciting. It certainly is for athletes and professional sports teams, as each new season dawns. Many a manager has left training camp saying to himself…
Samuel & David
Much is written about David in the Bible. At the mention of his name, some people immediately think of the courageous teenager who slew Goliath using a slingshot and a stone. Others remember a tender young shepherd who penned Psalm 23…
Why Would God Harden a Heart?
Exodus 4:21 records a statement God made to Moses: “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, so that he will…”
Introduction: The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
One of the apostle Paul’s earliest ministries was in the city of Thessalonica. Because his heart was to “the Jew first” (Rom. 1:16), he preached the gospel first in the…
O Jewish Town of Bethlehem
This Christmas season, as we gather in our churches to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and sing the carols of Christmas, we no doubt will sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” one of the most beloved hymns of all time…
A Night in the Fields
Birth announcements are exciting. Parents share the news first with family, then with close friends, and later with the community. In the first century, however, it was unthinkable to send birth announcements to the poor and to those who held lower-class occupations, like shepherds…
The Incredible Incarnation
I have some Christian friends who do not celebrate Christmas. They object to the many pagan traditions that have crept into the holiday and argue that Jesus was not even born on December 25. I don’t disagree. They are quite correct…
Q: What is the Unpardonable Sin?
According to Jesus, the unpardonable sin is “blasphemy against the [Holy] Spirit” (Mt. 12:31). However, it is important to study the context of Matthew 12:22–32 to understand what this means…
Our Wonderful God of Christmas
For more than 50 years, Charles M. Schulz’s animated classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, has touched millions of television viewers. In it, Charlie complains, “I think there must be something wrong with me, Linus. Christmas is coming, but I’m not happy…
The Tyrant Who Tried to Kill Jesus
King Herod was a complex man. He was a brilliant builder and politician, yet a ruthless and brutal tyrant. He makes a brief appearance in Scripture as the cold-blooded killer of baby boys in Bethlehem and surrounding areas…
Divine Affirmation
“Who were those people? What just happened?” Mary and Joseph may have asked themselves these questions following their brief encounter with Simeon and Anna at the Temple in Jerusalem. They had gone there to…
The Men from the East
The story of the wise men, or magi, is one of the most interesting and captivating accounts recorded in the Bible. Countless Christmas cards, carols, and plays present the story of their journey to see Jesus, the one “born King of the Jews” (Mt. 2:2)…
How Do We Know the Exodus Happened?
“The actual evidence concerning the Exodus resembles the evidence for the unicorn,” declared Pennsylvania State University Jewish Studies Professor Baruch Halpern.1 The ancient Israelites created…
God is Faithful
Paul’s concluding words in this epistle are extremely important. He revisited prominent themes of prayer, sanctification, the Lord’s faithfulness, spiritual commitment, and preparedness for the Rapture of the church…
Villain of the Ages
Many people want to know about leaders on the world scene—the men and women whose faces they see regularly online and on television. What are these people really like? Are they kind, caring, and patriotic? Or are they cold, calculating, and self-serving?
The Ultimate Con
If you had visited “Dr.” Malachi Love-Robinson in his medical offices in Florida a few years ago, you would have met a nice-looking young man sporting a white lab coat, stethoscope draped around his neck, who would have examined you with…
The Final War Against Israel
Horrifying pictures of the Holocaust of World War II continue to shock people even today. After 75 years, film footage still reminds us of Satan’s relentless and barbaric attempts to eradicate world Jewry. Throughout history, demonically inspired, hate-filled fanatics…
Consumed and Destroyed
Years ago, my boss at the office where I worked asked me about the Antichrist: “Does the Bible teach that the Antichrist will be destroyed? Or does he win in the end?” His question came following the release of The Omen in 1976, a movie that revolves around…
Q: How should time-related terms in the book of Revelation be interpreted?
These words refer to prophecies related to Christ’s Second Coming, and they often leave people perplexed. It has been 2,000 years since the apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, and these prophecies have not been fulfilled…
Church Life
The apostle Paul often addressed the church as a family. He called members brothers and sisters and encouraged them to love one another. To function properly, a church—like a family—must have structure, order, respect for its members…
Ezekiel: The Times, The Man, The Book
The prophet Ezekiel burst onto the scene during Jerusalem’s darkest days at the end of the sixth century BC. Then, as now, the Middle East was in crisis. In fact, the Middle East had been in crisis for most of the eighth and seventh centuries BC due to the…
The Divine Distribution
When God confirmed a covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1), He issued a divine proclamation: He vowed to give all the land He was promising Abraham to both Abraham and his descendants forever (13:15). God bequeathed the land through…