Every once in a while, God gives us a glimpse of His gracious, sovereign choosing of particular individuals. One such place is Jeremiah 1. The significance of this glimpse is that the Lord tells Jeremiah that the choosing didn’t take place in recent days as a result of Jeremiah’s good behavior, faithfulness to the Lord,…
To the scribes of Jesus’ day, His powerful displays of healing and casting out demons were most frustrating. These made it difficult to convince people that Jesus was an imposter, a charlatan, who was simply attempting to drum up a following for personal aggrandizement. More offensive than that, though, was Jesus’ declaration of someone’s sins…
“What in the world is the matter with people?!” Ever heard that one? Ever asked it yourself?? How many times have you pondered that question as you watched the evening news or scrolled the news feed? It really is a crucial, foundational issue for being able to interpret life, whether you’re talking about what’s going…
God always does everything at the right time. Maybe not according to our timetable, but certainly according to His! Paul brings this out explicitly in his discussion of the incarnation of Christ—His coming to earth—and His purpose in doing so. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born…
How should you respond to the people who show up at your door on Saturday morning, wanting you to take their literature from the Watchtower Society, or claiming to be Christians from the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter Day Saints (if they actually come out and tell you)? What about the guy on television who…
The doctrine of election is not very popular in some circles of Christianity. If mentioned at all, it’s usually in a negative, critical way. Nevertheless, you can’t escape its presence. There are too many illustrations of God’s choosing (e.g. Abraham, Jacob over Isaac, David, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Paul…). And there are too many clear…
On the one hand, for us to experience God’s gift of salvation is quite easy because it takes no work. In contrast to every other religion in the world, the Christian doctrine of salvation requires no amount of good works in order to be saved, for “by the works of the law shall no flesh…
It’s pretty easy to be overwhelmed with all in our world that is contrary to the Christian faith. Reading the paper, watching TV, a casual perusal at the grocery store checkout, simple observation of people—all these things can surely give the impression that someone wanting to live his life according to the principles, precepts, and…
It’s impossible to explain and beyond our comprehension, but the hope of eternal life offered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something that God promised before the world began: Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the…
Every true believer in Christ will produce fruit of some kind, in some measure. Jesus makes that quite clear in John 15, where He declares, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away…” (v. 2). Then He describes what becomes of such branches in v. 6, “If anyone does not abide…