Today’s Bible reading from Acts 19 begins with an encounter with the disciples of John the Baptizer (Acts 19:1-7). Paul asked if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. They said they had not; they only knew about John’s baptism and hadn’t heard of the Holy Spirit. So like Apollos in yesterday’s reading,…
In today’s Bible reading, from Acts 18, we read about an eloquent man named Apollos; he was very familiar with the Scriptures and was very passionate. (Acts 18:24-25) The problem was, Apollos didn’t know the whole story. What he knew, he knew very well. But he didn’t know what he didn’t know. So Priscilla and…
A recent Facebook discussion centered on the question of which Bible translation we should use. Specifically, the question was, “Which is better, KJV or NKJV?” Some of the respondents commented that their pastor or some other leader had recommended (or insisted) that he should use the KJV. Here’s my response with a few clarifications. The…
In Today’s Bible reading from Acts 4, we see Peter and John responding to an accusatory question from a room full of Jewish leaders, “By what power or by what name have you done this? (Acts 4:7) The question reminds me of the same question posed to Jesus by perhaps the same people. Jesus responded…
Today’s Bible reading is Mark 15. It’s good to read chapters like this and compare what we read with what we believe. If you’ve been around church very long, you may have seen a Passion play that chronicles the last week of Jesus’ life. Normally the play portrays the masses of people welcoming Jesus on…
Even people who don’t believe in Jesus are familiar with the story (or at least the concept) of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. Peter’s denial of Jesus is also a familiar story to many of us. Both stories are part of today’s Bible reading in Mark 14. During the story of Peter’s denial of Jesus, we…
