If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. (1 Cor. 15:13-14) If the Father hadn’t raised Jesus from the dead, we would never have heard of Jesus. Without …
Continue reading What Does It Mean to Practice Resurrection?
But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8) Three weeks after my son John was born, we had to rush him to the hospital. He had a virus, and his whole system was shutting down. Every night I stayed with him—touching his little …
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (1 Jn. 4:7) On Diane’s first Sunday at our church, she introduced herself. She was from Washington D.C., and she had come to Houston to receive cancer treatment at M.D. Anderson. After we had …
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:3) Not many of us feel blessed when we’re feeling broken, worthless, anxious, betrayed, lost, or ashamed. How can Jesus say we’re blessed by God when we’re “poor in spirit?” What I know in my life, and what I’ve seen in …
I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. (Is. 40:1-3) …
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the …
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18) For 30 years, “Alice” had been carrying around a terrible burden of guilt and shame over something she had done in her twenties. She had sought …
For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil… (Eph. 6:12) In my twenties, I tried to deny the existence of evil. After all, I’ve seen and experienced in the last forty …
And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall die.’(Gen. 2:15-16) The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him …
Continue reading Jesus is Calling You to Begin the Healing Process
When he had said this, he cried out, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go’. (John 11:43-44) We believe God the Father raised up Jesus on Easter Day. …