By Bob Wilkin It has long been thought that when the thief on the cross said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42) that he was asking for everlasting life. But does that really make sense? The expression “remember me when” is only found once in the NT, that

By Marcia Hornok Wherever the Patriarchs had a significant encounter with God, they gave that place a name. Some of the names are familiar, such as Jacob’s naming of Bethel (= house of God) after his dream of a ladder (Gen 28:10-22), or his naming of Peniel (= face of God) after his wrestling match

By Shawn Lazar My good friend, Dr. Steve Lewis, President of Rocky Mountain Seminary, recently told me of an easy way to evangelize and I tried it out on a plane ride back from Portland. Here’s how it works. First, you have to meet someone who professes to believe in Jesus, or who goes to

By Zane C. Hodges Sorcery in Samaria 8:9-11. But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city. Samaria and Jerusalem are to be contrasted in that, despite her rebellion and unbelief, Jerusalem was not afflicted with superstitious adherence to sorcery (cf. John 4:22). In ignorant religion, superstition and magic

By H. A. Ironside …Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission

By Steve Dehner Jesus possessed a genius for powerfully communicating truth to everyone. He used the language, customs, and everyday realities of his listeners’ lives in his teaching. Jesus and the apostles shaped their message in a way that would be understood by a culturally, ethnically, and religiously diverse world. In our day and age,

By Allen Rea The sixth of February is always a difficult day for me. On that day, during my freshman year of college, I was riding with a car full of friends to a local restaurant when a drunk driver hit us head-on. There were five of us in the car, and two more in

By Bill Fiess with Pam Esteven The Victors Revelation 2-3 contain Jesus’ letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. These letters are filled with our Lord’s expectations for His people and are rich in rewards teaching. He repeatedly uses the Greek term ho nikōn (literally, “the one overcoming, the victor”) in these seven letters. Each

By Bryan Threlkeld A Cry of Dereliction One of the most challenging statements in Scripture was uttered by our Lord Jesus Christ while hanging on the cross. It’s sometimes known as the Cry of Dereliction. I want to take us back to that Friday afternoon some 2000 years ago and talk about this. In Matt

By Ken Yates USOM. My guess is that these four letters mean absolutely nothing to anybody reading this magazine. But they mean a great deal to me, even though I don’t know what the letters stand for. USOM was the name of the very small military installation I lived on when I lived in Pusan,

By Bob Wilkin Yesterday I received a call from a pastor friend in Nebraska. Someone who attended his church took exception to him referring to believers as sinners. The man said, “Believers are saints, not sinners.” Evidently the man was coming from a Calvinist tradition. He thought that believers cannot stray very far or for

By Staff Q: I am a Christian who has struggled with three texts: the blasphemy against the Spirit texts, Hebrews 6, and Hebrews 10. Regarding the blasphemy verses, they seem to teach that a person could utter blasphemy against the Spirit, repent, and then the Lord would choose not to save him/her. I’m not sure