About the Messiah

What did the First Christians believe about Jesus? He was the Messiah, of course, but more than that. Jesus himself laid out the question before the P...

The Gospel of Matthew #36

If the world was going to blow up at noon tomorrow, would you want to know? I don’t just mean having an asteroid hit us, spread some dust and dirt aro...

The Gospel of Matthew #35

If you could ask Jesus, Lord, what are the signs of your second coming and of the end of the world? would you want to know the answer? It’s a teasing...

Unleavened Bread: The Basics

Christian Holidays #1

Are you ready for a quiz? Grab pencil and pad and write down the names of the two most important Christian Holidays. It should only take you a few sec...

Easter or Passover?

There is a fascinating story that links Easter and Passover, and most of the world goes on blissfully unaware of it. Most know that Easter and Passove...

An Appointment with God

Behold the Lamb of God

Why do you suppose God leaves us with so many unanswered questions? And why are some of the truths of the Bible so, well, obscure? If God wants us to...

Passover Service 2001

Who Killed Christ?

When the Pope viewed Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ, he is said to have remarked, It is as it was. The Vatican later tried to spin that...

Three Days and Three Nights

I love a good mystery. Puzzle solving is a favorite pastime of mine. So perhaps I can be forgiven for saying in a recent radio program that God also l...

About the New Covenant

What did the First Christians believe about the New Covenant? I’m talking about those Christians who were alive in the days when the New Testament was...

The Gospel of Matthew #34

I know that Jesus was a gentle man. I am certain that he was kind, that he was merciful, and very gentle with the people he dealt with. But, you know,...

The Gospel of Matthew #33

There is a time in a man’s life when he must act—when he must seize the day. There are moments of opportunity; there are simple chances to do things—a...

The Gospel of Matthew #32

What is the Kingdom of Heaven like, really? Listening to preachers when I was growing up, I was under the impression that the Kingdom of Heaven was He...

The Gospel of Matthew #31

What is it about children that makes some people so ready to dismiss them as though they were of no consequence? You know, I have finally become convi...

War and the Christian

Can a Christian take up arms against another person, or another nation? Can a Christian ever be responsible for the death of another human being? Thou...

The Gospel of Matthew #30

When you were on your way home from work yesterday, and you drove by a schoolyard with a couple of hundred kids out there—either playing, or waiting f...

The Gospel of Matthew #29

Is it possible for a sinner to be forgiven and then have that forgiveness taken away? It doesn’t sound right, does it. After all, God says he will rem...

The Gospel of Matthew #28

Jesus told Peter that he was giving him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and that whatever he bound on earth would be loosed in heaven, and whatever...

The Gospel of Matthew #27

Would you assume that Jesus wanted everyone to know that he was the Messiah? There was a lot of controversy at the time about who he was. On one occas...

Moses and the Constitution

Christian people have a lot of difficulty with Biblical law and sometimes take shortcuts in trying understand it. One of the most common approaches is...

The Gospel of Matthew #26

Unless you’ve just arrived from another planet and are not yet up to speed, you probably have some notion about what Jesus Christ was like. I would gu...

The Gospel of Matthew #25

Even when Jesus went to the desert to be alone, he could not get away from the crowds. There’s nothing particular unusual about that, I suppose. If yo...

The Gospel of Matthew #24

What is the Kingdom of Heaven like? Is it a great city with jeweled foundations and streets of gold; a marvelous city with gates made from a single pe...

The Gospel of Matthew #23

It’s downright annoying, when something is bothering you, to have one of your friends say, Well, try not to think about it. Right. Have you ever tried...

The New Atheism

Periodically, it seems, society gets a new rash of atheists. I think rash may be a good metaphor. Like many irritants, though, it may serve a useful p...

The Gospel of Matthew #22

Why would anyone who claims to worship God even consider committing murder? Don’t say they haven’t. Men and women—Jews and Christians—have been guilty...

The Gospel of Matthew #21

Is religion hard or easy? Is it complicated or simple? If you listen to some teachers, you would think that there is nothing to it at all. All you hav...

The Gospel of Matthew #20

Could Jesus Christ come tonight? Is it possible that you could walk out on your back porch before bedtime and see a great light in the sky as Jesus an...

The Gospel of Matthew #19

Have you ever encountered a prophet? I mean the real thing, the genuine article. I’m not talking about some guy with wild eyes and a bad hair day who’...

Standing at the Brink

Years ago, while living in England, I saw some graffiti on an overpass that declared “War is Obsolete”. This was in the glory days of the “Ban the Bom...

Why Not Life?

I live in the country, near a small city. Some people, out where I live, sleep with the windows open and night and don’t bother locking the doors when...

The Gospel of Matthew #18

Have you ever wondered why religious people can be so hard-nosed and intolerant? No, I’m not exaggerating—religious people can get in bitter arguments...

The Gospel of Matthew #17

Have you ever wondered why healing played such a big role in Jesus’ ministry? Probably not, because it seems like the most natural thing to do. What w...

The Gospel of Matthew #16

If you were one of Jesus’ apostles and had to distill the ministry of Jesus and put it in, as Matthew did, 28 chapters and so many pages, where would...

The Gospel of Matthew #15

It is hard for me to imagine Jesus being surprised at anything. After all, Jesus knows the thoughts and intents of the heart, doesn’t he? Isn’t he abl...

The Gospel of Matthew #14

I don’t want to be misunderstood; I agree entirely with Paul when he says:
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:...

The Gospel of Matthew #13

One day when I was praying forgive us of our debts as we forgive our debtors it dawned on me that I was praying in the first-person plural. I was not...

The Gospel of Matthew #12

Have you ever wondered why some people refuse to swear in court? So when swearing in witnesses and jurors, the court often asks someone to swear or af...