FAI Central

"He will not break a bruised reed, and He will not put out a smoldering wick..." (Isaiah 42:3a) Part 23 of 'The Better Farewell' brings us to the morning of the empty tomb. And what does Jesus do? Whom does He seek to speak with first? A woman under such compounding grief, that she sees the empty tomb and cannot register what it means. A man so given to disillusionment, he makes a vow to never bel...

At the end of the day and the end of the age, there is but one King and one Truth. His Kingdom is not, will not, and cannot be tainted with the carnality of the flesh; it is "not of this world." We may only participate in His Kingdom with submission to His righteousness—and His alone. The "kings of the earth" will "rage" and "plot in vain," many with Pilate's cynicism on their lips: "What is truth...

Listen to this update from Marco Moreno about the tragic incident in northern Israel that left more than 40 dead and more than 150 injured.

Immediately after Jesus finishes praying in John 17, the next chapter opens with His arrest—a mind-boggling event bookended by two men from His ministry team and brotherhood turning their backs on Him. Is Peter any different, any better than Judas? What do you do when you wake up in the morning with all the world before you as normal, only to go to bed that night under the rubble of your own implo...

Our seventh session in John 17, the only chapter in Scripture capturing Jesus' prayer moments before His arrest, brings us to the last group of people He prayed for: Us. This is the conventional conclusion of the Farewell Discourse, but over the next month or so we're going to follow the story through Jesus' betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, and Peter's failure—and restoration on the shores of the Se...

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” ‭‭John‬ ‭17:17-19 Meditate with us on these words and The Word, The Truth: Jesus of Nazareth. May we be washed in the water of His Word this week. DURATION: 40 minutes

"I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name that You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are One. While I was with them, I was protecting them by Your name that You have given Me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. Now I am coming to Y...

In Part 17 of our journey through the Farewell Discourse, we find ourselves—still—solidly in John....17. Fate? "I have manifested Your name to them...." What does this mean? Jesus' prayer moments before His arrest, recorded by His beloved friend and brother John, is loaded with magnificent and mighty language: "eternal life," "glory," "sanctify," "truth," "given," "kept," and more—but perhaps we a...

We've made it to verse 4 of John 17: "I have glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave Me to do." Marinate in this power-packed prayer with us.

All authority belongs to Jesus (John 17:2). Meditate on this with us in this week's 'The Better Beautiful.'

We' re.....still in John 17. Sit down. Stay a while. :)

"Father, the hour has come." Years after first garnering public attention at the Cana wedding—the one with the best wine—when it "was not yet His time," Jesus finds Himself in a garden across the valley from where He will one day reign. He looked up to heaven, and said, " Father...it 's time." We have reached John 17, what Jeff considers to be the best prayer of all time. It is certainly one of Sc...

Happy Birthday to 'The Better Beautiful'! In our first anniversary episode, we polish the second half of John 16. Jeff 1) showcases his new Romanian vocabulary and 2) walks us all back from the cliff of anxiety. "Waiting"—for the Lord's return, or for whatever your life fills in the blanks—presses against our confidence, our faith, in very unique ways. How do we hold on? First, we drink deeply fro...

"Nevertheless...." This one word is the hinge of this week's passage. Jeff & Steph wade through John 16:5-15 and ask what it means for the disciples to hear "the Helper is coming" in light of losing the presence of their trusted Rabbi. But we also don't live in the first century, and need to know what it means to live under the leadership of the Helper in the 21st century. So how do we? Also, we i...

"And just maybe, He'll make me a little less cranky." Our prayer for ourselves this week closes this conversation on John 15:18-16:4, and what it means for the world to hate Jesus' disciples for no reason other than it hates Him. But many questions emerge in this meditation; for one thing, what is hatred? How does it contrast against love? And what planks might we have lodged in our own eyeballs t...

"Dear Father, in heaven...." Why is this "best blasphemy a Muslim will ever hear" our great comfort, and ultimate anchor for obedience? In John 15:9-17, Jesus uses strong yet gorgeous language to describe the friendship and family offered to us by and through the Father, Son, and Spirit—if we obey. So what is obedience? And how did it wreck the life of a man already "so well behaved," Saul of Tars...