Jesus promised that the world would hate us because it hated Him (John 15:18-20). Paul told Timothy that “all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). The early Christians in Jerusalem experienced this kind of suffering firsthand. After Stephen’s martyrdom, most of the Christians left Jerusalem ...

After reading Acts 11, you may wonder why Luke would retell the same account of Peter at Cornelius’s house from the previous chapter. Peter recounted his vision, and later the Gentiles’ conversion and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them, to the Jews in Jerusalem because they did not expect God to save the ...

Paul loved the Corinthian church. He had invested a year and a half in Corinth to preach and teach them the gospel. He labored like a father to provide for their spiritual needs so they would grow in faith and godliness. But then they turned on him. They chose to listen to some smooth-talkers who ...

Jesus taught His disciples that where your treasure is, there is your heart also (Matt. 6:21). He said this in the Sermon on the Mount as He taught about how disciples should not worry but trust the Lord to provide for their needs. Rather than worry about food or clothing, seek first God’s kingdom and ...

God can change you. I know what you’re thinking: You don’t know me. You have no idea how far from God I am. That may be true. I probably don’t know you. What I do know is that no one is beyond the reach of our Lord. Your rebellion should one day fall exhausted at ...

Imagine Philip’s surprise at finding a seemingly random stranger on a desert road reading from a scroll of Isaiah about a prophecy of the coming Messiah. Yet God orchestrated this meeting and its particulars just as they are described in Acts 8:26-40. God has given His Word to this world, and He sends it out ...

Talk is cheap. There is a reason this maxim has stuck around. People can claim to be something a lot more easily than they can live out that claim. It’s one thing to claim to be a good parent, loving spouse, or reliable employee, but it’s another thing to act as any one of these ...

What parent would not want to move heaven and earth to rescue his or her children from slavery and death? If you and I would do this, imagine how much more God Himself would. Just as God heard the children of Israel crying because they were enslaved in Egypt, He heard our cries while we ...

Stephen’s sermon is a tour de force of biblical interpretation. In response to charges raised by the Jewish leaders against him, he explained his claim that Jesus fulfilled the purposes of the law and the temple, thus casting Jewish laws and customs in a different light. First, Stephen reminded them of God’s promise to Abraham ...

It is easy to read the story about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 and be afraid that God might strike you dead if you aren’t generous enough. That’s not what’s going on here; this was a desire for the appearance of sacrificial giving and deceit to accomplish the look. God was not a passive ...

When a man and woman mutually agree to date for the purpose of getting to know one another, for a season it could appear that the two are inseparable. Their days are probably filled with text messages, phone calls, and many dates in between—some planned, others spontaneous. Whether they like it or not, the two ...

Peter addressed his letter to a very specific audience: believers described as chosen people and also exiled people. In a world where those who are chosen, elected, and selected often reap the benefits of preferential treatment and due honor, it may seem odd that Peter associated being chosen with living as exiles. The word exile denotes that ...

With the first portion of John’s prologue speaking about the Word’s eternal divinity (“the Word was with God, and the Word was God”) and cosmic activity (“all things were created through him”; “that life was the light of men”), why is the middle portion concerned with John the Baptist (vv. 6-9)? The Old Testament pointed ...

In Acts 3, the man who was lame was passed by over and over again for years. Perhaps every so often, someone would stop and hand him a few coins. Maybe someone would even pray for him as they passed by while going into the temple. However, his life was riddled with constant helplessness and ...

Sometimes Christians argue over the role of the Holy Spirit, particularly in elements of Christian worship such as speaking in tongues. Interestingly, this “debate” was going on immediately after the Holy Spirit was poured out on the first Christians. Some onlookers even accused them of being drunk! While we cannot examine the various views of ...

To be an eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus would have been a surreal experience. What are you supposed to do, after all, when you’re hanging out with someone who was no longer dead but now alive and glorified? You might try to stick your finger through the holes where the nails went through. Or maybe ...

One look at the risen Savior and the disposition of the disciples changed immediately. Knowing the truth of the resurrection and trusting Jesus to fulfill all of His promises results in peace and joy. These characteristics should be the marks of a Christian who fully understands the depths from which they have been saved and ...

Jesus’ death and resurrection shouldn’t have been a surprise to the two disciples. He met their discouragement and confusion with Scripture, revealing that it all points to Him. Jesus could have shown Himself to them and removed their doubt and questioning, but instead, He revealed the truth found in God’s Word about the kind of ...

Jesus approached the weeping Mary, and rather than announcing His resurrection with fanfare, He instead kindly asked her why she was crying and then revealed who He was by calling her name. She was the first to see the risen Lord, but many would follow. More than five hundred people in total would see our ...

Mark highlighted the mocking of Jesus more than any other Gospel writer. Jesus was mocked by soldiers. He was mocked by passersby. He was mocked by the two thieves occupying crosses next to Him. Ironically, we still find truths in their mocking. For example, they mocked Him for saying the temple would be destroyed and ...

The contrast of Jesus’ disposition in Mark 14 and the rest of Mark’s Gospel is jarring. Up to this point, Jesus has shown a remarkable sense of controlled confidence. In fact, His calm dignity stirred up awe and amazement among those He encountered. Even when predicting His own death, there wasn’t the slightest hint of ...

The providence and the planning behind the first Lord’s Supper is given to us in this passage. We see that the Lord orchestrated the very room where they would observe the Passover. He planned the meeting between a man carrying water and Peter and John and even instructed the very words that would be spoken ...

The Sadducees tried to set a theological trap, but Jesus revealed that the basis of their misguided question about marriage in the resurrection was flawed. Marriage is something that will not continue in the new heavens and new earth. At first glance, this might rub happily married readers the wrong way. Is Jesus minimizing the ...

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, He fulfilled a prophecy by the prophet Zechariah five hundred years earlier (Zech. 9:9). Jesus was able to direct the disciples to the exact location and moment where they could secure the colt for Him to ride. Jesus is the Messiah who was foretold. He received worship ...

The Lord specializes in “hopeless” causes. When Jesus got to Lazarus’ grave, there was already a stench. The Lord, it seemed, was four days late. Lazarus was dead. He was deader than dead. In the hands of anyone else, this case would have been hopeless, impossible. But our God is the God of the “impossible.” ...