When We Understand The Text
Gabriel Hughes 
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Church is translated from the Greek word ekklesia, meaning a called-out assembly. The church of God is a congregation, made up of all kinds of people on earth, called out from the world through …
Is smoking marijuana a sin? Well, you used to be able to say “Yes, because it’s illegal,” and that would be that. But now that marijuana is legal medicinally and recreationally, is it still sin? Yes — 1 Corinthians 6:12, “All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” …
Ah, the new year! Time for a fresh start. New beginnings. Bogus prophesies that don’t mean anything! (Seriously, watch out for those yahoos declaring, “This is the year of your breakthrough!”) By now you’ve made a few New Years resolutions of your own. Perhaps you want to lose a few pounds or break a …
Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday celebrated from December 26 to January 1, created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga (formerly Ronald Everett). The holiday draws from African rituals and black national ideology to create the seven principles of Kwanza, called the Nguzo Saba. Among these principles are racial and national unity, self-determination, and faith …
Luke 2:7 says, “Mary gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.” This one verse is why we think of Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem at the last minute, being turned away by …
Is Christmas a pagan holiday? No, it’s a Christian holiday, a celebration of the birth of Christ! If that wasn’t what Christmas was about, our secular culture wouldn’t be so afraid of the name Christ-mas. But didn’t Christmas start out as a pagan holiday? Probably not. There have been many pagan festivals around the …
From the late R.C. Sproul. Find the full sermon here. “If something happens in this world — by the power of men, by the power of nature, by the power of machines — God always has the power and authority to prevent it, at least, from happening. Does He not? And if He does …
Hebrews 12:1 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” What does this mean, that we are surrounded by a great cloud of …
In John 8:1-11, we read the story of a woman caught in the act of adultery, and she was brought before Jesus teaching in the temple. The Pharisees said, “Teacher, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do you say?” They were trying to trap him. If He said, “Let her go,” he’d …
In Revelation 3, Jesus rebuked the church at Laodicea for becoming complacent in their faith. “I know your works,” he said. “You are neither hot nor cold. So because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Now, it’s often interpreted that being hot is having passion for God and cold …
Another mass murder in the news. Another disaster claiming many lives. The number of people killed grows every day. What would Jesus have said about such tragedies? Actually, He did address this in Luke 13:1-5. Some Galileans were murdered while they were sacrificing in the temple and their blood was mixed in with their …
In 1999, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation, in an effort to resolve 500 years of conflict since the protestant reformation, signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The statement claimed that the two bodies “are now able to articulate a common understanding of our justification by God’s grace …