Unity can be hard to maintain in the church. How do we get past our differences, let alone our grievances? How do we avoid the patterns that threaten to tear us apart? In Philippians, Paul teaches the church how to preserve real and lasting unity. In one sense, the letter...
In our pursuit of holiness, how do we obtain it? What is our role and what is God’s role? Since the Holy Spirit is key to our sanctification, this should lead us to an obvious question: do we simply wait for the Holy Spirit to bring about holiness in our...
Have you ever wondered – on a strictly human level – how it is that the name “Jesus” has become the most recognizable name in the history of humanity? While the Bible records the birth of Jesus in dramatic fashion, almost nothing is said of Him for somewhere in the...
Did you know at the very beginning of your Christian life, already there was birthed in you a holiness that came from the Holy Spirit? In Titus 3:5, Paul says, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the...
There is something about the love of God that I will never fully understand. God – who does not need us, whose happiness is not dependent upon us, whose joy in the fellowship of the Trinity is fully complete (and was for eternal ages before you and I were created),...
All of us have sold our inheritance. Do you remember the account of Esau – how he sold away his birthright? (Genesis 25) As children of Adam we have all sold our birthright. That which was rightfully ours, the task of owning and ruling over the entire creation on behalf...
“But Ruth said, ‘Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will...
1 Peter 3:13-16 says: “Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy,...
One of the reasons why many of us find it difficult to share our faith is because we are not brimming over with joy and enthusiasm about our richness in Christ. Talk to a non-Christian about Jesus? We don’t even talk to people in our own churches about Jesus. Gather...
1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” To call Jesus our “propitiation” is to say that He is “our wrath bearing sacrifice.” When Jesus prayed at the...