To encourage and equip people to love God, love our neighbors, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Doubt in the Greatest of Men

In today’s passage, John the Baptist seems to be having some doubts about who Jesus is.  At Jesus’ baptism, John seems pretty confident that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of God.  Now, John is in prison and Jesus doesn’t seem to be the Messiah He expected.  Jesus, ever compassionate to the weak, speaks into John’s doubts with words of assurance.  The questions for us:  What causes doubts to rise in our minds about our Savior Jesus Christ?  How should we combat those doubts?

Resurrecting Hope

Paul is seeking in this passage to both encourage and call on his listeners to encourage others to be hopeful about those who have died in Christ. It is absolutely not the end for them. They can and must remain hopeful. But how? Paul gives clear direction. They (and we!) remain hopeful by looking to Jesus (the One who died but didn’t stay dead), listening to what Jesus says on this matter, and by going and comforting others with these truths. 

Learning To Love The Body God Gave You (Part 2)

As we continue with Part 2 in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 we specifically focus on verses 11-12. Paul is helpful here in affirming that love is observable. While it is good for us to declare we love the body God has given us, we must also demonstrate we do as is detailed in verse 11. Paul goes on to share in verse 12 that such demonstrable love makes a difference both externally (to outsiders) and internally (us who are already a part of the family).

Walk This Way

At the start of this new chapter, Paul goes right into a discussion about the importance (and imperative!) of a life lived in devotion to the Lord Jesus, which manifests itself in holiness. Paul specifically calls it a “walk”. The walk is a Jewish euphemism that we actually understand in our own culture (i.e. whenever we say something like “don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk”). To Paul, it matters whether not we are actually living out the devotion to our King that we claim we have. Are we walking this walk?