Hard work is not something that we always look forward to, in fact, we often try to avoid it. However, Paul the Apostle told his disciple Timothy to expect hard work when it came to living for Jesus Christ. The Christian life is not an easy one. We have to apply the Word of God to our everyday li...

Paul writes his third pastoral Epistle, or teaching letter, to help a man named Titus to pastor the church in Crete. Interestingly, Titus has the same name as the Roman General who destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70. But this biblical Titus was not a destroyer, he was a builder of God’s Kingdom. In the...

There seems to have been confusion over what Israelite Christians should do with the Jewish faith that they grew up with. The writer of Hebrews tells them that rather than abandoning their Jewish faith, they were to move forward in their understanding of it. They needed to reset their understandi...

What does the word permanence mean? It is the condition or quality of being permanent; having perpetual or continued existence. It means to continue or endure forever; everlasting. God’s salvation is permanent. It is not dependent on our performance but on our decision. When we made the decision ...

I have often heard people comment that my Christian religion is a bloody one. They are, of course, referring to the blood of Jesus Christ, remembered today through the Lord’s supper, also called communion or the eucharist. They may even be referring to the animal blood sacrifices of the Old Testa...

The New Testament letter of James is amazing. In it, he famously wrote that faith without works is dead (JAMES 2:20,26). The James of this letter was one of the half-brothers of Jesus, a son of Mary and Joseph (MATTHEW 13:55). It’s believed that James wrote this letter sometime between AD 45-48, ...

In our modern world, it is easy to become confused over pride. Despite what we’ve been told, pride is not good if it is in what you are or have done, it can be really destructive. The James of the Biblical book of James was frequently called James the Just in the early Church; he wrote to Christi...

The first Christians, who were also called People of the Way, faced all kinds of difficult and terrible trials. They lived in a world dominated by the Roman Empire that harbored suspicion for Christians because of their rejection of Roman worship and ways of life. This gives us a backdrop on whic...

In 1 Peter, the apostle Peter writes to the dispersed people who believe in Jesus Christ. Peter
gives instruction on how they should be living, now that they’ve come to faith. When we come
to Christ, it is important that we shift our focus from building our own personal kingdoms to
building the c...

The book of 1 Peter deals with troubles that come from outside of the Church, while 2 Peter
confronts problems that emerge from inside the Church. One of those problems is false
teachers who are teaching destructive doctrines as though they were from God. This has
consistently been a problem. It ...

Jude was the brother of James, and most likely the half-brother of Jesus Christ. I call Jude the
reluctant apostle because he did not see himself as worthy of it. Like his other brothers, Jude
did not follow Jesus during His earthly ministry, Jude didn’t believe Him. Jude only became a
believer a...

The New Testament of the Bible opens with the events that surrounded Jesus Christ, the coming of God to earth, His ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The book of Acts says that when Jesus Christ ascended to heaven the disciples watched and there were two angels
who stood by and s...

In Judaism, they believe that the number of God is seven because when He made the cosmos He rested on the seventh day. This created the structure of a week, working for six days and resting on the seventh. They believe that the number of completion is ten, because we are created with ten fingers ...

One of the more striking events in the book of Revelation is how the Apostle John sees the future. He witnesses a door in the heavens being opened and then he is invited to come up to see what will take place in the future. When we read the book of Revelation, we are witnessing the events that wi...

In Revelation 7, we see the marking of Christian believers, and we see a great gathering of souls in heaven to worship before God’s throne. Early in the chapter, the tribes of Israel are all mentioned as they were in Genesis 49. It is interesting that the tribe of Ephraim is replaced with the nam...

There is a dynamic event that takes place after the revealing of the anti-Christ. Revelation 14 picks up the story of the 144,000 people with the name of God written on their foreheads as an identifier of their allegiance. Importantly, they are seen standing with the Lamb, who is Jesus Christ. We...

Revelation 15 begins another wave of judgments by God on the earth, known as the bowls of wrath. This was called a “great sign” in heaven, and when they are completed it says that the wrath of God is complete. As we contemplate all of these signs, don’t lose sight of the fact that Revelation is u...

God is the only one who can judge sin. This is because He is the perfect Judge. Even His anger is perfect. As humans, we can’t even really grasp that: the anger that we experience is mingled with temptation to sin. Human sin began with the rebellion of Adam and Eve. They became suspicious of God,...

Who or where or what is the Babylon of Revelation 17? I have met Biblical scholars who believe that there will be another physical Babylon built where ancient Babylon once stood. This is possible, but the Bible does not require it. What it says is simple and profound: Revelation 17:5 says, “And o...

The final fall of man’s empire is revealed in Revelation 17-18. The last seven angels of God, holding the wrath of God, have delivered their destruction and the world has changed. What is called Babylon the great, the strongest empire to ever reign in history, has failed and fallen through the wo...

Right now, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to work in and through every Christian. It is the Holy Spirit who inspired and spoke through John the apostle in the writing of the book of Revelation. As we read Revelation 20, it strikes me...

Reading Revelation requires a perspective shift. When we talk about our future plans here on earth, we generally think about the next 5-10 years, maybe 15-20, if we are thinking really long-term. But when God speaks about our future, He speaks incredibly long term: Eternity! We know that God oper...

As we finish up our study of the Bible this year, I want to think about the world “blessing.” We hear it often, don’t we? It sounds like a really nice thing to say. When we say things like, “God bless America” or “God bless Canada” or even “God bless you” what are we really saying? The distinct b...