just as God had rested on the seventh day after He completed this tangible, easily corrupted world, Jesus endured the cross unto death and now rested in a borrowed tomb. John chapter 20 begins with, “The first day of the week.” J. A. Macdonald states, “Since in the week there are seven days, the “eighth”…
Read morethe eighth day of creation – part 1
John begins his gospel with the opening words from Genesis. “In the beginning” was easily recognizable by the Jewish community and, as we learned in class, “the Word” held great significance to them as well. the Greeks recognized the words of John chapter 1 as the expressed mindset of a master planner; God’s wisdom personified…
Read moreZacharias’ song according to Luke
the opening chapters of the Gospel, according to Luke, contain several unique passages. these passages result from overwhelming revelation and spiritual insight, each bringing forth praise and exaltation at the realized Messianic promises of God in their time. the songs, or canticles, are listed as Mary’s Song (Luke 1:46-56), Zacharias’ Song (Luke 1:67-79), The Angels’…
Read morelet the dreamers dream
for those who lived out the history of the Bible, dreams gave insight and showed things that were to come. Joel 2:28 (KJV, Tyndale 1987) stated, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall…
Read morethe necessary burial
baptism has been a highly debatable topic among Christian groups and denominations for a long time. the water medium and method of declaration over a baptism varies if even believed to be necessary. i hope to persuade some to take a deeper look at this subject and identify the necessity, method, and declaration that is…
Read morean insignificant Isaac?
throughout the Bible, we come across the phrase “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” there are many scriptures devoted to the exploits of Abraham and Jacob, but it seems as those there are not very many passages dedicated to the life of Isaac. most of the time, you can attribute the scriptures that mention…
Read morea shhh and a stone (part 2)
we can now see preparations and things going on that the disciples were unaware of, but through revelation, Simon speaks and declares Jesus’ Christ-hood. this is the part of the story that is usually preached to show that Simon, now renamed Peter (meaning a rock), has been blessed to receive insight to the identity of…
Read morea shhh and a stone (part 1)
Matthew 16:13-20 has been an essential passage in the lives of all Christians. many denominations use these verses to teach of the revelation of Simon and the critical role that he played during his discipleship and the upstart of the church. we have heard it preached using the entire passage and using quotes from one…
Read morepersonally impacting parables
two of my favorite parables that Jesus taught are “The Prodigal Son” and the “Hidden Treasure.” there is no doubt that i gravitate toward these two passages due to personal experience. i want to define a parable and explain its purpose. i will also share relevant testimonies and take some time to go through the…
Read moreexperience the cohesion
each church needs a balance of experience and age groups to reach its highest potential. if your members are growing older and there is no influx of the next generation, the church will die off. morbid, i know. maybe you find that your church is on the other end of the age spectrum. this type…
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