Don’t Confuse your Sarx with your Soma There are two Greek words that get translated “flesh” or “body” in the New Testament. These words are sarx and soma. Earlier versions of the NIV Bible translated one of them (sarx) as “sinful nature,” which has added to the confusion. Both of these words, “sarx” and “soma”…
The Good News of Jesus Christ from Isaiah 11:1-5 The Gospel is the good news of reconciliation with God. The Gospel is the good news of redemption and rescue. The Gospel is the good news of righteousness. The Gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. Using Isaiah 11:1–5 as a backdrop, let’s look at…
The Wrath of God John 3:36 “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (NASB 2020) God reconciled the world to Himself in Christ Jesus, but He does not force us to…
Reconciliation 2 Corinthians 5:18–20 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are…
Hope where there is no Hope Ephesians 3:20 is a verse that I traditionally saw as the beginning of a good benediction at the end of Sunday service. But it is a gem of far greater value than that. Here’s the text: “Now, to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that…
Just Relax Jesus said that He would give rest for the souls of those who were weary and weighed down. He said that He is gentle and lowly of heart and that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. When we find ourselves overwhelmed, loaded down, and worn out from trying to walk…
WHAT ABOUT SIN? In 1 John 2:1-2 the Apostle tells us that he has written this letter so that we will not sin. It’s clear that sinning is a bad idea. It’s not good for us. It has temporal consequences. But recognizing that believers can, and do, sin, the Apostle goes on immediately to reassure…
You are Free What happened at the cross gives us freedom from sin, freedom from guilt, and freedom from condemnation. Since we have died to the law, died to the worldly idea of moralistic behavior as the way to righteousness, sin no longer governs us. We are free to behave in godly ways, just as…
You are a Natural Lover God is love. (1 John 4:16) He created us to be objects of His love (John 3:16) and to have a relationship with Him. (John 17:24) God did not create us in such a way that we were programmed to love Him. That is not love; it is manipulation and…
Freedom from Bondage God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt. He sent a messenger to free them. There was nothing they had to do to make their freedom possible. Their job was to trust God and His messenger and walk away from bondage. I imagine there was a lot of whooping and shouting and leaping…
Instruments of Righteousness Romans 6:13 urges us, “do not go on presenting the parts of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your body’s parts as instruments of righteousness for God.” (NASB 2020) Maybe you can identify with me in…
Thoughts on the End Times (Eschatology) I think that when Jesus returns, we are going to find out that we are in the same situation the Jews were in when He came the first time. They had all these prophesies about Messiah, but they couldn’t see them clearly, so they were convinced that He would…
Righteousness For much of my life my understanding of righteousness had to do with living in a morally exemplary way. I understood it to mean that I should refrain, and even distance myself, from certain conduct. I thought that I was to behave in ways consistent with the commands of God found in the Bible….
Growth and Contentment Two-year-old children feel no shame over their inability compose music on the piano.Five-year-olds don’t feel guilty that they can’t grasp calculus or solve differential equations.Children of seven don’t beat themselves up over not having mastered rocket science.At ten, no child yet has counted themselves a failure for making no contribution to the…
What God Wants You to Do I was taught that I needed to read the Bible, find out what God wanted me to do, and then do it. I spent many years trying to do that. I prayed to know His will for me. I found lists of rules, laws, and commandments. Little of it…
Old you–New you Old you wanted to judge everyone and everything.New you wants to show compassion, mercy, and grace. Old you was like a petulant child wanting to do it yourself.New you wants to rely solely upon what Jesus has done. Old you thought being godly was boring.New you can’t imagine living an ungodly life….
Ask for Understanding Jesus went back to the Father so that the Comforter, His Spirit, could be sent to you (John 16:7).The Spirit guides you into all truth (John 16:13).The Spirit teaches you (John 14:26, 1 John 2:27).The Spirit reminds you of the Word of God (John 14:26). When you read or hear something in…
Born of God In John 14:16-21 Jesus says He will send us a Comforter. The Comforter is the Spirit of truth.The Spirit will live with us forever.We will know the Spirit.The Spirit lives with us.The Spirit is in us.He will not leave us comfortless. That’s all pretty amazing, but here’s the really amazing part –…
Just Jesus Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.(John 14:6) The way to God is Jesus.The truth about God is Jesus.The source and definition of life is Jesus.Apart from Jesus there is no way to know God.Apart from Jesus there is no truth.Apart from Jesus there is no life. This is why Jesus…
We used to be slaves of sin. We didn’t have much of a choice, we were predisposed to it, born into it. Sin was in our blood. BUT GOD God made us free from the power of sin. He freed us from that slavery. He removed the shackles and opened the prison door. Now we…
Welcome to the new you! Forget what you once were. That has no bearing on who you are now. I can say this with complete confidence. How? Ephesians 2:4-7 tells us that:God is rich in mercyGod has great love for usEven though we were spiritually dead His great love compelled Him to make us aliveHis…
You are the elect of God.You were elected according to God’s foreknowledge. But before you begin thinking that means God picked you, but not your neighbor, let’s take a look at just how your election came about. It happened through you being set apart (sanctified) by the Spirit and through the blood of Jesus Christ.(See…
Born again.A new creation.A new creature.Born of the Spirit.Regenerated.Made alive. There are many words and phrases used to describe the profound change that took place when we believed in Jesus Christ for right standing with God. Scripture is abundantly clear about the fact that we are not what we once were. Nevertheless, it can be…
There are many who teach that we need to obey the Old Testament Law. If you press them about this by asking why we don’t sacrifice animals, they might say something about the ceremonial law having been done away with by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. They may tell you that now we…
Death is a thief. Death steals people from us. It robs us of relationships we hold dear. It brings us grief, tears, heartache, and the hollowness of loss. We are often unsure about what happens when we die. We may be concerned about what lies ahead for us and about the state of loved ones…
