God has a master plan for the world. The whole history of mankind is about unfolding God’s story. God uses strategy of grace to advance his master plan. God wants to touch everyone with his redeeming love. It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith,…
Are you feeling blue? Has life sucked all energy out of you? Do you need a little boost? Here’s an important verse (used in two different psalms!) to lead us into the right path on our search for spiritual adrenaline into our souls: Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God. (Psalm 42:5…
God gave us different seasons. Not only in the nature but also in our lives, even in his presence in our lives. If we understand different times as seasons we are more willing to embrace them as they come. But do we need seasons? I think we do. The change of a season in our lives or in the nature wakes us up to see that time flies, that everything is not same old, same old forever. It is so…
Are you on your way to heaven? Do you know how we are supposed to spend our time waiting for the second coming of Jesus? Let’s find out! I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar…
Do you sometimes wonder whether God is late? Do you sometimes ponder whether his timing is off? It is hard to wait for God’s timing. It might seem God’s timing is off. But we can rest assured God knows what he is doing. When we read the whole Bible we get a better glimpse of what God is doing in the world. Jesus came into the world exactly at the right time. The world was not ready for the Messiah…
Where were you on 9/11? I was a rookie professor in Minnesota. I had just moved across the Atlantic Ocean. All my cupboards were still very empty, I did not yet know many people, and I was still searching for the right church home. So the horrendous news made me feel very vulnerable and lonely. But I was not devastated. Because I knew my life was in God’s hands. I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from…
Persistently people assume you need to do something bad in order to end up in hell. They are very surprised when I tell them “all that’s already taken care of”; they don’t need to do anything and they will end up in hell. Yes, humankind lost its innocence back in the garden of Eden: 1The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not…
What is the name of the ruler of your heart? Shame? Fame? Game? Or a significant other? Sometimes shame keeps us from coming to Christ with the mess we’ve made. We think we are not worthy of God. So we keep away from Christian gatherings and God himself. But here’s the news flash: no one is worthy of grace! Just listen to Jesus: “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting the sin-sick, not the spiritually-fit.”…
Yesterday we talked about being saved by grace through faith. I felt a couple of things needed some clarification: 1) It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t save ourselves. God does. All we do is trust him to let him do it. But God does not force salvation upon us, either. He respects us that much. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and…
The amazing message of Christianity is that God has prepared a way in Jesus for all the people to be made right with him. There’s nothing we can do to earn salvation or anything we can do to put us out of reach of God’s grace. But we are to accept the gift of grace in order to be saved. Faith receives and embraces grace. Unbelief sends the gift right back to the Giver. Our choice. Our decision. Our…
