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Is heaven only future? Or can something of heaven take hold in our world now? Human beings seem far from heaven in many respects! But the Bible proclaims that as we trust in Christ we can begin to experience today something of heaven on earth. Read More →

When Christians throughout the centuries have thought about heaven, they have often been tempted to blend current popular notions about the afterlife into Scriptural teaching. This occurred already in the early centuries of the church, as many Christians mixed Greco-Roman ideas... Read More →

Do people enter heaven at the moment of death? Or is there some kind of “resurrection at the last day” at the end of time? There is much confusion on this subject, but it all makes sense when we get the Biblical vision of eternity—a vision that can help us to comprehend events in... Read More →

The Bible rejects the two most common ideas that people have today about death—that death is simply annihilation, or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, that we have an “immortal soul” which by nature will never die. The Bible proclaims resurrection, which takes seriously both... Read More →

Is death followed by oblivion? Or do we have an immortal soul, that will naturally continue on into another world? The Bible says that neither is true. The Biblical Word affirms that we are flesh and blood creatures, created out of the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7), with... Read More →

Human beings have speculated for ages about an afterlife, but is there anything to it? In the Bible, speculation is rejected. Biblical writers took a very skeptical view toward notions of life beyond death. Only a clear revelation and action of God could give reason to believe... Read More →

Is there an afterlife? Many people don’t think much about that question at all; or if they do, they offer fanciful and highly speculative answers. The Bible insists on no-nonsense realism. We are mortal, the Scriptures remind us, and our natural destiny is death. There is no... Read More →

It’s one thing to talk about living a life of faith and love; it’s another to able to do it, especially when we are facing enormous challenges, and all sorts of temptations and distractions in life. God gives us the answer through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Read More →

Animals only talk in Disney movies, right? So what do we do with a Bible story in which a donkey speaks? Some of the most unusual Biblical stories carry a very important message for life today. Read More →

God moves in mysterious ways. In one Biblical story, God communicates a message to a guy named Balaam through a donkey! God can use every means possible to get our attention. That’s a good thing because we often get so distracted in life and so caught up in our own agenda that we... Read More →

What is love? Our contemporary culture provides us with many shallow images of love; but we get the true and full picture in God’s Word, and especially in what Christ shows us on the cross. Read More →

When people today think of love, they typically think of a feeling—a feeling that very often is fleeting. How different is the love expressed in the Bible! We can see it in the Old Testament in stories such as the story of Ruth, who said to her widowed mother-in-law Naomi, “Where... Read More →

When people in America are asked in polls what they want in life, the number one answer is “happiness.” But only a third of Americans say in polls that they are really happy in life. The problem, Jesus says, is not simply that people are looking for happiness in the wrong places.... Read More →

Is the goal of life to be happy? If so, why is that goal so elusive, especially in a society as prosperous as ours? Perhaps we need to hear afresh the words of Jesus, “Those who lose their life . . . will find life.” The way of the cross points us on the path to a meaningful and... Read More →

Last week the Judicial Council ruled on the case of United Methodist Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian United Methodist bishop, who is married to Robin Ridenour, a deaconess in the California-Nevada conference (deacons work in specialized forms of church ministry).... Read More →

Unless we have the answer to death, we will never find the answer to life. In an endless effort to avoid or deny death, human beings engage in all sorts of vain and foolish behavior. But we have the answer to death in Jesus Christ! Through Christ, we can come into an eternal... Read More →

Modern culture encourages us to ignore death and run from death, yet this results in all sorts of foolishness in life. Christ faces death squarely and opens the way through death so that real life – eternal life – can begin for us now. Read More →

Is Easter the simple declaration that you get to go to heaven when you die? In fact, Easter is the dramatic conclusion of a great spiritual battle which unfolds on the cross, as Christ confronts all the powers of sin, evil, and death. There would be no Easter if it were not for... Read More →

On Easter, God turns bad news into very good news. Christ on the cross enters into the depths of human brokenness and wrong and suffering, and it all ends in death—an apparent total defeat. But through it all God brings about victory. Having atoned for our sin on the cross,... Read More →

The story of Palm Sunday encapsulates a key element of the cross—that God acts in ways quite different from what people expect! The people of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday expected a triumphant warrior Messiah, but Jesus came as the Lamb of God, who would win the victory, not through... Read More →

If Jesus is Savior, what can you expect of him? Jesus works in a way that is different—and far more powerful—than what many expect. Read More →

The cross is a bloody affair, and then Christians “drink Jesus’ blood” and “eat his body” in Communion. Yikes! What is this all about? The symbolism of the cross and Communion speaks profoundly about how Jesus brings us into new life. Read More →

Is our faith a set of ideas about Jesus? Or is faith a personal connection with Jesus? That it can be the latter is suggested by Jesus when he says that he is the “bread of life” (John 6:35) and urges us to “eat his body and drink his blood.” (John 6:54-56) With this dramatic... Read More →

This seminar explores the historical and theological backstory of the current “Points of the Cross” sermon series. Dr. Palmer leads participants through the key ways in which the great theologians of church history have “explained” what is happening on the cross. We will see how... Read More →

How can the cross be construed as some sort of victory? Isn’t Jesus’ death a defeat? In fact, the cross brings real and lasting victory because of how Jesus meets the powers of evil. Through the cross, we can find victory as we confront the powers of evil in today’s world! Read More →

“Our struggle,” says the apostle Paul, “is not against flesh and blood, but against . . . the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil on a cosmic scale.” (Ephesians 6:12) We struggle against all sorts of negative spiritual forces in life—temptation,... Read More →

We know God’s concerns because God tells us! In a fast-moving Bible study, Dr. Palmer will take us from Moses through the Biblical prophets to Jesus to discover the “heart” of God. Please visit Soundfaith to view a video of the presentation slides with the audio.... Read More →

Jesus received a mixed reception as the messiah. What was expected, and what did the world actually get? Read More →

Does the cross of Christ change life? If so, how, since the world is still full of trouble? The cross indeed changes life, and in three distinct ways— The cross changes life by addressing human problem number one—sin, that is, the spiritual brokenness and alienation from God... Read More →

In this Ash Wednesday sermon, Dr. Palmer discusses Jesus’ final words on the cross and what they mean for us today. Read More →

Do you struggle with forgiveness? Do you find it hard to forgive some individual for a serious wrong? Do you find it hard to forgive yourself for some way you believe you failed? The answer is found at the cross! Christ brings forgiveness that is without limit. When he pronounces... Read More →

Humanity is clearly off kilter—we are out of sync with the goodness of God! How can our lives be set aright? We find the complete answer in the cross. Read More →

“The cross is the only place where the loving, forgiving, merciful God is revealed in such a way that we perceive that God’s holiness and God’s love are equally infinite.” (Emil Brunner, The Mediator) God comes to us in Jesus Christ; and on the cross, Jesus takes upon himself the... Read More →

When dealing with our problems, human beings tend to do one of two things—1) We project “the problem” as being something beyond ourselves. We focus on the misdeeds of other and blame others; or 2) We ignore or overlook the problem. Particularly when it comes to our own... Read More →

Why can’t God just forgive us without the cross? Is the God of the Christian gospel a bloodthirsty deity, demanding human sacrifice? To the contrary, when the cross is rightly understood, it is the ultimate enactment of God’s love. On the cross, God acts, at one and the same... Read More →

Does the cross make any sense? How can the crucifixion of a man 2,000 years ago save us? Many people today are not quite sure what to make of the cross. But in fact, the cross connects with us in a powerful way. It is, as Paul said, “the wisdom of God and the power of God.” Read More →

How can the cross be a sign of salvation? It was an instrument of execution! How can a man’s death on a cross help us? You can understand why, as Paul said, people have considered the message of the cross to be “foolishness.” (I Cor. 1:18) But when we truly see what is happening... Read More →

The way into a positive future may appear blocked, as firmly as the way was blocked for the people of Israel as they hoped to go to the Promised Land. But God can open the way. Read More →

In the mysterious timing of the Holy Spirit, a long-planned sermon about a barrier—the River Jordan blocking the entry of the people of Israel into the Promised Land—coincided with the White House travel ban that blocked the entry of numerous people into America. We experience... Read More →

God’s healing power can restore us, and that power can be at work in unexpected ways! Read More →

Are you in need of healing? The Bible speaks many times of how God works to heal – healing bodies, minds, and hearts, and healing relationships and whole communities. One common place of healing in the Bible is at a river or a pool. The image of flowing water is a poignant symbol... Read More →

There is a “river of life” that flows through the Scripture—a powerful image of God’s power to refresh, cleanse, and enliven our spirits. Read More →

Water—it is a central image in the Bible, a powerful symbol of life, cleansing, refreshment, and renewal. So we find a river appearing repeatedly in Biblical stories and visions as an image of God’s abundant blessing, and the theme comes to its culmination in Jesus, who declared... Read More →

The story of the visit of the wise men portrays Jesus as a direct challenge to political authority. The wise men come to honor “the king of the Jews,” and it is not Herod. Herod responds with violence, but the power of God is stronger. The story proclaims that above all political... Read More →

Next week, our country will be having an inauguration; but this past Sunday, we celebrated a far more important “inauguration”—when we remembered the visit of the wise men, and how they acclaimed Jesus as the true king over all. This brings an important message for today! Even as... Read More →

We live in frightening times. But at the center of the Christmas story is the proclamation: “Fear not!” Read More →

“Fear not.” This is the message of the angels to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds; and it continues to be God’s message to us today! There have always been endless reasons in this world for people to be afraid; but six hundred years before Christmas, the prophet Zephaniah... Read More →

It is now traditional that the Christmas story and nativity scenes include shepherds. It can be easy to forget the role of shepherds in the society of the day, and exactly what it meant that God included them in the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Read More →

They look quaint on Christmas cards, but in the first century no one wanted them around – the shepherds occupied one of the lowliest places in first century society. Spending all their time in fields with dirty, smelly sheep, shepherds were not the sort of people that you would... Read More →

On our most difficult journey, God is with us. This message, declared early in the Old Testament, comes to its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, who is Emmanuel – God with us. Read More →