“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19:30 As noted in previous parts of this series, there are several ways to interpret what Jesus means when he says from the cross...
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”John 19:30 The last words of Jesus before giving up his spirit to God the Father were, “It is finished.” What did he mean? What is “it”...
As a theologian and bible teacher, one of the most common questions I get is “how does spiritual formation actually happen?” That is, when I talk about the biblical notion of sanctification and how the Holy Spirit— on the basis of Christ’s...
Most of the time when we think about sin, we think of things we do that we ought not to do. This is certainly true; sin can be defined this way. The Ten Commandments instruct us not to have other gods, not to take the Lord’s name in vain, not to...
Lent is a time of inward reflection and yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit as he convicts us of sin. But what is sin, exactly? The Bible gives us specific vocabulary for sin, and some of that vocabulary relates to things we do that we ought not...
With seven little ones at home, we have a little pantry filled with (mostly) healthy snacks. There’s hardly a waking hour that goes by that one of the kids doesn’t ask for a snack. They request sugary snacks first. Our kids’ constant hunger...
On Palm Sunday we read about how the people shouted “Hosannah!” while Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. This proclamation is directly from Psalm 118 and means “save us!” This cry for rescue is the perfect introduction to Holy Week. Holy...
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, which is the last Sunday before Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Palm Sunday commemorates when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people celebrated and praised him as their long-awaited Messiah. In their act of...