On Sunday we heard the story of Stephen, the first martyr (Acts 7:54-60). We went so far as to call it “Stephen Sunday.” “They waxed valiant in fight” (Heb. 11:34). By Richard Wurmbrand Listen to the story of a hero of the faith. His name was Florea. He died in the prison of Gherla (Romania). […]
If you answered, “Jesus wept” (John 11:35), you got one of them. The question needs to be changed to: What are the shortest verses in the Bible? That’s because 1 Thessalonians 5:16 reads, “Rejoice always.” Also two words. So there is a two-way tie for the Bible’s shortest verse! Now isn’t it something that the […]
March 25 should be considered a great holy and happy day! Called “Annunciation” for the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, it comes nine months to the day before Christmas. If on Christmas we celebrate the birth of our Savior, on Annunciation we celebrate His conception. “Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary” […]
How would you like to be John 3:15? You’re right there all the time next to the great John 3:16. But nobody has you memorized from childhood. Nobody holds you up at a football game. You aren’t called “the Gospel in a nutshell.” How many sermons have been given on John 3:16? How many on […]
“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away” (Matt. 5:29). These words of Jesus move us to avoid temptations to sexual sin, many of which enter through the eye. Remove and resist visual stimuli that would appeal to a sinful heart. But the eleventh-century Archbishop of Bulgaria, Theophylact, […]
“Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage” (Ps. 84:5). Wanda was a pilgrim, but is a pilgrim no more. She died early this morning in Texas after a most courageous battle with cancer. She was 72. And I said to my mother who knew her well, “Her […]