One test of the righteousness of our responses to the situations we face or discuss could be to ask ourselves how well they line up with the work of reconciliation and restoration and redemption. He is still at work seeking and saving things and people that were lost to Him. But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, […]
How willing are we to get in trouble over doing what’s righteous? Peter and John were both too full of fear to think when Jesus was arrested. After being filled with the Spirit of Jesus, however, they stood up to the thugs who had Jesus tortured and killed. They were being told to stop preaching about Jesus, and they refused. […]
And you, Philippians, know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that is increasing to your account. […]
We are all on a journey. Our lives are thrust into a flow of others’ lives and deaths. If we simply surrender to the current, we will end up somewhere. The destination will not be good if we are only under the influence of powers and purposes from the world. Bitterness, unforgiveness, mismatched partnerships – these can snag us and […]
As a bit of encouragement regarding believing “In the beginning, God created…”, in terms of the odds of the universe having done it all by herself: There are 20 amino acids In a protein chain (basic data-holding entity for producing life), the acids are found in different combinations, and in different orders, for different proteins If the “list” ordering the […]
You didn’t sneak into the Kingdom of Heaven. If you had, it would maybe be appropriate to be constantly on edge, wondering if you would be caught and pitched out as unworthy or unwelcome. In the parable about the wedding invitation, Jesus even described people who were compelled to come in being thrown back out because they didn’t have the […]
The “good news” of salvation is not that we have discovered that we are sinners rightly damned to hell. It is that we can be born from above with the nature of Yahweh by His Spirit, and have Life. When Jesus started preaching, His message could be paraphrased, “Change your mindsets – My Kingdom is now within your reach. Come […]
The descendants of Israel who had become enslaved by Egypt were liberated from that slavery very dramatically. When they faced the difficulties and responsibilities of owning their lives, they preferred slavery, though (Acts 7:39)! In John chapter 8 (read verses 30-47) Jesus was talking to some Jews who believed Him. He told them that if they continued in His word, […]
And He told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’ […]
“The kingdom of God is like this,” He said. “A man scatters seed on the ground; he sleeps and rises—night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—he doesn’t know how. The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the ripe grain on the head. But as soon as the crop is ready, he […]