The Church at Laodicea: Revelation 3:14-22 Introduction We say perception is reality, but that depends upon whose perception. Jesus knows the difference between appearance and reality when the whole world has gone insane. When moral blindness calls light darkness and darkness light, only Jesus can end the scam. The Church at Laodicea is the second among the Seven Churches of Asia to have a reputation that is unwarranted. Sardis had a reputation of being alive but Christ

The Church at Philadelphia: Revelation 3:7-13 Introduction What a breath of fresh air this little church is amid a sea of corruption claiming to be the Bride of Christ! If your church is tiny but alive, this is one of the rarest blessings you will find this side of heaven. What makes your church alive? Everything that our Lord Jesus did not find in the churches He lovingly chastised in first-century Asia: unconditional love and devotion to Christ Himself; love for and f

The Church at Sardis: Revelation 3:1-6 Introduction How can a church be sordid? Isn't that the ultimate oxymoron? And yet of the Seven Churches of Asia, two were very bad--so bad that Christ had almost nothing good to say to them. Unlike His uniform greeting, "I know your works," in which He first commends what He finds worthy in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and even Thyatira, He greets Sardis with a definitive thud: "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou liv

The Church at Thyatira: Revelation 2:18-29 Introduction Christ's shortest letter to the Seven Churches of Asia addresses the suffering Church of Smyrna, for whom He has nothing but words of commendation, comfort, and courage. His longest letter, however, goes to the Church at Thyatira, the worst case of spiritual adultery thus far. One of five churches whose false teaching Christ condemns, Thyatira is also one of three who receive words of praise and affirmation. The tho

The Church at Pergamum: Revelation 2:12-17 Introduction Imagine pastoring a church in Salem, Massachusetts--the international headquarters of the Satanic Temple and the historic hotbed of the Salem Witch Trials. Also the cultural center of American Wicca, Salem has renounced its Puritan past by opening its apostate arms to the witchcraft its forebears routed with ferocious zeal. Now picture the world of Pergamum, which Christ identifies as "Satan's seat" in Revelation 2

The Church at Smyrna: Revelation 2:8-11 Introduction The Church at Smyrna in Revelation 2:8-11 is one of only two of the Seven Churches of Asia that Christ does not censure for sin and warn with impending judgment. This by no means, however, guarantees this church smooth sailing. On the contrary, the Church at Smyrna, unlike the Church of Philadelphia, is told some very bad news: it will continue to suffer. But is this really bad news, after all? To an escapist staking

The Church at Ephesus: Revelation 2:1-7 Introduction It has often been joked that those looking for a perfect church will render it imperfect the moment they set foot inside. Without a doubt, any church is made up of imperfect people, and if we can't accept this, we will no longer have a church. While some consider it their sacred duty to size everyone up and boot out all the people who have problems, others see this type of compulsive "sorting" as one of the dangers of a

Begin with the Facts Any honest study of a text from God's Word must begin with the facts. A command of the facts must include a careful examination of the words used in the text, not only in a reliable translation but in the original languages. The facts of the text must then be placed in their proper context --not only the circumstances surrounding the composition of the text but also the intended audience and the author. In the strictest sense, all of Scripture is w

It was April 15, 2019. Some last-minute tax-filers might have had their thoughts fixated on finishing their returns. But most of the world was watching in horror and grief as Notre Dame Cathedral was burning. I remember where I was standing in Doris Henderson Newcomers School in Greensboro, North Carolina, when my teacher-friend Vanessa told me in her endearing Australian accent that Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire. I looked at her dumbfounded as chills of disbelief an

Introduction A chunky white King James Bible with yellow-orange edges might not seem like an appropriate gift to place in the hands of a small child today, but this Bible not only set the course of a lifetime journey for me; it fed my natural childhood's curiosity. I felt from my earliest days the sacred weight of both duty and wonder in reading God's Word. The difficulty of doing so in itself spoke eloquently to the thrill of knowing God. I knew in my spirit that I neede

Only a boy named David; only a rippling brook; only a boy named David, but five little stones he took! In his best-selling book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell supports the intriguing thesis that misfits and underdogs turn the course of history. The viewpoint that has been rejected is, after all, frequently the right one, and the misfit who leans into his impending failure often reaps the reward of staking his all.

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind dri

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind dri

A Gift Still to Be Opened The New Year teases like a bright green Christmas package still waiting to be opened. What does it hold in store? We want a new beginning, but we don't want things to change. We pick up a blank journal, turning hope into history with a deep resolve to meet our destiny unafraid. Some people take Christmas with them, leaving up tiny twinkle lights all year. What if we all kept candles burning out of holy expectation? A Revelation to Behold A r

"They shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31 Introduction One of the most beloved promises in the Bible, Isaiah 40:31 could very well also be one of the least-claimed. Most people don't like waiting, and, for some, waiting too long for anything brings out their true colors. Most of us think of waiting as a waste of time because it often is a waste of time. Perhaps it's a matter of control: waiting makes us feel helpless, powerless, sometimes even clueless. But if we

Students of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost cannot soon forget his Biblical description of hell. Writing out of his own blindness, Milton paints hell as a place of "darkness visible." Not only is hell a place of palpable darkness; it is an abyss of sulfurous flames in which the newly cast Lucifer, now Satan, rolls in thunderous pain as the embodiment of Leviathan. But it is Satan himself who defines hell also as a state of mind--a state which, in his rebellion, he deceive

A Refutation of The Dissenter's Jeff Maples' Dismissal of Charles Wesley Why I Struggle with Jeff Maples Last week, I received in my email an article from the online periodical known as The Dissenter , written by Jeff Maples, in which he explores the doctrinal correctness of Charles Wesley's Christmas hymn, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!" Having myself written a blogpost on the Christmas carols recently and having noted the theological integrity of these great hymns, I

If history is made up of individuals, it is also certainly made up of moments. The birth of Jesus Christ occurred in one divine moment centuries in the making, and remarkably, only one historian in the entire world has recorded that moment: the Apostle Paul's beloved physician and traveling companion, Luke. I never realized just how viciously Luke's account of Jesus' birth had been attacked until I borrowed a book one day from my father's extensive library. It doesn't loo

Believing that the word "sinner" is not only overused but misused today in reference to God's children, and, believing that it matters whether we identify ourselves as "sinners" or as "saints," I have set out to study Scripture's use of the word "saints." The search is as easy as it is daunting, for the word "saints" is used at least 98 times in the King James Bible, but it isn't at all difficult to find the references. With Strong's Concordance and a journal in front of me

It wouldn't be too surprising to hear that Christians these days are going through an identity crisis. This crisis might not involve merely the question of who we are ourselves but also with whom we can identify anymore. The Christian landscape seems ever changing, to the point that people we thought we trusted yesterday turn out to be someone entirely different today. That respected leader lets us down, and we find out that we have no heroes left, after all. Some people'