Pray the Lord of the Harvest
Read: Matthew 9:37-38 Biblical Christians realize that Christ has commissioned us to do something about a world of lost people. But we don’t always remember that the first thing he told us to do is pray. When I first visited New Delhi a number of years ago, I noticed a large electronic display next to a […]
The Compassion of Jesus
Read: Matthew 9:35-36 Your response to the world’s suffering depends on what you force yourself to notice. Thankfully when Jesus looks at a lost world, feels compassion, and then does something. In the ancient world, compassion was in short supply. It was rare enough in the everyday world of people, but it was virtually unknown […]
Touched by Jesus
Read: Matthew 8:1-4 The first miracle described in the gospel of Matthew is an amazing demonstration, not just of Jesus’ power, but of his compassionate love. One of the most appealing of all Jesus’ many attractive qualities was his sympathy for suffering people. Most of us feel bad when we hear about someone who is […]
The Song of Simeon
Read: Luke 2:25-35 The Song that the aged Simeon sang as he held baby Jesus in his arms has served as a parting blessing for believers of all ages ever since. Christmas may be over, but I’m not ready to leave it just yet. I’d like to listen to one last Christmas song. It’s recorded in […]
A Light to the Nations
Read: Isaiah 49:1-6 Missions isn’t just one of many jobs the church does. It’s the reason the church is still in the world. I love church mission conferences and mission emphasis Sundays, and I speak at quite a few of them. But they do have a drawback, in my opinion. They can make it seem like […]
The Servant of the Lord
Read: Isaiah 42:1-9 Christ has come into the world, not just to bring light, hope, peace, love, comfort and joy. He certainly does all that, but to bring justice. The Bible is a story book. That is, it’s a book that tells a lot of stories, stories that have shaped our culture and formed our values. […]
Comfort My People
Read: Isaiah 40:1-8 For most of us, the word “comfort” suggests relaxation and ease, but when God speaks comfort, he not only changes how we feel; he changes how we are. Here’s the setting as we open the 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah. The Israelites—God’s chosen people—are living in exile in Babylon. They have […]
Blessed Are Those Who Wait
Read: Isaiah 30:18-21 Most of us aren’t very good at waiting for the things we desire, but Isaiah shows us how waiting isn’t just an important discipline for believers; it’s actually a blessing. There are many more beatitudes in the Bible than just the famous ones Jesus delivered in his Sermon on the Mount. For […]
The Song of the Vineyard
Read: Isaiah 5:1-7 An early passage from Isaiah offers a moving parable about God’s grace and human sin, a parable that Jesus himself found to be all too accurate a description of his own life and work. Biblical parables are not limited to the Gospels in the New Testament. The opening section of Isaiah 5, for example, […]