It is hard to imagine the initial telling of the story of Jesus’ arrest and execution to early listeners, since we have heard the tale so often that it has become commonplace and excites little emotion.
Continue reading...Many of us struggle with prayer. We feel obligated to talk to God but find it boring, or ourselves distracted, and we get discouraged. We have also experienced God not answering our prayers the way we
Continue reading...It is all the rage today to proclaim our great abilities (witness the president of the United States, Donald Trump, Muhammad Ali, et al.). We do it to make sure someone gives us a chance to prove it,
Continue reading...What does it mean when you invite someone into your home for a meal? What level of relationship is symbolized? Eating together is a powerful witness to intimacy or at least the desire for intimacy.
Continue reading...Jesus gives us the godly model of how to handle personal betrayal, or betrayal of any kind, for that matter. And it is as much what he doesn’t do as what he does. His response seems to flow from
Continue reading...Perhaps one of the most difficult things to deal with is the betrayal of a friend or loved one. We trusted them. We made ourselves vulnerable to them. And they took advantage of that trust and vulnerability
Continue reading...Denial! It is the tool of choice for avoiding unpleasantness for so many of us. We simply act as if what is most unpleasant does not exist. We go about our day with the nagging reality of what is
Continue reading...Though Jesus has revealed a lot about the future, there are some things he has not revealed, specifically the hour of his return. And that seems to be the thing we most want to know. Why? I’m
Continue reading...There is so much that God does not tell us about the future. When He did tell Hezekiah, for example, of his impending death, it became a source of great distress for him (Isaiah 38). But Jesus chooses
Continue reading...The great persecution of the Great Tribulation and the outpouring of judgment by God on those who do not believe, is leading to something, something wonderful. Jesus is coming back! Jesus, the king,
Continue reading...Jesus is in Jerusalem to be killed in our place, but before his arrest he has been teaching his disciples and has predicted a time of unprecedented persecution of believers and indicated that this is the
Continue reading...Should Christians expect a time of unprecedented persecution on a world-wide scale? It seems Scripture indicates a time like this. Jesus is at a time of personal persecution in the city of persecution,
Continue reading...What gets your attention? Nightly news knows that our attention is drawn to the difficult and scary things going on in our world, as well as the heartwarming things. Maybe as glass-half-full kind of
Continue reading...Why does Jesus seem to pick on the religious leaders in Israel for his harshest criticism? Undoubtedly because they have the greatest opportunity to use power for self-aggrandizement and the greatest
Continue reading...People sometimes ask if Jesus was aware of his own deity, and, if so, how early in his life was he aware. Taking on human nature and being born as we are, in an infantile state but growing in understanding
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