Dr Paul Allen

There’s a section in department stores these days called “shapewear.” It’s in both women’s and men’s clothing. These stores are banking on our concern with the shape of our bodies and our willingness to invest in garments that promise to give us the shape we’re looking for. But when we read Paul’s letter to the church in Rome , we discover it’s not what is shaping our bodies that he is most concerned about. He’s concerned about what is shaping our perspective, our priorities, our pursuits, and our opinions . He writes: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God , what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:2) His words force us to ask ourselves:   What external forces are shaping my internal dialogue about what matters?  What pressures me to make the choices I am making about how I spend my money, my time, and my energies?  Am I self-aware enough to know? Eve...

Christianity is a religion of joy. Real joy comes from God , who has invaded us, conquered us, and liberated us from eternal death and sadness —who has given us hope and joy because He has poured out His love within our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us (Rom. 5:5). Joy comes from God, not from within. When we look within, we just get sad. We have joy only when we look outside ourselves to Christ . Without Christ, joy is not only hard to find, it’s impossible to find. The world desperately seeks joy, but in all the wrong places. However, our joy comes because Christ sought us, found us, and keeps us. We cannot have joy apart from Christ, because it doesn’t exist. Joy is not something we can conjure up. Joy isn’t the absence of sadness—it’s the presence of the Holy Spirit. And although the Holy Spirit produces joy within us, He often does so by humbling us so that we would take our eyes off ourselves and fix our eyes on Christ. Real joy exists even amid real sadness, an...

Jesus had enemies. As soon as he’s declared Son of God in the Gospel of Mark , he’s driven into the wilderness to face Satan , his first and greatest adversary (Mark  1:12 ). Satan lurks behind all opposition to Jesus, and his demons show up repeatedly to entice and corrupt, but surprisingly, his henchmen are more often theologians than demons. Satan is mentioned only five times in Mark, and demons only thirteen times. But the scribes and Pharisees are mentioned 29 times, and in 27 of those verses, they are wielding their knowledge of the Scriptures in opposition to the Christ . When Jesus told his disciples how he would die, he didn’t blame the evil ruler of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4), but the rulers of his own chosen people, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over  to the chief priests and the scribes , and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog...

John 6 records two eventful days in the incarnate life of Jesus Christ . The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand occurred on the first day. That day also ended with another miracle, that of Jesus walking on the water . The second day was a bit different. This day was filled with teaching, and it was teaching that was not well received by the great crowds. Jesus stood before this crowd and identified Himself as the bread of life and as the exclusive way to His Father (John 6:35-40). The crowd was not buying it. They responded "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?" (John  6:42 ). Jesus declared Himself to be one thing. The crowds decided that He was another. By the end of this second day, those great crowds had dwindled.  The hard sayings were too much, and Jesus was left with the twelve . So He put the question to them. Do you, the twelve, want to leave (6:67)? Peter spoke for the group. There is nowhere else for us to ...

Two Biblical Promises Concerning Healing     1.      Isaiah 35 It is widely argued that the description in Isa. 35 is of conditions that will prevail in the Messianic age to come. Premillennialists place the fulfillment of this text in the 1,000 year reign of Christ upon the earth following his second coming. Amillennialists believe it will be fulfilled in the New Heaven and New Earth of Rev. 21–22.  What is important to note, however, is that Jesus appealed to this passage as proof that He was the Messiah and that the Kingdom of God had come in his ministry.     In Matthew 11 we read about the doubt that entered the mind of John the Baptist following his arrest and imprisonment. He sent word to Jesus with one question: “Are you the expected one or should we look for someone else?” (v. 3). Jesus answered by appealing to both Isa. 35 and 61. The fact that now, through the ministry of Jesus, the blind receive sight and the lame walk ...

This Soviet war poster conveys the message: "Don't chatter! Gossiping borders on treason" (1941). (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Some girl they all know can’t keep a job. Another common friend is always complaining about everything. One of the girls’ boyfriends is selfish, and his mother makes Jezebel look like the Proverbs 31 woman. They have probably talked about over a dozen people whom, if they were standing here in my place, would be in a puddle of tears. It is grossing me out. But now I’m thinking about my conversations over the past weeks and suddenly I’m grossed out with myself. Gossip is seen as inevitable in our day and age. People are so bored with their own lives that they must talk about everyone else in order to have a conversation that lasts longer than 5 minutes. TV shows, Magazines and blogs use the word in their title as a positive. Gossip is something that we all struggle with, but it is something we must fight as hard as the sins we deem unaccepta...

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) As the Word is preached, the Spirit of God must be powerfully at work in the life of the preacher . The Holy Spirit must be sharpening the focus of the preacher to more carefully understand the truth that he is preaching . His work of illumination and enlightenment must be accelerated as the preacher stands before an open Bible . In addition, the Holy Spirit must be deepening the convictions of the expositor. He must be persuaded of the veracity of his passage with greater intensity. This, too, is a work ...

At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, . . . and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father . – Philippians   2:10 –11 – The wonderful hymn of Christ ’s humiliation and exaltation reaches its climax in these verses. Paul has said that the Father exalted Jesus and bestowed on Him  the name . He’s said it was the name which is above  every  name. And here he says that  at  that name—which is better rendered:  in honor  of that name—every knee is going to bow. So what’s the name? Jesus has a lot of names. Is it: Son of Man? Son of God ? The Alpha and Omega? The First and the Last? The Faithful and True? The Beloved Son in whom the Father is well-pleased? Is it Christ? The Messiah? Is it the long-awaited prophet? Is it our Great High Priest? Is it the King of kings? Finally, the almost unbearable suspense is broken, and the Apostle Paul tells us that every knee will bow and every tongue will ...