A BEAUTIFUL TRINITARIAN INSTRUCTION Jude gave this beautiful trinitarian instruction to believers, in contrast, to his warning against those who were creating divisions in the church. Notice his instruction begins with “But you, beloved.” He was talking to those who have the Spirit. Not those troublemakers who did not have the Spirit, evidenced by their
CHRIST, OUR REVIVAL AND RESURRECTION Amidst Hosea’s prophecies of God’s judgment on Israel, he calls them to repentance with the promise of resurrection. This promise was fulfilled in Christ. The apostle Paul must have been referring to this Scripture when he wrote that Christ “rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor.
IMMANUEL – GOD WITH US One of the 15 psalms of ascent, written to prepare the hearts of worshipers as they climbed up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Entourages of pilgrims like the one that traveled from Nazareth with young, 12-year-old Jesus, would have sung these songs as they came to celebrate Passover.
THE CURRENCY OF THE KINGDOM IS ASKING “In Him,” namely, “in Christ,” we have confidence before the Father. For this reason Hebrews teaches us to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). And the apostle Paul writes that in
WHAT WAY ARE YOU FOLLOWING? This is the last verse of the last chapter of Daniel’s prophetic book. It is the final word given to Daniel by the “man clothed in linen,” who appears to be the preincarnate Christ. He had revealed many things to come in the last days, even the time of tribulation.
HOW DO YOU RESPOND TO CORRECTION? Are you correctable? Are you humble enough to take correction and criticism without “hardening your neck?” In other words, being “stiff-necked” and unwilling to change. This biblical proverb warns us that those who will not listen to rebuke and make changes, will soon be in so much trouble that
WHO ARE YOU GROWING UP TO BE LIKE? Do you ever ask questions of God like, “Why is this happening to me?” The apostle John answers saying not everything has been “revealed” yet, but one thing we can be sure of is that “we are children of God” and we shall “be like” Jesus. That’s
CHRIST IS BOTH THE MEDIATOR AND MEANS OF SALVATION The word “propitiation” points back to Israel’s sacrificial system, whereby a lamb without spot or blemish was offered as an atonement for sins. Yet those lambs, offered every year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, were only like checks written on a future deposit. Jesus
BELIEVING THE EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY CONCERNING JESUS The apostle John opened his first letter as he did his gospel, and as Moses did the Torah, with the phrase: “the beginning.” Also, similar to his gospel, John referred to Christ as the “Word” (Greek: “λόγος, logos“). In John’s gospel, he spoke of the Word’s divine preexistence and
ARE YOU GROWING IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS? The apostle Peter closed his second epistle, encouraging believers to “grow in the grace and knowledge” of Jesus. He warned against being led away by the error of the wicked, advising its alternative, namely, to grow in Christ. He understood that in spiritual life, as