Jesus often sought solitude to pray; sometimes he rose early in the morning to pray other times he prayed well into the night. Jesus knew his heavenly Father always heard his prayers and he thanked God for hearing him. Jesus also thanked God for revealing the gospel first to the common people and not the learned and powerful. When his disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus taught them to address God as…
We, Christians, sometimes fail to do the things Jesus taught us to do. I’m talking about basic teachings like resolving conflict by talking privately to a brother or sister before allowing it to go any further. Remember this passage of scripture? Matthew 18:15-17 15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 “But if he does not listen to you,…
When Jesus rose from death he completed the most heroic mission in the history of the world and the greatest comeback of all time. It opened the way to eternal life for anyone willing to believe in and follow Jesus. We can have a new life now Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are steps all of his followers emulate in baptism and in the good life we begin after baptism. So we don’t just look…
Early on the first day of the week, the angel told Mary Magdalene and the women with her that Jesus had risen from the dead and that he would meet his disciples in Galilee; the women ran to tell the disciples. At the same time, the guards who witnessed the angel descend from heaven and roll away the stone that covered Jesus’ tomb went and reported what happened to the chief priests. I am amazed…
After Jesus died on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body, but Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, so he asked the centurion if Jesus was dead. After verifying the fact, Pilate released the body to Joseph. Joseph, a secret disciple of Jesus, was also member of the Jewish ruling council, but he had not consented to executing Jesus. With the help of Nicodemus, Joseph took Jesus’ body…
Today, I heard an Alicia Keys song entitled “Pawn It All”. In the chorus, she said she would pawn a watch, chain, diamond ring, everything just to start over again. How many people wish they could start over again, but are afraid the cost would be too high? I have no idea if Alicia Keys had a spiritual or biblical intent when she wrote that song, but it made me think of Jesus’ words in…
If you didn’t read “Frankie was a thief – Part 1”, stop, go and read Part 1 first. It is the previous post. Frankie was a thief – Part 2 (One year later.) You receive an e-mail from Joe Aniskusko. Joe is an elder at a congregation in Schenectady, NY. You and Joe once worked together and became really close friends. In fact, Joe is the one who led you to Christ. Over the years…
If you’re a Bible teacher, you may want to develop problems and scenarios that help your students understand spiritual concepts or identify with biblical situations. I wrote this fictional story several years ago to introduce a young-adult class to a certain book of the Bible. It’s written in the second person point of view so you, the reader, are a character in the story. Following the story are some discussion questions I used with my…
One of the mysteries about God is how God maintains sovereignty over everything in the universe and still allows for human free will and responsibility. For example, God inspired the writing of the scriptures, but he allowed people to be involved in the process. This is what the apostle Peter wrote. 2 Peter 1:20-21 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for…
The man who forgot about God started off as a good and godly man. His name was Asa, king of Judah. Idol worship was rampant in the land and Asa worked hard to stop false worship. He removed many places of worship to false gods. He even removed his grandmother, Maacah, from her positon as Queen mother because she worshipped idols. It’s hard for me to imagine going against your mother or grandmother, but King…