The Galilean Carpenter

Though routine the soldiers’ work on top of the hill attracted onlookers. They labored away, planting stakes and laying out the timbers that would form the stands for some rough crosses. The sun was devouring the morning fog, and from that hill one could see the beginning of a very busy Friday in Jerusalem. Across READ MORE

Reputation vs. Relationship

Right at that moment when we think Jesus may be watering down the essence of being rightly related to God, we realize that he is actually raising the bar quite a bit higher. The question about fasting, offered by the disciples of both John the Baptist and the Pharisees, as recorded in Mark 2:18 and READ MORE

Do Not Be Afraid

Someone that I have known for many years told me that she felt afraid as she thinks about the future and what the implications of past sin are for the future. The sin issue that she referenced was abortion. Below is part of what I shared with her, without using her name or particulars, of READ MORE

Bearing the Marks of Jesus

As the Apostle Paul concludes his impassioned letter to his Galatian friends, he starkly contrasts a life of nominal Christianity with being a new creation because of the work of Jesus Christ. These are very important distinctions; worthy of amplification. Nominal Christianity. A “nominal value” is often a value that exists in name only. For Paul, the READ MORE

“You Who Are Spiritual”

The Book of Galatians finds the Apostle Paul boldly calling out the evils of legalism. Those who would promote such poison are “stupid” (see Galatians 3:1), and will “bear the penalty” (Gal. 5:10) for their perversion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul also makes it plain that avoiding legalism does not give us a READ MORE

Christ Has Set Us Free!

Without a doubt, Galatians 5:1 is the key to the entire letter that Paul writes to his Christian friends in the Roman province of Galatia: For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Not only do these words provide an apt summary of READ MORE