God’s Ways Accomplish God’s Goals

When reading through the New Testament it jumps out how passionately the early church engaged in prayer and teaching the word. In the book of Acts, it says they devoted themselves to teaching and to prayer. The word devoted means to persevere, to be constantly diligent and steadfastly attentive to. Prayer and teaching weren’t things they occasionally squeezed in among a variety of other activities. Prayer and teaching were front and center, and they constantly engaged in these spiritual activities.

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Sent By God (part 2) – the Apostle Paul

The apostle Paul had a dramatic and unique conversion to faith in Christ. As a young man, he was zealously persecuting Christians and was on his way to Damascus to arrest any believers he found there. On the way he was blinded by a light from heaven that was brighter than the sun, and he heard the audible voice of Jesus speaking to him ¹. Jesus told Paul he was his chosen instrument, and he was appointed to carry his name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel ². Paul’s calling occurred at his initial encounter with Christ, and this calling set the course for his entire life. Many years later, Paul would proclaim he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision ³.

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It’s Not Enough To Know Who Jesus Is

Jesus was questioning his disciples about who he was, and Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.¹ Jesus commended Peter, telling him “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven”.² What a wonderful moment for Peter; to be told by Jesus that God the Father had given him revelation about who Jesus is. Yet, just a few verses later we see a very different interaction between Jesus and Peter.

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Everybody Loves Martha But Jesus Commended Mary

Most believers are familiar with the Biblical story that contrasts Martha’s busyness with Mary’s choice to sit at Jesus’ feet. There is no complicated theology here, just a simple story. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Biblical passage challenge people’s sense of practicality the way this one does.

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The Danger Of Cherry-Picking The Scriptures

The Bible has a lot to say about the love and goodness of God, and these truths are incredibly positive and reassuring. But it’s a mistake to isolate personally encouraging scriptures and treat them as if this is all the Bible has to say about God; as if he is always this way and cannot be any other way.

The definition of cherry-picking is to choose and take only the most beneficial items from what is available. This approach to the Bible is a temptation that is quite easy to fall into, but it results in a distorted view of God himself, and an inaccurate assessment of where we personally stand with him. If we value an honest and healthy relationship with the Lord, we must persistently seek and welcome everything that God says to us throughout the scriptures.

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God’s Greatest Mystery

A mystery is something that is veiled and not easily understood. The word mystery is used over twenty times in the New Testament. One example is in the last part of Ephesians chapter five. This passage is expounding on the relationship between husbands and wives, but at the end it takes a surprising turn and finishes with an astounding revelation.

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Don’t Expect Jesus To Be Reasonable

Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to earth to seek and to save that which was lost ¹. However, in the Bible we never see Jesus inviting people to pray a prayer to “receive” salvation. Throughout the four gospels we see Jesus calling people to follow him, and it’s this commitment to follow Christ that leads to salvation ². How we understand and respond to Jesus’ call will have eternal implications.

Let’s examine some Biblical examples of Jesus calling people to follow him, and the different ways that they responded.

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Relating To Jesus Beyond The Gospels

The four gospels of the Bible give us amazing insight into the life of Jesus. We get to see the Son of God living among us as the Son of Man. He models perfectly what it means to love God and to love others. He also models perfect obedience that honors God ¹. For all eternity we will marvel at how God’s amazing love caused Him to make the ultimate sacrifice that restores us to right relationship with Him.

As believers we should diligently study the gospels and take to heart the example and teachings of Jesus that are recorded there. However, we are also called to engage in a right-now relationship with the risen Christ. In order to have a healthy relationship with Jesus, we must understand who he is right now, who he is beyond the gospels. Freezing Jesus in time and seeing him only as he was in the time of the gospels will have a negative effect on our present-day interaction with him.

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Call No One Pastor

It’s common for most churches to be led by an individual who is recognized as the pastor of that church, and that person is usually addressed as Pastor so-and-so, or sometimes just Pastor. This long-established practice is considered a way of showing love and respect. While love and respect are very biblical, addressing a select few within the church by official titles actually goes against the teaching of Jesus. Challenging a practice that is born out of good intentions may seem like nitpicking, but Jesus specifically addressed this issue for good reasons and we should give careful thought to what he said, and why he said it.

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Sorting Out What Is Sacred And What Is Tradition

In Christianity, there are beliefs and practices that are sacred. They are sacred because they originate from God; things that God has instructed his people to believe and to do. If something is sacred, then it should be honored, advanced, and defended. There are many things that Christians should rightly treat as sacred. However, there are things that many Christians hold to be sacred that are not sacred at all, but are merely traditions. The way we know what originates from God, and therefore is sacred, is the Bible, the word of God. If a belief or practice is not taught or modeled in the Bible, then it must be treated as a tradition, not as something sacred.

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