Dr Paul Allen

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (vv. 1–2).- Hebrews 1:1–4 During the Protestant Reformation , people were looking for a word from God, just as they search for a word from Him today. The Reformers, including individuals such as Martin Luther and John Calvin , proclaimed that there is but one place to find special revelation —the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments . They asserted the doctrine of sola Scriptura : the only source of special revelation for the church today is the Bible; thus, the Bible is the only infallible authority for the church. Since God has provided special revelation to people in other forms such as dreams (Gen. 40), how do we know special revelation today is found nowhere else besides Scripture?   Hebrews 1:1-4 helps answer that question. God did speak to His ...

English: St. Matthew writing the Gospel with an angel holding the volume., an Islamic miniature c.1530 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 10:1–15 “These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, ‘Go…to the lost sheep of the house of Israel . And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (vv. 5–7). Before Matthew gives us the bulk of Christ ’s missionary discourse (10:5–42), he lists the twelve disciples who follow Jesus during His ministry in Israel. Scripture says little about most of these men, but what we do know explains Matthew’s ordering of their names (vv. 1–4). Peter is listed first because he is the most prominent of the twelve, the first to preach the Gospel after Pentecost (Acts 2:1–41) and the first apostle to see Gentiles converted (chap. 10). Judas’ later betrayal of the Lord earns him the last place in the group (Matt. 26:14–16). These twelve are those to whom Jesus first directs His call to ministry ...

In January of 2011, I had the joy of planting a church in Sherbrooke , Quebec . By God’s grace , in barely two years we grew from 100 to nearly 500, baptizing more than 100 people in that time. We experienced growth like I had never seen or heard of in my thirty years growing up in the evangelical church in Quebec, but our church was born out of a heritage of men and women willing to pay the price to reach the lost. Our sending church paid a heavy price when they sent out 100 people (30% of their members) with my wife and me to start this new church plant, and they are continuing to pay the price even three years later. But they do not regret it. They are seeing the lost being reached, and they themselves received a heritage of willingness to sacrifice whatever is needed to advance the gospel. The senior pastor at our sending church was in turn pastored by Lorne Heron, a missionary from English Canada who came to Quebec in the early 1950s to reach the French-speaking people of Que...

English: Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "He saith unto them, Come and see . They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour." ( John 1:39 ) This is the first of the gracious invitations of the Lord Jesus to "come" to Him. On this occasion, right after His baptism by John, He invited two potential disciples to come with Him to His dwelling place. Very likely, this was an outdoor mat somewhere, for He soon afterwards acknowledged that "the Son of man hath not where to lay his head" ( Matthew 8:20 ). Nevertheless, one night of abiding with Jesus changed their lives. Soon afterwards, He issued another invitation to them. "Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men " ( Mark 1:17 ), and they never went home again. First He invites us to come to see and know Him, then to come with Him to win others. There is also the wonderful invitation to come ...

"Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it… It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will." — Hebrews 2:1-4 Does the Reformation Church believe that miracles happen today?" If you want the simple answer, the answer is no. Today, you can go into a pastor's office and see a sign that says, "Expect a Miracle." But if you expect a miracle—if miracles are expectable—there's nothing miraculous about them. If they're ordinary then they carry no certifiable weight. It's by their extraordinary character that they have sign power: sign-ificance. If miracles are expectable—there's nothing miraculous about them. A Tight Definition of a Miracle Now of course when people ask, do I believe in miracles, they're asking one questi...

The capture of Christ (detail) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him." ( Matthew 4:19-20 ) It was not unusual for a man with a political cause or message to develop a following in the Israel of Jesus' day ( Acts 5:35-37 ). It was even common for a Jew to follow a religious "master," calling him Rabbi and becoming his disciple. But what made the disciples leave the lives they knew and follow Christ ? Perhaps they hoped He would lead a successful rebellion against Rome, but He had done nothing to make them think so. Nor had He promised them a life of luxury and ease, but rather hardship and hard work in their new occupation as "fishers of men." However, John the Baptist had prepared the way for the Lord. He had trained at least most, possibly all, of the men who would eventually become Jesus' disciples . "John stood, ...

Image via Wikipedia ‘What is the difference between an epistle and an apostle?’  ‘We have the Epistles, so we do not need Apostles .’ The argument is that one of the prime reasons for Christ appointing the apostles was so that the New Testament could be written, and once it was complete there was no further need for apostolic ministry.  Obviously it is true that the final truths of Scripture were committed to the first-generation church and have been preserved for us in what we know as the New Testament. Jesus said to his twelve apostles, ‘When he, the Spirit of truth , comes, he will guide you into all truth.’1  While that Scripture by extension means that we can all know the help of the Holy Spirit to understand the truths of Scripture, nevertheless its primary meaning was that the Holy Spirit would lead those original apostles into all truth – all the truth we need now for our instruction, correction and training, and which is contained in the New Testame...