Posts by Gene (Page 7)

Posts by Gene (Page 7)

“The Incompatibility of Light and Darkness”

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes…

Doing Injury to the Gospel

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. These glorious words promise an exuberant, forever-life to all who put their faith in God’s Son, Jesus. These are precious words – each one is vital and full of meaning. And they need to be protected too because they have received more…

Considering the New Birth

Nothing could be more important to us than understanding Jesus’ words to Nicodemus! “Truly, truly, I say to you,” Jesus said, “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Truly, truly, I say to you,” Jesus said, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again,’”…

Still Cleansing the Temple

Dear Church, this morning I’m re-posting an article by Jack Wellman, pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane, Kansas. Pastor Wellman does a nice job here of succinctly weaving together a number of important details that help explain our Lord’s cleansing of the Temple. His view, which is perhaps the majority view, is that there were two cleansings of the Temple –…

Wine & The Kingdom

It’s the first or the ‘beginning’ of the signs Jesus performed in the Gospel of John. There are seven of them. Frederick Bruner translates the passage this way: “Now on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Both Jesus and his disciples had been invited to the wedding, too. And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus…

The Gate of Heaven

They are among the most fascinating and enigmatic of the Bible’s prophecies: A ladder reaching to Heaven and touching the earth with a multitude of ascending and descending angels; Heaven opened so that God might come down to us and that sinners might arise to Him; One like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of Heaven to stand before the Ancient of Days to receive a…

Be An Andrew!

Andrew is a bit of mysterious figure, unfortunately often lost in the shadow of his larger-than-life brother. We know something about him from the New Testament (all of which is true) and something about him from Church tradition (some of which may be true). However, the picture of Andrew that does emerge from Scripture is altogether lovely and challenging to us as 21st…

The ‘Greatest’ Doubter Who Ever Lived?

John the Baptist is clearly among the most remarkable people who have ever lived.  He was Jesus’ forerunner, preparing the sinners to repent and receive their Messiah. John’s portrait of John the Baptist is quite different from that of the other three gospel writers. We don’t read about how he dressed or what he ate in the Gospel of John. We don’t find him calling folks…

The Word Became Flesh and ‘Tabernacled’ Among Us

John likes symbolism, as even a surface reading of the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ will readily show. But John’s Gospel has its allusions and symbols too. One of these we find in the jaw-dropping declaration of John 1:14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen…

A New Creation, A New Garden

“In the beginning was the Word,” is the sublime opening sentence of John’s Gospel. Like the beautiful, yet anxious, faint opening notes of Beethoven’s Ninth symphony, they can barely hold themselves back from the glorious explosion of sound that looms just ahead! “The Word was with God” and “God was the Word” and the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us”: there’s the…

A Bigger Jesus: Introducing the Gospel of John

Last month (April 27, 2019) my wife Mary and I – along with our grandchildren Jacob and Bella – witnessed the most significant event to occur in Somerset Massachusetts in the last hundred years: the great Brayton Point Cooling Towers implosion. At last, the two uber-ugly cooling towers that had so…

Does Less = More?

We all know the feeling. We’re driving down the road and a red ‘dummy’ light illuminates the dashboard. It looks like a child’s drawing of an engine. Fun! So, you call your mechanic; ‘Bring it in,’ he says. Hours later the diagnosis comes: the phenobus has popped out of the whiz-a-ma-gig and, obviously, that means replacing all the fernuthin buttons as well. ‘That’ll be…

Ten Distractions to Watch Out For!

This week we’re thinking about things that can keep us from experiencing the “newness of life” which the Apostle Paul says belongs to us as those who have died, been buried and are now risen with Christ (Romans 6:1-4). Of course, since any sin causes us to break fellowship with God (1 John 1:6), tempting believers to sin is always one of the enemy’s go-to strategies. But…

Resurrection Sunday

HE IS RISEN! “Why do you seek the living among the dead?                                                             Luke 24:5b

Holy Saturday

Today is Holy Saturday. Our Lord’s body is in the tomb, but His soul is in the realm of the dead making a victorious proclamation. At last the saved dead – waiting since Adam – hear that their salvation has finally been perfected and rejoice at the news! Jesus said in John 5:25, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the…

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday – an exhausting day. While we remember it as the day that our Lord was crucified, it’s important to remember that the Jews reckoned the beginning of a new day at sundown. Therefore, Friday actually included all of the events of our Thursday evening: the Last Supper, Gethsemane, Judas’ kiss, the arrest of Jesus, Peter’s denial, the disciples’ fleeing,…