Roots by the River

“I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen” (Romans 9:1-5). “Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Roma...

“So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened” (Romans 1:20-21 RSV). The increasing decadence that is described in the last half of Romans 1 has its start by a choice described in verse 21: they did not honor or give thanks to God . All idolatry and immorality start here. Although this was written about people who had only natural revelation (and they were without excuse), how much more inexcusable are those who have special revelation and have been redeemed. Thanksgiving is the basic means of praising God. It is, for our benefit, a means of avoiding a critical and complaining spirit. "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV). This post coordinates with today's reading in the Same Page Summer Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, pl...

“But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:20-21). Do you have a calling? Yes! What is it? To this you are called: Do good. Suffer for it. Take it patiently. If we do good, suffer for it, and take it impatiently , this is not commendable before God. Two out of three is not good enough. Christ, in His suffering, left us an example that we should follow in His steps. We are to imitate Jesus in His goodness, sufferings, and patience. The book In His Steps was written more than 100 years ago. It is a novel about a group of people who wanted to follow Jesus by asking the question, “What would Jesus do?” The fallacy in the book is that it took imagination to come up with the answer. The answer is in the text— do good, suffer for it, and take it patiently. We already know what Jesus would do. He has already ...

“Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?” - Paul the Apostle, in chains, before King Agrippa and Governor Festus, Acts 26:8. God is God! He created the universe and every microscopic part of it. “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (Psalm 115:3). I’m with Paul. I think it is incredible that anyone thinks God raising the dead is incredible. God is God! This post coordinates with today's reading in the Same Page Summer Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.

Recently,* I was talking with a 20-year-old Christian college student. In the conversation, I asked him if he talked to unbelievers about the gospel. He replied that he did not know any unbelievers. I live in the Northwest, which is probably the least churched part of the country. But there are a lot of Christians here. I have asked this question to many of them, and they come up with similar answers. Generally, they do know some unbelievers, but they do not talk to them about the gospel. One of the reasons they give is that they don’t have the gift of evangelism. Evangelism is not restricted to those who have a gift. It is a command to believers— go into all the world and make disciples of all nations . This has nothing to do with gifts. It has to do with knowing the Father through the Son. It has to do with believing that the gospel is true and that unbelievers are lost. I ask these Christians if it is true that unbelievers are lost. They say yes. The next question is, “Do you...

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). This statement is either true or false. Peter said it to the high priests Annas and Caiaphas after he and John had spent the night in jail, after seeing the church grow by two thousand, and after they had healed the cripple in the name of Jesus. He said it in answer to the question, “By what power or what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed” (Acts 4:8-10). “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John re...

Jesus told many stories. Some of them were parables, as in the lost sheep and the lost coin (Luke 15:1-10), the tenants in Luke 20, and the ten minas in Luke 19. Jesus also told true stories like the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. We also have stories of real encounters with people: Nicodemus in John 3, the rich young ruler in Mark 10, and the woman at the well in John 4. Let’s look at one of the true stories: “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in...

“ But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Galatians 4:4-6). The first Christmas happened so that we might receive the full right of sons. Thank God. We talk about the shepherds and the wise men. They were the first human witnesses of this event “when the time had fully come.” There were other witnesses of the birth of the Son of God: “Su ddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ‘ Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests’” (Luke 2:13-14).   This was not a select choral group of twenty-four angels singing four-part harmony. This was a great company of the Heavenly Host. My guess is ten thousand times ten thousand, or one hundred mil...

“They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. ‘We are going up to Jerusalem,’ he said, ‘and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise’” (Mark 10:32-34). Jesus said this on his last walk to Jerusalem. This was near Jericho where Blind Bartimaeus was healed and saved, where Zaccheus was saved, and where the rich young man refused to be saved. The prophecy was fulfilled one week later. The disciples were not paying attention. They did not hear the clear gospel. This is the same gospel that Peter preached a few weeks after the resurrection where 3,000 were saved in Acts 2. It is the gospel defined by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-...

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’” (Matt 28:18). Here we have commands from the supreme commander, the one with all authority: “ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (vv. 19-20). When Jesus was on earth, the people saw His authority: 1.     To teach (Mark 1:22). 2.     To cast out demons (Mark 1:27). 3.     To forgive sins (Mark 1:10). 4.     Over the wind and the waves (Mark 4:41). 5.     To raise the dead (Mark 5:41). 6.     To heal the sick (Mark 5:30). 7.     To not let the demons speak (Mark 1:34). 8.     “I have authority to lay it down [His life] and authority to take it up again” (John 10:...