The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
1 John, Part 5 – The Unbeliever
After his introduction, John compares the basis of assurance of salvation as opposed to the reasons to suspect that someone is a non-believer. Rather than look at the comparisons as they are written, I divided the listed characteristics of the unbeliever from the characteristics of the believer in order to take a closer look. This form of study is called analysis…..
Share:
1 John, Part 4 –The Purpose of the First Epistle of John
This epistle is written in a loosely classical essay format in which the writer tells his audience what he is going to write about, writes about it with at least three subsections of slightly different emphases, and then reviews with his audience what he has written about. The overall theme is assurance of salvation.
Years ago,…..
Share:
1 John, Part 3 – Amazing Advocate
I was talking to a friend last week about God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness. These are characteristics that do not come naturally to us humans and so we have difficulty comprehending them in God. It is a good thing Jesus does not require comprehension. He only requires faith and obedience.
1 Peter 2:24 tells us that Jesus, “…bare our sins in…..
Share:
1 John, Part 2 – The Battle of Two Wills
1 John 1:5-7 sets the topical pattern for the whole epistle:
“This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:…..
Share:
1 John, Part 1 – Jesus’ Commandments
Both Matthew 22:37-39 and Mark 13:34 record the scribe’s question, “What is the most important commandment?” Keep in mind that God’s commandments are to be obeyed: they are not suggestions. Jesus’ answer was, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind … And the second is like unto…..
Share:
God’s Promise of the Seasons
Yesterday our calendars marked the beginning of summer. I find it amazing that even after all this time since creation, the world still revolves and the seasons still change. Of course God did not just set things in motion at creation to walk away; He has continued to interact with our world and its people through the ages.
Living where I do, at…..
Share:
Fact, Not Feeling
When Jesus Christ promised “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” in Matthew 28:20b, He didn’t qualify it with various circumstances under which He would not fulfill the promise. Likewise in Hebrews 13:5b, “for He has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you”, there is no mitigating circumstance under which the promise will not be kept.
John 14:27…..
Share:
Blessed Quietness
One of my favorite hymns growing up was “Blessed Quietness”. The lyrics reflect absolute trust in the fact of salvation, the presence of the Comforter (i.e., the Holy Spirit) making “the trusting heart His home”, and the resulting fruit of righteousness that grows in each believer. It is the third person of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) who…..
Share:
O Death, Where is Thy Sting?
There are times that Dan and I talk honestly and unafraid about death. One of those times was on September 29 when we received the call from Dan’s doctor telling him that five tumors were found in the PetCT scan done the day before. A later biopsy revealed them to be metastatic melanoma. Since November Dan has undergone bi-weekly immunotherapy infusions, the…..
Share:
Psalm One Revisited
This week I was reminded of the short but comprehensive view of the servant’s heart found in Psalm 1. It is an Old Testament passage that crosses directly over into New Testament righteousness:
“Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his…..