Dr Paul Allen

Dear Friend, Two thousand years ago, the Roman world suffered many of the same challenges we encounter today – oppression, racial hatred, lies, bitter divisions, and wrongs. Into that culture stepped the most amazing thing imaginable: the Creator of the universe. If you’re unfamiliar with Christianity, the story of the baby Jesus may seem sentimental and perhaps no more real than Santa Claus. But the Gospel of John tells the story from the cosmic perspective. He calls Jesus the “Logos”, the living Word: In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him, all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, which was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light that gave light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own...

As David looked out to the battlefield, there stood Goliath of Gath, the Philistine giant, defying Israel’s God. In David’s hands were a few small stones. Did anyone believe this shepherd boy could stand against a warrior like Goliath? As David walked onto the battlefield, he responded to Goliath with words meant to reassure Israel that they had a better champion than the Philistines. Did anyone believe these words? And who was the identity of this champion? The Lord God of Israel. All the assembly today will know, David said, that “the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Sam. 17:47). Israel needed to learn a profound lesson. They were absolutely helpless before Goliath. The lesson was never to be missed: You can’t win this battle, so the Lord must fight and win for you. Sadly, many Christians still haven’t learned this lesson. The most common interpretation of this passage places the responsibility squarely on us to slay the Goliaths in our lives. Some of the best-selling Christian books today p...

So Saul established his sovereignty over Israel , and fought against all his enemies on every side (1 Sam. 14:47a). In the concluding verses of 1 Samuel 14, we find a summary of Saul’s reign, or at least of his early years as king. Interestingly, the general tone of this summation is positive. Despite the fact that Samuel has told Saul he will not have a dynasty because of his unlawful sacrifice (13:9–14), Saul seems devoted to his duties as the commander of the armies of Israel. He “establishes his sovereignty over Israel,” we are told, meaning he draws the tribes of Israel together into a national unit capable of standing up to (or at least harassing) the other powers around the region. Furthermore, he builds Israel’s army by scouting out and drafting “any strong man or any valiant man,” just as Samuel had said the king would do (8:11). And Saul leads Israel in battle against many of its hostile neighbors, including Moab , Ammon, Edom, Zobah , Amalek , and, above all, the...

What child is this? Really? It’s Jesus, of course. We all know that — even the kids know that. When the disciples found themselves in a great windstorm, with waves breaking into the boat, and Jesus calmed the storm, they said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41). They knew the answer from Scripture. Only God himself can still the seas (Psalm 65:7; 89:9; 107:29); this, somehow, must be God. But it was too wonderful just to say. This new revelation of Jesus’s glory was too stupendous to keep quiet, and too remarkable not to say it in some fresh way. God himself had become man and was in the boat with them. “Who then is this?” It’s in a similar vein that we say at Christmas, “What child is this?” We know the answer. It has been plainly revealed. And it is almost too wonderful to be true. God himself has become man in this baby, and has come to rescue us. The eternal Word has become flesh and dwells among us (John 1:14). It is cle...

Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, painting by Rembrandt (1659) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen”  ( Deut. 18:15). A study of the names of Jesus will demonstrate that each name contains a variety of nuances and emphases that reflect the complexity of the God-man. The name “Savior” ultimately refers both to physical and spiritual salvation. The title “ Messiah ” that is given to Christ includes the Old Testament expectation the Messiah is to be a prophet. In the verse above we see the promise that God would raise up a prophet for Israel like the prophet Moses (Deut. 18:15). However, this new prophet would also be the Messiah who would save His people and empower them for new obedience. Since Jesus is Messiah, He is also this prophet. But we might be a bit confused when we read that Jesus would be a prophet like Moses. This is because most of ...

King Louie (Photo credit: Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton ) What does it mean to say that God is sovereign? The refrain has become so common, almost clichéd, in Reformed writing and preaching that it sometimes slips away from the reader or listener without lodging meaning in the mind. Worse, we typically hear the phrase to mean something it doesn't. When Christians affirm that "God is sovereign," they often mean "God is in control." Paul Tripp , for example, wrote in his excellent book Lost in the Middle that "God truly is sovereign . . . there is no situation, relationship, or circumstance that is not controlled by our heavenly Father." The problem is that the English word sovereignty does not mean control. The government is sovereign within its territory, but that doesn't mean the government controls everything within its borders or causes all that happens. If you look up sovereignty in the dictionary you'll not find control in the defi...

Who would think we would live to see the day when a black Mayor of the District of Columbia would use not only local but federal funds to ban a Grammy-award winning black pastor from performing at a concert in honor of Rev. King because — he believes and says that Christ liberated him from "the sin of homosexuality." Mayor Vincent Grey admits he made the decision to ban Donnie McClurkin from singing, in spite of a signed contract to do so, because gay activists consider him too controversial — calling him vile and claiming his performance would be at odds with the spirit of Dr. King . The Mayor's office tried to pretend it was a mutual decision, but Pastor McClurkin is not going to let the lie stand: The black churches in D.C. are up in arms, but they are not yet able to dislodge the new man-made moral law: "Thou shall affirm all things homosexual no matter what the Bible says."  Read their statement here. Breaking Down Intolerance With Love and Co...

Here we go again! A newly revealed piece of papyrus offers evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus was married, according to a Harvard Divinity School professor. A fourth-century codex in Coptic quotes Jesus referring to "my wife," Karen King , a scholar of early Christianity, said on Tuesday. It is the only extant text in which Jesus is explicitly portrayed as betrothed, according to King. King is calling the receipt-sized slip of papyrus " The Gospel of Jesus' Wife ." She believes it was originally written in Greek, and later translated into Coptic, an Egyptian language . The fragment says, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife...,'" according to King. The rest of the sentence is cut off. Another segment says, "As for me, I dwell with her in order to..." The speaker is not named. The fragment contains just 33 words spread across 14 incomplete lines—less a full-fledged gospel than an ancient crossword puzzle. ...

An image of Psalm 23 (King James' Version), frontispiece to the 1880 omnibus printing of The Sunday at Home. Scanned at 800 dpi. Français : Illustration du Psaume 23 (version autorisée par le roi Jacques), en frontispice de l'édition omnibus du Sunday at home. Version numérisée à 800 dpi. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." ( Luke 19:14 ) In this parable, the nobleman who had gone into a far country to receive his kingdom is a picture of Christ in the interim between His first and second comings. The "citizens" of His kingdom, however, refuse His Kingship . Nevertheless, He is the King, and when He returns, those "enemies, which would not that I should reign over them" ( v. 27 ) will be slain. How much better to accept Him now! The first title ascribed to Him was "King of the Jews" ( Matthew 2:2 ). Long before that, however, He was Kin...

Image via Wikipedia "And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched the top of the sceptre." ( Esther 5:2 )   Queen Esther knew she was risking her life when she came unbidden into the presence of the mighty king of Persia in his throne room . Even though she was his favorite wife, he did not know she was a Jew nor that she was hoping to get Haman's terrible order for genocide of the Jews reversed. She knew that it was a capital offense for even a queen to go into the throne room without authorization, and that only the king--by holding out to her his golden scepter--could save her life. But she also knew that she had "come to the kingdom for such a time as this," and so she said: "If I perish, I perish" ( 4:14, 16 ). The king, however, did extend his golden sceptre to her, and e...