You have heard of a “one-hit wonder” in music. Have you heard of a “one-scene wonder” in movies? The term refers to a moving or memorable cameo appearance, even though it is not central to the plot. There are many “one-scene wonders” in the story of Jesus. None stand out as much as Simon of Cyrene. He is only mentioned in three verses in the Bible: Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, and Luke 23:26. All three verses record the same incident.  Simon enters the story out of nowhere.  His screentime is minimal with no callbacks.  Yet you can’t forget him as the story moves on without him.  It was Good Friday. The Jewish religious establishment and the Roman political machine condemned Jesus...

Charles Wesley wrote his brother, John, to report what a doctor told him: “Most people die for fear of dying, but I never met with such people as yours. None of them are afraid to die, but are calm, and patient, and resigned to the last.” John Wesley wore that statement as a badge of honor. When asked what set Methodists apart from other Christians, Wesley remarked, “Our people die well.”  We talk a lot about the Christian lifestyle.  We don’t talk about the Christian death style. Warren Wiersbe wrote: “We are not really prepared to live unless we are prepared to...

Acts 2 records the birthday of the church on the day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a holy feast observed fifty days after Passover. During Passover, Jesus was betrayed, condemned, and crucified. The pilgrims left Jerusalem with rumors swirling that his body was missing. Pentecost was the next time Jerusalem was filled with worshipers. There were now credible claims that Jesus had risen from the dead.  On the day of Pentecost, the sound of a hurricane rocked the city. Crowds gathered at the epicenter of the sound, where 120 disciples of Jesus had been in prayer. This international crowd was amazed when these Galileans started praising God in languages they had never learned. Without a reasonable explanation for what they saw and heard, they concluded the disciples were drunk. Then Peter addressed the crowd.  Peter was the most devoted, courageous, and outspoken disciple...

There is a sense in which the first three beatitudes are about humility.  Poverty in spirit is humility toward God.  Mourning is humility toward self.  Meekness is humility toward others.  These opening beatitudes present the foundational aspects of the humility that characterize the blessed. Yet these beatitudes build on one another. To be poor in spirit is to mourn. To mourn is to be meek. These beatitudes also build on one another in the opposite direction. Meekness comes naturally to those who are poor in spirit and mourn their sin. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “The man who is truly meek is the man who is amazed that God and man can think of him as well as they do and treat him as well as...

There was a time when churches held weeklong revival services. An evangelist preached sermons to save the lost and sanctify the church. Church members invited the unsaved, unchurched, and unrepentant to the revival. They even had special seating: The Mourners’ Bench. The mourner’s bench was created by John Wesley, the father of Methodism. There are biblical reasons to reject Wesley’s theology and methodology. But his premise was right: contrition is the key to conversion.  The second beatitude clarifies two misunderstandings about the Christian life.  Being a Christian is not about being sad. Matthew 6:16 says, “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.” The hypocrite looked gloomy, assuming this is what it meant...

Matthew 21 begins the account of the final week of the earthly life of Jesus. It is called Holy Week or Passion Week, as it culminates with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. It begins on Palm Sunday, so called because the crowds placed garments and branches in the path as Jesus rode into Jerusalem. John 12:13 says they were palm branches.  The Triumphal Entry is the first and last time Jesus travels to Jerusalem in Matthew. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. His parents fled to Egypt after his birth. He was raised in Nazareth. His ministry took place in Galilee. The Gospels tell us that Jesus traveled to Jerusalem on several occasions to observe the holy feasts. The events of Holy Week took place during the feast...

The public ministry of Jesus was in its early stages. Large crowds gathered to hear his teachings and see his miracles. But Jesus was not caught up in his fast-growing popularity. He would not let the multitudes distract him from his Father’s business. And he did not want his new disciples to be seduced by the crowds. Matthew 5:1-2 reports: “Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.” What follows is the greatest sermon ever preached. It is the first recorded discourse of Jesus – the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5-7, Jesus explains the righteous standard for citizenship in the...

In Mark 14:53-65, a religious court condemned Jesus for blasphemy.  In Mark 15:1-15, a civil court condemned Jesus for sedition.  The Sanhedrin unanimously voted that Jesus was worthy of death. But only the occupying powers of Rome could authorize capital punishment. Their charges against Jesus would have to matter to the Roman governor. Pilate would not care if Jesus committed blasphemy. So the religious leaders accused Jesus of claiming to be a king A self-proclaimed king was a potential threat to Caesar, which would matter to Pilate.  “The King of the Jews” is the dominating theme of Mark 15. In verse 2, Pilate asks Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” In verse 9, Pilate asks, “Do you want me to release for you the...

At first glance, the tenth commandment seems anticlimactic. The Decalogue begins with commands about how to love the Lord God. No other gods. No carved images. Reverence God’s name. Remember the Sabbath. The Decalogue ends with commands about how to love our neighbor. Honor your parents. No murder. No adultery. No stealing. No bearing false witness. Then the Decalogue ends in Exodus 20:17: “You shall not covet.”  It may feel like this tenth commandment does not have the same gravity as the previous commandments. One may be tempted to think this Tenth Word should have been tucked earlier in the Ten Commandments to conceal its obscurity. Or maybe a more critical...

Two of the Ten Commandments address the spirituality of speech. In Exodus 20:7, the Third Word commands, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” In Exodus 20:16, the Ninth Word commands, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The Lord is listening to what you say. You may talk behind your neighbor’s back. You cannot talk behind God’s back. Psalm 19:14 should be our daily prayer: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock...

The seventh commandment is stated in four words: “You shall not steal.” The meaning of this commandment does not require much exposition or explanation. It means what it says. You shall not steal. We all know what stealing is. To steal is to take or keep that which does not belong to you. The meaning of this commandment is obvious. Unfortunately, the magnitude of this commandment is overlooked.  The Eighth Word is viewed as the simplest to understand and the easiest to obey. But the former does not assume the latter. The truth is that stealing is a hereditary sin that renders every person guilty of theft. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were free to eat of the...

In 1631, the royal printers of London reprinted copies of the King James Version of the Bible. Little did they know the typesetters had made an unintentional but massive omission. Soon after its publication, readers discovered the mistake. The error was made in Exodus 20:14. The omitted word was “not.” The Seventh Commandment read: “You shall commit adultery.” The printers were heavily fined and stripped of their licenses. Copies were destroyed. The version was dubbed “The Wicked Bible.” Fourteen copies remain in museums around the world. With the moral perversion, situational ethics, and spiritual indifference of our culture, you would think many people are reading from...