Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

Paul usually has a thanksgiving followed by an intercession at the beginning of his letters. It is a valid assumption that he details the contents of his prayers in order to show his readers how they should pray.   So   we can learn to pray by listening in to Paul’s prayer for the Colossians.   The first detail to observe is   the manner by which   Paul addresses God in his prayer. Although he was a Jew, he did not use the name ‘God of Israel’, although he did mention the Messiah when he said that he was praying to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Perhaps he is stressing that we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus and we can see what authority he has. Since he is the exalted Lord, we can have great confidence that we will be heard by his Father and our Father.     Paul’s gratitude   Paul had two encouragements – one was what had taken place locally in   Colosse   and the other was what was happening globally in the world. B...

Paul often says several things in a few sentences when he writes about Christian experience. In this set of verses, he mentions how to become a Christian and then what happens to a Christian. Of course, regarding that second matter, he could have referred to much more than what he lists here. Still, he deals with very important issues. We can summarise the experience here as peace, purpose and provision.   Peace What is everyone looking for today? Among the most popular answers would be peace, whether peace between nations or peace within societies. Few would think that peace with God should have the priority. But Paul speaks about that peace in this set of verses.   A Christian is a person who has been justified by faith. Justified has various meanings today. It can be an action one does with the text of a document on a computer, where everything appears in a frame of perfect straight lines. The word can have a negative meaning when someone says that you are justifying yourse...

This psalm can function at different levels. Some regard it as a Messianic psalm because some of its verses (6-8) are applied to Jesus in the Book of Hebrews (10:5). But there is a reference to personal sin in the psalm which make that interpretation unlikely, even although some famous names have held to the interpretation. Others regard the opening verses as describing an unknown incident in David’s life, and with that interpretation we can apply it to situations in which the Lord delivers his people from difficult circumstances. What can be said about these verses is that they provide a sequence of divine deliverance that we can use as a model for ourselves when we face problems. A third way of considering the opening verses is to see the sequence as illustrative of conversion and that is how I would like to consider them.   Many years ago, I heard an evangelist preach on these verses and I can still recall his outline. It was (1) out of the mire, (2) taken by higher, (3) into th...

Sometimes we assess the importance of a theme or a phrase by the number of times it is mentioned in the Bible. The phrase ‘the love of the Spirit’ only occurs once, but since it mentions one of the divine Persons we should regard it as important, indeed very important, because anything involving the Trinity will be very important. It is possible to suggest that what Paul has in mind is the love that the Spirit produces in believers. Of course, it is true to say that the Spirit does this in his people, but it may not be the truth about him that is mentioned here.   Personally, I think Paul is referring to the Holy Spirit’s love for his people. In the context, the apostle is asking for prayer about a journey that he is about to make which could have dangers for him. He recognises the importance of prayer and reminds his readers that two divine persons will help them as they pray to the Father about Paul’s forthcoming mission. The two divine persons are Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Thei...

This short book was written by one of the brothers of Jesus. It is not known when he wrote it or where he was at the time. We can see from the contents that there was a problem with false teachers who were advocating the toleration of immorality in the churches and Jude gives advice and instruction concerning that problem. Despite the fact that they had such a problem in the churches, Jude closes his book with a doxology, which is a reminder that in times of crisis we should consider God. Sometimes, a Bible book closes with a doxology; at other times, a Bible book closes with a benediction. Both responses consider God and his salvation, but a doxology is a statement of praise. In this doxology, we can probably see several matters of interest, but I want to highlight four.   Our present The first point to consider is what the doxology says about our present situation. Jude mentions that the Father is able to keep us from falling. Perhaps he realised that some of his readers would be...