We as Americans often like shortcuts. We like all the good stuff without all the pain that is required along the way. But hard things aren't necessarily bad things. And Peter shows us in this passage that even the hard things that we suffer in this life have a purpose as God is using them to transform us into the type of person He wishes for us to …

Christ, our Good Shepherd, understands and knows our sorrows and afflictions by His own experience. Psalm 28 shows us that He is our Rock that does not wither or fade, and we are reminded that He went down to the pit so that we would never have to. When He speaks, we may rest assured that He has spoken the truth. He surrendered Himself and died as …

We have a lot to praise the Lord for. In fact, all good theology should lead us to doxology, or else we have missed the entire point. --Among the many gifts that God has given us, we have an inheritance that is reserved for us in heaven. It is uncourruptible and undefiled, and it does not fade away. But in order to enjoy this inheritance, we must b…

Do we have a narrow view of what evangelism is-- Some of us may feel timid about sharing the Gospel message with others. But God gives is the assurance, multiple times in Scripture, that He will be with us. He's not waiting for us to muster enough strength to be a superhero. As believers, He has already given us His Holy Spirit- and through Him, we…

Once somebody becomes a disciple of Jesus and they're baptized, they need to be taught. But what is the substance of what we ought to teach-- If we aren't telling people about the Gospel of Jesus, then we're missing the point. We must tell people about Him because there's nothing in this world that's going to satisfy anyone ultimately unless they h…

Why do we baptize people-- Because Jesus commanded us to. That's the simple answer. Baptism signifies a solemn admission into the visible church - Christ's Body. And it is a sign and a seal confirming the Lord's promises to us in the covenant of grace. It's not an automatic guarantee of salvation, but it does represent the fact that our sins have b…

Jesus has given us a job to do, and it's not just to sit in a pew and keep our Christianity to ourselves. The Great Commission tells us to go and make disciples, proclaiming the good news of the Gospel message- Jesus died and rose again to save sinners- The scope of the Gospel is global- God's plan is for all the nations to praise Him and confess t…

This passage - the Great Commission - is the heart of why the Church exists. Our Commander-in-Chief, Jesus Christ, has all authority- and if we want to become a His disciple, it means we're going to have to give up the things that we may like. To be Jesus' disciple means that the absolute foundation of everything is His authority. And in this autho…