'believers' Tagged Posts (Page 2)
Daily Devotions
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” vs. 12 1 Peter 4:12-14 From the beginning, people have tended to believe that if they began to walk in the Way of Jesus, life would be immeasurably better for them. That’s not a surprising assumption, because often that’s what they’ve been told. But Peter was not that kind of teacher. Instead of promising…
Daily Devotions
Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.” vs. 60 Acts 7:59-60 Alone among the gospel writers, Luke reports that Jesus spoke words of forgiveness from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” And now we hear similar words from the first martyr, Stephen, as he is being stoned. Their voices remind us that sometimes…
Daily Devotions
So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.” vs. 41 Acts 2:14a, 36-41 According to Luke, Peter got quite a response to his Pentecost sermon in Jerusalem. While the number 3000 can be questioned, there’s no doubt that not long after Jesus’ crucifixion, many Jews joined the ranks of the believers. Some of them may have been in the crowd shouting for his death, but when they heard Peter’s words…
Daily Devotions
So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’” vs. 25 John 20:19-25 Thomas did not become famous through his first century missionary journey to southern India, but because he was the only disciple to doubt the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. Even…
Daily Devotions
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.” vs. 6 Psalm 16:1-6 The psalmist didn’t have anything to complain about as he sang praises to God. Life had been going pretty well, and his inheritance included properties that insured a prosperous life. There are many in our time who find themselves in similar situations. While some have accumulated goods and material wealth through hard labor and wise investments, others find themselves living the…
Daily Devotions
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.” vs. 23 John 4:16-25 It can be comforting to have a religion that we can rely on, and most people will claim an affiliation to some established denomination or faith community. So when asked by census takers or screen door evangelists we can give a religious preference, even if…
Daily Devotions
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope…” vss. 3-4 Romans 5:1-5 Paul relished the gift of faith that he had been given in Christ Jesus, but he never imagined that his faith would make him immune to suffering. In fact, we could even say that he relished the suffering that had come his way as a servant of the Lord. That’s why he…
Daily Devotions
The people quarreled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’” vs. 2 Exodus 17:1-7 The Israelites’ anger is understandable. Moses had led them into the wilderness and then had them set up camp in a place where there was no water. The people had faithfully followed, and now they had been left high and dry. Who could blame them for being upset?…
Daily Devotions
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” vss. 16-17 John 3:11-17 John 3:16 is arguably the most memorized verse in all of our scripture, and deservedly so. It contains the kernel of the gospel and…
Daily Devotions
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.” vs. 2 Matthew 17:1-9 Many of us don’t quite know what to do with the story of the transfiguration as found in the gospels. It doesn’t fit with the rest of what we read about Jesus’ Galilean ministry, and seems more like a resurrection appearance than anything else. It’s like Peter, James, and John got a glimpse of the risen Jesus…
Daily Devotions
I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh.” vss. 2-3a 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 Dr. Paul has a dietary diagnosis for symptoms being experienced by the folks in Corinth–he says they’re not ready for the meat of the gospel. In fact, he’s not even sure they’ve been able to handle the pablum he’s been so carefully doling out. They’ve…
Daily Devotions
Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” vss.6-7 1 Corinthians 2:6-12 Even though Paul did not use lofty terms and eloquent language in talking with the Corinthians, he was a learned man and nobody’s fool. But he wasn’t interested in the…