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

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 Ken Yates Introduction The 1995 Chicago Bulls were quite a team. They were a historically successful team. Not only did they win the NBA championship, but they did something no other team had done during the regular season. They won over seventy of their eighty-two games against the best competition in the world. They

By Art Farstadi “What a beautiful service!” is a comment you often hear after a fine public worship gathering. But we shouldn’t be dependent solely for our spiritual nourishment on weekly or bi-weekly services at church. We need “Christian” vitamins every day! It is appalling how many believers don’t follow the advice of the (true)

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 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,