Joel and the Locust The book of Joel is classified as one of the Bible’s prophetic books, as it contains a foretelling of the future. After multiple reads, however, this short, 3-chapter book begins to emerge more as poetry than prophecy...
Where Did Baptism Come From? 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...
Two Kinds of Baptism 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...
New Testament Words 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...
Four Johns but One Mark In “Another Man with Two Names” we talked about a guy known as John Mark. Although no one knows why he’s called John Mark, it does distinguish him from other men in the Bible named John. John In addition...
Learn about Jesus through the Testimony of Others in the Bible Who is Jesus? C. S. Lewis attempted to answer this question when he popularized a trilemma (a dilemma with 50 percent more content) about Jesus. He argued that Jesus is either a liar...
Women in the Bible: Elizabeth Childless, Elizabeth and husband Zechariah are getting old; their chance for kids is slim. Still they pray for the improbable. Despite not receiving what they yearn for, their faith remains strong. They are a...
What is the Origin of Baptism? The word baptize is only found in the New Testament of the Bible. Prior to John the Baptist preforming this water ceremony, it is never mentioned. John, by the way, baptizes Jesus. The Old Testament doesn’t mention...
Realizing Holy Spirit Power Although the terminology and even the timing vary between the various Christian traditions and perspectives, a generality is that first, someone decides to follow Jesus and then the Holy Spirit is given to guide and...
Are You the One? John the Baptist sits in jail, about to be executed. In a dark moment, his faith begins to waiver. Seeking assurance, he sends his followers to Jesus, with the simple question, “Are you the one?” This question reminds me of the...
