God's Love for us

What Does the Bible Say About the Second Coming of Jesus Of all the events described in the pages of Scripture there is none more frequently referenced, none more consistently anticipated and none more personally significant for every person alive today than the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The return of Jesus is not a minor footnote in biblical theology, it is one of the dominant themes of the entire New Testament, referenced over 300 times across its pages, present in the teaching of Jesus Himself, in the letters of Paul, Peter, James and John, in the book of Revelation and in the earliest confessions of the Christian church. Every Sunday when Christians recite the Apostles' Creed they declare "He will come to judge the living and the dead." Every time the Lord's Supper is celebrated Paul reminds believers that they "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Second Coming is not a specialist interest for prophecy enthusia...

What is the Meaning of Grace in the Bible There is a word at the very center of the Christian faith, a word so fundamental that without it there is no Gospel, no salvation and no genuine relationship with God. It is a word so frequently used in Christian circles that it can become familiar to the point of invisibility, present in every sermon, every worship song and every theological discussion but perhaps not fully grasped in the depths of what it actually means and what it demands of those who have received it. That word is grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 states it with a precision and a completeness that makes it one of the most important sentences in the entire New Testament: "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast." By grace. Not by effort, not by religious performance, not by moral achievement, not by accumulated merit. By grace, the unearned, undeserved, freely given fa...

What Does the Bible Say About Prayer Of all the spiritual disciplines described in Scripture, fasting, giving, worship, Scripture reading, community, there is perhaps none that is more universally practiced, more personally mysterious and more consistently transformative than prayer. Every major figure in the biblical story prayed. Abraham interceded for Sodom. Moses spent forty days on the mountain conversing with God. David poured out his heart in the Psalms with an honesty that ranges from soaring praise to raw anguish. Daniel prayed three times daily even when it meant facing the lions' den. And Jesus, the Son of God who was in perfect union with the Father, rose before dawn to pray alone, spent entire nights in prayer before major decisions and prayed from the cross with His dying breath. And yet for all its centrality to the biblical story prayer remains one of the most practically challenging areas of the Christian life for most believers. Many Christians feel that their p...

What is the Meaning of the Great Commission In the final moments before Jesus ascended to the Father He gathered His disciples on a mountain in Galilee and gave them the last and most comprehensive instruction of His entire earthly ministry. Matthew 28:18-20 records it: "Then Jesus came to them and said 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.'" Three sentences. And within those three sentences, the most consequential assignment ever given to any group of human beings. The Great Commission, as it has come to be known, has driven more human movement, produced more cultural transformation, generated more literature and music and art and sacrifice and martyrdom, and changed more individual lives than any other...