Growing up in church, I heard this parable preached often. There were good applications made from the text such as the fact that there will be accountability one day for what God has entrusted to us, and that God only expects us to work with what He has given us. All of these are applications made to Church Age Christians about faithful stewardship. But deeper study of the parable makes me wonder if that is the point that Jesus was intended to make when He used this literary device.

How does the context impact the primary application?

Jesus is speaking to the Jews in the story. The intended audience of the Book of Matthew is the Jews. This story is part of a set of three parables—all with similar scenarios. The arrangement and construction of the parables indicate all three parables are intended to be seen together and drive home a main point, or at least closely related points.

If the parable is intended for believers and about stewardship, how are we to interpret the punishment for the unprofitable steward in Matthew 25:29-30? …

Read the rest of the article here, or just listen to the podcast.

I had planned to publish this episode last week but we received the conversation between Mike Riley and Ryan Martin promoting the upcoming Conference on the Church for God’s Glory. We wanted to get that out to promote the conference. If you missed it, check back to last week and listen. If you are able to attend, please register now.

This week we are publishing an interview with Kevin Bauder, on his article in the March/April FrontLine called “Israel, Palestinian Arabs, and Christian Attitudes.”

As Dispensationalists, we at the FBFI strongly support Israel in many ways. We believe that God still has a program for Israel that will come to its conclusion in the last days. It is still important, however, to define what we mean by our support of Israel in these times.

The most important aspects of our support have to do with Biblical Israel as the heirs of God’s promise to Abraham. That support spills over into other areas of life, including the political that is so much in the news these days.

In his article and in this interview, Kevin Bauder helps us to define terms and sort through the history and theology of the question.

He also recommended several books which we include in our show notes.

Kevin’s article is available on our substack right away for paying subscribers. We have previews for everyone else. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.

And now for my interview with Kevin Bauder.

Book Recommendations:

Three Faces of Antisemitism (Studies in Contemporary Antisemitism) Jeffrey Herf

FUTURE ISRAEL: Why Christian Anti-Judaism must be challenged Barry E. Horner

Jerusalem: A Biblical and Historical Case for the Jewish Capital Jay Sekulow

Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Mosab Hassan Yousef

Also please check out:

Baptists for Israel Institute

The Contents & Editorial for the March/April FrontLine:

Is Conservatism Enough? – Proclaim & Defend

The Article:

Israel, Palestinian Arabs, and Christian Attitudes

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:30-31)

This passage certainly contains imagery reminiscent of the rapture passages of scripture in the Thessalonian Epistles and 1 Corinthians 15. But it creates some chronological questions about the timing of the event. Jesus clearly says that the event described in Matthew 24 happens in conjunction with the return of the Son of Man to set up the Kingdom—not before or somewhere in the middle of Daniel’s 70th week. So, the passage does require some further study.

Audience of the Book of Matthew

Almost all Bible scholars agree that the intended audience of the book of Matthew is Israelon. Jesus’ birth story is filled with descriptions of answered prophecy. The Sermon on the Mount is focused on living in the Kingdom. It not only expresses what God truly expects of His people, but is intended to give the Jewish people a longing for the Kingdom. When the disciples are sent out in Matthew 10, they are specifically instructed NOT to go to the gentiles, but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and they are to preach that the Kingdom is at hand. …

Read the rest of this post here, or just listen to the podcast.

Our podcast today is another special edition. This time I invited Mike Riley and Ryan Martin to come on to promote the upcoming Conference on the Church for God’s Glory to be held in Rockford, Illinois, on Monday, May 18, 2026 from 10 AM to 7 PM.

This year’s theme is Dispensationalism, Israel, and the Nations.

The topic is relevant to today’s headlines. You will come away from this conference with a lot of thoughtful, biblical instruction and a day of good fellowship and stimulating conversations. If you are able, I encourage you to attend.

Here is the conference Website:

The Conference on the Church for God’s Glory

And of course, here are our own websites where you can find our various ministries:

Foundations Baptist Fellowship International | Contending for the Faith Once Delivered

Proclaim & Defend – a ministry of the FBFI

How Shall We Then Live? Francis Schaeffer addressed transformed thinking in his classic film series and book. He traced changing patterns of thought through time and the impact Christianity has had on Western culture.

It’s clear that God expects His people to think differently than the unredeemed populace. Paul states it clearly in Romans 12:1-2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

But this command leaves us with a question.

How do we change the way that we think?

We live in a post-modern culture that believes truth is fluid. If there is any truth at all, it swishes and sways with the winds of culture. Because of that, the only thing that is real to most people is what they feel. Their feelings tell them to what to think about everything. This explains the insanity we see and hear all around us. It is Satanic and the opposite of what the word of God teaches.

I was speaking with the President of an evangelical Christian College recently. He said that his school seeks to trace the progress of growth in the biblical worldview of students. They work with George Barna to measure their progress (you can get more info about the assessment tool here). Their testing indicates that the professing believers who enter this college as freshmen have a worldview that is almost indistinguishable from the general secular culture. These students claim to be Christians, but they do not think like Christians. They do not see the world around them like Christians should see it. This school works hard to inculcate a biblical worldview in the minds of students who have not learned it from the Christian homes or churches, and they are having good success based upon the tools they use to measure progress.

Based upon their findings, typical evangelicals are failing in discipling their children for Christ. How are our homes and churches failing in teaching biblical worldview to our children who grow up in our churches? Let’s consider a few things. …

Read the rest of the article here, or just listen to the podcast.

Our podcast today is another special presentation, which is to say it is not connected to a FrontLine article. Our guest is a regular contributor, Gordon Dickson. In recent weeks, Gordon has written several articles on a concept he calls the “G.R.A.C.E. framework.” The acronym first represented to him a way of expressing the gospel to the lost, especially emphasizing a missing note that I think can cause us to stumble when solely relying on older gospel presentations we have learned. It is not that those presentations are wrong (far from it!!). Rather, what his framework does is supply a missing first step that sometimes starts us off on the wrong foot with someone we are speaking to when it is omitted.

However, the G.R.A.C.E. framework is more than just presenting the gospel. It is a way of expressing a Biblical worldview. In a recent meeting, Gordon and some of our other brethren presented papers applying the framework to various hot current topics: Transgenderism, Entertainment, Suicidal Ideation, Immigration, Artificial Intelligence, and “PTSD” as it is called. Using the G.R.A.C.E. framework (G-R-A-C-E) to think through these issues creates a fresh way of looking at them that not only help our own thinking about them, but equip us with language to engage our world on these topics and turn those conversations into gospel occasions.

Over the next few months, we hope to present podcast interviews with at least some of the authors of these papers and discuss the topics they wrote on. These interviews will come as we are able to fit them in, but I think you will find them very helpful when we do.

To start off with, I am going to give you this interview with Gordon where we discuss his introductory paper on the topic. We will give you access to the whole paper here, it won’t be behind our paywall. We will also link to several other articles Gordon has written on the topic.

He has one other article on it in our current March/April edition of FrontLine. For that, you will need a subscription, so of course we encourage you to subscribe. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.

And now for my interview with Gordon Dickson.

Free article from Gordon:

Five Principles to Exercise Your Mind as You Read Your Bible

Other articles from Gordon:

How Do I Start Sharing the Gospel in This New Year?

It’s Your Destiny: Don’t Make This Mistake

You Know It’s Time: Here’s How to Catch Up

Gordon’s book, mentioned in the podcast:

Trust: What religions don’t tell you but God wants you to know

If you could ask God a question, what would you ask Him? Most people would ask,

“WHY?” “Why am I here?”

“Why are all these painful things happening to me and to

the people I love?”

Sometimes life is so difficult that it makes us wonder: does God love us? Is He really in control of things?

Something inside you is telling you that there ought to be real meaning in life. Where can you find it?

This book will help you find real answers to these important questions and many more.

Image created with Adobe Express.

I saw the following story engraved on a plaque on a wall at a Christian University I toured last week. It reminded me that treating believer’s baptism as an optional step for a new Christian is a grave mistake. This is the summary of the story.

Visitors have come to the Arizona desert in the wintertime for decades seeking relief from the freezing temperatures of the Northeast and Midwest. Throughout the years, Cave Creek Arizona has been one of the destinations of the rich and famous. First Baptist Church of Cave Creek (no longer meeting as a congregation) had a unique opportunity to minister to some of these people. It was a small congregation with baptist convictions and conservative values.

One Sunday a media personality along with his bride made his way up the dusty road to worship services at this little church. He was a big deal in those days--known nationwide and at the height of his career. On this occasion, he was on vacation, he was tired, and feeling quite empty inside. Success in his chosen profession had proven ineffective in satisfying the drought in his soul.

According to his later testimony, there were only a dozen or so worshipers in attendance that day. For the Sunday sermon, the country preacher chose to expound on the importance of believer’s baptism. Many years before the man trusted Christ as Savior while alone in his bedroom. But now, the conviction mounted that he had never obediently followed the Lord in baptism. He walked the aisle that day, surrendering to this important step of obedience for a believer. …

The rest of the article is here, or just listen to the podcast.

The accounts of Resurrection Sunday morning in scripture seem to indicate that the resurrection of Jesus bodily from the tomb was a surprise—to the women who went there, to the disciples, and to Jerusalem. Mary supposed Jesus was the gardener and asked him where they had taken Jesus’ body. It’s understandable that someone rising from the dead would be an event doubted by most people, but the evidences of this event should have been there to see. This was not an unexpected miracle but rather a prophecy meticulously made and fulfilled in the eyes of all.

The Old Testament predicted the resurrection.

The only thing necessary to see the prophecy of the resurrection in the Old Testament is to believe that Isaiah 53 is messianic. The chapter traces in wonderfully poetic fashion the Story of a divine substitute who grows up in anonymity (verses 1-3), …

Read the rest of this post here: The Resurrection of Jesus Should Not Have Been a Surprise – Proclaim & Defend — or just listen to the podcast.

Today we continue discussing our latest edition of FrontLine, the March/April issue focused on the topic, “Is Conservativism Enough?”

This week, we are talking to Bud Steadman, who is now a “Missions Mentor” with Baptist World Mission, previously serving as the Executive Director of the Mission and before that spending many years in the pastorate. He is also currently Chairman of the FBFI Board and a good friend, as I too spent many years serving under Baptist World Mission.

His topic is “The Ultimate Failure of the Moral Majority.” This is a look back at what seemed to be a burgeoning Christian movement into politics in the eighties. It succeeded in getting Christians involved in politics, but as an organization it collapsed in on itself, with its leaders spinning off into other related political organizations.

Dr. Steadman evaluates the history of the movement and its problems as a lesson to Christians and their involvement in politics in our present day. If you are a regular listener to this podcast, you would share with us and with the Moral Majority in similar kinds of political concern. The question remains, however, how should we work to solve those political concerns?

Dr. Steadman attempts to answer that question from the history of the Moral Majority. It provides at least a cautionary tale for us. We should not make the same mistakes now, and we certainly should be clear on the every day mission of the church. Jesus gave us our mission and we can’t sacrifice the mission for politics, no matter how admirable the political goals might be.

I hope you find our discussion helpful.

Bud Steadman’s article is available on our substack right away for paying subscribers. We have previews for everyone else. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.

Bonus link: FBFI Statement on Christian Nationalism – Proclaim & Defend

The Contents & Editorial for the March/April FrontLine:

Is Conservatism Enough? – Proclaim & Defend

The Article:

The Ultimate Failure of the Moral Majority

Pharisees were the religious megastars of Jesus’ day. They were generally viewed by the populace as deeply committed, genuinely spiritual, and on fire for the Law of Moses. To us, the word Pharisee is synonymous with hypocrite or religious legalist, but much of that is the result of what the gospels later said about them, not what people thought of them at the time. In our context, they would sell books, attract lots of followers on social media, and have lots of adoring fans. There have been such popular “Christians” in recent years that turned out to be fakes. Jesus sees through all of that. He knew their hearts—just like He knows mine.

In Matthew 23, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees severely. He describes them as hypocrites only interested in what people think, and then declares eight woes upon them. It might be interesting to see how Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees in Matthew 23 compares with the Talmud’s criticism of the Pharisees written between 300 and 500 years later (https://chavrutai.com/talmud/Sotah/22b).

The Talmud says that there are seven types of false Pharisees. …

Read the rest of this post here or just listen to the podcast.