Dr Paul Allen

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” ( John 9:4 ) It is striking how often the Lord Jesus used the term “must” in connection with the different aspects of the work He came to do. Since He is our example, we also must be serious and urgent about our Father’s work. Even as a boy in the temple, He told His parents, “I must be about my Father’s business” ( Luke 2:49 ). Then early in His ministry , as He went from place to place, He said, “I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent” ( Luke 4:43 ). Toward the end of His earthly ministry, He said one day, “I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem ” ( Luke 13:33 ). He also said to His disciples that “he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day” ( Matthew 16:21 ). He ha...

No. 17 Scenes from the Life of Christ: 1. Nativity: Birth of Jesus (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Ephesians 2:1–10 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ ” (vv. 4–5). It is common for Christians to equate the new birth , or regeneration , with the new life in Christ that God provides to all who believe. Because of the way the Gospel is taught in many churches, it is easy to think that regeneration is something that happens when we first confess Jesus as our Savior. We are accustomed to making the moment at which we are born again and the moment at which we repent and believe one and the same. However, while we cannot usually distinguish the point at which the Holy Spirit changes our hearts from the point at which we come to Christ, it must be noted that regeneration always takes place before we exercise faith. Our new life — our love for an...

Jesus  (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God .” [ Luke 9:62] As the Lord and his disciples traveled to Jerusalem a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go” (Luke 9:57). How often we have heard and made such professions. It is easy to make promises in the flush of joy and enthusiasm, but not so easy to keep them in difficult times. Jesus sobered this man by saying, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” In other words, “If you want to follow Jesus you must leave behind earthly security.” Then Jesus invited another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” If this man’s father were already dead he would probably have been at the house mourning; more likely he meant his father was near death. Jesus answers with one of his most difficult sayings: “Let the dead...

English: An etching by Jan Luyken illustrating Matthew 13:44 in the Bowyer Bible, Bolton, England. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Jesus told a story of a man who accidentally unearthed a box of treasure in a field. It didn’t take him long to decide what to do next.  He saw that this treasure was worth far more than anything else he owned. So, full of joy, he invested all he had for the sure promise of much more to come (Matthew 13:44).  In the fields of our lives, God’s Word is a great treasure. As we read it, we unearth priceless truth, new joy, and wonderful promises. Related articles The Pearl of great price! (everythingpointstochrist.blogspot.com) The Hidden Treasure (justhappeneduponthis.wordpress.com) Changed (transformergirl.com) How much is it worth to me? (mww1954.wordpress.com) A Treasure Hidden In A Field (thesimplerlifeblog.wordpress.com) Weekly Meeting: Treasuring Jesus (wildwoodadventure.wordpress.com) Where Is Your Treasure? (theheartofth...

Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Romans 10:15 “How are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” ( v. 15 ). Evangelism is the term we use to refer to the preaching of the Gospel . It comes from the same Greek word for gospel (euangelion) and means, literally, “gospeling.” When we evangelize we are “gospeling” — we are spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ . Evangelism is one way in which we can fulfill Christ ’s call to be His witnesses ( Acts 1:8 ). In biblical categories, witnessing involves making visible what is otherwise invisible. The reality to which we bear witness is the invisible kingdom of God , and in witnessing we strive to make the Lord’s reign visibly manifest. Among the many ways we can bear witness to Jesus is through loving our fellow believers. We reveal to the world that we belong to our Savi...

John Calvin (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 5:1–3 “ Blessed are the poor in spirit , for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” ( v. 3 ). Some people try to separate the Sermon on the Mount from the person who preached it. They then try to apply it to all men — non-believers as much as believers. But it is not a treatise on social ethics. Certainly, the sermon has bearing on our relationship to society, but it cannot be divorced from allegiance to Christ ( Matt. 5:11 ). Above all, the sermon describes life in God’s kingdom , that place where God ’s people embrace His rule. It is given to Jesus ’ disciples ( v. 1 ), making it a guide for life in the believing community — the church. John Calvin alludes to this truth, commenting that the Sermon on the Mount collects “the leading points of the doctrine of Christ” relating “to a devout and holy life.” Jesus does not present the material in this sermon only on this one occasion, for as an itinerant preacher He repeats the same basic...

Entry into Jerusalem from the large cycle in the Scrovegni Chapel by Giotto, c. 1266. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." ( John 9:4 ) It is striking how often the Lord Jesus used the term "must" in connection with the different aspects of the work He came to do. Since He is our example, we also must be serious and urgent about our Father's work. Even as a boy in the temple He told His parents, "I must be about my Father's business" ( Luke 2:49 ). Then early in His ministry , as He went from place to place, He said, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent" ( Luke 4:43 ). Toward the end of His earthly ministry, He said one day, "I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem " ( Luke 13:33 ). He also said to His disciples th...

Liturgy of Saint James. Russian Orthodox Church in Duesseldorf. The Gifts (Bread and Wine) prepared during the Liturgy of Preparation before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Mark 14:22–25 “And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body’” ( v. 22 ). Along with the past and future aspects of the Lord’s Supper , most Christians have recognized that something happens in the present whenever we partake of the sacrament. Some believers hold that the Lord’s Supper is merely past-oriented, only an opportunity to remember Christ ’s death. Those theological traditions with the most adherents, however, all believe that Jesus is uniquely present in time and in space when the Lord’s Supper is celebrated. Yet it is at this point that unity on this subject ceases, for while most Christians affirm the presence of Christ in the sacrament, there is precious little agreement as to how He...

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Luke 22:24–30 “I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel ” ( vv. 29–30 ). As a memorial meal the Lord’s Supper recalls a past event — the death of Jesus for the sake of His people. Yet this sacrament is not solely an event that has a past focus; rather, there is an experience in the present and an anticipation of the future every time we partake of the bread and the wine. It is the future aspect of the Lord’s Supper that will be the focus of our study today. Our Savior alludes to this future-oriented facet of the Lord’s Supper in Luke 22:18 when He tells the disciples that He will not drink of the fruit of the vine again “until the kingdom of God comes.” This presupposes a time to come when our Lord will no longer abstain from the wine. Today’s passage more clearly depicts the occasion on which Chri...

Jesus in Pray (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Only prayers that are consistent with God 's character and focus on advancing God's kingdom can truly be called "big." The Bible provides many examples of big prayers. In response to big prayers, God delivered His people from the dreaded Assyrians ( 2 Kings 19:14–37). The restoration of the people of God from the Babylonian captivity was an answer to big prayers (see Jer. 29:10–14; 50:4–5; Dan. 9; Ezra 8:21; Neh. 1:4–11; 4:4–5; 9:1–38). Samson, in his weakness, received strength to pull down Dagon's temple through big prayer ( Judg. 16:28–30). In answer to big prayers, God gave the greatest outpouring of the Spirit on the church in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14). Jesus prayed big prayers. Some would say that our Lord's High Priestly Prayer in John 17 was His biggest prayer. In this prayer, He asked that His people would be kept from the evil one (v. 15), that they might become one (v. 21), an...

English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The gospel of Luke ends with a supremely jarring statement: "Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God " (24:50–53). What is jarring about this passage is, as Luke reports the departure of Jesus from this world, the response of His disciples was to return to Jerusalem with "great joy." What about Jesus' departure would instill in His disciples an emotion of sheer elation? This question is made all the more puzzling when we consider the emotions the disciples displayed when Jesus earlier had told them that His departure would come soon. At that time, the idea that their Lord would leave their presence provoked in them a spirit of pr...

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church  The mission of the church is eternal. Its origin is in eternity and its destination is eternity. God 's plan of redemption for this fallen world was not an afterthought or an expression of a plan B. Rather, before the world was even created, in all eternity God the Father , God the Son and God the Holy Spirit had a covenant among themselves that we call the Covenant of Redemption . It was God's eternal design in eternity to manifest His plan of redemption and the creation of His church . The Father from eternity agreed to send the second person of the Trinity, the Son, into the world to accomplish this plan of redemption. Together, the Father and the Son agreed to send the Holy Spirit to apply the accomplished work of redemption to God's people. So the mission of the church begins with the mission of the second person of the Trinity. A mission involves a sending. The Father sends the Son into the world in ...