the Father's heart

(Photo by João Silas on Unsplash)

For God so loved the world that He gave His only

begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should

not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16

I recently ran into an objection to Christianity based on culture and geography. It went something like this: Christians believe Christianity is true because they were raised in a Christian culture. If they were raised in a Muslim culture, they would beli...

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who

asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

1 Peter 3:15

When I first began interacting with LDS missionaries, I was struck by their reasons as to why they believed Mormonism to be true. I started doing some research and was shocked by what Joseph Smith, their founder, claimed had happened. There was no historical evidence to back any of what he said, and yet Mormo...

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

The debate over creation vs. evolution has been going on for a long time. Why? Because neither side can prove to the other they are right. Why not? Because both sides require faith, and your starting point will determine how you view the evidence. The evidence is the same for everyone. But not everyone sees the evidence in the same way.

EVOLUTION

I will be the fi...

(Photo by Ivars Krutainis on Unsplash)

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.

1 Chronicles 29:11

I was reading about two different views of God's sovereignty. The book said that one view over-emphasized the sovereignty of God. I will present the two views covered: the Blueprint Worldview and the Warfare Worldview.

THE BLUEPRINT WORL...

(Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash)

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do even

greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

John 14:12

How can believers today do greater things than Jesus did while He was on earth? This verse is difficult to understand for sure and has been subject to more than one interpretation. In the last post on Jesus' divinity while on earth, I touched on this.

WILL BELIEVE...

(Photo by João Silas on Unsplash)

For it was the Father's good pleasure

for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

Colossians 1:19 (NASB)

When I grew up, I never questioned the divinity of Jesus or knew of anyone who did. To this day, I can hardly believe some prominent Bible leaders teach that Jesus was not divine; but rather just a man in right relationship with God. That we, too, as believers can achieve what Jesus did, including l...

(Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash)

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give

you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,

Romans 15:5

God wants unity in the church, but is there confusion as to what that means? Is it about tolerating all differences for the sake of being united or are there some things that can't be compromised?

PAUL'S PLEA TO THE CORINTHIANS

1 Corinthians 1:10 I appeal to you, b...

Pray continually...

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Today I want to share my experience of receiving a prayer language and why I now question it being from God. I grew up in a church that didn't believe certain gifts of the Holy Spirit had continued. We were called cessationists. I only remember hearing about tongues a few times, and it was always in the context of it being satanic. Even when I started to question why my church taught cert...

(Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash)

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24

Both Matthew 3:11 and Luke 3:16 say that Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt. 3:1-2), but when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood o...

 (Photo by Sunyu on Unsplash)

For John baptized with water, but in a few

days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:5

In my last post, this is what I wrote about the baptism of the Holy Spirit:

HE BAPTIZES. John the Baptist first preached a Spirit baptism in Matthew 3:11 when he tells the crowd that was gathered, "I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fi...