The church in Colosse was predominately Gentile and had grown up in a pagan world. However, there were those Judaizing teachers who had come among them and sought to force Gentile Christians to become circumcised and keep many rituals of the Judaism. They had left pagan worship with all the rituals of idolatry and now faced a new challenge of those who…

We do not always know the circumstances about what was happening when the psalmist took his pen to let us see what a man after God’s own heart was dealing with. Such is not the case of Psalm 96. The historical setting of that psalm is found 1 Chronicles chapter sixteen. King David had defeated the Jebusites who occupied Jerusalem and had…

The forceful power of a small word in a single verse in the Bible can so easily be overlooked. The key to understanding the signs of the end in Matthew 24 is found in the word “all” in verse thirty-four. The time of the establishment of the kingdom is found in Daniel 7:13-14 when one notices the word “to” instead of the…

We have watched those moments when athletes are about to start their race for the Olympic gold medal. They have done this so often since they first lined up to race, perhaps when they were still in grammar school. In various ways the official has said, “On your marks, get set, go.” The starting gun sounds, and the race begins. Those starting…

We do not always know the circumstances in which the psalmist found himself when he took his pen in hand. However, as we can read his psalms, we often find that we have experienced similar circumstances in our lives, which have brought about the same feelings he had. Consider Psalm 43 where David asks, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?”…

While Jesus taught more than thirty parables, only two of them are explained. He used these earthly stories to convey heavenly truths, and the message of each of these stories becomes obvious to those who seek to understand them. These two parables both deal with the planting of the seed (the word of God) in the hearts of men. After Jesus told…

If we are saved by grace alone, then all men would be saved, for His saving grace for all mankind had appeared to all men by the time Paul wrote to Titus (Tit. 2:11). If grace immediately covers all sin, then there is no reality to sin, for it would be impossible for sin to separate us from God (Isa. 59:2). It…

Christianity was never designed to be a religion of sadness. The words “joy” and “rejoice” are found more than 400 times in the Bible. How could any relationship with God be anything other than the most marvelous experience one could have on this earth? When Paul described the fruit of the Spirit working in our lives, the second word he used was…