“What is truth?” someone scorned Jesus hours before His crucifixion. Our Lord recognized the Roman Governor came to “bear witness to the truth,” but further taught, “everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37-38). Pilate doesn’t care. Cynical and annoying, he ponders the possibility and power to unearth actual truthfulness in […]
Light Shining in the Darkness
March 19, 2023 by
God’s first creation is light. God spoke and light, at once, shone into the black empty void (Genesis 1:2). After, He separated the light from the darkness, marking days and creating time. After Adam’s fall, sin shattered this peace in a rebellion against God, who brought this world into existence. Bereft of sparkle and life, […]
The Parables of Jesus: Lesson 11: The Parable of the Lamp
January 23, 2018 by
Intro Earlier, in both Mark 4 and Luke 8, Jesus told The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:9, Luke 8:5-8) and then explained it (Mark 4:10-20, Luke 8:9-15). He did this to prevent a misunderstanding about “the mystery [Greek, musterion, mystery; Latin, sacramentum] of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11, Luke 8:10). On the heels […]
Psalm 27: The Lord is My Light and My Salvation
December 31, 2016 by
Christmas Day is past. The multi-colored lights are coming down, and dried-up trees now find themselves in the trash heap. Is the season of Christmas so soon dimmed? The grand season of blinking lights comes and goes, with little more effect than crumpled tinsel on a discarded tree. Such gloomy thoughts may cause us to […]
Isaiah 60:1-6: Shined On By Christ
January 4, 2015 by
Have you ever looked out the window and marveled on one of those winter nights when a full moon lights up the entire sky? But no matter how brightly that moon may shine, it has no light of its own. If there were no sun, the moon would be dark, as dark as dark can […]
Matthew 5:13-20: You are Light; You are Salt
February 10, 2014 by
Picture a world shrouded in the deepest of darkness and gloom, stifling everyone and everything. But this darkness is not physical, it’s spiritual. You see this world in your mind’s eye, and it’s a hostile place full of hurt and pain. The powerful oppress the poor, prying loose the last penny from their hands. Although […]
1st John, Lesson 1
June 14, 2012 by
Introductions Author: The earliest Church traditions we have about the authorship of 1st John is that the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee, is the author. Even more, 1st John is so similar to the Gospel of John in language, style, and theology that few have ever disputed that both books have the same author. […]
Epiphany
January 9, 2011 by
Intro Epiphany is God showing us His Son, Jesus–not just for the Jews–but as the Savior of the whole world. And so Epiphany becomes the Gentiles’ Christmas. Epiphany is God further revealing, unfolding, and unwrapping His earlier Christmas gift for all people. In God’s Christmas gift of His Son to us, we have received […]
