opinions and musings

We all know that words change meaning over time.  Many of the words we commonly throw around in Christian circles such as salvation, eternal life, hell, etc. have taken on different meanings over the years and have diverged from their original meanings as used in the New Testament.  I think it is important to define our terms and to have clarity on what Jesus or the apostles really meant when they used a certain Greek word.  We tend to read our current cultural Christianity *into* the Scriptures, rather than reading out the meaning that would have been apparent to the first century audience to whom the New Testament was originally written. One of these words is the word “ salvation .”  When we 21 st century evangelical Christians hear the word “saved” or “salvation”, we tend to think, “a state where an individual’s sins are forgiven and they are assured a place in heaven when they die.”  This however is not what the Greek word means that is translated...

One of the truths that I’ve discovered over the past several years is that we can each hear Jesus talking to us personally.    What a wonderful truth this is!   The King of the universe wants to take the time to speak to us individually and to reveal His personal love for us!  If we have surrendered to Him as our Shepherd, that makes us His sheep.  The Lord Jesus tells us in John 10:27 that "my sheep hear my voice."  It's as simple as that!  If the Lord is your shepherd and you are his sheep then you do hear his voice!    You might say, "no, Bill I really don't think I've ever heard the voice of Jesus."   Really?  Let me ask you some questions....Have you ever been going about your daily routine when someone will come to mind and you have a sense to pray for them?   Have you ever been minding your own business not thinking about God and suddenly a praise song starts playing in your mind?  ...

Welcome to the new year of 2013!  For my first post this year I would like to share some thoughts about the humanity of Jesus.   Most of the people I know who follow Jesus believe like I do that he is the God-man.   He is fully God and fully man at the same time.   I believe that the God who created the universe came to the earth in the form of a man named Jesus.    The Bible tells us that Jesus laid aside all his divine power and came to earth as a sinless human being. It is interesting to me that while many people who are not followers of Jesus don’t believe in his divinity, the same seems to be true among many followers of Jesus in regard to his humanity.   We Christians just seem to be uncomfortable talking about and thinking about the humanity of Jesus.   We are quick to acknowledge his divinity – the miracles, the holiness, the power, the resurrection, etc. but slower to acknowledge that he was a human like us who experie...

Prayer for the United States in December 2012 With the many mass shootings that have occurred this year in the United States, I believe that our spiritual enemy has released a spirit of death over the United States.  Let's pray that God would release His life and mercy into our nation to overcome the spirit of death.   The Bible says that God is able to bring victory out of tragedy and to bring life out of death.  Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. If you are a believer in Jesus as Lord I invite you to join with me in praying the following prayer over our nation to release the Life of Jesus to our nation: "Father in Jesus Name we join our faith together to declare that Life be released into our nation today.  May the Life of Jesus be released over our nation and may Life prevail in the hearts and lives of our people. "Father, turn the hearts and minds of this nation toward you in repentance and...

We have seen many people in the Body of Christ in America in recent years calling themselves apostles who do not really manifest the character, wisdom and fruit of apostolic ministry.  As we study the Scriptures, we see that apostles were men and women who have been through the fires of testing and have proven character.   They live lives of humility with a deep love for and submission to the Lord Jesus the Messiah.  In addition, they are gifted by the Holy Spirit with wisdom to help establish believers in sound doctrine and in a real relationship with Jesus.  Both the apostles Paul and Peter wrote letters to the first century churches, helping them to understand the foundational teachings about Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, and who believers are in Christ.   Neither Paul nor Peter tried to control the churches or dominate them.  They operated in real humility, servi...

What is the apostolic gospel?  I suggest it is the good news that was proclaimed by the apostles of Jesus in the first century.  The word "apostle" comes from the Greek meaning "sent one."   The apostles were the messengers chosen and sent by Jesus to proclaim the message of good news.  I received much of my inspiration for this study from Scott McKnight's excellent book, "The King Jesus Gospel." I highly recommend his book for further s tudy. We can get a glimpse into what the apostles proclaimed by reading their sermons as recorded by Luke the physician in the book of Acts in the New Testament.  According to many scholars this book was written around AD 63.  It is a companion volume to Luke’s gospel, and it describes the development of Christianity in the first 30 years of its existence.   Dr. Luke focuses on the missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas into present day Turkey and Greece, as they carried the good news of God’s King...