A water filter removes impurities from the water, making it cleaner. A water distiller removes the water from the impurities through evaporation, resulting in totally pure water. Religion tries to remove sin from the sinner. God’s justification removes the sinner from sin’s judgment by a divine payment and divine declaration. Read Romans 4:25. Transition As […]
Martin and Gracia Burnham, American New Tribes missionaries, were celebrating their eighteenth wedding anniversary at the Dos Palmas Resort in the Philippines. Before daybreak on 27 May 2001, they, along with 18 other people, were abducted at gunpoint by Islamic terrorists. A few weeks later, four other captives were taken. The Abu Sayyaf demanded huge […]
If you lived before the death of Christ, every time you sinned, you were required to take a sacrificial animal to the temple to atone for your sin. While the blood of that animal would pay for that sin (Hebrews 9:13), it could not take away your sin (Hebrews 10:4). Each time in the future, […]
Some people don’t want to accept their need for change. The story is told of a doctor who told a man that he must give up eating red meat, so he stopped putting tomato sauce on his hamburgers. For many religious people, their idea of salvation is no more transforming than what that man did. […]
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In Colossians 1:24-29, Paul said that he rejoiced in his sufferings for the Colossi believers. This verse does not imply that Paul was suffering because Christ did not suffer enough for our sin. Christ alone paid for our entire sin debt. However, suffering did not end with Christ. Preaching the gospel to the Gentiles brought […]
The main character of this story was a demon-possessed man who lived near Gadara on the southeast corner of the Sea of Galilee. Mostly Gentiles lived in the Gadara region. For the sake of ease, I am going to call the man Gady, since he lived near Gadara. Sometime in Gady’s past, demons took possession […]
Today, farmers use tractors to pull wagons, ploughs, cultivators, and other farm implements. Manufacturers rate the power of a tractor in horsepower. When I was a boy, our small farm tractor had 25 hp. Its pulling power was about the same as 25 horses. In Bible days, oxen and asses (donkeys) pulled the farm tools […]
In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were beaten and locked in painful stocks in the inner prison. After God sent a great earthquake, the jailer was saved, and they were released. From there, the missionaries travelled west to Thessalonica. In the Thessalonian synagogue, Paul reasoned with the attendees out of the scriptures. He opened the […]
The First Century orthodox Jews who heard the Gospel message had mixed feelings about it. Some angrily rejected it and held tightly to their Judaism. Others considered the message, but bristled at the thought of salvation by faith in Christ alone without the works of the law. A few gladly received the Gospel and trusted […]