If we could time travel between the Greco-Roman world of the first century and the modern western world of the twenty-first century we would be amazed at a couple of great similarities and one peculiar difference.
The word “Christian” is not found in the Gospel of John, even though followers of the Lord Jesus Christ were called Christians by the time it was written.
Simon Peter found himself in a hopeless situation in need of some redemption. His Lord and leader had been dragged away for execution.
The last chapter in the Gospel of John reveals Jesus with His disciples in ordinary time, when they were working, wandering, wondering, waiting.
With his approximate one-hundredth use of the verbal and active form of the word “believe,” John has clearly defined faith as the active, ongoing, trust in an obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Many churches celebrate the first Sunday after Easter as “St. Thomas Sunday.” Today we are going to bask in the light that God gave this outstanding disciple named Thomas.
When Christians are asked to quote “The Great Commission,” our minds typically take us to the close of Matthew’s Gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...
Any gospel that does not include a bedrock belief in the biblical doctrines of Christ, especially His bodily resurrection, is no gospel at all.
Four Roman soldiers and a centurion carried out the death sentence of Jesus Christ. It was their job to serve as coroners, too, confirming the actual, physical death, so that burial could be arranged. Their method for this, like everything else about crucifixion, was brutal and cruel.
After three years of ministry, a three-part prayer to conclude it, three trials, and three denials by His closest disciple, Jesus died, three times. If this sounds unusual, it is.
