But we need to remind ourselves to whom Paul’s great letter was sent. Looming up behind the various discussions of why Romans was written is an issue not usually noticed. Paul was coming to Rome with the gospel message of Jesus the Jewish...
I mentioned in this post that the Bible compares Jesus and the Church to a married couple. I noted that the points of comparison between the two are deep love and commitment (self-sacrificing love and commitment). This isn’t the only metaphor the...
The Bible calls the church is the “Bride of Christ” (Rev 21:2, 9-10; John 3:29; Mark 2:19). But what are the points of comparison between a husband and wife and the Church and Jesus? First, there is a deep love between the two. This love is self...
Surprisingly, the Kingdom of God isn’t mentioned much these days in the church. It’s surprising because it’s the one thing that Jesus talked about most often. Jesus’s life and ministry were shaped around the concept of the Kingdom of God and...
People cannot be argued into the Kingdom of God. What do I mean by this? It’s not by any human reasoning, or rhetoric that people come to find faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit alone that can soften...
I wanted to share this excerpt from today’s entry from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest because it has as direct correlation to what I shared in this post. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. Luke 18:31. Jerusalem stands in the life...
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To continue with the theme of calling, I want to point out three things about calling that I believe are essential. First, our calling is not about us. Often times we think that God’s mission in the world is to make people (us) happy. I hate...
A few minutes after the service began, an elderly man entered the rear doors of the small church holding a dog. He quietly slipped into one of the rear pews, hoping to go unnoticed. When the pastor stood to deliver the sermon for the day, he notice...