Dr Paul Allen

I believe that once a person is authentically redeemed, is truly in Christ , that person will never be lost to Christ. That person has what we call eternal security—not because of the person’s innate ability to persevere, but I believe that God promises to preserve His own and that we have the benefit of our Great High Priest who intercedes for us every day. Now, at the same time, Christians are capable of gross and heinous sin. They’re capable of very serious falls away from Christ. They’re capable of the worst kind of denial and betrayal of our Lord. Consider, for example, Exhibit A—the apostle Peter, who denied Jesus with cursing. He was so emphatic that he uttered profanities to underscore the fact that he never knew Jesus. If you talk about somebody who didn’t seem to want to repent and who had turned away from Jesus, Saint Peter is your classic example. Yet his fellow disciple Judas also betrayed Jesus and turned away from Him, and of course, both of the betrayals were pre

Magellan Blazer12 GPS Receiver. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Every man feels like he’s a good driver. But there is one maneuver that is challenging to perform, even for the most skilled driver: the U-turn . Most men will avoid this humiliating admission of fallibility at all costs, leading to some lengthy and circuitous routes as we choose providence over cartography to guide us to the elusive destination. The help-meet God gave male drivers is the GPS navigation system . It’s a cool gadget which tricks our egos into believing it’s manly to listen to a British woman tell us when and where we need to turn. Ever been driving and got lost? But I dutifully activated my GPS , just to be safe. The lady’s voice confirmed that I was getting on the correct freeway; then she kept quiet for six hours, lulling me into a false sense of security. Suddenly she piped up that it was time to take the next exit. But what GPS lady did not realize was that by now I was in a part of the city which

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church h Wikipedia ) “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.” ( John 3:35 )   The gospel of John, in a special sense, emphasizes the love in the divine Trinity of the heavenly Father for the Son. The words “love” and “Father” and “Son” occur more in this book than in any other book of the Bible, and there are at least eight references to this love in John’s gospel .   The first is in our text above, revealin g th at the Father has entrusted the care of the whole creation to the Son whom He loves. He has also shown Him everything in creation: “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth” ( John 5:20 ).   The Father also loved the Son because of His willingness to die for lost sinners. “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again” ( John 10:17 ).   Then in the upper room, as Christ prayed to His Father, it was  

English: The Pentecost Mosaic, in the center is the dove of the Holy Spirit with the twelve apostles below. This is one of the oldest mosaics in the church dating from 1125 AD. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The operation of the Holy Spirit after the day of Pentecost differed from that which from that which the prophets in their official capacity enjoyed. The Holy Spirit came upon the prophets as a supernatural power and worked upon them from without. His action on them was frequently repeated but was not continuous. The distinction between His activity and the mental activity of the prophets themselves was made to stand out rather clearly. On the day of Pentecost, however, He took up His abode in the hearts of the apostles and began to work upon them from within.  Since He made their hearts His permanent abode, His action on them was no more intermittent but continuous, but even in their case the supernatural work of inspiration was limited to those occasions on which they

The capture of Christ (detail) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Not that we lord it over your faith . . .” 2 Corinthians 1:24 Second Corinthians is a book about ministry. Many commentators call it the fourth pastoral epistle , adding it to First and Second Timothy and Titus, because it focuses so much on the true character of Christian ministry . And it teaches us the lessons that it does by looking at the life of the Apostle Paul , the archetype of the minister of the Gospel . In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul explains why he had delayed coming to them after promising another visit. The false apostles were using his change of plans as fodder for slandering him (2 Cor1:15–17). But he affirms to the Corinthians that it was out of consideration for them; he postponed his visit in order to spare them the pain of judgment (2 Cor 1:23). But he knows that his opponents will seize on that confession of love and consideration, and twist it to suit their own ends. “It was to spare you that he didn’t co

To call the incarnation "relevant" almost sounds patronizing. But we need to recognize the intimate connection between this important doctrine and personal piety. It Opens Up Scripture Until we grasp that Christ is God-in-flesh, the Old Testament will remain a collection of stories about how men and women struggled with the call to faith. The incarnation helps us to see that the Old Testament sets the stage for God to once again live with man as He did in Eden. On every Old Testament page, God promises a human deliverer who is also stronger than Satan (Gen.  3:15 ); both a suffering servant and an anointed king. The reality of God-with-us is explained and applied throughout the rest of Scripture starting with Matthew. The New Testament is not simply a collection of ethical instruction, or even a commentary on the life of a certain Nazarene. It is the real-life story of what happened when God came to men that they might belong to Him. The New Testament is the a

We must avoid the idea, however, that in our Christian life our chief object is to perfect ourselves. We actually achieve more growth while in service. The saint (dedicated, consecrated one) is not the one who spends all his time in study, prayer, and devotion, important as that is.  The holy vessels in the tabernacle could not be used for ordinary purposes, but their separation from ordinary use is not what made them holy. They were not holy until they were actually used in the service of God. So the saint is the one who is not only separated from evil, but separated to God, sanctified and anointed for the Master’s use. This was symbolized in the Old Testament by the fact that the blood was first applied and the oil over the blood. Cleansing was thus followed by a symbolic anointing that represented the Spirit’s work in preparing for service. So we too are anointed, as were the prophets, kings, and priests of old (2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:20).2 The means and power for servi

Ruins of the synagogue in Capernaum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The view from Tiberias, Galilee, Israel, northward across the Sea of Galilee. The snowy peak in the distance is Mount Hermon. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The reason the geography of Israel is important is because of what it tells me about Jesus . You can see on the map towards the top is the Sea of Galilee . This is where Jesus lived, in a town called Capernaum .  The thing I want you to notice is how far down Jerusalem is from the Sea of Galilee on the map. In a car today, you can get from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem in little over 2 hours.  But in the time of Jesus, there weren’t any cars. And so to get there, you walked. This journey would typically take around 7 days. John 21 tells the event of Jesus appearing to the disciples at the Sea on Galilee after he had been crucified.  Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem. He was buried in Jerusalem. He came back to life in Jerusalem. And He appeared to