Blog entries tagged Theology

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1. Christmas IQ Quiz

How well do you know the Christmas story?

2. Take My Galatians Course Online for FREE

My course on Galatians is now online. For the last 15 years, I have been teaching Galatians at Word of Life Bible Institute in New York. This year they brought in a professional video team to record my lectures so they could create the first online course from the Bible Institute. The entire course (including class notes […]

3. Fill My Cup, Lord

Yesterday I posted my latest revision of a sermon called How Can I Be Filled With the Holy Spirit? This is actually the third version of a sermon that I first preached over 40 years ago. The topic seems even more important to me today than it did when I was younger. As I roll […]

4. Five “Generations” Display God’s Faithfulness

Though we come and go, God remains forever.

5. No Unfinished Business

When a man dies young, we naturally think of what might have been.

6. Michael Bloomberg is Clueless

Evidently you can be extremely rich and totally clueless.

7. How Can I Get Assurance of Salvation?

Look to yourself and be disappointed. Look to Christ and be saved.

8. Sorry Don’t Feed the Bulldog

Being sorry isn’t enough.

9. Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven?

If there is some other way to heaven, why did Christ die on the cross?

10. How Big is Your God?

Good theology solves a lot of problems.

11. Are You Satisfied With God?

If any man ever had a right to be bitter, it was Joseph.

12. Death Reigns

There is a way to overcome the reign of death.

13. Our Fickleness, His Faithfulness

“Great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:23b). This is the text that led Thomas Obadiah Chisholm to write the poem that became a beloved hymn sung on every continent. Here’s a simple way to bring its truth into focus …Great is our fickleness … Great is thy faithfulness.We may grow weary … but our God canno…

14. Secret Doubts vs. God’s Promises

Many Christians secretly doubt their salvation because they do not feel like they are good enough Christians to get into heaven. But going to heaven has nothing to do with being “good enough” since none of us ever qualifies. In John 10:28 Jesus said of his followers, “I give them eternal life.” And in 1 John 5:13 we are...

15. “He Got Out!”

One little boy couldn’t wait for the end of the story.

16. Focus on the Gospel

A friend wrote me saying that he had been asked to give a course on evangelism and wanted any ideas I might have. Here is what I wrote back to him:Focus on the gospel, not on technique. Too many evangelism courses focus on saying specific sentences and on how to “close the deal.” I think that matters but it’s not the main thing. M...

17. When a Loved One Dies

A few months ago I wrote to a friend not long before her father died. Over the years she had shared her faith with him, but she had no assurance that he knew the Lord. Her dilemma raised an important question. What should we say when a loved one dies and we are not sure about their ultimate destination? Here is an edited version of what I wrot...

18. Time to Wait on the Lord

Psalm 37 contains some of the most precious promises in the Word of God. But those promises coexist with some straight talk about the existence of evildoers. These words written 3000 years ago perfectly describe life in the 21st century. How should we bring together the blunt talk and the promises of God? Four considerations will help us.1. Ev...

19. Good News About the Bad Guys

In Psalm 37 David presents a very realistic view of the eventual destiny of all evildoers:1. They will soon wither like the grass (v. 2).2. They will be cut off (v. 9).3. They will disappear from the earth (v. 10).4. They will face a day of certain judgment (v. 13).5. They will be brought down by their own devices (v. 15).6. Their power will be utt...

20. Bad News About the Bad Guys

Recently while reading through Psalm 37, I was struck by how frank David is about the evildoers in the world:1. They do wrong (v. 1).2. They often succeed in their wicked schemes (v. 7).3. They plot against the righteous (v. 12).4. They attack the poor and needy (v. 14).5. They are often wealthy and powerful (v. 16-17).6. They borrow and do not rep...

21. Is the Sinner’s Prayer Required for Salvation?

The answer is no.We are not saved by saying particular words or by praying a particular prayer. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. When we trust in Jesus, we are saved on the basis of his death and resurrection. Salvation comes as we gladly welcome the Good News that Christ has paid the debt we owed so that salvation i...

22. Cannon Beach Q & A, Part 1

Last week I spoke at Cannon Beach Conference Center in Cannon Beach, Oregon. On Friday morning we had a question and answer session based on questions we had received from the audience. During the Q&A time Timothy Greenidge served as moderator. This turned out to be one of the best sessions of the week. Over the next several days I will...

23. “I Struggle With Assurance of Salvation”

Someone recently turned in this question: I’ve struggled with assurance of salvation for years. Could it be that I’m not one of the Elect? Here is my answer:The short answer to your question is that your struggles are proof of the opposite, that you are indeed a child of God. A truly lost person has no desire to know the Lord and would h...

24. Pastor Ray’s Circumcision Talk

This morning I give the final two lectures on the book of Galatians. I started this journey on Tuesday morning with 300 very eager students at Word of Life Bible Institute in Pottersville, New York. I’ve been teaching Galatians for ten years, and each time I face the same challenge. Even though Galatians is amazingly contemporary, I have sp...

25. A Visit to the Taj

If you ever have a chance, you should visit the Taj Mahal.It fully deserves its reputation as one of the wonders of the world. Built as a mausoleum by grief-stricken Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in honor of his third wife, the Taj took 20,000 men 22 years to build. Except for the Shah’s tomb, which was added later, everything in the Taj is perfe...