Removing the Competition of Ministry
If we know Jesus Christ by faith and are growing in our understanding of who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing, we cannot help but humbly acknowledge that He must increase and we must decrease. John the Baptist provides us a wonderful example of such humility.
The Great Escape and the Greatest Gift
The moving force behind Jesus' coming into the world was God's love for the world. Ultimately, Jesus demonstrated that love by dying as the Substitute for sinners, but He also displayed it by taking time to carefully explain the way of salvation to individuals like Nicodemus.
Cleaning His Father's House
Jesus is not the one-dimensional preacher of love and peace many people like to envision. Yes, He is loving and compassionate, but He is also angered by evil because He is holy and ultimately concerned about the truth. That concern is evident in this study in the Gospel of John.
The First Disciples and the First Miracle
Christlike ministry is directed by God and His Word and involves co-laborers in communicating the gospel message. This is the pattern of Jesus' earthly ministry from the very beginning.
Resisting Temptation Like Jesus
There is no fast and easy route to serving the Lord. Every experience, every day, is preparing us to follow and serve God tomorrow. The challenges and even the temptations are God's means of teaching us, strengthening us, and preparing us. This is the path Jesus Himself followed.
The Boyhood of Jesus
Meeting religious expectations and observing spiritual rites cannot substitute for a personal relationship with the Lord. This is John the Baptist's message. Unless there is true confession of sin and evidence of genuine repentance, you simply do not know God.
The First Recorded Words of Jesus
Jesus Christ is not only Lord and Savior. He is also our perfect example. He is our model for how to relate to God and to people. The twelve-year-old Jesus offers some relationship lessons for both adults and children.
The Kingmakers Come Calling
The plan of God was to announce in Israel and elsewhere the birth of the King of the Jews and to protect Him and His family and provide for them. None of that could be thwarted by the schemes of evil Herod--or by any other power in the universe.
Mary Brought Her Little Lamb
Joseph and Mary had a unique, divinely ordained role in God's plan, just as we all do. Their experience demonstrates that God is faithful to honor those who are faithful to Him and to encourage them through the testimony of other believers.
The Perfect Timing of God
God's work encompasses all of creation and history. That means He is working in the lives of obscure individuals as well as in the lives of the rich, famous, and powerful. His great work in bringing Jesus into the world as our Savior at just the right time is evidence of that.