Noah was called to save humanity from destruction. We are called to that same task. Our method is very different from his, though. His ark was gopher wood, and was designed to preserve a tiny remnant of humanity, leaving the rest outside the safe place to pay for their sin and be destroyed. Our Ark is the One Who paid […]
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, captives of various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the goodness and love for man appeared from God our Savior, He saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewal by […]
Jesus is on trial today, as usual. He is accused in “news” reports, He is accused in legislatures, and in “entertainment.” We are witnesses, testifying of what we have seen and heard and experienced. We are charged to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Do not be shy. But the Jews did not believe concerning him, […]
When we are learning about Jesus, we can sort ourselves into different categories of knowing Him. Some categories are not very lively – If I learn the Scriptures so I can pass catechism or the new members course, I receive a reward from men. If I learn the Scriptures so that I may know Jesus better, I receive a reward […]
Five times in his letter to the congregations in Ephesus, Paul used a word that has been translated into English as “heavenly places” (NKJV), “heavenly” (HCSB), or “heaven” (CJB). The word could be translated very literally as “above the sky.” In Ephesians 1:20, our Father exalted Jesus from the dead to seat Him at His right hand in the heavens. […]
Much of my work currently involves managing and settling people’s inheritances. Some people think they have inherited one thing, but discover that it is another. Some people don’t know they have inherited anything, but discover they have. Some people try to settle one person’s estate and discover they can’t, because the deceased person never settled a previously deceased person’s estate. […]
We must always thank God for you, [family], which is fitting, since your faith is flourishing, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you among God’s churches—about your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you endure. It is a clear evidence of God’s righteous judgment that […]
By far, most of the people employed by American congregations in positions called “The Pastor” do not have the spiritual gift of pastor. The ones who do suffer frequent insults and complaints about how boring their sermons are, because having the spiritual gift of pastor means by default they do not have the gift of teacher. No congregation described in […]
The wilderness we are living through the influences of is a place of education and preparation and testing and proving and encouraging and clarifying and, most importantly, a place where we are sure to be in the presence of Jesus: They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual […]