Discover What the Bible Says about Salvation Paul, in writing to the church in Ephesus, shares a succinct and essential truth about salvation. He tells them how to be saved, which reminds them how they were saved. He writes “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, […]
Don’t Be Merely Human Paul reprimands the church in Corinth for many things. One time he points out that they envy one another and argue a lot. There is jealousy and quarreling in their church. It happened then and it’s still happening now. We want what others have. Although this often relates to money, possessions, […]
Discover What We Can Learn from the Final Words of Jesus We’ve talked about the Bible’s first recorded words of Jesus and his last words before he ascends into heaven. But what people focus on most is what he says as he hangs on the cross, dying in our place for the wrongs we have […]
Consider What Jesus Says Just Before He Ascends into Heaven Jesus’s first recorded words in the Bible are when he’s twelve years old and disappears. His parents eventually find him in the temple. His perplexing answer explains he belongs in his Father’s house (Luke 2:49). With these as his first words, now let’s look at […]
Jesus Comes for Everyone: All Nations, All People The phrases God’s people, the chosen ones, the chosen, and other similar references appear in multiple places throughout the Old Testament. This designation certainly makes the Jewish people feel special. After all, God chose them to be his people. This must mean he likes them better than […]
Celebrate Jesus as the Messiah and Savior In our current usage today, many people talk (and think) that Christ is Jesus’s last name, as in Jesus Christ. Though the identifier of Jesus Christ does appear in most of the New Testament, it didn’t start out that way. Christ The label of Christ does not appear […]
Let God Prune Us So We Can Produce More Fruit Isaiah looks forward to the day when the Branch of the Lord will appear. Branch, with a capital B, is a euphemism for Jesus, who will come to rescue God’s people. Isaiah says this Branch will emerge as awesome and full of wonder, which is […]
Do What You Can to Promote Peace In Jesus’s best-known sermon, which we call the Sermon on the Mount, he proclaims that “Blessed are the peacemakers.” They’ll be known as God’s children (Matthew 5:9). Though Jesus doesn’t explicitly command us to advocate for peace, he proclaims blessings on those who do. And the blessings are […]
We Can’t Witness for Jesus When We Sequester Ourselves on Sunday Mornings Just before Jesus leaves this world to return to heaven, he instructs his followers to go into the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19). In an expanded version of this incident, Jesus tells his followers to wait for Holy Spirit power and then […]
A Timeless Classic with Eternal Implications Ben-Hur (2016) is a story of Jewish Prince Judah Ben-Hur who seeks to avoid scrutiny in the first century Jerusalem as he navigates the tricky ground between Jewish zealots and the Roman occupiers, all while doing what is right. When an act of generosity brings about his ultimate betrayal, […]