What is the only basis for any confidence we have? Why would we presume to say that we are a church with a living, daring confidence in God’s grace through the gospel of Jesus Christ? The last part is significant: through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are emboldened to stand confidently. There is no […]

We have made a mistake in determining who should be involved in the work of ministry. When identifying laborers for the vineyard, we should look for conviction, character, and competency. Most look for only the last! God is not looking for the strongest, but the one whose knowledge of him shapes those traits listed above. […]

What is the work to which the Holy Spirit has called Saul and Barnabas? It is the work of an itinerant evangelist throughout the Mediterranean world. They would go from place to place, and, by God’s grace, establish a church through their preaching ministry. Christians rightly get excited about these missionary endeavors, but we forget […]

How are they to preach unless they are sent? This a good question for us to pray through together, recognizing the vitality of proclaiming the gospel and its freedom to those who struggle from guilt or sin’s power. How are they to preach unless they are sent? Preachers (which includes you and me – we […]

Scripture is not static. There is a dynamism that is always present, often at several levels. There is the promise of a personal power that each of us receive, as the gospel is the power of God unleashed for our salvation. There is also the power given as the Spirit himself comes upon us. It […]

Not everyone is called to full-time ministry, or what is sometimes called “vocational ministry” – but it is likely that some of us who are reading this are. But each and all of us are called to ministry. The default mode for all of us is a green light. All of us are called to […]

No one is ever too far-gone. There are no degrees of being lost. We see in the life of Paul (and if we are honest, our own lives) that God’s arm is never too short to save. We know not the time or the means by which God will call his own to himself, but […]

Before arriving at verse 16, Paul tells us to “put on … compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another …[and] forgiving each other.” Above all of this, he says to put on love. This is a tall order, especially in light of what comes naturally to us (see 3:8-10). How does […]

What a wonderful declaration of belief! After the resurrection, Jesus had appeared to the other disciples, but not to Thomas. The others told him, “We have seen the Lord!”, but Thomas responded that unless he not only saw Jesus but actually touched him, he would never believe. Jesus answers his challenge by appearing before him […]

A tiny backwater village, Nazareth was a place of no consequence, without any expectation that anyone from there would amount to anything. To award someone from there as “least likely to succeed” does not go far enough: they would be viewed derisively and with contempt by anyone from any sort of privilege. And such is […]