"God, although He visit His children with temporary chastisements of a severe description, with ultimately crown them with joy and prosperity." (John Calvin)
Based on God's past faithfulness, we can rest assured of His future faithfulness. His sovereign hand is at work, using even man's sin to accomplish His purposes.
Consciously bring your heart into the worship of God by considering who He is and what He has done.
The tender love of Christ for his people is foreseen by Isaiah as the tender love of a shepherd for his lambs.
Paul ends the letter to the Romans with a benediction.
Doctrinal precision is important, but the Church should not divide over minor doctrinal differences. Paul urges believers to avoid those who use minor differences between believers as a wedge to drive them apart.
Peter, James, and John behold the glory of the the transfigured Christ. Only in retrospect do they see the full glory of that moment for what is really was.
God is the only one who offers salvation, and He offers it to you at with no cost to you at great cost to himself. He will accomplish the salvation of his remnant, those he has called from out of ruin.
Pastor Steve walks through Paul's personal greetings at the end of his letter to the Romans.
Jesus performs a physical miracle of healing and restoring the extremities of a leper to show that he is willing and able to perform the spiritual miracle of healing and bringing new life to your dead heart.
A man plans his ways, but the Lord guides his steps. God used Paul to minister the Gospel to the Gentiles in Rome, but not in the way Paul expected.
Following the example of Paul, Christians should desire to live as living sacrifices, bringing glory to Jesus Christ in whatever He has called them to do.
The author of Chronicles leaves his readers with the anticipation of a future hope: a coming King and his kingdom.
Christ-followers should be willing to give up their own rights, comforts, and liberties out of a love for God and others.
God loves us and sets us apart because he chooses to, not because we deserve it.
Christianity is about lives being changed by God's transforming grace, and believers living those lives to bring glory to the King - not about following a list of do's and don'ts.
The guiding principle in the liberty of conscience discussion is "living sacrifice" - a life lived to the glory of God.
As created humans, we are not to demand more of one another than God does. Being bound by things that God hasn't specifically spoken to can lead to a critical spirit.
As children of the light, try to live as God's special people in this age of darkness.
We are called, as Christ-followers, to dig a little deeper and see the spiritual nature of the commandments and not just to seek conformity to a bare minimum standard that would help us avoid punishment. We are to love God and to seek the intent of God's law in loving others as we love ourselves.
Christians are baptized in water to identify with Jesus. At his baptism, we see a part of Jesus' glory revealed AND his identification with us. Baptisms are an occasion for us to celebrate God's work in adding to His people.
A Christian's default posture toward governing authorities should be one of appropriate submission to God-ordained institutions. However, there are cases when civil disobedience is sanctioned by scripture. Christians are not to obey laws that require them to sin. We ought to obey God rather than man.
Our King has set up governing authorities for His people to follow as honorable citizens of this country and of a greater country.
Those who have had an encounter with Jesus Christ (like the Ethiopian eunuch) have great joy because of the freedom that comes with knowing Him.
We are challenged to display Christlike Humility and Trustful Peacemaking as members of a Christ-centered church culture.
In order to exhibit the characteristics of a truly Christian church culture, followers of Jesus need the transforming grace of the Gospel to change their hearts.