Since we have a great high priest who has ascended into Heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a high priest who is able to empathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne …
All Your Anxieties
Cast all your anxieties [cares, concerns, worries] on God because He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7) Kelly Willard’s Example Recently I used the Scripture above to encourage someone and remembered a praise song based upon it. The “Cares Chorus” was written by Kelly Willard in 1979 and it goes like this: I cast all my cares upon you. I …
Christ Changes the Calendar
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in …
Christ the Great Reverser
C. S. Lewis’s story The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, imagines a fictional country under the curse of an evil witch. It’s “always winter and never Christmas.” Everything is hopeless until Aslan the noble lion comes to make crooked things straight and rough ways smooth. Aslan represents Jesus, the Son of God, who came to destroy the devil’s works.1 …
Christ’s Way of Mercy
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13) From my sermon preached at Iglesia Presbiteriana Oaklawn and other places. This Sermon Outline (handed out in English and Spanish): Christ Delights to Show Mercy Jesus Attaches Conditions to His Mercy We Must Not Conceal Our Sins We Must Confess Our …
Jesus’ Blessing (Part 3)
In Numbers 6:24-26, Jesus commands the priest to pronounce these benefits on His people: Verse 24 The LORD bless you and keep you. Verse 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Verse 26 The LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace. When I was younger, I would get homesick for …
Jesus’ Blessing (Part 2)
In Numbers 6:24-26, Jesus commands the priest to pronounce these benefits on His people: Verse 24 The LORD bless you and keep you. Verse 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Verse 26 The LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace. I am interpreting these Scriptures in a Christ-centered way, …
Jesus’ Blessing (Part 1)
The Old Testament (”OT”) Book of Numbers is about God (Father, Son, and Spirit) showing His faithfulness to faithless Israel during forty years in the wilderness. Numbers was breathed out by the Spirit through Moses about 1400 BC, but Moses was really writing about Christ in advance of Jesus’ incarnation.1 The New Testament Book of Hebrews describes how Jesus’ high …
Hope in Jesus Christ
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) Some people feel hopeless. Big things have gone wrong, other people let you down, you have suffered from broken hearts, broken bodies, and broken promises. Since, “Good …
Dying and Living in Christ
On the night when Christ was arrested in Gethsemane, before He was crucified in our place, Jesus withdrew from His disciples, and knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’ Then an angel appeared from Heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, Jesus prayed …