23-1119: The Lord God fills our heart with thanksgiving as we fill our life with His God-ness and goodness. In an age of rage as the anticipated and arguably the most favorable response, thanksgiving is far too rare. It seems to occupy less and less priority to subsequently have become far too rare on...
23-1105: The message of the gospel is our means and our mission; the grace of God through Jesus Christ from first to last. Paul is writing to Timothy his last words, and exhorting him to endure in gospel mission. His words are serious and weighty because he wants Timothy to carry on and multiply...
23-1029: Generosity flows from a heart that weighs its giving by the promise of God’s all-sufficient grace above one’s personal need. When Jesus teaches on generosity He uses a most unlikely model, a poor widow. Knowing that the total amount of her gift was incomparably less than anyone else’s, Jesus stated that her gift...
23-1001: God entrusts the treasure of the gospel to all who believe in Jesus to serve in our generation and pass it on to the next. Paul, now advanced in years, writes to a younger Timothy while awaiting sentencing from his second imprisonment. There is a seriousness in what he writes to clarify what...
23-0528: Glorifying God flows from a heart that trusts in Jesus Christ to honor Him with one’s whole life. When Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees over the practice of his disciples, he wastes no time to reveal the hypocrisy of their teaching. He tells them that they are the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy...
23-0521: The grace of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ produces a people united in His fellowship and mission in the world. Luke’s record of Jesus’ followers after Pentecost provide insight for every Christian today. We glean the values of the early community that shaped the church, and understand how those values formed...
23-0514: Jesus is King who is coming again soon, and by His gospel every Christ-follower is called to live ready. At the end of Revelation the author returns to a writing style of a letter, to conclude in the way he started. His words summarize the message to exhort the reader to remain faithful...
23-0430: Jesus is coming again soon in power and glory to rule the earth with His people and judge all who reject Him. Revelation 20 introduces the Millennium, a thousand year reign of Christ on the earth after his second advent, where his followers from the first resurrection rule with Him. This passage is...
The daily celebrations of life reveal for us what we honor with our life. A heightened mercy toward the world that causes us to question God in His righteous judgment reveals a wrong understanding of God, that He owes us but is not worthy to judge us. When we celebrate things that do not...
23-0409: Jesus wore a crown of thorns to reward all who believe in Him with His crown of victory. Resurrection Sunday is a day that causes Christ-followers to “look back” on all Jesus said (taught) and all that He did, and to consider in light of the resurrection. After one looks back, then we...