The Unique Love that Defines God and His People (1 John 4:7-21)
There is a particular kind of love that is unique to God. It’s a major part of what it means to be God …. God is its only source, and he alone can implant it in his people.
Learning to See Jesus (1 John 3:2)
In today’s passage, John reveals a key principle of spiritual growth: At the end of our lives, God will complete whatever is lacking in our transformation into his Son’s image, and he will do so in one moment and by one method…
The Beauty of Forgiveness / How God Forgives Our Sins (1 John 2:1-2)
If we can catch a vision of what Jesus has done to win our eternal forgiveness and what he continues to do for us every time we sin, it will change our lives…
The Joy of Forgiveness (1 John 1:9)
Most, maybe all, of us have sinned more often and more grievously than anyone knows … I don’t know what skeletons you’d rather keep hidden in your closet, but God does. And he’d like to clean that closet out for you.
Don’t Be Swept Away with the Scoffers Around You (2 Peter 3:3-18)
Whenever the Scripture says “Above all…”, my spiritual ears perk up and my physical eyes focus in on the words that follow. As Peter prepares us to live in these “last days … as you wait for the day of God,” he introduces his final teaching with that phrase…
The Bible: The Only Source of Certain Truth (2 Peter 1:16 – 2:2)
You can believe the Bible not because it makes sense (though it usually does) but because God wrote it. And he bypassed the natural misunderstandings, biases, and agendas of its human authors because they didn’t write it of their own accord or by their own ability: “Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Achieving Humility (as odd as that sounds) (1 Peter 5:5-6 and John 13:3-17)
Humility is not something that happens to us; it’s something we do. It’s not something we hope to grow into; it’s a decision we make each day.
How to Prepare for the End of the World (1 Peter 4:7-11)
In God’s grand plan to redeem humanity, all the major events except one have been completed … We’re in the final stretch and may, at any moment, round a corner and be gathered up into His heavenly kingdom for eternity … Let’s run the last few miles well.
God Made Us to Bless Us (1 Peter 3:9, 12)
It seems to me that one of the most important questions we can ask is this: Why did God make us? What was His purpose in creating the human race?…Peter gives the answer in simplest terms: God made us to bless us.
Don’t Fight Against Yourself (1 Peter 2:11)
There’s a war between sin and righteousness going on inside each of us. And there’s a predictable sequence that will result in our defeat… Peter knows by personal experience about the war within, and he urges us to stop carrying the enemy’s ammunition.
Learning the Great Value of Tested Faith (1 Peter 1:6-7)
We need God all the time…but we don’t always feel our need for Him. We imagine that we’re OK without Him. So, He graciously provides trying circumstances in which our need becomes obvious, sometimes painfully obvious.
Be Patient Until the Lord’s Coming (James 5:7-8)
For a little while longer, He’s called you to live out your faith in this world of sorrow. It needs you. If it didn’t, He would already have taken you to heaven. There’s more good He wants to do through you, more people He wants to love through you, and more of His light He wants to shine through you. So, He led James to write you this simple encouragement…
