Jess Keller was my uncle and one of my heroes of the faith. He was one of those Christians who demonstrated servanthood every day I knew him. I always admired Jess, but we became especially close after my dad died. Jess immediately began serving me at that critical point in my life. He knew he could not replace my dad, but he wanted to be there for me as much ...
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Author Gordon MacDonald tells how a rebuke from a friend saved him—thousands of times over—from hurting others and making a fool of himself. He was in Japan on (ironically) a speaking tour with a close friend of his, a man several years his senior. As he and his friend were walking down a street in Yokohama, the name of one of their mutual friends came up. And Gordon said something ...
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Sin—the product of disobedience—is deceitful. We can even be mired in sin and yet unaware of our disobedience because of our cultural blindness. It is a consequence of the fall that we struggle against daily—a brokenness that we could never cure—a failing with an ultimate cost. Romans 6:23 tells us that "the wages of sin is death"—a debt too high for any of us to pay. That's why our God of grace ...
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Something had to be done about those making a difference for the Lord, and for Peter, that meant jail. The Roman Empire was losing its grip, not so much on nations they had conquered or the vast wealth and power they had accumulated, but on the hearts and minds of men. When the message of Jesus Christ came to Rome, it didn’t shake the pillars of the senate or crack ...
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Some believe that teaching total forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ will lead believers to sin more. But 2 Peter 1:9 says the opposite: We will sin more if we forget our total forgiveness! So, teaching believers their total forgiveness of sins will promote godly living, not sinfulness. In Luke 7:47, we see Jesus affirm this reality as He tells us that whoever is forgiven much will love much.
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