A thankful heart is a humble heart. As Pastor Vradenburgh noted, a proud heart is what makes us unthankful toward men and God. When we are proud and unthankful, God resists us and we forfeit many blessings of the indwelling Spirit. The Bible says, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” (James […]
The doctrine of substitutionary atonement through Jesus Christ makes manifest the immeasurable love of God. In 1 Peter 2:24, Peter says that “[Christ] his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.” Even without the familiar quotation “by whose stripes ye were healed” the connection to Isaiah’s prophetic crowning jewel is […]
It was a great privilege to spend Sunday morning meditating upon those marvelous words in Peter’s first epistle, “by [Christ’s] stripes ye were healed (1 Pet. 2:24).” Pastor Vradenburgh pointed out that the Greek word translated to “stripes” is not plural, but rather singular; literally “by whose stripe ─or wound─ ye were healed.” Since the […]
Jesus gave the connected parables of deliberating over potential construction and potential battle to make us pause and contemplate the cost of living a genuine Christian life (Luke 14:25-33). Our fleshly inclination is to make our own costless form of Christianity, but this compromise only leaves us with a form of godliness void of spiritual […]
The connected parables of the man setting about to build a tower and the king deliberating about whether or not to go to battle confront us with the high cost of discipleship (Luke 14:25-33). If we are to be true disciples─ followers of Jesus Christ (which the Bible assumes that all Christians are), then we must […]
In the parable of the great supper (Luke 14:12-24), a feast has been prepared and all that remains is for the guests to come and enjoy the meal. What a marvelous picture of our salvation! Time would fail us to describe our entrance into the brightness of this glorious peace, the deepening realizations of a […]
The parable of the great supper sets two extremes in our view, the extravagant grace of God and the wretched disregard of sinful man (Luke 14:12-24). God, the Master of the magnificent soul-feast of salvation, shows His grace not only in preparing the great supper, but also in sending His servants out into the world […]
In the parable of the great supper (Luke 14:12-24), Jesus provides us with direction for Christians disillusioned with seemingly futile evangelistic efforts. In the parable, a servant goes out to invite guests to a great supper only to meet with a series of irrational and petty excuses: “I have bought a piece of ground, and […]
Immediately following the parable of the exalted wedding guest, Jesus gave another parable with a similar theme, the parable of the great supper (Luke 14:12-24). Jesus, the Master Teacher, loaded this parable with rich application both for the lost who refuse to come to the feast of salvation and to the saved who have become […]
In the parable of the exalted wedding guests, all of the guests were vying for the most honorable seats. In contrast, Jesus, who was the most honorable of all, did not strive for the high place. Rather, he taught his disciples to take the lowly place and to leave the matter of honor to God. […]
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