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Bible Insights

How Do We Respond to Unpopular Messages?

Not Liking What Someone Says Doesn’t Give Us the Right to Silence Them The prophet Jeremiah faithfully informs the people of the message God gives him. But they don’t like what they hear. They oppose Jeremiah and his unpopular messages. Unpopular Messages in Bible Times Throughout his lengthy ministry, Jeremiah faces continued opposition and persecution. […]

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Bible Insights

Nine Guys Named Simon in the Bible

Simon Peter and More… In the last post, we talked about the disciple Simon, who Jesus named Peter. I only know of one person called Peter in the Bible, but there are several guys named Simon in the Bible. I would have never guessed there were this many guys named Simon in the Bible (in […]

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Bible Insights

Will God Ever Tell Us Not to Pray?

Even If We Don’t Understand Why God Tells Us to Do Something We Should Do It Anyway After giving Jeremiah a stinging message to tell the people, God gives a personal message to his prophet. He says, “You are not to pray for these people.” He says don’t plead for them or make a petition […]

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Bible Insights

Four Johns but One Mark

Who Is John Mark? In “Another Man with Two Names” we talked about a guy known as John Mark. Although no one knows why he’s called John Mark, it does distinguish him from other men in the Bible named John. John In addition to John Mark, I count four guys in the Bible with the […]

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Bible Insights

Can the God of Creation Control the Sun?

Justifying Bible Accounts Through Human Reasoning Limits God’s Power As Joshua leads the nation of Israel into the promised land, they defeat Gibeon in a most amazing battle. Though Joshua’s army does its part, God plays an even bigger role. He orchestrates a hailstorm that pelts the Gibeon army with huge hailstones, killing many of […]

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Bible Insights

Who is Jude?

In the Bible, there is only one mention of a man named Jude. That lone reference occurs in the opening greeting of the letter that he wrote. However, Jude is a variation of Judas. Apparently, Judas was a common name two thousand years ago: We can rule out Judas Iscariot, because he committed suicide before […]

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Bible Insights

Jesus Will Return Unexpectedly: Are We Ready for His Return?

The End Will Come Unexpectedly Like a Thief in the Night John’s epic vision that he records in the book of Revelation includes many perplexing allusions. One is a warning that Jesus will return unexpectedly, like a thief (Revelation 16:15). Note that this doesn’t say Jesus is a thief, merely that most people won’t be […]

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Bible Insights

Philemon and His Friends

The short, often overlooked book of Philemon is tucked towards the end of the New Testament, nestled between letters to Titus and to the Hebrews. Philemon and Onesimus Philemon is a letter written by Paul to his friend Philemon about a man of mutual interest, Onesimus. The short version is that Onesimus is a slave […]

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Bible Insights

Do You Have Life?

Whoever Has the Son Has Life In the first of John’s three letters, he writes to the early followers of Jesus, reminding them of God’s essential message about Jesus, light, and life. Jesus, by the way, is the light and he gives life. So amid John’s poetic flare, his words all revolve around Jesus. And […]

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Bible Insights

Are You Like the Criminal on the Cross Next to Jesus?

When Jesus is executed, two criminals are executed with him, one on either side. While we don’t know what these two men did to deserve the death penalty, we can assume it must have been something really bad, such as murder or insurrection. Luke’s report of this event gives us a bit more detail than […]