Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

Having delivered the two demoniacs in Gadara Jesus returned across the sea to Capernaum, here called his own city. We may wonder why it is so named, given that he lived there for a much shorter time than he did in Nazareth where he had lived for almost thirty years. One answer could be that Capernaum had not rejected Jesus in the manner that Nazareth had done when its inhabitants tried to throw him over a cliff after he had preached about himself and his role in God’s great plan of salvation. Another answer could be that he performed a lot of miracles in Capernaum, a reminder of its great privileges. What did Capernaum do with its privileges? It seems in the main to have not done very much and later he rebuked it by saying if the mighty works done in her had been done in Sodom they would have repented publicly of their sins. The power of his message Having said what the general response of the people of Capernaum was, we can also see that there were others there who had faith in...

We are all familiar with the benediction at the end of 2 Corinthians because it is the one that is usually repeated at the close of a service. As we know, a benediction is not so much a prayer but a statement of what we can expect from God. Of course, we can pray for the blessings highlighted in the benediction. Still it is more an expression of confidence that God will meet our spiritual needs.   One obvious deduction that can be made from this benediction is that God is unique because although there is only one God there are three equal divine persons in the Godhead. The three persons work in harmony and not in competition. Nevertheless, each has his own contributions to make in the fulfilling of the benediction.  This also means that we can have an interaction that focuses on each divine person in certain ways. Another introductory matter concerns those who can expect to receive the blessings mentioned in the benediction. Is the benediction available to everyone or...