If you spend time reading through the Bible you quickly find out that the Israelites are God’s chosen people. They weren’t chosen because of anything special about them but because of God’s gracious generosity. Their story is really a story of trust because Abraham, in his wisdom, trusted God from the beginning, and it was counted to him as ... [Continue Reading]
Grace and Truth (Acts 15-16)
There has always been a tension in the church between grace and truth. In reality, such a tension shouldn’t even exist. Too often we think that we need 50% grace and 50% truth, but Jesus, the embodiment of both, was 100% of each. He was all grace and all truth. The first debate in the church arose over this issue: is grace enough, or do new ... [Continue Reading]
Your Move (James 4-5)
Your relationship with God is up to you. If you want to be close to Him, then the only thing stopping that from happening is your willingness to put forth time and effort. James tells us that if we draw near to Him, then He will draw near to us. Among the twelve disciples, Jesus had three that were closest to him. It wasn’t because of his lack ... [Continue Reading]
The Tension of Faith and Works (James 1-3)
There’s a tension within the Christian life between faith and works. If you read this blog often, you probably have gotten an idea of the importance of faith and belief. Even in today’s reading, James highlighted that Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham didn’t allow his trust to end at trust, though. He ... [Continue Reading]
Free (Acts 13-14)
The law of Moses didn’t set people free. In fact, it affected the opposite result. The problem that the Jews faced was that they were unable to live up to the law. Try as they might, they couldn’t live perfect lives or be life-long law-keepers. But they tried. And every effort that was made to obey the law and find freedom from sin ... [Continue Reading]
Whose Glory? (Acts 11-12)
Any time a leader becomes idolized by the people he or she is leading, that leader finds him or herself in a very dangerous position. The danger is this: when we praise a human being above God, we are saying that that human’s characteristics are above God’s characteristics. In doing so, we commit idolatry. However, when we realize that there is no ... [Continue Reading]
A Change of Heart (Acts 9-10)
There are a lot of reasons why I believe that the resurrection of Jesus is an actual event that took place, and one of those is the conversion of Saul. In order to understand the significance of the change of heart that took place in Saul’s life you have to understand his background. Saul was a Pharisee who had been trained rigorously in Judaism. Not ... [Continue Reading]
Epic (Acts 7-8)
Epic is a funny word that has gained popularity in recent years. In working with teens, I began hearing “it will be epic” or “that’s so epic” several years ago. What’s funny is that those “epic” things they referred to really weren’t that monumental compared to the Epic that we find in the Bible. These blog entries each day go along with a chronological read-through of ... [Continue Reading]
Opposing God (Acts 5-6)
There are people, who with good intentions, end up opposing God. It’s a scary thought, isn’t it? When you examine the New Testament, the Pharisees fall into such a category. In fairness, they believed what they were doing was right. They believed they were on God’s side. Gamaliel approached the situation with reason when several of the ... [Continue Reading]
What Separates Christianity From Other Religions (Acts 3-4)
Some time back I had some Mormon missionaries stop by my house. I invited them in for a conversation about the differences between Mormonism and Christianity, and we had a fairly lively debate about the issue. One of the many issues I have with Mormonism is the fear that dominated the actions of the leaders. The majority of Americans considered taking ... [Continue Reading]
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