Stephen’s sermon is a tour de force of biblical interpretation. In response to charges raised by the Jewish leaders against him, he explained his claim that Jesus fulfilled the purposes of the law and the temple, thus casting Jewish laws and customs in a different light. First, Stephen reminded them of God’s promise to Abraham and how quickly his...

Every religion with some kind of concept of sin has to address how to be seen as just, or righteous, in the eyes of God. Maybe a simpler way to explain it is with this question: How can we make up for our sins?  For all their differences, the vast majority of religions have a shared conclusion about how...

It is easy to read the story about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 and be afraid that God might strike you dead if you aren’t generous enough. That’s not what’s going on here; this was a desire for the appearance of sacrificial giving and deceit to accomplish the look. God was not a passive character in this story;...

While many Christians think about worship as being primarily about singing, the Bible reveals that it encompasses our entire lives. And one of the ways we worship God is by being stewards. Worship means to ascribe or attribute worth or value to someone or something, and everything we do is an aspect of our worship. Stewardship is important to...

When a man and woman mutually agree to date for the purpose of getting to know one another, for a season it could appear that the two are inseparable. Their days are probably filled with text messages, phone calls, and many dates in between—some planned, others spontaneous. Whether they like it or not, the two of them occupy one...

If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, chances are you’ve probably noticed that you still do things that you hoped you’d stop doing. Like, y’know, sinning. So why is that?  Salvation is probably best understood as a process. There are elements of it that are in fact instantaneous, such as being justified by faith. When we...