This Week What does it take to finish well? The answer to that question depends on who you are and what you’re finishing: an athlete finishing a competition, a student finishing a degree, or a musician finishing a piece. Think bigger. What about your life? It’s a long life. What are you going to do to finish…

This Week The End If the book you’re reading has drawn you in and made you feel like a part of the story, “The End” makes your heart sink. What? No! You knew it was coming. You felt the pages in your right hand getting thinner. And you vow to read the sequel, or watch the next…

This Week Words matter Whoever said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me,” was either lying or just not very bright. God doesn’t lie, he’s very bright, and he has said, “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). When the apostle Paul finally made it…

This Week The Reformation is often summarized by the five Solas—Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Christus, Soli Deo Gloria. Each one is a bold confession, each one is a battlefield, and each one finds expression in John 8. Nevertheless, as Jesus teaches these eternal truths restored in the Reformation, the five are reduced to…

This Week Shake off the snake Throughout our study of Acts, we have witnessed the Lord’s power in dangerous circumstances. Life is a voyage. It has winds, angry seas, and crises we can’t anticipate. The Lord answers our petition to “deliver us from evil”—at times by preventing the storm but at other times by bringing…

This Week The God whose I am In the storm, Paul referred to “the God whose I am.” In other words, “I’m his.” You don’t say “My Jennifer” or “My Owen,” unless he or she is your son, daughter, or spouse. You don’t use that term unless you’re close, unless your relationship is intimate. Paul says what…

This Week This week we press pause on “The Storm,” our 3-week series from Acts 27, and pick up the gospel of Luke. In Luke 17:11-19 Jesus cleanses ten men from horrific disease but the miraculous healing fades quickly to the background as Jesus draws the attention of all to one thing: a Samaritan man worshiping at his feet.…

This Week Why a hurricane? Luke tells us when Paul and his companions were caught at sea in a hurricane, “All hope that we would be saved was disappearing.” (Acts 27:20) Hope is a combination of trust in the Lord’s faithfulness to his promises and the Lord’s perfectly timed invasion into our affairs. It’s hard to…

This Week Is it all up to me? Is anything up to me? Is your life a pre-planned course of events, already rigged, so the speak? Then what you do or don’t do doesn’t really matter. Is your life all up to you? Then what you do or don’t do determines everything. Which is it?…

This Week The art of persuasion Ever since Aristotle, authors have offered their advice on how to persuade others. Most tell you to include objective truth, show humility, care for the other, bare your feelings, etc. Persuasion is a complicated effort. If you say only empirical evidence proves anything, how do you prove that statement? If…