Resurrection Sunday, now called Easter Sunday, is the most important celebration on the Christian calendar. It is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We do not serve a dead religious leader or a philosophy of life. We serve a living Savior, a risen Savior, a Savior who...

On this Saturday, where we observe the time after Jesus’ crucifixion where he lay in the tomb, I think it is appropriate that we take the time to understand that this is one of many proofs that Jesus Christ was fully human as well as fully divine. Here is an excerpt from my article “Chri...

As we closed the 18th chapter of John, we see Pilate at an indecisive moment when faced with the truth of who Jesus Christ was. He had to choose who to believe. He had to weigh the opinions of the unruly crowd and the government he was responsible to versus the man he knew somehow was innocent. He...

The cross is casting a long shadow towards Jesus by this time in the narrative. In Chapters 5-10 of John, we see Jesus and the Pharisees sparring as Jesus does signs that prove who he is. People are believing in Jesus, beginning to follow after Him, but the educated and spiritual Pharisees are...

Jesus Christ is Savior, the Giver of Eternal Life to those who Believe:

Jesus Christ is Life (1:4) and it is only through Him that man can be saved. The way (John 14:6) is exclusive, that is, there is no other name under heaven by which man can be saved from sin and death (Acts 4:12). This salvation...

Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.

The purpose for which Jesus came, and his position or relationship to the Father in the trinity is demonstrated multiple times in John. Jesus came to save people from their sins; the proclamation of John the Baptist in 1:36 is that Jesus is the ‘Lamb of...

The Gospel of John is an amazing volume that points to Jesus Christ as the Son of God, with many evidences of the same. This spiritual Gospel points us to Jesus Christ in all of His glory, and to the hope of being born again by the power of His Holy Spirit. John closes this Gospel in the most...

John’s Purpose in Writing: Evidence for Belief

30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through...

 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

John wrote this Gospel so that believers in the future generations just like us would not be at any disadvantage in recognizing the incredible evidence...

I think even worse than the willful disbelief of those who opposed Jesus is the disbelief of those who followed Him. It was a lack of faith, or of understanding of all that Jesus had taught. It is by the grace of God that Jesus was around for forty days appearing to his disciples and others....

In reading John 19, We have lived through the eyes of John the Apostle whom Jesus loved the narrative of Jesus’ trial, his death, and his resurrection. The miracle of the resurrection in this passage is so important to the basis of our faith that all four of the Gospels make a very clear...

Grace is a free gift from God received on the basis of faith. The Emphasis is on the word free, there is absolutely nothing that we do or say to earn God’s grace. As Paul says in Titus 3:5-7

he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to his mercy by...

Universalism, Universal Reconciliation, Christian Universalism

Perhaps the greatest error presented throughout the pages of the Shack is the idea of universalism.

Universalism is the theological view arguing that all persons will ultimately be saved. Some also teach that there is no such thing...

Modalism, also called Sabellianism, is the unorthodox belief that God is one person who has revealed himself in three forms or modes in contrast to the Trinitarian doctrine where God is one being eternally existing in three persons. According to Modalism, during the incarnation, Jesus was simply...

The book, The Shack, by William Paul Young, is a fictional account of a man who spends a weekend with God at God’s invite. The place of meeting was the place of Mack’s greatest pain, a shack in the woods where Mack’s daughter was murdered years before. ‘God’ meets...

6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham,...

4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

The gentile Galatians in having left their former paganism and emperor worship suffered persecution from their families and friends and were likely rejected in town and in commerce. The former Jewish...

3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit,are you now being perfected by the flesh?

But further, not only are we not justified or redeemed by works, we are also not sanctified by works. We do not become more and more like Christ because we do good works, we become more like Him as we...

Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Paul asks the obvious question; How did you receive the Holy Spirit? The answer is also obvious, but Paul is using a...

The battle lines have been drawn, the stage has been set for the debate. Is salvation in Jesus Christ a work that man does, or is it a work that man does? Do we have true freedom in Christ to walk with Him, or do we have to walk according to man-made standards? Paul having confronted Peter on his...

Eph 1:4-7 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the...

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:  John 1:12 (KJV)

Salvation is based not on man’s goodness, but on the merit of Jesus Christ, through simple belief. Whoever will receive him- that is- whoever will...

Salvation is the entering into the straight (narrow) gate, then the process of choosing the right direction over the wrong direction. The question is, how does one enter in? Salvation means that we are incapable of entering in, we need to be brought in, we need...

We are all on the wrong path from birth. We need to change direction! Repentance has to do with a literal changing of our mind as well as the direction we are going. We are all headed on the broad road of sin leading to death. Salvation is a rescue from this road that seems right to men who are...

The reason that we need salvation is that we are condemned, born in the flesh, and walking in darkness. We need to be rescued, because we are caught in the darkness. More than that, according to the scriptures, we are actually dead spiritually in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 1:1-3) and...