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In New York City, you can visit church after church, from stately cathedrals to small congregations, and you’ll seldom hear a word preached about repentance. The same is true of many evangelical churches across America and worldwide. You can visit congregation after congregation for months on end, and never hear any mention of repentance.

Of course, there are churches today that do not compromise on this important biblical doctrine. But a vast number of churches have decided that repentance is too offensive a message. In fact, entire denominations have de-emphasized it.

Have you ever known depression? Have you been so worried and perplexed that you endured sleepless nights? Have you had times when you were so low and troubled, no one could comfort you? Have you been so down that you felt like giving up, feeling your life was a total failure?

In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a parable to teach his disciples what the kingdom of heaven is like. As with many of his parables, everything in the account relates to Christ and his church.

Jesus begins by describing a king who calls his servants to account. Scripture says, “When he [the king] had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents” (Matthew 18:24). Here was a servant deep in debt. He owed the king the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars, an amount he could never pay back.

On the night before his death, Jesus sat down with his disciples to share the Passover supper. The group had an intimate time of communion together. Then, as the meal ended, Christ said solemnly, "The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table" (Luke 22:21). What a horrible truth to be seen at such an intimate moment. Satan had audaciously entered one of Jesus' own disciples, Judas.

Prayer is often one of the most selfish areas of Christians' lives. When you think about it, most of our prayers focus on our own needs. The two main subjects of our intercession are our own spiritual growth and the needs of our families and friends.

Occasionally, we may reach beyond our own narrow concerns and pray for others. Yet usually when we say, "I'll pray for you," we don't do it. Or, we pray for them once and then quickly forget about their need.

In the first three chapters of Revelation, the apostle John has an amazing vision: He sees Jesus walking in the midst of the seven New Testament churches of Asia. Christ's eyes are aflame, and he's wearing priestly clothes. It is clear he has come to judge these churches in righteousness.

Abraham is known to the church as a man of faith. Indeed, the Bible holds him up to us as an example of faith: "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness" (Galatians 3:6). "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham" (verse 9).

Not long ago, Newsweek magazine featured a cover story entitles, "A World Without Fathers." The focus was primarily on African-American families and the alarming increase of children being raised without father. Consider, for example:

• A black child born today has only a one-in-five chance of growing up with a father until he's sixteen. This statistic reflects not just poor families, but also a staggering 22 percent increase among those families making $75,000 or more. Right now some 62 percent of all black families are without a father.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God....

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1-2, 17).

[This message was delivered in the seventeenth century by Thomas Manton. We have paraphrased it in modern English, and its message is just as potent today as then. Composed Christians are those who have learned to rejoice in any and all circumstances.]