Happy New Year! In what is surely one of the most arbitrary rituals known to mankind, one second last night fell in 2016 and the very next second fell in 2017! A whole year changed over in the space of one second! And millions of people around the world stayed up to witness this temporal […]
At Christmas, our vision tends to narrow. We shift our focus from world events to our local community. We shift our focus from the worries of work to our family circle. And, in the church, we tend to shift our focus from the whole, immense Bible to a couple short chapters in Matthew, Luke, and […]
Jesus spent a lot of his time on earth highlighting the differences between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdoms of the earth. In Matthew 17 & 18, Jesus gives us a foretaste, a glimpse of what the kingdom of heaven will look like after he ascends and the Holy Spirit comes. In other words, […]
Matthew 16:28: “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” This verse has confused many a Christian, myself included, throughout the years. Jesus is speaking to his disciples immediately after Peter confesses him to be the Christ, […]
Everything about Jesus inspired curiosity. Everyone had questions: “Where did he come from?” “How can he teach like that?” “How can he heal like that?” “How can he talk to the Pharisees like that.” The question that everyone wanted an answer for was, “Who is this guy?” Jesus puts the question to his disciples in […]
Apparently, tracing family history is a big thing in my new home state of Utah. But it’s not a new phenomenon to me: my great-aunt was into lineage study and her work is legendary in our family, though not necessarily in the way she would have wanted. See, she traced our family line back to […]
The concept of Sabbath rest is arguably a major theme throughout Scripture, particularly the Old Testament. There is a rich imagery associated with this concept underlying much of the New Testament as well. Understanding the critical role that the idea of Sabbath rest played in the Old Testament is important if we are going to […]
