(REFLECTIONS ON Ezra 1:1-11) I. QUICK RECAP In the Book of Jeremiah 29:10, the Lord said, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.” II. THE LORD MOVES HEARTS 1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Titus 3:9-15) How much time do we spend thinking and talking about what we believe rather than moving forward and translating that into how we live out what we believe? In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul writes, 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Titus 3:1-8) Sometimes all we need is an opportunity, a chance to start over again, to be freed from the past with hope for change. This is our opportunity in Christ. Paul writes to Titus in today’s Scripture, 3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Titus 2:11-15) “Just Say No” was an anti-drug campaign in the United States during the 80’s and 90’s. Through advertisements, children were taught to just say no to drugs. In today’s Scripture, Paul writes that the grace of God also teaches us to just say “No.” 11 For the grace of God has appeared […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Titus 2:1-10) We know that there is inequality in the world. We know that things happen on a daily basis that aren’t fair, that we wish were different, that we wish we could change. This is one of the challenges of living as Christians in a broken world. Yet, no matter how broken, imbalanced, […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Titus 1:10-16) I believe! Now what? How does our faith hold up over time? Are we growing in our knowledge of God and experiences with the Lord, or are we being pushed around by the winds and waves of the world? During Paul’s time, he also had to face the winds and waves of […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Titus 1:1-9) 1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness… 5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Galatians 6:11-18) 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross for the sins of the world, this is the core of what Paul preached and what we […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Galatians 6:7-10) 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Sowing and reaping is a concept that our actions have consequences. What we do now perhaps has no immediate impact, but in the long run positive and negative consequences can be traced back to either the good […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Galatians 5:16-26, Galatians 6:1-6) Paul has already established that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. However, Paul also wants to emphasize the point that freedom doesn’t mean we are free from responsibility, free from consequences, free to do whatever it is that our hearts desires. For Paul, freedom was never […]