Search results for: "acts"

Devotionals

Historic Truth

Some chide us for “checking our brains in at the door” when we come to a place of trusting in Christ for forgiveness and new life. But that is not how Christianity is presented to us in Scripture. The New Testament evangelists never asked anyone to stop thinking, stop inquiring or stop analyzing the claims of Christ and the Apostles. No one was asked to just...

Thinking Christians

One of the great things about real Christianity is that it calls us to sincerely engage our minds and always check out the facts. Unlike those who say that “faith is something that is to be embraced in spite of the truthfulness of the particulars,” the Bible tells us

Worship the REAL God

Worship and good theology must go hand in hand. When Jesus dialoged with the woman at well in John 4, he reprimanded the Samaritans with the words, “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know” (John 4:22). Paul did the same when he spoke to...

Weakness

As sinful and fallen people we hate the feeling of weakness. On the other hand, we love feelings of strength, dominance, control, power and independence. But the reality is, that as creatures of the One who “gives all men life, breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25) all of our perceived...

Truthfulness

In Psalm 15 David recounts key virtues of a godly character – a kind of character that he says will experience intimacy with God. At the top of the inspired list we find the attribute of truthfulness, as we might expect. How can one claim to

Mentally Engaged

So much of what goes on in the name of Christianity consists of people mindlessly going through the motions of various forms of religion, devotion and piety. But acts of devotion, pious ceremonies and forms of true religion result in anything but good, when the participant’s mind is somewhere else. In principle, the Scripture repeatedly warns...

Spiritual Endeavors

To the sympathetic reader, the last scene in Acts 15 (vv.36-41) appears to be an event brimming with high personal drama and raw emotions. Certainly language such as “sharp disagreement” (v.39) leads our hearts in that direction. But besides that single phrase, all the other words and phrases in the passage

Shrewd Evangelism

One of the most important and timely observations concerning the record of Paul’s evangelism in first century Athens, is to take note of the distinctive way the gospel was presented. Unlike previous scenes in...

Reading the Whole Bible

Reading through the Bible, from cover to cover, on a regular basis is a critically important discipline for a healthy Christian life. With that said, it is important to distinguish this from reading for study...

Earthly Jobs

The Bible calls all Christians to see their daily work at their so-called “secular jobs” as a series of sacred acts of service to our King. We must look beyond our earthly bosses...

Decisions

Our feelings have been entrusted with far too much authority in our decision-making process. While we may live in a culture that wants to “feel led” before they act, Scripture provides us a template wherein God’s people choose to act righteously and “let their feelings catch up”. Consider the countercultural logic

Keeping Grace in View

We are prone to forget, especially as we compare our relative righteousness, that our salvation is all of grace. We must never fail to remember that everything about our lives – our spiritual efforts, our moral resumes and our celebrated accomplishments – are all exchanged for Christ’s. Our salvation is secured in the same way

Christmas Plan

Christmas was required in God’s plan because the righteous life he requires was not attained by Adam or any of his fallen descendants. God, prompted by grace, chose to fulfill the holy human standard himself. The incarnate Deity chose to live the life we should have lived – the perfect childhood, the spotless...

Funerals

It is remarkable that non-Christians, agnostics and staunch secularists turn into weeping and hope-filled theologians at their loved ones’ funerals. People that rarely give God a thought or ten minutes of contemplation take up the microphone and tearfully recite their poems about the fishing, feasting and frolicking in “heaven”. They speak confidently of

Desert Attitudes

When God led the Israelites out of Egypt, the destination was the promised land of Canaan – a land of abundance and rest. The route was through the desert – which by contrast was hot, difficult and filled with discomfort. As is so often the case, God’s good plans include a path through the desert. From the perspective of the New Testament

Forgetting God

The Bible often speaks of God’s people “forgetting God.” It would seem impossible that those who are called by God’s name would “forget God,” but that is the tragic

God Hates Pride

While it may not be vogue to ponder the things God says he hates, it would do us well if we are to be people resolved to please him. It should not be hard for most of us to recall the repulsions at the top of God's list. For the Creator has repeatedly

For God’s Sake

While most people believe God saves people for "people’s sake" (i.e., because of his attraction to them and his inner compulsion to promote and honor them), Psalm 106:8 tells us that God is in the business of saving sinners...

Resurrection

Without the historic and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have no hope. The Bible contends that without the veracity of this single event recorded in the four biographies of Christ, we’d be wise to walk away from this entire movement we call Christianity. In the New Testament we are told...

Getting It Right

Rightly understanding and properly responding to the gospel is of paramount importance. Nothing could have broader or more profound consequences than being right or wrong about the content and demands of the message that determines our placement in eternity. While that seems

Know Your God

According to God’s word there is nothing more rewarding or more satisfying than using your mind to focus on your Creator. The Psalmist declares, “Blessed are they who seek him with all of their heart” (Ps.119:2). Jesus affirmed that the greatest directive...

Fresh Start

Embedded in the Jewish calendar of the Old Testament is the ultimate “reset button.” Every fiftieth year, after a perfect set of seven “seventh years,” the ram’s horn was to sound and everything was to start afresh. (See Leviticus 25.) In the “Year of Jubilee,” as it was called, all debts were cancelled...

Apologetic Discussions

In a culture where our cognitive attention span is sadly being reduced to a series of sound bites, and important arguments are perceived to be settled with witty one-liners, it is increasingly difficult to

Excuse Making

We live in a culture of excuses. Our generation is skilled at making them because excuses have become increasingly accepted as a means to evade blame and avoid responsibility. Excuse-making is nothing new. Adam and Eve are described as making...

Preparing for God’s Word

Responding appropriately to God’s word, whether it is being read or it is being preached, requires an important preparatory step that is often neglected. God’s word is said to be “living and active” and sufficiently able to have a transforming...

Generosity

We all love generosity—that is, when others are generous to us. Christians, of all people, should appreciate the value of generosity, being the recipients of the most extravagant and undeserved generosity from...

Receiving Correction

God’s word describes the wise person as one who is “open to reason” (Jms.3:17). The one Greek New Testament word that translates this phrase speaks to the attribute of a person who is willing to change his mind or behavior when presented with...

Parenting

Parenting is hard work. Particularly because we are called by God to direct and correct young human beings who are born sinners (Ps.51:5), by nature chafe against the instructions of God (Rom.8:7; 1Cor.2:14), and are obstinately focused on...

Absolute Truth

Truth is always true. Even so, it is amazing how many people seem to think it’s up for grabs. While we can reasonably reach an impasse as to which restaurant has “the best” Mexican food, when it comes to what you had for lunch yesterday there is a right and wrong answer. That’s the thing about “truth”...

Payoff of Holiness

With so much in the Bible about our call as Christians to live holy lives, I find that we often focus on the challenge and the obligation, but forget to ponder the payoff. Even when we hear the word “payoff” our minds tend to...