Sunday Teaching: Maturity Profiled 06—The Mature Tame Their Speech—James 3:1-12
Read moreConcluding the Book of Mark (Mark 16:17-20)
Concluding the Book of Mark
Mark 16:17-20
Let's be honest. This passage is likely why many wonder if this should be included in Mark's gospel (see my explanation about this disputed text in last week’s post). Many of us see things like demons, tongues, invincibly picking up snakes, and drinking poison, and run the other way.
Read moreArchival Post: Believe In The Church's Unbreakable Oneness (Ephesians 4:4-6)
The dominant word of this sentence — Paul used it seven times — is “one.” It describes the whole Trinity — one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father of all. Paul dreamed of the church. In so doing, he introduced a beautiful truth: the universal church is one because the Triune God is one.
Read moreMaturity Profiled 05—Interlude: Faith Produces Maturity—James 2:14-26
Sunday Teaching: Maturity Profiled 05—Interlude: Faith Produces Maturity—James 2:14-26
Read moreJesus’ Parting Words to the Disciples and Us (Mark 16:15-20)
Jesus’ Parting Words to the Disciples and Us
Mark 16:15-20
Before we jump into our final text of Mark, we have to address the notation in many of our Bibles suggesting that the final twelve verses might not be in the original text.
Read moreArchival Post: 10 Changes In 10 Years
10 Changes In 10 Years
Archival Post
I recently reached the ten-year mark as the lead pastor of Calvary Monterey. In one sense, that is not a great deal of time, but it was a wild decade.
Read moreMaturity Profiled 04—The Mature Love Without Partiality—James 2:1-13
Sunday Teaching: Maturity Profiled 04—The Mature Love Without Partiality—James 2:1-13
Read moreSilas' Journal (July, AD 49)
Before that fateful meeting in Jerusalem, I had not yet laid eyes on Paul. But his legend—a Pharisee and master teacher who had repented and followed Christ—had only grown with his reach throughout the empire. Word back home was that people from the nations were surrendering to Jesus at a rapid rate, all from this man's work. The death, burial, and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah was believed by thousands of Gentiles through his faithful preaching. I had become a distant admirer of this great preacher, this emerging apostle, this weapon in the mighty hand of God. Peter had opened the door to the nations, but Paul kept running through it.
Read moreThe Case for the Resurrection: Part 2 (Mark 16:1-14)
The Case for the Resurrection: Part 2
Mark 16:1-14
Last week, we began looking at seven clues that lead to the legitimacy of the claim that Jesus rose from the dead – he was supernaturally resurrected, which is the most important event in human history, the event upon which Christianity hinges. Today, we’ll uncover the remaining clues found in Mark 16.
Read moreArchival Post: Redeemed Men Look Like This (Ephesians 5-6)
Archival Post
The authors of the New Testament, or the entire Bible for that matter, were not oblivious to the hard conditions found amongst humanity. They were conscious of the turmoil and pain many people groups have been forced to toil under. As the gospel of Jesus Christ spread, so did the church’s understanding that women, children, and the working class have often been abused in various systems, cultures, religions, nations, time periods, etc.
Read more