The love of God is often called into question. When natural disasters occur, we ask how God allows this to happen. When an evil person harms innocent people we wonder where God is. Our depression can easily be interpreted to mean that God has abandoned...
Twice, the apostle John wrote the concise theological statement that "God is love." (I John 4:8, 16) He never meant to say that love is God. God is a personal being; love is an attribute of a person. God exists as an independent being; love...
We've come to the end of Acts, and what an ending it is. The trajectory of this book has been toward Rome from the beginning. Jesus said the news of his name would spread to the "ends of the earth." Not one apostle could have...
As Christians, we often set our hearts on things that God has not promised while failing to take heart in what he has promised. It is important for us to know what God has, and has not, promised. Once we see the great and enduring...
When I was learning how to read the Bible someone told me to look for words in a passage that are repeated. Repeated words are a clue to the message being communicated. I have found this hint to be helpful.
As I've read through Acts 22...
If you read much about the conversion of people to Jesus Christ you start to see a simple, yet profound, pattern. A person is headed in one direction, he encounters Christ, and the impact is so great that his life is fundamentally redirected. We know...
We often view the city as a place of political, cultural, and economic power struggles. We know this is the case. But the book of Acts shows us that there is a more fundamental struggle going on. This is the struggle between light and darkness,...
When the Apostle Paul was being opposed in the city of Corinth, the Lord came to him in a vision and promised him two things. First, the Lord promised Paul his presence. Second, the Lord said he had many people in the city who belong...
One of the problems with reading about the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts is that so few of us are like him. Of course, we are like him in some ways. He was, and we are, human. But in terms of giftedness, experience,...