What does it mean for Salvation to be a gift from God? The Parable of the Pushup There was a boy by the name of Steve who was attending school in Utah. Mr. Christianson taught at this particular school. He had an open-door policy and would take in any student that had been thrown out…
Doing our part 1Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2Now the Syrians on one of their raids had…
Our family, sin and the world 1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3For this is the…
1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does…
We have been learning for a couple weeks now about good, bad. Light, dark; God and the enemy. We have even been formulating the concept of being called “children of God”. When we think of the concept of being adopted into God’s family, many of us envision what His family would be like. We base…
After finishing up last week, realizing we are not abandoned. That life can be different, we journey in to chapter 3 of First John. John continues his explanation of how we have a new life and all eternity with a new family, God’s family. The chapter opens with a continuation of what John started in…
Many of us have experienced, one way or another, some sort of abandonment in our lives. We have been in situations, been around people and things just take a surprising turn. It is like that surprising scene in a movie, we don’t want to live out. From those experiences we can get apprehensive and we…
1 John 1:1-10 John begins his letter by directing attention to Christ’s divinity, incarnation, saving death, and intercessory ministry. He also stresses God’s ineffable brilliance. As we read this first section, take not to the plural references, “we”, “us”, “our”, which is used to signify and highlight the concept of a multitude of eye-witnesses. This…
It is almost a magnetism, a pull, a mysterious calling. There is no requirement, no obligation and no mandatory presence; but something within stirs. It may be that we are longing for something. Maybe we have a void and we wish to fill it. Whether we have just come back from a retreat, been on…
False teaching about prosperity has blinded many to Biblical teaching. We don’t give to God for the purpose of getting from God, but it is true that God blesses those who give. The point of distinction is one of motivation. Do we give to get, or give to give honor and thanks to God? In…