A Study of 1 John 5:4-12 Introduction When I was in college, I was introduced to what was called the Victorious Christian Life. The idea was that God didn’t intend for His children to live defeated lives. We shouldn’t be overcome again and again by sexual sin, discouragement, greed, bitterness, and frustration. We shouldn’t have a Christianity that only comes alive on Sunday. We shouldn’t go around feeling Satan has the upper hand. We shouldn’t be useless or unproductive in the work. Instead, we can let Jesus Christ live His life and do His work through us by the power of the indwelling ..read more

1 John 5:1-5 When I was a child, we sometimes played a box game known as Mousetrap. As you rolled the dice, you were able to put together pieces of a contraption in which one piece would trigger another, causing a chain reaction that eventually sent the cage down on the mouse. We’re all fascinated with chain reactions, and now there are all kinds of elaborate chain reaction videos you can watch as well as books you can buy about building your own chain reaction machines. Well, the principle behind chain reactions is simply the principle of cause and effect. We sometimes see the spiritual equi ..read more

Luke 1:37 Hormoz Shariat, the “Billy Graham of Iran,” is at the forefront of a secret revival occurring in the underground church of Iran. Several years ago, a woman he calls “Dana” began calling into his program, very angry at him. Dina was a high-ranking official in Iran’s Female Secret Police, and she persecuted Christians. One day she called the program to tell Hormoz she and her bedridden mother were going to kill themselves. Dina had grown disillusioned with Iranian corruption, and she was discouraged because cancer was destroying her mother’s body. Hormoz responded, “Since you’re going ..read more

A Study of 1 John 4:7-21 Introduction: Three years before he died C. S. Lewis wrote a book called The Four Loves, based on a series of talks he had given over the radio. He pointed out something that has since been repeated many times but it still bears remembering. There are four primary Greek words for love. This is important to us because the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language.  The first word is Storge (pronounced store’-gay). This is the kind of natural affection people in a family normally feel for each other. It’s being very fond of someone because you are ..read more

What We Can Learn About Depression from the Saddest Psalm in the Bible A STUDY OF PSALM 88  Introduction: More than 300 million people worldwide battle medically-recognized depression, and according to the WHO it’s the leading cause of disability in the world. It affects women twice the rate of men; but depressed men are 4 times more likely to commit suicide. Depression-related diagnoses in America have soared the recent years, especially among young people. The American Journal of Psychiatry reports that children as young as 3 are battling clinical depression. In a br ..read more

A Study of 1 John 3:11-24 Introduction:  Somewhere along the way in your school experience when you studied Victorian Literature you probably read Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poems. In recent years, she’s been rediscovered by feminists and by political philosophers who have praised her. But we ought to remember she was first and foremost a follower of Jesus and an eager student of the Bible. She read the Bible both in Hebrew and Greek, and she made extensive notes in her personal Bibles. For example, in one of her notes in the margin of the book of Psalms, she noted how this particular ..read more

Now, let’s plunge into one of the most difficult passages in the writings of the apostle John. Read with me 1 John 3, from verse 3 to verse 10: Scripture: 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray ..read more

Before it’s lost, I want to honor the story of The Donelson Fellowship’s first pastor, because I owe him a lot! He paved the way for those of us who followed him. His name was Robert Owen, and his son Dennis helped me remember and record his story. Rev. Owen was born early in the 20th century to a farmer and his wife in Florida. Robert was the oldest of four boys. Their mother died when Robert was nine, and Robert’s father had to sell the farm to pay her medical bills. Mr. Owen was so distraught about loss of his wife and farm that he went out to the barn, fell on his face, and asked the Lord ..read more

Luke 1:5-7 Who begins reading a book with Chapter Two?  When you pick up a book—fiction or not—do you typically skip the first chapter and begin with the second? On a few occasions, I’ve read the first chapter and thrown the book away. But I don’t recall ever having started reading a book in chapter two. The first chapter typically gives us the setting and framework allowing us to follow the plot and the progress of the whole work. Why, then, do we begin the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2, that famous passage that says: Now it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caes ..read more

A Study of 1 John 2:28 – 3:3 Introduction Whenever you handle a set of papers, you’re probably going to come across one of the world’s greatest and most lowly inventions—a paper clip. It was invented by a Norwegian man who just twisted some wire together so it would secure papers. He never imagined that other people would come up with hundreds and hundreds of ways to use his paper clip. How many criminals have we seen on television or the movies who escaped because they picked their handcuffs with a paper clip? How many of us have hung Christmas ornaments on the tree with a paper clip? Or use ..read more