Jim’s Blog

I drove past a prominent fitness facility recently and thought about the rush to membership that always accompanies the new year with its resolutions to get in shape. By February or March these born again fitness seekers will be supporting the facility with their year-long memberships but not participating. It is ever thus… Reminds me […]

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) Part Four But the common people, those illiterate, impressionable labourers, farmers, and shop-keepers, also had their say: “Could this be the Son of David?” (Mt. 12: 23) “A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy o me!’” (Mt. 15:22) Perhaps the ultimate declaration, […]

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) – Part Three This critical heritage was of huge import to later biblical writers. Listen to Peter, as he speaks to thousands in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:29-36: “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here […]

  I have very warm memories of Christmas past. As a child I wasn’t aware of my parents’ poverty. Dad pastored a small Saskatchewan church that provided little compensation. Our house was uninsulated with a dugout dirt basement. In winter we were always cold. And food was never plentiful. But I never heard complaints or […]

Jesus’ Ancestors (1:1-17) – Part 2 This emphasis on genealogical purity was even harsher when it came to the centuries-long Jewish expectation of a future messiah. His pedigree had to go back all the way to Abraham, and, more specifically, he had to be a “son of David”. This is why Matthew starts his genealogy […]

Jesus Ancestors (1:1-17) – Part 1 Nobody enjoys reading genealogies. That is, unless you’re a genealogist! The Bible has several, and most of us when confronted by one tend to roll our eyes and press the delete button. It seems irrelevant. But in Jesus’ day, genealogies were taken with great seriousness. A genealogy was see […]

I was studying a Greek textbook recently in researching Luke’s second volume, the book of Acts. I came across something I’d written in the margin of one of the pages- “Too much certainty can be a bad thing. There must be an element of mystery, a touch of the unknown, in all truth”. I was […]

Blaise Pascal’s “Pensees” is a proven classic. Even though he died at an early age his wisdom far exceeded his years. In the introduction to his “Thoughts” he wrote,”Before we examine the evidence of the truth of Christianity, I need to point out an inconsistency of those who are careless about the truth. Yet it […]

Key Verse: Matthew 8:34 “And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.” The driving out of the demons from the two demon possessed men in the region of the Gadarenes has always received a lot of comment, because it’s so spectacular. You know the story well. Jesus casts the demons […]