We finish reading through Acts with today’s Bible reading*. We find Paul and his companions shipwrecked on the island of Malta. To keep the prisoners from swimming to shore and escaping, the soldiers considered killing the prisoners, but the Centurion wanted to save Paul. Everyone survived; even those who couldn’t swim made it to shore…
Preachers are always concerned about how their sermons will be received. We agonize over the Biblical text, wanting so much to be true to what God says. We want our hearers to receive the Word as good soil. (Matthew 13:23) “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit….
The salvation message was secured by Jesus. The salvation message was declared by angels and proven to be reliable. God Himself bore witness to the salvation message and validated it with signs and wonders. The question from today’s Bible reading* is, “Are you drifting from your salvation? Are you neglecting this great salvation message?” How would one…
In today’s Bible reading*, Paul tells Timothy what to look for in church leaders. I don’t know that Paul’s checklist is so much a checklist as much as it is a reminder that character matters. And character matters … a lot. I find it interesting how Bible teachers and commentators read their Bibles. Many modern Bible teachers…
Paul speaks very strongly regarding sexual immorality in the Corinthian Church in today’s Bible reading*. He says that a man is committing an act that even unbelievers in Corinth don’t condone: he is having sexual relations with his father’s wife. Paul recommends that the church deal with this individual in a very strict way: remove…
In today’s Bible reading* from Matthew 17, we come across a passage that is easy to misunderstand concerning “faith like a mustard seed”. Admittedly, I only came to see a nuance of this a couple of years ago. I was in our Adult Bible Study class at church and a friend brought out this issue…
