Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

As we consider the second section of Psalm 22 we can see some differences between it from the first section. The first section describes an event that is past, the death of the Messiah, whereas the second section describes the present and the future, which means that the second section is describing us at times. We can also see that the first section has one speaker whereas the second section has that speaker speaking and the psalmist speaking. The Messiah speaks in verses 22-25 and David speaks in verses 26-31. We can entitle the first section as The Consecration of the Messiah and the second section as The Conquests of the Messiah. The consecration of the Messiah This section has two subsections. In verses 22-24, the Messiah promises to tell the name of God to his brothers. Since we know that the Messiah is the Son of God, this means that the name he will teach about is the name of the Father. This verse is cited by the author of Hebrews in his second chapter to explain what t...

People are attracted by Jesus for different reasons. Today, some are attracted by his teachings, although often all they are looking for is some support of their already existing ideas. When he was on earth, many were intrigued by his ability to perform miracles. It is worth asking ourselves what we find curious about Jesus in addition to him being the Saviour. One aspect that we should ponder is his praying methods. Maybe we can ask some questions to see why thinking about his prayer life is important. Would there have been four gospels if Jesus had not been a man of prayer? Would the Holy Spirit have descended on Jesus at his baptism if he had not been engaged in prayer? When did he commence his prayer practices? Did he have organised prayer in the sense that he followed a pattern, such as the one he taught his disciples in the Lord’s Prayer? Of course, some of those questions cannot be answered by us, but they do indicate how important prayer was to him. Why should we think...

Christian giving is a basic activity of the church. There are several passages in which Paul deals with this topic. For example, in 2 Corinthians he gives instructions concerning a geographically widespread collection that was being taken throughout the churches in Gentile locations for the purpose of giving aid to the hard-pressed believers in Jerusalem. Here in Philippians 4 he responds to the aid that had been sent to him recently by the church in Philippi. How are we to view Christian giving? The basic answer is that we are to view it in the same way as we view all other activities in the Christian life, which is that we are contributing to the progress, population and prospects of the most amazing kingdom on earth. What is to motivate Christian leadership? The progress, population and prospects of the most amazing kingdom on earth. What is the purpose behind Christian service? The progress, population and prospects of the most amazing kingdom on earth. Three lea...

There are at least three kinds of Messianic psalms. Some, such as Psalms 22 and 110, only apply to the Messiah and contain several details about his person and work, sometimes focusing on his sufferings and sometimes on his subsequent glory. Others, such as Psalms 1 and 72, are pictures of the Messiah, but could also apply to someone else in a lower sense.  A third kind, such as Psalms 16 and 40, are cited in the New Testament as connected to the Messiah, yet they also contain details that could not refer to Jesus. For example, Psalm 16 begins with a confession of unworthiness and Psalm 40 also includes a confession of sin. The way to proceed with such psalms is not to try and somehow make these verses descriptive of what Jesus thought. Instead we should limit our application of verses to Jesus from this type of psalm to the verses that the New Testament writers say are relevant to his person and work. Peter, in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:25-28), quotes Psal...

We know from the Bible that the God described in it is the Trinity. Therefore, it is appropriate for us to assume that whenever the Old Testament refers to God, it is the Trinity that is intended unless the context indicates otherwise. The same is true when we read the New Testament. At times, a verse will say which of the divine persons is intended; in other places, a verse will mention two of the divine persons; and in other places, a verse will mention the three persons. Those ways of describing the persons of the Trinity is found with regard to the creation. With regard to the creation, it is described in the Bible in three ways. The first way is creation before sin entered into it; the second way is creation after sin affected it; and the third way is how the creation is described after the effects of sin have been removed from it. How can we explore the Bible in order to help us grasp those details? Personally, I would suggest that a helpful way is to look at passages which ...