Bringing Scripture to Life

In the Book of Philippians, the Bible tells us, "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). Once a person puts their trust in Jesus, this has got to be one of the most important verses in all of Scripture. It tells us now that we have trusted in Jesus, God will never give up on us! Paul is telling us here that he wants us to be confident in the fact, that once we place our trust in Jesus He is not going to cast us aside if we trip up. He is going to complete the work that He began in our lives the moment He saved us. God has not forgotten about us.  Paul uses this same terminology throughout his writings. In 2 Timothy 1:12, Paul tells Timothy that he has been "persuaded that He (Jesus) is able to keep" what Paul entrusted to Him in faith, that is his soul. This word for "persuaded" is the same Greek word used for confident in Philippians 1:6. In R...

You can now listen to this past Sunday's message   online .

I had a friend recently ask me how she could dialogue with her Catholic friend who wholeheartedly believes and passionately argues with her that a person can only be saved through doing good works (to my understanding, not all Catholics would agree with him on this). He referred to James 2:24 as his proof text. My response to her question is not my effort to bring offense to any of my Catholic friends or readers, but instead to merely shed light on what the Bible has to say about this subject. James 2:24 says,  “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only." When reading this verse by itself, it certainly would appear that our salvation is based on more than our faith in Jesus alone.  However, in this verse James is not referring to the steps to salvation, but rather the EFFECTS of salvation. This entire chapter in context is arguing how our faith can only be justified before “other people” by the good works that we do. James is not ref...

In Mark 8:34, Jesus says, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Here we read that our faith in Jesus, and decision to “come after” Him (8:34a) comes at a cost. Isn’t interesting that the moment Jesus reveals Himself to the disciples and they “get it” (Mark 8:29), the demands of their relationship dramatically change? Jesus goes from spoon-feeding them about the things of God, to calling them to an unyielding devotion, driven by purposeful commitment on their end. In (v.34) Jesus says, “Whoever DESIRES to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” This is a very telling statement about a follower of Christ, and truly explains why certain believers are able to obey Jesus’ call to discipleship by “taking up” their cross and following Him. There is a life-application here for us, which is this; in order to deny ourselves and carry our cross for Jesus, we must first have a DESIRE t...

The other day as I was sitting down enjoying my time with our 4 1/2 month old son Jeremiah, I was given an unpleasant reminder of how messy life can be at times. As I was holding my baby boy, our father/son bonding moment was interrupted by a vibrating noise that sounded somewhat like the beginning of a thunder storm (aka "thunder from down under"). I remember being amazed at my son's talent for making such incredibly powerful sounds at such a young age. But my amazement quickly turned to apprehension as I began to get the sensation of a strange and unfamiliar type of "baby warmth" that began steaming over my lap, the area where he was sitting. At first I thought it would be okay, but then I began to clue into the fact that this was not his normal thunder from down under. This one had much more noise and oomph behind it. Plus, I had never had this type of "baby warmth" come over me before. As I began pondering how messy parenting can be at tim...

You can now listen to this past Sunday's sermon, Living life at the Cross .