The Father Is the Destination and the Savior Provides the Path Jesus tells Thomas, “I am the way.” The only way to get to the Father is through the Savior (John 14:5-6). He’s not a way. He’s the only way. Though many people uphold the Christ as the primacy of the Trinity, we must remember […]
Understand How to Respond to This Perplexing Practice A perplexing verse in Paul’s letter to his friends in Corinth mentions being baptized for dead people. What in the world does this mean? It sounds heretical. Can we be baptized for dead people? Well, I suppose so, but we shouldn’t expect it to accomplish anything. Should […]
Valued friends invite us to visit a church they’ve been going to for about six months. This surprises me: not the invitation part but that they’re going to an organized church and not the house church they’ve been involved with for several years. They now attend both, interweaving their participation as their schedule permits. Gifts […]
As a reference, I share attending our home church on Easter Sunday. This marks the end of 52 Churches and the start of More Than 52 Churches. Though I strive to remain objective in visiting churches, our home church forms the lens I look through. Consider these seven discussion questions about Church #53. 1. I […]
Our journey of visiting fifty-two churches in a year is over. I’m sad and excited at the same time. Our reunion with our home church community looms large. We will be home for Easter Sunday. It’s Easter, and we’re returning to the people we love and have missed. I expect a joyful homecoming and a […]
John Baptizes with Water and Jesus Baptizes with the Holy Spirit The third chapter in the book of Matthew focuses on John the Baptist and makes the transition to Jesus, the star of the rest of the book. This chapter also contains some teaching from John. He quotes Isaiah and calls for the Jewish people […]
Our journey is over. I’m sad and excited at the same time. Our spiritual sojourn of fifty-two churches has ended. Reunion with our home church, church 53, community looms large. Today is Good Friday and our Easter celebration will be in two days, but I can’t wait for Sunday. I desire a preview, a reminder […]
Explore Jesus’s Parting Words A few weeks ago we looked at Jesus’s final instructions as found in each of the Bible’s four biographies of him. Melding these together, we came up with three steps. First is to follow Jesus, second is to wait for Holy Spirit power, and three is to go and tell others. […]
In Baptism, We Turn from Sin, Follow Jesus, and Receive the Holy Spirit Another concept that only appears in the New Testament is baptize and baptism. Baptize occurs fifty times, and its counterpart baptism appears twenty-one times. These two words often show up in the Bible’s four biographies of Jesus and especially in the book […]
Some of the Bible’s Most Significant Words Don’t Appear in the Old Testament I use the Bible to study the Bible. That is, I tap one passage to help breathe understanding into another. Sometimes when investigating a specific term, I do a word search to find out where else and how else Scripture uses it. […]