Category: Salvation
“When We All Get to the New Creation” Adjusting Our Vocabulary about Life after Death
When I first started on my journey as a believer, I had a misconception about life after death. I thought that my soul would leave my body and go to live with Jesus in heaven forever. You may be thinking: “That’s a misconception? That’s what I...
That is Not the Way You Learned Christ
Have you ever felt the lure of your old life before Christ? Maybe you ran into some friends who knew you before you became a Christian and their talk of having fun enticed you, or someone you dated before seems interested in reconnecting with you. Paul...
We Must Live With This
“Let anyone who has no love for the Lord be accursed.” (1 Cor 16:22, NET) These are such striking words! Can they really be true? The verse seems to dangle there with no immediately apparent connection to what precedes it or follows. Paul placed this thought...
What Happens When You Die?
Death is one of those “common denominator” human experiences. We all will experience it. I’m aware of two historical exceptions—Enoch and Elijah, both of whom were simply taken up by God. I’m also aware that those Christ followers who are alive when he returns will avoid...
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...
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...
