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Is God merciful or vengeful? In Genesis, God chooses one family, the Israelites, from among the nations, he promises that he’s going to rescue the whole world through this family. But Genesis ends with the family of Abraham in Egypt. Exodus chapters 1-18, God rescues Israel from slavery in...

You don’t face mindless monsters or chaotic shadows, but organized, intelligent and deliberate principalities, each with a purpose and each with a specific assignment to corrupt the sons of men. The enemy you face today, an enemy that slips into your lives through the cracks of your character...

Matthew 15:21-28, to understand what happens in this story, you have to understand what happened the day before it, Matthew 15:1-2 opens not with a quiet teaching on a hillside, but with a confrontation. A delegation of Pharisees and scribes has traveled from Jerusalem specifically to challenge...

The word “whoever” still echoes today, it stands as an open door, not a pressure tactic, God does not force belief, love invites and belief becomes the point, where divine grace meets human response. Jesus speaks of perishing, a word many prefer to skip, redefine or ignore, but Jesus did not...

Belief admits that effort cannot save, knowledge cannot redeem and morality cannot restore what sin has broken, belief is an act of humility before it is an act of faith. John 3:16, this may be one reason Jesus did not say whoever behaves or whoever achieves, he said believes. Faith is the only...

John 3:16, God gave his only son, the cost behind the love, love is proven not by words, but by what it is willing to give. Jesus did not say God felt love, he said God gave and what he gave was not excess, not convenience, not something replaceable, he gave his only son. These words carry a...

Temptation is not sin, but its sin’s sedative hallway and hallways were never made for standing still. If you linger in that hallway long enough, your feet will move and when they do, it’s rarely toward holiness. The end of the world is not the collapse of God’s plan, it is the moment when the...

Matthew 15:24, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. You cannot avoid this, it is too important, because it is not just a test script line that Jesus is running through before revealing his real position, it is, or at least it appears to be, a genuine statement about the scope of his...

Luke 15:11-32, there is one more layer that ties this entire parable to the biggest story in the Bible, the parable has three characters, a father and two sons, one son who left and came back, one son who stayed, but was lost. The Bible has the same structure, humanity left the father, walked...

Exodus 34:6, “Gracious,” the Hebrew word is “khanun,” which is related to the Hebrew noun “khen.” This word “khen” is often translated as “grace” or “favor.” One meaning of khen is delightful or favorable, Psalms 45:1-2, a skilled poet is said to have lips of khen, that is, he can craft...

Grace is not a divine permission for us to continue living as we did before, it is the power of God that empowers us to live differently. Some people take this glorious message and turn it into something that God never intended, if God is so merciful and always forgives us, why should we strive...

Ephesians 2:8-9, this truth has freed millions of people, people who lived crushed by the weight of guilt, trying to please God through rituals and human efforts, finally understood that salvation is a gift, it does not need to be earned, because it never could be. But understanding grace...

Humanity has given up the role God made them for. The rest of the biblical story is about God’s mission to undo this tragedy, so that humans can regain access to the heaven on earth place, where they can finally become God’s royal priests. The story all begins with a promise that God makes to...

Israel’s God explicitly commanded them to not make any idol images, because in the Bible, all humanity is God’s image. Adam and Eve, in Hebrew, their names mean human “Adam” and life “Eve,” they’re called God’s image, which means they represent God in his Holy space. That Holy space is a garden...

Luke 15:11-32, that is why Jesus said the tax collectors and prostitutes were entering the Kingdom ahead of the Pharisees, not because their sin was smaller, because their awareness of their sin was bigger and awareness is the door to repentance and repentance is the door to the feast. Be...

In the Greek New Testament, Paul develops this portrait of humans as “trust breakers,” using the word “paraptoma.” Paul recalls the story in Genesis about “Adam,” that means “humanity” in Hebrew. In that story, humanity breaks trust with God and seizes authority to discern good and evil on their...

Here’s a realization, every choice is eternal the moment you make it and this is why regret is so powerful, because regret is the soul remembering that nothing truly disappears, but goodness is stronger than darkness, because goodness continues to exist forever, you are never living just for the...

Luke 15:11-32, the father in the parable ran to the son, God in history ran to you through a manger, through a cross, through an empty tomb, running, always running toward the broken, toward the lost, toward the ones who smell like pigs and have rehearsed speeches about how they are not worthy...

Luke 15:11-32, you are always with me. The greatest gift was not the robe or the ring or the feast, the greatest gift was the father’s presence and both sons missed it. Consider this, right now, not theoretically, practically, if God took away the answer to your biggest prayer, the promotion...

We want God involved, but only on our terms, we want him to bless our plans instead of reshaping them and every time it leads to frustration and spiritual stagnation. Living this way creates a life of uncertainty, we never feel grounded, we’re always reacting instead of responding, every...