Dr Paul Allen

Luke 2:  “Glory to God in the highest,  and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” (Luke 2:14–15) “And [Simeon] came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,  according to your word;  for my eyes have seen your salvation  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,  a light for revelation to the Gentiles,  and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:27–32) Rather than bringing fear, which is the appropriate response to seeing the glory and greatness of God, the gospel (the “good news”) is described by the angels as “great joy that will be for al...

 Romans 5 Therefore, since faith has justified us, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Rom. 5:1–5) What would you say if someone asked you to explain God’s justifying grace?  It is hard to comprehend the riches that are ours because of the justifying work of Jesus. Paul tells us in Romans 5 what we possess because of Christ’s perfectly righteous life, his anger-satisfying death, and his victorious resurrection: To be justified by faith means: 1. We have peace with God. May we never devalue these words? It is a miracle of grace that we who were bo...

  Who is Luke and why is he important? Luke was acquainted with and traveled with the apostle  Paul . Not only did Luke travel with Paul outside the land of Israel, he also visited Israel and may have become personally acquainted with members of Jesus’s family, including his mother Mary and his brother James. Between them, Luke and Paul wrote more than half of the New Testament. This makes Luke hugely important for Christianity. Where does the Bible refer to Luke? Luke’s name appears three times in the Bible. All three occur in the New Testament, and all three are found in letters written by Paul ( Col 4:14 ;  2 Tim 4:11 ; Phil 24). In  Colossians 4:14 , Paul refers to Luke as “the beloved physician.” In  Philemon 24 , Luke is listed along with Mark, Aristarchus, and Demas among the apostle’s “fellow workers.” Both of these references occur in what we know as Paul’s Prison Letters, for they were written while the apostle was detained either in Caesarea Maritima,...

This article is the first of twelve to serve as an overview of the great “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. In this introductory article, I would like to address the question, “What is faith?” It might seem like this little word, faith, so familiar to every Christian, would be easy to define. It occurs all over the Bible; various forms are used nearly one hundred times in the gospel of John alone. But what is faith? Often, Hebrews 11:1 is cited as a definition of faith. The ESV reads, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Though this might sound like a definition of faith, New Testament scholar J. Gresham Machen is likely correct when he says that Hebrews 11:1 gives us more of a description of faith than a definition of faith.1 In the New Testament, faith is often referred to as the subjective means by which the people of God receive the Word and blessings of God. But it is also used to describe the content of what God has revealed in His Word...

Your darkness can one day bring someone light. A person who’s been through a divorce has the compassion and words needed to help somebody going through a divorce. A person who’s been through abuse, rape, or an addiction can truly understand how to help someone else in a similar situation. And because you made it, God will cause your wounds to glow in the dark of somebody else’s life. And when you begin to share your story with them, hope will get in their soul, and they will start to believe that they can make it.   Don’t waste what you’ve gone through or allow it to make you bitter. If God lets you walk through it, it’s because He’s still God, and He has a plan. On five different occasions, the Apostle Paul was beaten with 39 stripes. That’s 195 scars on his body. Paul said, “Three times I was beaten with rods. One time, I was stoned and left for dead. Three times, I suffered shipwrecks. I knew what it was to be afloat in the ocean a full day and a full night. I thought I wou...

Transgenderism is such a new concept that the 1973 Oxford English Dictionary that sits open on my desk has no entry. According to etymonline.com, the word came into existence in 1974 as an adjective referring to “persons whose sense of personal identity does not correspond with their anatomical sex.” This word combines two older words. The first is “trans,” derived from part of a Latin verb that means to bring across or over, to transfer, cause to cross, extend across, or convert.  The second is “gender,” derived from the French word for genre and the Latin word for genus, meaning kind, sort, or class. “Transgendered” became “transgender” after 2015 to indicate the new idea: that transgenderism is ontological, or something true of a person’s very essence.  Today, the psychological condition where a person feels like their personal identity does not match their anatomical sex is called gender dysphoria. And there is a strong push in our culture to agree with the transgendered m...

IF YOU LIVE A COMMITTED CHRISTIAN LIFE BUT NEVER SHARE THE GOSPEL VERBALLY, THEN HOW DOES YOUR NON-CHRISTIAN NEIGHBOUR KNOW THE SOURCE OF YOUR HOPE? CONVERSELY, IF YOU COMMUNICATE THE GOSPEL VERBALLY BUT ARE A COMPLETE JERK IN THE PROCESS, THEN THOSE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE MAY WELL FALL ON DEAF EARS. By Timothy K. Beougher Bible-believing Christians know they are called to be Christ’s witnesses (Acts 1:8) and to commit their lives to making disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18–20). But some Christians have never begun the exciting adventure of sharing their faith, while others may witness it sporadically but not consistently. How can believers cultivate a Great Commission lifestyle? In this article, I share advice for cultivating and maintaining evangelism as a way of life. The Importance of Verbal Proclamation Evangelism is not “mere presence.” We often hear that faulty perspective expressed today. Individuals declare, “I’m just going to witness with my life and let my life do the talk...