When You Are Entrusted with an Unpopular Message

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. (John 5:22-23) This same truth about Jesus is found in the Gospel of Matthew: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory… he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before...Read…

Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:54) How does death get swallowed up?  What is the victory that the apostle Paul is talking about here? 1. Christ lived a perfect life, completely fulfilling the law of God. Everything God calls a man or a woman to be, Christ was. Everything God calls a...Read…

The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.  Genesis 2:7 When God created Adam, he made a corpse from the dust of the ground.  Then he breathed life (or spirit) into it.  And this is how...Read…

Watch and pray… (Matthew 26:41, NIV) Jesus gave the command to watch and pray: “This is what you must do.”  But the disciples do not obey his command and they enter into temptation.  That’s our position, isn’t it?  We have not kept the command of Christ.  All of us have sinned in many ways.  We have...Read…

Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other, and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love. (Colossians 3:12-14, NIV) Unlike behavior modification, progress in the Christian life is about more than just sinning less. It’s...Read…

Because of his great love for us… (Ephesians 2:4, NIV) Think about all that God’s love has done: God made us alive with Christ.  God raised us up with Christ.  God seated us in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.  We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Ephesians 2:5, 6, 7, 10). O...Read…

But because of his great love for us… (Ephesians 2:4, NIV) Shallow views of sin lead to a shallow view of salvation.  But once you see the extent of the human problem, then you will begin to see the weight and wonder of our salvation in Jesus Christ.  Here are six things that happened when...Read…

For God so loved the world… (John 3:16, NIV) No generation has been told more often, “God loves you,” yet no generation has struggled more to experience God’s love.  That’s because our ideas about God’s love have become sentimental. Since we’ve lost touch with the truth of God’s wrath, we’ve also lost touch with the knowledge...Read…

You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live. (Ephesians 2:1, NIV) A student pastor recently said, “Many of our students read the Bible, but they don’t really believe what it says about sin.  Do you know the song by Lady Gaga called, ‘Born This Way’? That’s what our middle...Read…