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 Zane Hodges1 Among the very last recorded words of our Lord Jesus Christ are these: “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work” (Rev 22:12, emphasis added). This is a clear and definitive statement on the subject of rewards by the

By Kathryn Wright INTRODUCTION Many years ago, I lived in a small town in Texas. Once a fairly affluent area, the city had fallen on hard times. Certain businesses had moved away, as had many of the wealthy citizens. Many of the town’s buildings, especially its houses, stood vacant. Beautiful Victorian-style homes lined the streets.

By Brad Doskocil The Bible has a lot to say about the importance of a virtue called patience. The words patient and patiently occur fourteen times in twelve verses in the Bible. We are to “wait patiently for Him” (Ps 37:7; 40:1; Eccles 7:8). We are to be “patient in tribulation” (Rom 12:12; cf. Heb

By Bob Wilkin It is well known that the expressions everlasting life and eternal life occur often in John’s Gospel. In the NKJV and KJV translations, everlasting life occurs eight times and eternal life nine times. But in all seventeen places, the Greek it translates is the same: zōēn aiōnion. The NASB, NET, HCSB, ESV,

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 Bill Fiess Many examples show how failing to obey a general’s command led to ultimate defeat. In 1968, American troops in Vietnam were ordered to search for Viet Cong insurgents in the village of My Lai. However, some soldiers misinterpreted the command and engaged in a brutal massacre of unarmed civilians, including women, children,

By Ken Yates Introduction In Luke 6:1-5, the Lord is involved in a controversy with the Pharisees. These religious leaders take exception to the disciples eating grain from a field on the Sabbath. It was okay to eat the grain, but the disciples were rubbing it with their hands. The Pharisees said rubbing involved work,

By Zane Hodgesi On one occasion, described in John 1:19-27, John the Baptist was visited by an important official delegation from the religious leadership of Jerusalem. Speculation had mounted that this Elijah-like prophet might be the Messiah Himself (cf. Luke 3:15). If ever there was a golden opportunity for John to “blow his own horn,”

Introduction In a recent podcast, I heard a preacher say that Saul of Tarsus’ name was changed to Paul after his conversion. He went on to describe the miracle of transformation that occurred in Paul’s life. Because of this supposed transformation, the Lord gave the apostle a new name. The preacher associated salvation with a