Paradox is not a deficiency in Jesus’s teaching — it is a deliberate strategy. When truth stands on its head, it demands attention that straightforward assertion does not. The paradoxes of the New Testament are not puzzles for the uncommitted; they are invitations to the kind…
The first gospel sermon was preached to an audience that had more personal connection to the events of the gospel than any audience since. They were eyewitnesses or near-witnesses of the birth, the ministry, the crucifixion, and the reports of the resurrection. Peter preached by the…
Moses chose poorly by the world’s calculation — forfeiting wealth, honor, pleasure, and safety for suffering with a despised people. The results of that choice, measured from eternity, are the most spectacular biography in human history. The question the sermon presses is not what Moses chose…
Neglect is not the absence of wrong action — it is the presence of a sin. The man who knows his duty and does not do it has sinned; the church that knows its obligations and ignores them is guilty. The hearer who has heard the…
“Born of water and of the Spirit” is not a theological puzzle to be decoded — it is the single answer Jesus gives to the question of how to enter the kingdom. The theories that split it into two separate events either multiply births beyond what…
The third chapter of I Timothy governs the selection of the church’s leaders. The qualifications are not aspirational ideals — they are observable, verifiable criteria that a congregation can apply. A man who does not meet them should not hold office; a man who does is…
Chapters four and five of I Timothy are a preacher’s handbook: how to identify and resist false doctrine, how to invest personal time and energy, how to set an example in the right areas, how to handle reproof without offense, and how to care for widows…
Money is not evil; it is a rival. The person who lets money be a rival of God has lost the capacity to use money righteously. The person who keeps money in its proper place — a tool for supporting life, caring for others, and honoring…
This parable is usually preached for comfort — “even one talent is enough to be faithful” — and that comfort is real. But the outcome of the parable is not comfort; it is judgment. The one-talent man is the cautionary center, not a reassuring footnote. The…
James’s one sentence — “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:14) — contains within it both the greatest urgency and the most clarifying perspective…