From start to finish, the Good News has baffled the wisdom of the world (and not a few Christians!). Presented to us as one thing, with one faith, one Lord,…
Creation was intense. The fall of mankind was intense. Holiness interacting with mankind has always been intense. Jesus being sent, being born, being human, being crucified, rising again: all that…
Optimists are those dismayed when God permits circumstances that are not rose garden-ish. Pessimists are those dismayed when He permits circumstances that are. And yet in his great and lengthy sermon,…
As Jesus was confronted with the many tragic evidences of mankind’s brokenness, he chose parables to illustrate the contrast between Israel’s ways and heaven’s. Each telling had within it an…
Jesus’ Galilean ‘Band of Brothers’ was constantly being surprised by aspects of God’s Kingdom never before imagined. Most of it was super cool and even thrilling, but some of it…
Our world is being dealt yet another blunt reminder of the grim reality of our fallenness – man’s inhumanity to man – which has continually replayed its depravity ever since…
One of the many revolutionary aspects of the message of Jesus was the immediacy of friendship with God. Until Jesus’ arrival, the thought of being in a one-to-one relationship with…
There is no bait-and-switch in Jesus’ presentation of what life would be like for those who followed him. He bluntly told his disciples they would be hated and rejected and…
Given the vast and gaping ‘in-Adam’ limitations of our fallenness, it wouldn’t be surprising that our response to God’s ways would be something like, “You’ve got to be kidding!” From…
The disciples had no vocabulary for their experience of this thing: Grace. Nothing in their upbringing had prepared them for the shock of having their lives Grace-gifted. And with such…
One startling new reality for the disciples-become-apostles was the abundance of the gift of grace which continually energized, motivated, filled, blessed, sweetened, their day in day out lives. The writers…