Our Right Standing with Christ Frees Us from Rules, but Don’t Abuse This Freedom Jesus’s sacrificial death releases us from the obligation of Old Testament laws. We have freedom in Jesus and don’t need to follow rules. Instead, we follow Jesus. Yet we need to guard against getting carried away with our freedom. The Bible […]
Control Your Tongue and Watch Your Words There’s a saying of disputed authorship, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” As such, we need to be careful what we say. The Bible has much to share about our words and our tongue. Tame the Tongue James […]
The Simplicity of Faith In Peter’s darkest moment, he denies that he even knows who Jesus is. I don’t criticize Peter for this, however. Despite a desire to respond differently, I suspect that if facing death, I could easily do the same thing. Later, after returning to life, Jesus restores Peter to right relationship with […]
Understanding the Weaker Vessel When Paul talks in the Bible about marriage, I struggle with his words because he was a bachelor. What does he know about the subject? Peter, on the other hand, was married so I give more credence to what he says on the subject. Even so I struggle a bit when […]
If You Are a Citizen of the Kingdom of God, Then You Live Here as an Alien Peter writes his first letter to Christians scattered about in pagan cities. He first calls them exiles (1 Peter 1:1). He also refers to them as foreigners (1 Peter 2:11). Though foreigner is accurate, I prefer the label […]
Let’s Stop Using Christian as an Adjective Do you call yourself a Christian? What does that word mean to you? What might it mean to others? Especially to those who aren’t part of our faith community? Let us consider if we should use Christian as a noun, Christian as an adjective, or Christian as something […]
When We Focus on Other People, We May Lose Sight of Our Own Calling As Jesus wraps up his stint on earth, he spends some time with his disciples, the core group he trained for three years. They will need to carry on without him, and he wants to make sure they’re ready. First, he […]
Pete’s Powerful Sermon The first sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 2:1-41 (specifically Acts 2:14-36). Setting: Jerusalem on Pentecost Speaker: Peter Audience: Jews from many nations Preceding Events: The Holy Spirit arrives and empowers the disciples to speak in other languages. Unable to comprehend what is happening, some in the crowd conclude that the […]
Peter Preaches and Then Heals a Listener The second sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 3:1-4:4 (specifically, Acts 3:12-26). After he speaks, Peter heals a lame man. Setting: Jerusalem, in the temple Speaker: Peter Audience: Jews Preceding Events: Peter, through the power of Jesus, heals a lame man who was crippled from birth. Overall […]
Peter’s Message to the Gentiles The fourth sermon in the book of Acts: Acts 10:23-48 (specifically Acts 10:34-43) Setting: Caesarea Speaker: Peter Audience: Cornelius, his family, and close friends—all Gentiles (that is, non-Jews) Preceding Events: Through a dream, God tells Peter to go to Cornelius’s house. Overall Theme: God makes no distinction between people; traditional […]