Why is it so hard for us to love one another? Many times it is because of our differences – we don’t see the world the same way, we don’t have the same preferences, and we aren’t working toward the same ends. Differences often lead to conflicts, not just in…

Why do we need to examine ourselves before we take the Lord’s Supper? Isn’t the whole point of the gospel that we are forgiven and freed from the power of sin and death? Isn’t the Lord’s Supper supposed to be a celebration of what Christ has accomplished? Yes, of course….

We all want to be winners. We all want people to think well of us. Common sense dictates that it is desirable to be rich (I Corinthians 4:8), prudent, strong, and distinguished (4:10). Much like the people of ancient Corinth, we modern Americans tend to admire the knowledgeable, the competent,…

The sad truth is that everyone’s not going to believe in Jesus. No matter how clearly we may present the truth of His Resurrection, no matter how clearly we may show the same sort of self-sacrificial, unconditional love He showed to us on the cross, there are some people who…

How do you share the gospel with someone from a different culture? On his first missionary journey (in Acts 13-14), Paul traveled far to the west of the traditional homeland of the Jews, visiting sites in the southern part of what we now know as Turkey. But in every town…

What do you think God is really like? Do you imagine Him to be a demanding master, always on you about something, never satisfied even with your best efforts? That can be the impression we get if we just look at God’s Law. For no matter how loving its requirements…

What does God’s law do for us? As Paul says in verse 22, it imprisons us under sin, it shows us clearly just how sinful we are and thus how desperately we all need a Savior. And any honest reading of the Old or New Testaments has to yield this…

Sin shows up in the most surprising of places. Now, we are accustomed to thinking of sin as certain bad things that we do. And because of this we sometimes imagine that if we avoid these behaviors, if we just don’t actively harm anyone else, we can avoid sin. But…

Why did so many of the Jews of Paul’s time refuse to believe that Jesus was their Messiah? Now, to be sure, many of them did in fact come to faith. When Paul came to Antioch in Pisidia (in the place we now call Turkey), he went into the synagogue…

Leaders who strut around, basking in the glory of power. Hungry crowds begging for sustenance from the government, and willing to follow anyone who would feed them. These things are as old as the Roman Empire and as new as this morning’s headlines. And it’s easy for Christians to get…