For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother. Mt. 12:50 What does it mean to do the will of the Father of Christ? To unpack the implications of this text, we note the following things. To do the will of the Father in heaven means that …
But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and …
And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 2 Tim. 4:18 When the apostle Paul wrote these words to Timothy, he was languishing in prison in Rome. Not only that, but he knew that he was about to die …
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Ps. 46:1 These are the words behind Martin Luther's famous hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is our God." The hymn is a courage-inspiring hymn, because it is all about how the confidence of the Christian is in God himself. And Luther knew the …
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim. 1:7 In this verse, The apostle Paul is addressing his son in the faith, Timothy, who was clearly struggling with the fear that came with opposition to his gospel ministry, for Paul calls him to be a …
Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see. Mt. 11:4. Here we have our Lord's answer to the doubts of John the Baptist (see Mt. 11:3). How did he receive assurance? He received assurance from the words of Christ. The same is true with us as well. …
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Mt. 17:1. Coming from this lips of Jesus, this is praise indeed. Though the greatness of some men has to be reappraised after their shortcomings and faults are revealed, we need not fear …
"And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall be corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits" (Dan. 11:32). The historical event behind these words is probably the persecution of the faithful among the Jews during the reign of Antiochus …
These are the words that we read in 2 Sam. 23 concerning the exploits of two of David's mighty men: Eleazar the son of Dodo and Shammah the son of Agee (23:9-12). We are told that Eleazar "smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the Lord wrought a …
In Romans 6:19, the apostle Paul writes, “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.” The point here is …