All posts tagged: Bible

Day #2: I am Loved

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God loves you equally on your good and bad days. There is nothing you can do or not do to change His mind. Jeremiah 31:3, “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Welcome to day number 2 and thanks for joining me on this 21-day journey of discovering who we are in Christ. You are loved. There is nothing you can do wrong that would make Him love you less.There is nothing extra you can do to make Him love you more. You are loved on your good days and loved equally on your bad. God’s love for you is patient. It is kind. His love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things for you. Among the many things Jude could have written to his hearers, he chose to remind them of one thing: “keep ourselves in the love of God” (Jude 1:21). We need to live in a daily revelation of the …

10 Greatest OT Speeches that Moved a Generation

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We’ve all been touched and moved by the words of others: A speech by our favorite political icon A sermon by our favorite preacher A lecture by our favorite professor Or, the charisma of our favorite actor. Their words captured our imagination, transported us to another world. Their words made us feel like we could change the world, even if it meant laying down our very lives. My personal favorite is Mel Gibson in Braveheart: They can take our lives, but they will never take our freedom. Similarly, when we look at scriptures, we find some incredibly moving rally cries. Defining moments that moved a generation. Here are my personal favorites. I hope you find them compelling as I do. Elijah Generation “Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent… Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, prove …

The Greatest Chapter in All of Scripture is the greatest chapter of my life

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It was the summer of 1991. I was young and had discovered the joy of salvation, the hope of eternal life. There was a fire burning in my heart. I felt like I had been made new. I was born of God. His seed had budded within and I would never be the same. We had completed our baptismal classes. We were baptized. My spiritual father insisted that we memorize Romans 8. Everyone of us had committed the chapter to memory. We stood before the congregation, just before our first communion, and with one voice, one proud, loud and joyful voice, we recited the greatest chapter in the entire bible – Romans 8: The Spirit of Life There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of …

Refreshing Times of Reconciliation

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This short epistle (letter) written by Paul to Philemon has one of the most powerful messages on conflict resolution in the bible. This story is not only a powerful demonstration of the gospel to transform lives (“formerly he was useless” but “now he is indeed useful,” v. 11), but also a demonstration of the powerful impact the gospel can have on human relationships as well (receive him “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother,” v. 16). Apparently during Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus, Philemon heard the gospel and was saved. He began serving the cause of Christ in the Colossian community, opening his home for a group of Christians to meet there regularly. At some point, Onesimus, one of Philemon’s slaves, fled to Rome, possibly having stolen money (or property) from Philemon and now a fugitive. Onesimus somehow came into contact with the apostle Paul and became a Christian. As he grew in Christ, he spent much time and effort helping Paul, who was severely constrained by his imprisonment. Paul thus wrote this letter as an appeal to Philemon to appreciate …

What’s in God’s Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth?

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What’s there in the Bible? It is a dangerous question. We might do better not to come too near this burning bush. For we are sure to betray what is—behind us! The Bible gives to every man and every era such answers to your questions as they deserve. We shall always find in it as much as we seek and no more: high and divine content if it is high and divine content that we seek transitory and “historical” content, if transitory and “historical” content that we seek Nothing whatever, if it is nothing whatever that we seek. The hungry are satisfied by it, and to the satisfied it is surfeiting before they have opened it. The question, “What is in the Bible?” has a mortifying way of converting itself into the opposing question, “Well, what are you looking for, and who are you, pray, who make bold to look?” (Karl Barth, “The strange new world in the Bible.” Cited from Gregory Alan Thornburry) So, what’s in God’s Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth? What might …

Rolling Up your sleeves

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1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The idea “of preparing for action” is much like the phrase “rolling up your sleeves.” God is calling us to roll up our sleeves and get to work on the most important thing in life – our faith, our relationship with him. Two thoughts from 1 Peter 1:13 1. Prepare you mind for action. Be Sober. This means to take a serious look at life. There must come a time in the life of every person when he or she must ask the hard or most important questions. What am I doing with my life? Where will I go if I were to die today? What is the meaning of all of this, God, Jesus, this world, church, suffering, my faith and christian life etc…? Am I on the right track? Am I sober? Am I right with God – am I growing as I should – is …

Context is Everything

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Context is everything. I heard a story about a guy who had a very unique way of reading the Bible. In his effort to hear what God would say to him for that day, he would hold a closed Bible in his hands, close his eyes, than open the Bible with his eyes still shut, drop a pointing finger on the page of the bible, open his eyes, than read the verse on which his finger landed. Well, one morning, his first attempt landed him on a verse that said,”and Judas hang himself.” Feeling unsatisfied, he dove in for something else and his finger landed on another verse that said, “go do likewise.” Well you can imagine that was the last day he played Russian Roulette with the Bible. Come to think about it, most Christians I know approach the word of God Just like that. They reach in for something, than pull it right out of its context. But it’s important that we read and interpret the word of God by taking into consideration …

Bible App for kids

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YouVersion and OneHope released a free Bible App for kids last year, and it would be a great resource to get your kids into the word of God this year. iOS and Android users can get the app on their devices. Download the Bible App for Kids Checkout the behind the scenes making of the app Start a Bible reading plan for you and your family The bible commands us to “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” What an incredible promise! If we would do the hard work of educating our children in the ways of God, we can rest assured that God will do the rest. Isaiah 54:13 says, “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.” I pray that you would take these promises to heart and begin your year by investing everything you got in your kids.