David Young's Blog (408)

We celebrated the Lord’s Supper at church Sunday. We had not been at church in person for more than a year, and we rejoiced to be there. The pastor began by saying, “Communion is a serious celebration.” I immediately thought of the words, “solemn joy.”

We do not often use those two words together. But they describe a greater…

I walked around in a joyous daze after Jesus raised my brother from the grave. But Jesus knew there was danger there for Him, for all of us. Many people who came to comfort my sister and me after our brother’s death believed in Jesus when they saw what He did. Others went…

I fear the greatest reason for the hostility being expressed in politics, social media and nearly every area of society is the absence of love. We who know the Lord and believe the Bible can know…

I was standing near the river remembering some good times we had had in this remote setting. We had been here many times before. We had just come from Jerusalem to this place where John first baptized. This week Jesus barely got away from the Chief Priests and the Pharisees. The crowd had picked up rocks to stone Jesus. I thought they had Him for sure. 

Peter broke into…

God's people need to learn to fear and hate lies.

We live in days of great deception. Believers need to know how seriously God takes falsehood and deception. We seem to think some little lies are okay. They are not. It no longer seems to be a big deal to post a list of things on social media about a politician or public figure you fear or dislike, some of which you cannot verify.…

There was always great excitement in those early meetings of the church in Jerusalem. The opposition mounted by the leaders of our people and even Roman authorities added to the thrill of gathering in the name of Jesus. Some of us met every day of the week. Our largest gatherings were on Sundays because we did not have to compete with the Sabbath services led by the priests, although many of us still preferred our Sabbath traditions.…

I am shocked and grieved at the revelation of the sin of Ravi Zacharias. Ravi was a hero of mine. His demeanor and his teaching had a great influence on my life. I am aware that all of us are broken. We all sin. I am also convinced that what Ravi taught and demonstrated was from God despite the sexual sin that overtook him. But I need to say that so far believing these things has not relieved my grief at all.…

Antony moved secretly through the city. He was not exactly dressed like the Jews in the city, but he was fairly certain no one would recognize him as a Roman Centurion. Still, he was looking in every direction to avoid anyone he might know as he made his way to the home of a man named John. John already knew he was a Centurion. Antony would have to be wary of him. He was a leader in the group sometimes calling itself The Way. The rapid growth…

You may be familiar with the I AM statements of Jesus. These are powerful declarations of the divinity of our Lord. Their original source is in the Old Testament with God appearing to Moses at the burning bush.

Exodus 3:13,14 reads,

Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said…

We came away from our study with Miriam stunned. For months several of us had been gathering at her home for study. Each week she would talk about something Jesus said. One of us might be puzzling over something Peter or one of the other apostles said about Jesus at the temple where the church was meeting. She explained and helped us see Him like we never had before. We always came away loving Jesus more than we could ever have imagined. We…

THE FREEWILL OF MAN

Some years ago I was fellowshipping with a group of pastors. One of them spoke of a common belief that I did not think could be found in the Bible. As a joke I said, “Do you have a favorite Scripture on that?” He had a great answer. “I think that is in the same place that teaches the freewill of man.” And you can look throughout the Bible and not find a direct statement of the freewill of man.…

The Feast of Booths had begun before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. He hid in the crowds listening to the people, discerning what His Father was doing in their hearts. Right in the middle of the celebration He went up into the temple and began to teach. His authority was so obvious that no one challenged him. They marveled at His teaching. 

They said, “How has this man come to know so much without studying in…

After the large group of disciples deserted him Jesus ministered only in Galilee for some time. He did not go at all into Judea because the Jewish hierarchy were threatening to kill him. With the Feast of Booths at hand Jesus went back to his childhood home in Nazareth. There he found his brothers and sisters and their families gathered. His oldest brother, Joseph, welcomed him. 

“Jesus! We are glad to see you. We…

(It has been 4 weeks since I posted one of these stories based upon the signs of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John. This story is actually a continuation of a supposed gathering of the disciples who were at table when Jesus first instituted the Lord’s Supper, now a full year later.)

We sat together for a while after we had eaten, all of us reluctant to…

In John 7:25 Jesus said,

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.”

I am not addressing these remarks to everyone. But some of you will allow God to lead you deeper…

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.”

John 7:25

I am struck by the rendition of Philippians 4:5…

We gathered again in the upper room where we had celebrated the Passover on that last night before our Lord was crucified. This had been a very exciting year. It began with the greatest tragedy we had ever experienced. That led to the most thrilling event in history. Jesus was raised from the dead! Everything in us and everything in the world was changed by those events. The church in Jerusalem continues to multiply despite…

I love the miraculous appearance of the Angel of The Lord in Luke 2:8-14.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you…

We were amazed when we saw Jesus heal the sick. We decided then to become his disciples. We led a multitude that grew larger at every village along the sea until we came to where Jesus had gone to the far side of the sea with some of his disciples. He amazed us even more by feeding everyone there with what looked to us like a little boy’s lunch. We wanted to make him king. But we hardly had time to tell him of our devotion when he went back up the…

After feeding the multitude Jesus left us with the people while he went up the mountain to pray. At the end of the day we went down to the water. I steadied the boat while everyone got in. Releasing the line that was fixed loosely to a tree along the shore, I came aboard. At Simon's command, we set a course for Capernaum. Darkness fell, and a strong wind blew up. We took down the sails lest we capsize in the storm. We had to row against the waves.…