Dr Paul Allen

  Read the Passage 25Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.33 So, therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he ...

Christ’s parables were never delivered in a vacuum. They were always provoked by the circumstances, discussions, and debates that surrounded Him. That kind of contextual background information is especially critical concerning the parable of the vineyard (Matthew 20:1–15). While the story itself delivers a profound lesson about the grace of God, we don’t feel the full weight of Christ’s words until we consider their immediate context.  Why did Jesus devise this parable? Our Lord gave this analogy primarily for the benefit of His twelve disciples immediately after His conversation with the rich young ruler. This young man of great wealth and influence had come to Jesus asking, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). He may have been fishing for praise because he clearly thought he had fulfilled every spiritual duty and that his life was well in order. He certainly looked like a promising evangelistic prospect. But rather than simply g...

Citius altius fortius (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) It’s a worldwide phenomenon . Every four years, the world pauses and holds its collective breath while the Olympic Games take place. Staggered so they occur two years apart, the summer and winter games feature the finest athletes in the world competing in well-known sports such as running, skiing, basketball, and gymnastics, as well as comparatively unknown events such as curling and the triple jump.  The athletes come from virtually every nation on the face of the earth, a vast, magnificent display of humanity in all its diversity: different skin colors, different languages, different dress styles, and different lifestyles. But despite their differences, these national representatives have much in common as they enter the stadium and gather under the Olympic banner with its five interlocking rings representing unity among the nations of Africa , the Americas , Asia , Australia , and Europe .  They all stand togethe...

Some Christians foolishly come to think of Jesus as a pal, whose main job is to keep us happy. One way of correcting this almost blasphemous conception is to remember the reaction of those who really recognized who Jesus was when He was on earth, namely the demons. They were terrified, and wanted Jesus to go away. “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me!” (Mark 5:7). “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” (Luke 8:31). These devils knew that Jesus could dispose of them with a word. Yet these were beings able to overpower a man and compel him to live in tombs, break chains, and cut himself with rocks. These were angelic creatures whose power is so great the Bible sometimes refers to them as “gods” (Ps. 82:1). And Satan’s more subtle modes pose far greater danger than the blatant ones, for he often goes unrecognized as he entices people to their destructions and blinds them to their own foolishness. Rea...

What you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. [Acts 17:23b] An understanding of the Old Testament is absolutely necessary to a full understanding of the person of Jesus Christ. Church culture breeds spurious “Christian” conversions because of its impoverished understanding of Scripture and its incessant appeal to emotions. You may have had a conversion experience, but be careful: You might know very little about the real Jesus and his saving love. What you consider a conversion experience may not be centered in the Christ of the Bible. Some are converted into a group with a particular lifestyle, a dynamic spirit, or an acceptance they feel lacking from others. Some are converted to friends, not Jesus. If you have read the entire New Testament but have never read the Old Testament, chances are that you know precious little of Jesus Christ. No matter how many times you approach the text asking the Holy Spirit to illumine your mind and heart—without studying...