Posts from 2025

In 2021, in Indonesia, there was a sixteen-year-old girl named Nadya. One night, she was scrolling through social media, watching different kinds of videos. She eventually came across a video that caught her eye. The video didn’t catch her eye because of what it was about or what the people were doing. The video caught her eye because the girl in it looked just like her. She had the same face. She was about the same age. She even had…

Long ago, in Persia, there ruled a wise and benevolent king who deeply cared for his people. He yearned to understand their lives and the hardships they faced. Often, he would disguise himself as a working man or a beggar and visit the homes of the impoverished. No one suspected that he was their ruler. One such visit led him to a very poor man living in a cellar. Even though the poor man did not have a lot to…

On Sunday morning, our plan is to continue our series of lessons about believing God’s story. The next chapter that we need to consider in God’s story is the covenant that He makes with the nation of Israel. When God brought the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt through the leadership of Moses, God made a covenant with them at Mount Horeb, which is also called Mount Sinai (Exodus 19-20; Deuteronomy 5:1-3). What is a covenant? A “covenant” can…

What if I were to tell you that God has something to say to you? On Sunday morning, our plan is to study the call of Abram (Genesis 12:1-9). God continues to call us today. His call is not miraculous. He is not whispering audibly in our ears. His voice is not booming audibly from the heavens. Scripture teaches us that God calls us through the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Every time that the Gospel is preached, God is calling…

If the Lord wills, we will study Genesis 3:1-24 on Sunday morning, which tells us the story of the fall of man. Satan, through a serpent, tempted Eve to eat of the tree that God commanded them not to eat from. Adam and Eve both ate of the fruit and brought severe spiritual consequences on themselves and humanity. As I studied through this story, there were a handful of principles that I discovered in the text that are helpful, insightful,…

On Sunday morning, if the Lord wills, our plan is to study the creation account of Genesis 1 to see what we can learn about who God is. There are many in our increasingly secular world who deny not only the historicity of the six days of creation but also the existence of a Creator. As Christians, we need to be prepared to have conversations with those who do not believe in God’s existence. We need to make sure that…

On Sunday morning, our plan is to study James 2:14-26, which discusses the relationship between faith and works. Some suggest that what James says in that section of Scripture contradicts what the apostle Paul says elsewhere in the New Testament. For example, Martin Luther, who was a major part of the Reformation Movement in the 16th century, described the book of James as a “right strawy epistle” and claimed that “it contains not a syllable about Christ” because of this…

As Christians, we want to know Christ. We want to love, appreciate, trust, and follow Jesus for who He is, as revealed in the Scriptures. On Sunday morning, our plan is to discuss nine titles of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew. As we look forward to that study, let’s consider in this article what is oftentimes referred to as the “I Am” statements in the Gospel of John. Seven different times in John, Jesus uses the words “I am”…

There are some things in life that are really difficult to describe. How long is eternity? What is the definition of the word “the”? What does water taste like? Those are difficult questions to answer! In Ephesians 3:19, Paul prays for his readers “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” Our God loves us so much that it is beyond our comprehension. The smartest, most intelligent person on the planet will never be able to understand the love…

In Matthew 12:31-32, Jesus says the following words: “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” For some, these words have caused a lot of worry. It is easy to start wondering,…

Lord willing, when we assemble on Sunday morning for worship, we will study Luke 9:28-36. This is the story that is oftentimes titled “The Transfiguration of Jesus.” Within this passage, God gives a command that He desires for every person to obey. Speaking of Jesus, God the Father says, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” God speaks to us today by His Son (Hebrews 1:2); therefore, we are to listen to Jesus. While we have the…

Last week, we allowed Scripture to speak in response to the following question: who is God? We have discussed how God describes Himself in Exodus 34:6-7. We explored God’s omniscience, omnipotence, omnibenevolence, and omnipresence. While far from being an exhaustive list, let’s consider seven more descriptions of God from the Bible. If we are going to truly believe God and place our faith in Him, we need to understand how He has revealed Himself to the best of our ability.…

On Sunday morning, if the Lord wills, we will continue our theme of “I Believe God” by considering God’s nature. We will ask the following question: who is God? If we are going to truly believe God, we need to understand, to the best of our ability, the nature, character, and identity of the One whom we are trusting and putting our faith in. While completely comprehending the nature of God is impossible for us as limited human beings, I…