There was a king who held court every day. He would sit on his throne wearing his robe and crown as the people of his country would come to him stating their needs and requests. Each day, in addition to all the people who would come to the throne, there was also a holy man dressed in a beggar's robe who would come to the king. The holy man would hand the king a piece of fruit which the king would receive and then hand over to one of his assistants. Then the holy man would leave without ever saying a word to the king. This went on for…

Jack was a big man who always seemed to have a smile on his face. In fact, joy and happiness seemed to bubble in his life. His happiness was so genuine that others discovered that joy and happiness increased in their lives when they were around him. But, why shouldn’t he be happy? He had a good family. He had a lovely wife and two college-age daughters. He had a large home in the country. He was active in his church. He was the vice-president of a large defense-oriented company and it paid him a six-figure salary. He seemed to have it made.

One day, without warning, he was called into the boss’ office and fired. He was devastated. He had invested his life in the company. He had worked his tail off. He had helped the company grow and now, they were letting him go.

Financially, he was set …

We live in an amazing era. We are surrounded by more information than at any other time in human history—literally at our fingertips! There is virtually no fact or information that you cannot look up on the internet. On-line encyclopedias, which were once frowned upon, have become wonderful learning tools. In fact, the internet is one giant encyclopedia! And yet we seem unable to translate all that information into making our lives more meaningful—and we all tend to struggle with the whole question of meaning in life. That's not a question you can "Goog…

William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) was one of the greatest physicists of nineteenth-century England. When he was away at co…

Man’s wisdom is not enough. It is limited, partial wisdom. T. S. Eliot put it so beautifully when he said in “The Rock”:…

The apostle Paul, in his letter of encouragement to the struggling young church at Thessalonica, wrote, "Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions we taught you, either by word of mouth or by our letters" (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Tradition is important. But tradition has to leave room for revelation, because t…

A janitor would wait patiently each week for a group of seminarians to finish their basketball game. While he waited, he would study his Bible. One day, as the seminarians were leaving the gym, they noticed …

There's a true story that comes from the sinking of the Titanic. A frightened woman found her place in a lifeboat that was about to be lowered into the raging North Atlantic. She suddenly thought of something she needed, so she asked permission to return to her stateroom before they cast off. She was granted three minutes or they would have to leave without her.

She ran across the deck t…

There is nothing like nature to unfold truth about God. Nature is constantly shouting to us about the wisdom and the power of God. It gives a sense of awe and mystery to life. Even atheists cannot fully escape this…

One of Aesop’s fables is the story of the dog who saw his image reflected in a pool of water beneath his feet. Though he already had a bone, he was jealous of the bone he saw in the “other” dog’s mo…

I believe that we can live on earth according to the teachings of Jesus, and that the greatest happiness will come to the world when man obeys His commandment "Love one another."

I believe that we can live on earth according to the fulfillment of God's will, and that when the will of God is done on earth as i…

"Many years ago a young man went to work at a hardware store. He found all sorts of junk that took up space but did not sell well. This clerk asked the owner to allow him to put it all on one table and sell each item for 10 cents. He did so and had a successful sale. Later he did the same thing, and had another successful sale. The clerk approache…

When I have ceased to break my wings
Against the faultiness of things
And learned that co…

Christians have practiced meditation for centuries. In the book of Psalms we read, "I will meditate on all thy work, and muse on thy mighty deeds." In an effort to clear the mind of distractions during meditation, monks have focused on a crucifix. Other forms of meditation tell you to focus on the tip of your nose, or to comtemplate your navel. And some will tell you to use a chant or a mantra.

Since Yoga and Transcendental Meditation have their bases in the non-Christian religion Hinduism, we must be careful that we are not offending the name of the Triune God by practicing them. Better to do Christian meditation and achieve all the physical and psychological benefits of worshiping the Triune God.

Most people who practice meditation are seeking peace in a confused world. But only Jesus …

"Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he ...." Many people have learned that song in Sunday school. We might be tempted to think, therefore, that this is a story "for children only." Nothing could be further from the truth. The story of Zacchaeus is one of the most important stories for children and adults in the entire Gospel of Luke. It's important because it tells us how Christians can live with wealth. It's important because the story of Zacchaeus tells how it is that we can be saved.

Zacchaeus was a man who gouged his riches out of his people in the form of additional taxes. He was a man hated by the people of Jericho. Zacchaeus was a sinner. He had broken most of the laws of his people. Zacchaeus stands quite in contrast to a rich young ruler whose story Luke has jus…

Said the great red one, "I am a mighty chief, and I want my son to follow in my footsteps and rule a great people. I want my son to be mighty and strong like me."

Said the young chief, "I do not want to be like my father. He is cruel and selfish and he brags over victories he has not won. He makes himself great by stepping on little ones. There is no greatness for the hunter who shoots chipmunks."

It is true in ou…

Paul considered himself Christ's ambassador. What is an ambassador? He is an authorized representative of a sovereign. He speaks not in his own name but on behalf of the ruler whose deputy he is, and his whole duty and responsibility is to interpret that ruler's mind faithfully to those to whom he is sent.

Paul used this "ambassador" image twice both in connection with his evangelistic work. Pray for me, he wrote from prison…

Have you heard the beautiful children's story about the three trees? The trees were talking in the forest one day about their dreams for the future. The first tree said it would like to be made into a cradle, so that it might go on living as a support for the fragile life of a tiny new baby. The second tree wanted to be made into a big ship, so that it might go on living, carrying important cargo and influential people to exotic new lands. The third tree longed to stay right where it was, existing only as a tree, but growing ever taller, and pointing ever higher, to remind everyone that there is a God in heaven who loves them.  Those were their dreams:  One wanted to be a cra…

The theme of poverty, riches, possessions and the realm of God is a constant theme of Luke. It begins with Mary's song. Mary had an encounter with an angel. "You will bear a son and call his name Jesus," the angel announced. "Let it be with me according to your word," said Mary. Elizabeth, Mary's relative, blessed Mary for her trust that God's word of promise would be fulfilled. And then Mary sang a song. Mary's song may just well be the central song of Luke's entire gospel. Luke tells many stories in his gospel that are best understood as comments on her song!

Mary's song sings of a God of great reversals. This God has high regard for a lowly maiden. This God scatters the proud and puts down the mighty from their thrones. The high are made low and the low are exalted. This God, furthermo…

The first ship was a mighty man of war carrying its cargo of manpower and ammunition. It was a thrilling sight to see and a devastating power. On occasion the ship moved with mighty purpose and more often flexed its guns in peacetime pageantry. The second ship was a fishing boat manned by a few hands and eternally engaged in the procuring of food for hungry men.

"Wouldn't you like to be a great battleship," spoke the trawling b…

I like the story historians tell about the funeral of Charlemagne. Charlemagne was the greatest Christian ruler of the early Middle Ages. After his death a mighty funeral procession left his castle for the cathedral at Aix. When the royal casket arrived, with a lot of pomp and circumstance, it was met by the local bishop, who barred the cathedral door.

"Who come…

Legend has it that during Marco Polo's celebrated trip to the Orient, he was taken before the great and fearsome ruler, Genghis Khan. Now what was Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant and adventurer, supposed to do before this mighty pagan conqueror? One false move could cost him his life. He decided to tell the story of Jesus as it is recorded in the gospels. It is said that when Marco Polo related the events of Holy W…

One of the earliest and most potent threats to early Christianity came from the heretical group known as the Gnostics. Blending elements of Christianity, Greek philosophy, and oriental mysticism, the Gnostics denied the orthodox view of God, man, and the world, and Christ. The apostle John included them in the camp of the Antichrist.

The Gnostics were so called because of their view of revelation. The word gnosis is the Greek word for "knowledge." In many cases the Gnostic heretics did not make a frontal assault against the apostles or against the apostolic teaching of Scripture. In fact, many of them insisted that they were genuine, Bible-believing Christians. It wasn't that they rejected the Bible; they just claimed an additional source of knowledge or insight that was superior to or at…

H. Jackson Brown, the author of "Life's Little Instruction Book" wrote a list of hilarious bits of "Kid Wisdom".

• When your mother is mad and asks, "Do I look stupid?" it's best not to answer her.
• You should never laugh at your dad if he's mad or screaming at you.
• You should never pick on your sister when she has a baseball bat in her hands.
• It's no fun to stay up all night if your parents don't care.
• You should not be the first one to fall asleep at a slumb…

The very concept of God having pleasure--the mighty Maker of the Universe being pleased, like a child, at things that take place on Earth--staggers the imagination. Most amazing of all is the revelation that it pleased Him to put His own Son through a terrible, bruising death, as the tremendous Messianic prophecy of our text reveals. Nevertheless, this was the only possible way whereby "the pleasure of the LORD" could be accomplished in the redeemed lives of lost men and women, whom He had created for eternal fellows…

Isaiah 18:2 - "which sends ambassadors by the Nile, in vessels of papyrus upon the waters! Go, you swift messengers, to a nation, tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divided."

Ezekiel 17:15 - "But he rebelled against him, by sending ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army ..."

There are several ways in which we can translate the words used for "ambassador" in the Bible, but the most frequently used interpretation is that of messenger, from the Hebrew mal’ akh, or malach, which means messenger. This word has an interesting biblical history of its own. We are, of course, familiar with the Old Testament book of Malachi, and no doubt assumed that this was the author’s name. However, this was a …

Most readers of the Bible seem to have a love-hate relationship with its concluding book. In fact, the Revelation to John almost appears to possess the uncanny ability of being frustrating and fascinating at the same time -- much like a toddler playing with a piece of Scotch tape! They are, no doubt, the most famous last words ever written. However, "well-known" does not always imply "well-thought-of" or even "well-understood." Granted, few portions of Scripture have aroused the curiosity of as many -- I dare say, "a great multitude that no one could count." But then again, simply arousing curiosity, in and of itself, is hardly a ringing endorsement for the book. After all, those who slow down on the highway to gawk at a roadside accident may be interested in what's going on, but they don'…

I don’t know who first uttered these words but they set forth a terribly important bit of wisdom: If there is nothing above us we will be consumed by all that is around us.

Our nation’s Founding Fathers recognized its truth when they wrote: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable…

A man asked God, "What does a billion dollars mean to you who are all powerful?"

"Hardly a penny." God said.

Then the man asked God , "And what are a thousand centuries to you?" God answ…

Possible Biblical references to Satan:

• Genesis 3:1-14 · He was disguised under the Edenic serpent
• Genesis 3:15 · He is the serpent's seed
• 1 Chronicles 21:1 · Satan stands against Israel 
• Job 1:7-2:10 · He accused and afflicted Job
• Isaiah 14:12 · He was Lucifer, son of the morning before the fall (This verse is erroneously ascribed to Satan. It actually refers to the king of Babylon, see v. 3)
• Ezekiel 28:14 · He was the anointed cherub that covers (This verse also is erroneously ascribed to Satan. It actually refers to the king of Tyre, see v. 1)
• Zecheriah 3:1-9 · He is Satan, the Adversary of unbelieving Israel
• Matthew 4:3 · He is the tempter
• Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:10-11 · He perverts the Word of God
• Matthew 12:2…

This is actually a pretty new festival in the church year. Its roots go back only to the early 1900's, when the world's great empires British, American, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Japanese were all at war or about to go to war somewhere.

The man who was the pope of the Roman Catholic Church at the time wrote a letter in which he dedicated the world to Christ the King. In the letter, he reminded the empires that God is present with the whole human race, even with those who do not know God.

After World War I, Pope Pius XI designated the last Sunday in October as Christ the King Sunday, a day to remember that Christ received power and honor from God and was thereby made ruler of the universe. Christ the King Sunday is the last Sunday of the church year for good reason. It's a time to…

J. O. Sanders offers this interesting description of the counterfeit nature of Satan:

• Satan has his own trinity the devil, the beast, and the false prophet (Revelation 16:13).
• He has his own church, "a synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 2:9).
• He has his own ministers, "ministers of Satan" (2 Corinthians 11:4-5).
• He has formulated his own system of theology "doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1).
• He has established his own sacrificial system; "The Gentiles...sacrifice to demons" (1 Corinthians 10:20).
• He has his own communion service, …

The year was 1275 BC, before Christ.  The land was Egypt. The ruler was Pharaoh. The leader of the Jews was Moses. The Jews had been in slavery for four hundred years to the Egyptians, building their cities and pyramids. But God had sent the plagues, and now the Jewish nation was beginning their exodus from slavery.  And at this particular moment, they were stopped by a body of water, the Red Sea, and the Egyptian chariots and horses were rapidly c…

You will recall that every time Clark Kent transformed himself into Superman, he would go into a telephone booth and strip off his ordinary business suit, revealing his…

Three observations about Isaiah’s "Song of the Vineyard":

1. It was a song. That is to say, it was a marked variation in the prophet’s manner of proclamation. Isaiah was an eloquent, forthright orator, not a balladeer. It has been suggested that the reason for this temporary departure in style may have been the circumstances at that particular time. Deuteronomy 16:13-16 describes the carnival-like atmosphere which occurred in the ancient Feast of Booths. Some commentators have surmised that Isaiah rendered this specific message at such an occasion, in a manner consistent with the mood of the observance. However, there was perhaps another reason for the message being contained in a song.

It has been told that Arkansas’ own Jimmy Driftwood was once a teach…

Years ago a ship on the Atlantic was in distress because its supply of fresh water had run out. The crew faced a horrible death from the thirst, and that with water all around them.

When hope was almost gone, they sighted a ship approaching them. At once they hoisted distress signals. But the only answer they got was "dip it up."

"Dip it up?" What heartless mockery, they must of thought to themselves. To dip up buckets of salt water!

They signaled again, but got the same answer. Finally in despair, they lowered a bucket. Imagine their amazement and joy when it turned out to be fresh, living water. …

Hugh Lattimer once preached before King Henry VIII. Henry was greatly displeased by the boldness in the sermon and ordered Lattimer to preach again on the following Sunday and apologize for the offence he had given. The next Sunday, after reading his text, he thus began his sermon: "Hugh Lattimer, dost thou know b…

The roar of the world in my ears,
Thank God for the roar of the world!
Thank God for …

Daniel 5:29 - "Then Belshazzar commanded, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put about his neck, and proclamation was made concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom."

The ruler, as I’m sure you’re saying to yourself, is rather obviously someone who rules or governs, or who assists in carrying on a government. Although we associate this position primarily with inheritance, as in the case of Engla…

Every year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, there is displayed, beneath the great Christmas tree, a beautiful eighteenth century Neapolitan nativity scene. In many ways it is a very familiar scene. The usual characters are all there: shepherds roused from sleep by the voices of angels; the exotic wise men from the East seeking, as Auden once put it, "how to be human now"; Joseph; Mary; the babe all are there, each figu…

We all frequently compare ourselves favorably with someone else. We all think of someone we consider to be less mature, less competent, or less able than we are. That person is a great comfort to us because he or she enables us to keep our self-image intact by saying, “Well, at least I’m n…

Have you ever seen the Salvador Dali painting where clock is sliding off the table and another one is bent backwards on a tree branch? It is called "the persistence of memory." Now, you know that clocks do not bend and melt and do not assume the positions they do in this painting. But what might it be saying about time? What happens to time? Time flies, time melts away, time disintegrates, things fall apart … You may not like Dali's painting, but you cannot help but think about it.

The details in the parable of…

I heard about an expert in diamonds who happened to be seated on an airplane beside a woman with a huge diamond on her finger. Finally, the man introduced himself and said, "I couldn't help but notice your beautiful diamond. I am an expert in precious stones. Please tell me about that stone." She replied, "That is the famous Klopman diamond, one of the largest in the world. But there is a strange curse that comes with it." Now the man was really interested. He asked, "What is the curse?" As he waited with bated breath, she replied, "It's Mr. Klopman."

Some of you may wish to re-evaluate your diamonds on that basis. But seriously the true curse of any kind of valuable possession is its capacity to steal our hearts and souls. The rich young ruler is one of those unique characters from the B…

With whom do you most identify in today's gospel? There are plenty of characters here who are being stung by death. There is a woman whose whole life has been caught, dominated by a terrible, life-demanding illness. There is a distraught father. A little girl whose young life is being cut short. There are the baffled disciples, the crowd who doesn't know what to think of all this. Where are you?

And yet, intruding into the story is another face, the strong, live-giving face of Jesus. Mark says that Jesus was forever intruding into fixed, settled, hopeless situations and bringing life. Hear his strong voice speaking over the laments and dirges in today's gospel? Hear him as he calls to the little girl, "Get up!"

I think he may be calling to you. "Get…

The Prussian king Frederick the Great was widely known as an agnostic. By contrast, General Von Zealand, one of his most trusted officers, was a devout Christian. Legend has it that during a festive gathering the king began making crude jokes about Christ until everyone was rocking with lau…

It is often argued that we should stay in the midst of churches and bodies whose sins and follies we deplore, in the hope of saving them for God and mankind. Such reasoning has a good deal of force in the first stages of decline. A strong protest may arrest error a…

Jim Smith went to church on Sunday morning. He heard the organist miss a note during the prelude, and he winced. He saw a teenager talking when everybody was supposed to be bowed in silent prayer. He felt like the usher was watching to see what he put in the offering plate and it made him boil.

He caught the preacher making a slip of the tongue five times in the sermon by actual count. As he slipped out through the side do…

In the days of Jesus tax collectors deserved the scorn of the people because often they abused their position. Here is how William Barclay describes the business of the tax collector in the Roman world:

'The problem of the Roman government was to devise a system whereby the taxes could be collected as efficiently and as cheaply as possible. They had done so by auctioning the right to collect taxes in a certain area. A man bought the right to collect the taxes within a certain district; he was responsible to the Roman government for an agreed sum; anything he could raise over and above that he was allowed to keep as commission. Obviously this system lent itself to grave abuses. People did not r…

The following is an attempt by  Dr. Earl Radmacher and Gordon McMinn to identify and define spiritual gifts centered around teaching.

1. Prophecy: setting before people the Word and wisdom of God persuasively.
2. Encouragement: drawing alongside to comfort, encourage, rebuke, and lead someone into insight toward action.
3. Teaching: laying down in a systematic order the complete truth of a doctrine and applying it incisively to life.
4. The message of wisdom: Locating formerly unknown principles as well as combining known principles of God's Word and communicating them to fresh situations.
5. The message of knowledge: Arranging the facts of Scripture, categorizing these into prin…

Most of us want to be where it’s at. We want to be accepted, happy, fulfilled. In our quest for happiness and acceptance, we seek membership in various in-groups of our society.

Among the more popular in-groups today is what I call the Enlightened Unbeliever in-group. For many, membership in this group usually begins during college. To qualify you must become increasingly impressed with yourself and what you know. You must also find faith increasingly childish. Members in this group have yet to learn that the truly intelligent persons are more impressed with their ignorance than with their knowledge. To…