Part one Being part of the human race no matter where we stand in life our tendency is to always want something better. We were created in God’s likeness, and for perfection; even though there was nothing better than what He created us to be and to have, we desired what we thought was something […]
God does not violate the human will, but the Scripture makes it very clear that from start to finish our salvation depends on Him! Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” The Living Bible paraphrases it like this, “For God is […]
The first three chapters of Ephesians leans heavily on what we have received and are in Christ, and the last three on how we should live and walk in Christ. 2:19 brings us to a great ending spot for our series of fifteen things we are in Christ, saying that we are “…fellow citizens with […]
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life” Psalm 23:6. Goodness in the Hebrew text means just that; in Exodus 34:6 God “proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth.” Mercy in the Hebrew means kindness, piety, and (rarely) reproof, but even […]
In introducing Jesus John 1:4 says “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” This shows us that in the original creation of Genesis 1 and 2 life came from God through Jesus. The life of the new creation in 2 Corinthians 5:17 also comes from God through Him; as the […]
In Isaiah 55:1-3 God gives a special invitation: Water in the Bible speaks of life, wine represents gladness and joy, milk symbolizes nourishment, and bread that which strengthens, (cf. Psalm 104:15; 1 Peter 2:2; Revelation 21:6.) These verses in Isaiah give a clear invitation to separate from the past; to Israel at that time from […]
As He often did Jesus uses an agricultural setting to teach about the kingdom of God; in Luke 13:6-9 He tells the story of a man that had a vineyard and planted a fig tree in it, expecting it to produce fruit; however after returning to it season after season and finding no fruit he […]
As we approach the end of one year and the beginning of a new I am reminded of Jesus words in Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” He is like the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet which “bookends” everything […]
It is almost beyond our human comprehension that the Co-Creator of the entire universe would become an implanted seed, leaving the riches of heaven and be born of a woman into the poverty of fallen humanity; but “though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” 2 Corinthians 8:9. He was born in […]
