Jesus Uses Narrative to Inform Us About His Father’s Kingdom Jesus uses parables—“an earthly story with a heavenly meaning,” as I learned in Sunday school—to teach us about the kingdom of God. We are part of the kingdom of God, and we need to do a better job of acting like it. Since Jesus talks […]
Paul’s Letter to the Romans Opens With 3 Traits for Us to Ponder Paul begins his letter to the church in Rome by giving them an overview of his situation. He shares three characteristics about himself, his mission, and his calling. Though he does this to establish credibility for his message, and thereby encourage the […]
Some People Needlessly Bring Opposition Upon Themselves In many parts of the world religious oppression is an everyday reality that affects adherents’ ability to move about freely, earn an income, and purchase life’s necessities. A deep religious hatred limits the daily freedom for some people of faith. Their unwavering devotion to what they believe only […]
Many Christians Include the Books of the Apocrypha as Part of Their Scripture The book of Revelation ends with a severe threat to anyone who would add to it, that God will afflict that person with the plagues mentioned therein. Interpretation Error Though the warning clearly applies to the book of Revelation—“the words of the […]
The Bible Records Jesus’s Parables to Explain the Kingdom of God Jesus talks a lot about the kingdom of God and hardly ever mentions church. This suggests church may be our idea and not his. Perhaps Jesus just wants us to be part of the kingdom of God and church doesn’t matter so much. Seriously. […]
Worship Means Different Things, but What’s Important is That We Do It Some churches call their Sunday meeting a worship service. This has always troubled me. Yes, I knew that singing to God was a form of worship, or at least it should be. I understood the part about “worshiping God with our tithes and […]
Ananias Obeys God to Heal Saul Who Wants to Arrest Him I like the story of Saul’s conversion in the book of Acts, turning him from a murderous bigot into a passionate follower of Jesus. A flash of light, a voice from heaven. It has all the makings of a great story. In this account, […]
Consider the Kingdom of God as the Ultimate Church Model To guide how we should function as his followers today, we must consider what Jesus says about the kingdom of God. Here are twelve key truths about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God: 1. Is Close A dozen times or more Jesus proclaims […]
Whether We Pray Often or Seldom, We Have Likely Fallen into Unexamined Habits How do you begin your prayers? What is your common salutation? It might be “Heavenly Father . . .” or perhaps “Father God . . . ” or maybe “Dear God . . . ” (How about, “Hey, God. It’s me again.”) […]
Debates Over Theology Cause Needless Distractions and Actually Keep Us from God My theology is an enigma to most people. It’s an enigma to me, too, but I’m okay with that because I don’t much care about theology, at least not how most folks pursue it today. In some respects, I hate theology. Theological Discussions […]