1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…” One implication of this verse is that, in order for fear to take root in our lives, it has to cast out—or at least obscure—perfect love. What is Fear? I would suggest that Fear happens when we believe in […]
1 Peter 2:24-25, “He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds, you have been healed. For your were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” If you trace the parallelism
John 14:6-7, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father if not through me. If you have known me, also have also known my Father. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” The way for the disciples to come to the Father—both truly now,
Romans 8:17, “…provided we suffer with Him, in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” The Passage Considered Sometimes, when we think of suffering with Christ, we might imagine that Christ is the sufferer and that WE take on HIS sufferings. While there is a sense in which this is true,
John 13:7, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand after these [things].” One truth we can derive from this text is that the resurrection of the crucified Christ (the “these things” He refers to) is the illumination of His person and work. He is not known aright until
Hebrews 12:18-19 / 22,24, “For you have not come to…a blazing fire and darkness and gloom…and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken….But you have come to Mount Zion…and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better
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John 11:9-10, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If someone should walk in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But, if someone should walk in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” If Jesus goes to help Lazarus, he will
Zephaniah 3:8, “‘…my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.’” Zeph. 3:8 explains YHWH’s response to His people’s continued apostasy, namely, the universal, world-ending judgment of all the earth. However,
John 10:3-5, “The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out…the sheep follow Him for they know His voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” The sheep recognize the VOICE of
Isaiah 8:12-13, “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But YHWH of hosts, Him you shall honor as holy. Let Him be your fear…” How we fear and what we fear reveals whose we are. When the wolves of an Assyrian
John 8:12, “I am the light of life, the one following me does by no means walk in the darkness, but has the light of life.” Jesus says that the one who follows Him will have the “light of life.” I’m taking that to mean “the reality-illuminating revelation of who God is, whom to know
Micah 5:4, “And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of YHWH, in the majesty of the name of YHWH his God.” Micah anticipates an eschatological Shepherd-King, and the WAY in which this Shepherd-King will lead His people will display the sovereign power and majestic identity of who the one true God
John 6:40, “…this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life…” What is the Will of God in this verse? Well, in the context of John 6, the Son who is looked upon is the crucified Son (v.51-56)….And to believe in this
Psalm 107:30, “…He brought them to their desired haven.” In Psalm 107:23-32, the people of God are pictured as sailors in the midst of a violent storm. They cry to YHWH and He stills the storm and brings them to their desired haven. What I want to focus on this morning is that last part….bringing
Jonah 2:6, “I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever, yet you brought up my life from the pit…” In Matthew 12:40, Jesus teaches us to read His own death and resurrection in light of Jonah’s descent into the abyss of the fish’s belly and his ascent again to the
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.” The Passage Explained: Paul’s words here echo his earlier call to
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Proverbs 12:18, “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” As those created in the image of the one who creates reality by His word, our words also have real power to alter what is around us….especially regarding the internal world of others.
John 16:20, “You will be sorrowful…” I think the disciples’ experience of the crucifixion over Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday gives us a pattern to understand the sufferings and sorrows in our own life, in the world around us, and in history as a whole. On Good Friday, the worst thing imaginable happens—joy
John 4:14, “…whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirst again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The one who drinks the water that Jesus freely gives—the water who is the Holy Spirit,
Revelation 5:5, “‘Weep no more; behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals’.” “Weep no more.” That is the word that catches my attention this morning….. “Weep no more.” How widely, though, can we apply these words? The
