Messages

[2 Peter 1:10-11] God’s grace compels us to Godliness and we must do this. Holiness is not automatic, professing believers can forget, drift, and grow lukewarm-the point of this letter is inoculation to prevent the blindness, drifting, and deception that tempts Christians to useless, unfruitful lives.

[1 Cor 10:1-4] Baptism is the gravity of the New Testament, like a magnet pulling all the symbolism and types of the Old Testament into fulfillment in the lives of Christians following Jesus.

[Luke 2:40-52] Jesus responds to Mary’s cry of distress in order to highlight His divinity by pointing to His Heavenly Father, eternal lineage, and His ultimate purpose for life in this world. This begins the inevitable break with His parents as he grows into adulthood to fulfill all righteousness as the Christ, accomplishing redemption. Let us not become forgetful and complacent; we must maintain...

[Luke 2:39-40] Jesus grew and become strong, increasing in wisdom, and the favor of God was upon Him. This descrption is typical of young men throughout scripture who served God faithfully with the favor of God upon them, including Joseph, David, Josiah, Daniel, Timothy, and Samuel.

[Luke 2:36-39] The significance of her names meaning Grace and favor (Anna), the face of God (Phanuel), and happy or blessed (Asher). Psalm 92 describes Anna in her later years as full of life and service and praise to God. Luke gave this record of her as an encouraging example to older saints throughout the ages that we can remain faithful to the end, and a reminder that no labor in the Lord is i...

[Luke 2:25-35] God is light and love; the foundation of love is light. Like Simeon, what are you looking forward to, hoping in, strategizing your life to achieve? The Holy Spirit was upon him-will people say this about you when you die? Are you praying these things for yourself and your brethren?

[Luke 2:21-24, Gal 4:1-7] Jesus was born under the Law of Moses to fulfill the law and redeem those under the law, which can only condemn.

[Luke 1:56-80] After 9 months of silence for his unbelief, Zacharias' mouth is loosed and he extols God.

[Luke 1:46-55] Mary’s song and Hannah’s prayer have very similar elements -read them togethe; humility, exalting and rejoicing in the sovereign God, our Savior, Jesus the Christ.

[Luke 1:39-45] Upon Mary's greeting reaching Elizabth's ears, John the Baptist leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed Mary blessed because of her faith in God's message to her.

[Luke 1:26-35] The Lord is with you, favored one. We are all like Mary in this, being favored-God with us; but are we humble like she was? This eternal Son of the Most High will be conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary’s womb to reign in the throne of David over His kingdom forever.

[Luke 1:5-25] Zecharias and Elizabeth were righteous and blamelessly obedient the sight of God - we can be too. He was chosen by lot and burned incense in the temple according to the Law of Moses, and God sent an angel to tell him He heard his prayer and is giving him a son who will be named John - God hears our prayers uttered out of the suffering experiencesof this life. Zecharias doubted the an...

[Luke 1:1-4] Twelve Apostles were chosen as faithful eyewitness of the Old Testament fulfillment in their midst. Islam and Mormonism stand in opposition to this as unverifiable, secret revelation claimed by one man. Creation is our apologetic for God, but the Old Testament is our apologetic for Jesus. 
The Spirit and the Word together is the guarantee of truth; personal experience of objective tru...

[1 Cor 1:10-17] Baptism does not confer grace, it is not a sacrament. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what saves by grace through faith. There is nothing magical in the act itself that accomplishes forgiveness and eternal life but the faith that reaches out to Christ and obeys His example and command. The gospel is the diamond which shines on its own, clever speech is not needed to adorn the gospel...

[Luke 1:1-4] Luke, and the other 3 biblical gospels, are apostolic eyewitness testimony, not myths distorted over decades like the game of telephone. Gospel is a unique type of literature which certainly contains history, narrative, and biographical material, but it is a unique genre. Evangelion (the greek word) literally means "good news widely proclaimed and gladly received." Luke's gospel is go...

[Luke 1:1-4] If you met Luke, after hearing of all his missionary journeys, hardships endured with Paul, skills as a physician & historian, intensive and thorough research as a faithful friend and man of God, would you trust him to write an orderly account of all that Jesus did and taught?

[2 Peter 1:5-9] What does Christian diligence look like? If you’re not growing as a Christian, you’ve forgotten something - the cross of Christ that purified you from your sins. We as Christians must never forget our entry into this grace in which we stand, and continue to add to our faith so that we will be useful to God, bearing much fruit.

[Psalm 139:1-24] David reflecting on the all seeing, all knowing God, transcendent and personal God from the moment of his conception and in all places is ever present, guiding and helping him through every circumstance. The awe of this reality brings him to a sense of awe and worship of this powerful creator, protector, and guide.

[2 Cor 12:1-10] Paul was driven to boasting by necessity, in order to respond to the super apostles who are false teachers leading the beloved Corinthians astray from the truth, but he only boasts in his weakness.

[2 Peter 1:4] The word of God actually makes you more like God. The source is God’s glory and excellence and the goal is to become partakers of the divine nature through the means of His precious and magnificent promises. Continue to renew your mind by the Word of God.

[Romans 6:1-4] Water baptism, "immersion," is fundamental to Christianity because it represents the entry point so that we will understand what salvation is from the beginning; saving faith (justification) and personal holiness (sanctification) are required for salvation. Paul is using baptism as an illustration of the true gospel - don't you "know" what baptism teaches?

[Matt 5:1-3] Blessesd are those who mourn - see Isaiah 61, which Jesus takes up and applies to himself for the entirety of humanity in the sermon on the Mount, not just Israel. This hope manifested is finally fulfilled in the New Heavens and New Earth depicted in Revelation 21.

[2 Peter 1:3-4] God has one agenda in our lives: conform us into the image of His Son in godliness and holiness. These verses provide us the source, goal and means of this sanctification. Source: His divine power granted to you Goal: Life and godliness, partakers of divine nature - like God Means: Through true knowledge of Him Only through knowing Jesus-fixing our eyes on and seeking Him-will we b...

[2 Peter 1:2] Peace is an absence of conflict and presence of well-being and wholeness with a sense of blessing. God’s peace can be granted in the midst of conflict. God is the only one with the ability to free our hearts from debilitating worry and establish us in a sense of loving control of our lives, that He is for us. Why are you afraid? Do you have a prayer life, full of thanksgiving? Jesus...