By Ken Pierce Each Fourth of July, many of my neighbors spend a chunk of change on fireworks purchased from pop-up vendors along the main road through town. The buying starts in late June. People really look forward to the holiday, many of them mainly because of the fireworks. Sporadic launches start a few days

By Philippe R. Sterling Saul was Israel’s first king. The Bible’s first mention of him paints a picture of physical perfection: “… choice and handsome…There was not a more handsome person…he was taller than any of the people” (1 Sam 9:2). His physical stature fit the ideal king’s description and was a significant factor in

By Dix Winston Imagine reading the great Russian novel War and Peace by starting at the book’s midpoint. It would make no sense to you. Who is Pierre Bezukhov, or Audrey Bolkonsky, or the Kuragan and Rostov families? And why is Napoleon invading Russia? It would be difficult, if not impossible, to understand the author’s

By Mike Lii In my family, I’m notorious for being a bargain hunter. I get a thrill when I can purchase a high-value item at a heavily discounted price. For example, my wife and son get hot during parts of the day during the summer months here in Texas. Why? I selected a nights-free electricity

By Iheanyi Njokui Introduction Romans 8 is one of the great chapters in the Bible. Its teaching about how the Holy Spirit operates in enabling the believer to defeat the forces of evil has always been recognized as of the utmost importance. Leon Morris suggested that while there are problems in understanding some of the

By Ken Pierce Matthew 11:1-15 and Luke 7:18-23 record parallel accounts of a fascinating exchange between Messiah and two disciples of Yochannan ben Zecharyah (John, the son of Zechariah, better known as John the Baptist or, more accurately, John the Baptizer), in which Jesus relayed a covert message to his incarcerated cousin. Herod Antipas had

By Mike Lii and Bob Wilkin Introduction Have you heard it charged that those of us who accept the Focused Free Grace position teach “easy believism”? Those who level such a charge usually mean that we make salvation too easy by not requiring that people turn from their sins, commit their lives to Christ, and

By Mike Lii Introduction At the 1997 Grace Evangelical Society National Conference, Zane Hodges gave a message titled, “Assurance Is of the Essence of Saving Faith.”1 His title differs from “Assurance Is the Essence of Saving Faith” only by the addition of the word of. This has led many to confuse the two statements. GES,

By Ken Pierce The story of the woman with an issue of blood testifies convincingly to both the awesome power of faith placed in Jesus Christ and the importance of taking Him at His word. Unfortunately, some story elements may escape twenty-first-century readers less familiar than she was with the Tanakh (the Torah—Law, the Neve’im—Prophets,

By Mike Lii I. Introduction: Evangelism Based on the Forgiveness of Sins Have you ever heard the gospel presented as follows: “Believe in Jesus so that all your sins—past, present, and future—will be forgiven.” This kind of gospel presentation tells one to believe in Jesus for “the forgiveness of sins.” Is a gospel presentation that