A Christian speaker talked about his own journey as a former avowed atheist. At one time he considered the basic claims of Christianity untrue, but in looking at the evidence for the life and resurrection of Jesus, and for the authenticity of the Biblical writings, he became convinced that Christianity is ‘true’. OK. But what…
Psalm 46
Psalm 46 is a psalm that has to do not with personal crisis but when the world around seems to be in a state of utter collapse, when the oceans are surging, mountains falling into the sea, the earth caves, and when nations are at war. What does faith look like then? This has always…
Acts 5:1-11 Ananias and Sapphira
As a church, we exist not only to know Jesus but also to make him known. We have the threefold message: ‘Jesus is wonderful: you’ll love him. Jesus is Savior: you need him. Jesus is Lord: obey him.’ In making Jesus known, we want to remove all unnecessary barriers. We want people to leave a…
Psalm 19
To be human is to have the ability to choose our responses. In your grade school science classes you probably learned what distinguished living things, or organisms, from non-living things. Why is it that we say a dandelion is alive but a cloud is not, or that coral is alive but a rock is not….
Acts 4 A generous community
Today in our study of Acts we come to the end of chapter 4, and the description of the life of the early church, a description that echoes the description we find at the end of chapter 2. But to see what an incredible description this is, it is necessary to go back in the…
Why suffering?
Possibly the greatest hurdle for people to embrace Christianity is the fact that in the face of the terrible suffering we see in the world, we still preach a God who is both supremely good, and supremely powerful. And these two things seem totally incompatible. If God were all-powerful, he could eliminate the suffering. If…
Why is God silent?
True story: An accountant with a PhD, a man and his wife were immigrants from China some years ago. Invited to church, they became involved with the congregation. Shortly after, though, his wife was diagnosed with cancer. She affirmed faith in Christ and was baptized. A few weeks later, she died. He also confessed Christ…
Psalm 29
One of the great things unique to the human experience is our ability to feel awe, to be overcome with wonder at the size or beauty or power of a thing. We feel a certain awe at some of the things that mankind can produce: a ten-second, 100-meter sprint, or a Tchaikovsky piano concerto, or…
Mark 14:43 – 15:20 Arrest & Trials
Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, just outside the city of Jerusalem. It is the middle of the night. He is in anguish at the prospect of what lies before him (‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death’, he says). In great distress he throws…
Death and Burial of Jesus
Today is Palm Sunday. This is the day when Christians have traditionally celebrated the Triumphal Entry, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, acclaimed by the crowds as a great rabbi, and perhaps the longed for Kingly Messiah. Christians focus on the kingship of Jesus on this day. But today, we are going to…