Category: Discipleship

Few topics excite followers of Christ like the topic of his second coming. Throughout his ministry Jesus had told his disciples he was going to leave them and return again.

The promise of Christ’s return to earth is repeated many times in scripture. On the day Christ ascended to heaven, two angels appeared to the disciples and explained that Christ would return just the same way in which he left: through a cloud of glory in the sky. Jesus also described different signs that would precede his coming to his disciples.

Everyone loves a story of redemption: a story where the characters are swallowed up in events and circumstances that look hopeless; but then, almost miraculously, their direction is changed. Rags become riches, sorrow becomes joy, and their time of hardship and suffering is transformed into the phrase “and they lived happily ever after.”  A story of redemption is a story with a happy ending.

Writing a letter to the believers, the Apostle James spoke of a perfect law of liberty, a freedom we have been called to and given by Jesus Christ. Liberty, or freedom, is a topic frequently spoken of by Jesus and his apostles in the New Testament. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the law of ordinances was also nailed to the cross with him. Jesus thus fulfilled the law of the Old Testament, setting us free from the requirement to keep it. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the law of ordinances was also nailed to the cross with him. (Colossians 2:14) Jesus thus fulfilled the law of the Old Testament, setting us free from the requirement to keep it. (Romans 8:3-4, Galatians 3:24-25)

There is a difference between people who practice external religion and those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ: it is the Holy Spirit. Those who have been born again are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and their life is being transformed not just in an outward and external way, but they are being transformed at a spiritual level. Their life is being led by the Spirit.

Philip had been with Jesus the day he ascended up into heaven. He was there when Jesus commissioned all his disciples with a great mission to fulfill. Jesus instructed them to share the gospel and to make disciples of the people of all the nations. Philip heard Christ’s command and went out to do his part in fulfilling the great commission.

Every Promise in the Book is Mine. God gives the promise and we say Amen. Every promise is yes. There’s not one promise that God is going to deny you from. Every promise is yes. You say, can I be healed? Yes. Can I be saved? Yes. Can my family be there with me in heaven? Yes. Every promise is yes. God says yes, and we say Amen.

One day Jesus sat by a well on the edge of a Samaritan town. As he sat there a woman came to draw water, and Jesus began a conversation with her. The woman had lived a difficult life. She had many lovers and many rejections. She became an outcast in her community and lived a life with little hope that things would ever get better. But then she met Jesus.

When I think of the word “refuge” the immediate word I connect to it is “refugee”. The definition of refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

Prayer is a fundamental part of following Christ. Private prayer is a time of personal communion with God. It’s a time when we can share with God our deepest longings, our hurts, our griefs, our desires, the challenges we are facing in life, ask our big questions, confess our sin, ask for forgiveness, and so much more. Prayer is how we talk to God. It is a special privilege each of us have.