For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17 Have you ever looked at a passage in the Bible and thought to yourself that it really doesn’t apply to you? If we are honest, I believe that we can read anything in the Bible and convince…
I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the…
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son…,” Romans 1:1-3a Yesterday we began a study of the book of Romans. Paul’s letter to the Christians living in Rome is the most thorough and systematic explanation of who Jesus…
I was listening to people recently talk about all of the warnings they were hearing about financial disaster and hard times coming to America. They were discussing how to prepare for survival: storing up food, obtaining guns, etc. I’ve heard and thought about these things often – I did the Y2K thing of preparing for the worst. But these days I just…
Psalm 1:1-3 tells us the blessedness of the one that immerses himself in the Word of God: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked, Or stand in the way that sinners take, Or sit in the company of mockers, But whose delight is in the law of the LORD, And who meditates on his law day…
In John 6:63-64, Jesus tells His followers, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” He had just said some “difficult” things and some of the people were grumbling about it. Some even decided at that point…
This weekend I had the privilege of performing a marriage service for the daughter of one of our good friends. I guess we’ve all been to good weddings and not-so-good weddings. As far as weddings went, this one was great. We were in a beautiful setting with just close family. The decorations were beautiful and elegant and not overdone, and of course…
We are a culture of convenience, of personalization, of individualism. We try to order our lives to perfectly suit our every preference. Unfortunately, this even extends to our commitment to the local church. In looking deeper at the scripture in Hebrews 10:24-25, the passage does urge us not to skip church. Many pastors, including myself, have used this passage as an encouragement…
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42 Another mark of the first church was fellowship. In Acts 2, Luke describes the fellowship of those first Christians like this: All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as…
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42 Another important earmark of the early church was prayer. Communication with our Heavenly Father is what fueled their ministry and gave power to their witness. As Christ followers, we need to gird ourselves up in prayer to effectively live out our…