My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin” (1 John 2:1). Centuries ago, the Apostle John took up his pen under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and wrote those words. He was referring to his purpose in writing his short epistle…

By themselves, individual bricks look nothing like a completed building. But joined together, each individual brick is one smaller part of a greater assembled whole—a building. We can say the same about the surveyed scriptural data:

“Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, ‘Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him’” (vv. 16–17).

What draws you out of bed and gets you going each day? Is it the smell of your morning coffee? Is it the demands of work or family life? Asking it another way: What drives or impels you, deep down, to live another day…

It is sad to observe the children of faithful parents turn aside from the Lord. We see it throughout the Scriptures. Adam and Eve raise a son named Cain; one of Abraham’s sons is Ishmael; Manasseh follows his father,…

Things happen because God orders them to happen, orders them to happen before they happen, and orders them to happen in the way that they happen. This is a statement of God’s complete sovereignty…

Recently, I met an old man who used to attend church when he was young. He told me how he had left his church because of hypocrisy. Church members who acted devoutly on Sunday…

Perhaps someone has asked you the question, “What is your favorite Bible verse?” This is impossible to answer satisfactorily, but when we read older Christian writers, we can begin to see which Bible verses…

The Puritan writer Thomas Watson, in his work The Godly Man’s Picture, writes: “A godly man is a thankful man. Praise and thanksgiving is the work of heaven, and he begins that work here which he shall be always doing in heaven.”…

For a time after the Jerusalem Council, Saul and Barnabas remained in Syrian Antioch, ministering as a team to the church there (Acts 15:35). Sadly, however, their co-laboring would not last. As Luke reports in today’s passage, the two church leaders found themselves at odds on the eve of another missionary journey…

Holiness begins and ends with a crisis. In regeneration, we were definitively sanctified (past tense). Our whole Christian life involves progress in sanctification. But that process will be brought to perfection in two further critical moments…

What sort of friend do you want? Someone who supports your selfish ways, flatters your fancies, and praises your preferences? Someone who accompanies you along the paths to which this world beckons?…

Among all the important meals recorded in the Bible, the most significant is also the one to which all Christians are invited. It was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night when He was betrayed. It is not a one-time occurrence but is…

Do you remember the classic spy thriller scene where the hapless protagonist sets down a briefcase full of priceless jewels at an airport or train station, only to pick up a different but similar-looking briefcase next to him?

None of us likes to suffer. We avoid it whenever we can, and we go to great lengths to diminish whatever suffering we have to endure. If we are honest with ourselves, though, we must acknowledge that times of suffering contribute to our growth.