“I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to take off His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.(Matthew 3:11 HCSB ©®) John baptized for changed minds (metanoeo = repentance).Jesus baptizes for changed lives (new birth; purpose; authority). Then […]
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to […]
On a clipper ship, the various ropes did various things, based on the various things the wind might be doing at the time. “Learning the ropes” was the process of learning how things worked so a sailor could know how to work. A caterpillar is not trained regarding its life and work as a butterfly. Some of the work of […]
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, either men or women, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light […]
I have seen many certifications from underwriters, and diplomas from universities, and licenses to do things ranging from driving to preaching. Most were signed by important leaders in the organization that issued the documents. My license to drive is signed by the governor. I believe that it is rare that the person signing the document knows the person endorsed by […]
The season is changing. When the revolution against our nation ends, we will be moving forward to something different. Either the Marxist revolt will replace our government and culture and we will be the new Cuba or Venezuela, or the counter-revolution will cast off the destroyers and the states will be united in a new way, with new vision and […]
Imagine a tree and a bicycle wheel. The new growth on the tree grows further from roots of the tree every year. Still connected, still gaining nutrition from the roots, the term “branching out” describes the new moving away from the old. It isn’t planned, measured, or intentional. The spokes on the wheel are closer to each other on the […]
When someone lies to you or about you to others, when someone promises help and then refuses to offer it when the moment is critical and ruin is the result, when someone believes a wrong suspicion or a false testimony about you, the injury can be very painful. Some wounds never stop hurting. Several voices in the Book instruct us […]
Jesus did not say that one who is least in the church is greater than John the Baptist Matthew 11:11
Holy is a word that describes relationship. When Tamar was pretending to be a temple prostitute so that Judah would give her a son (Genesis 38), the word describing her in the conversations between Judah and the locals where he met her could be translated “holy woman.” What the priests in Aaron’s order had written on their head bands was […]