Today’s passage: John 18:28–40 Focus verse: “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) Jesus talks often about his kingdom. John, along with Mark and Luke, uses the phrase kingdom of God, while Matthew prefers the kingdom of heaven. The two phrases mean the same thing. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll use kingdom […]
An Old Testament Parable Warning about the Perils of Prostitution and Idolatry Ezekiel shares a story about two sisters. It’s an Old Testament parable. And it comes directly from God. The older sister is Oholah, and the younger sister is Oholibah. Oholah is Samaria, the capital of Israel and represents the ten northern tribes. The […]
Jesus Focused on the Kingdom of God, Not Church Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, but we made a church instead. What if he never intended us to form a church? After all, Jesus did tell his followers to “seek first the kingdom of God,” (Matthew 6:33, ESV). Let’s look at where else the […]
How Engagement and Marriage Worked in the New Testament In Bible times, when a couple became engaged, the groom-to-be with go home and prepare a place for them to live by adding a room to his parents’ house. As soon as he finished the construction, he would go to his fiancée, the marriage ceremony would […]
We Should Embrace Our Homecoming to Eternity After writing his psalms of praise to God, Isaiah continues the positivity by looking forward to the day when his people will receive deliverance from their enemies, about them going home. Though the people view this as a physical rescue, many people today understand it as a spiritual […]
An Act of Commission is an Act We’ve Done When I think of being punished, be it by God or people, I think in terms of things I do wrong. That is, doing things that I shouldn’t have done. Some people call this an “act of commission.” They are things I have committed. However, there […]
Kingdom of Heaven versus Kingdom of God The phrase “the Kingdom of God” is synonymous with “the Kingdom of Heaven.” Some writers in the Bible simply prefer one over the other; it is not meant to designate two different concepts or kingdoms. (Mark and Luke used “Kingdom of God,” whereas Matthew used “Kingdom of heaven.”) […]
A Parable about Lazarus In the parable about the rich man and the beggar, Lazarus, Jesus shares an intriguing story. In it, both men die. Lazarus goes to heaven, but the rich man ends up in hell. Desperate to spare his family from the torment he is suffering, the rich man makes a request of […]
Today’s destination is next door to last week’s; they even share a common drive. We enter, sign the guest book, and head towards the music. Standing just outside the sanctuary, Candy sees an acquaintance, who invites us to sit with her and her husband. This is the third time on our journey we’ve experienced this […]
The Parable of the Lost Son Shows God’s Unconditional Love Jesus teaches us of his Father’s unconditional love in a parable. Some people call this story “The Prodigal Son,” but calling it “The Lost Son” is more accurate (Luke 15:11-32). In this allegory we have a man and his two boys. The older son is […]