Category: THEOLOGY
The Worth of Warnings (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this article we discussed the value and purpose of biblical warnings to believers—warnings about making salvation certain. Now I want to challenge you to consider four of these warnings and examine your own response to them. The Warning Not To Love the...
Unless You Believe: The Starting Place
I understand that doubts can be a problem. But in the passage below, Jesus says there is something we must believe if we expect forgiveness for our sins. Zoom in now and note carefully what Christ says about belief: And He was saying to them, “You...
When God Says, “However . . .
A curious event in Genesis 48 demonstrates how God’s work in us is never really over. Joseph was about 60 years old, and his father, Jacob, was dying. As was the custom, Jacob called for Joseph’s two sons so he could bestow the patriarchal blessing upon...
Who Is the Person of God-Pleasing Faith?
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Faith is also the means of gaining God’s approval, “for by it the men of old gained approval” (11:2). Furthermore, faith is the only means of gaining God’s...
What Does Luck Have to Do with It?
Joni Eareckson Tada is one of the most gracious and effective Christians in the world. She has lived with the results of a diving accident that broke her neck during her teen years. At 50 she continues to radiate Christ to a listening world. Joni is...
The Cross or Loss
The cross is the character of Christianity. As the self-appointed spokesman for Jesus’ handpicked coterie, Peter says the right thing at the right time: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But Peter cannot leave good enough alone. As Jesus goes on to...
Stand Firm and Be Saved:The Necessity of Perseverance
Near the end of 1 Peter we read this: “I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it!” (5:12). Peter’s letter was a sustained exhortation for believers to see the difficulties of the Christian...
Seven Laws of the Race
The motif of the Olympic race was dear to the Apostle Paul. Did he sit in the stands in Athens or Corinth? Perhaps so. Regardless, parallels between “the games” and the believer’s race in life were often on his mind. He (along with the author of...
Obtaining the Inheritance: The Big Story
It was a starry night when God told Abram, soon to be Abraham, that he would have as many descendants as the stars of the sky. On that same night He told him that the land he was on would be his also. I am the...
Many Believed, But . . .
John’s gospel is all about people believing in Jesus. He tells us near the end that this was his purpose. Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so...