Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are known as “the prison epistles” because they were written from prison (either Caesarea or Rome, Acts 24-26 or 28). Ephesians is known as “the queen of the prison epistles.” It was written by Paul as a circular letter, meant to be read and distributed among churches in the Asia […]
Suffering is caused by a variety of things, including our poor choices, the poor choices of others, and creation being out of sorts with its Creator. Ultimately all suffering is caused by the devil (Genesis 3) and overseen by a loving heavenly Father (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). All of this is why believers need to trust […]
As part of a larger poem, William Ross Wallace wrote, “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.” A fitting tribute to mothers. But what about the God who rocks the whole world? Can we trust our souls to him? And speaking of “rocks” (a different nuance), our text today […]
Jesus’ care for women was tender and counter-cultural. His “heart was touched by their grief” (Matthew 8:14-17; 15:21-28; 26:6-13; Mark 5:21-24, 35-43; 12:41-44; Luke 7:36-50; 8:1-3; John 4:7-45; 7:53-8:11; 20:1, 2, 11-18). That is certainly evident in our text today with Jesus’ encounter with the woman who in life of Christ studies is referred to […]
If Jesus can conquer death (last week’s lesson) then he can certainly calm a storm. And not just figurative, metaphoric, or spiritual storms, but real, physical, honest-to-goodness storms. When sin entered the world creation experienced a separation from its creator (Genesis 3:17b-19; Romans 8:22). The coming of Jesus into the world began the process of […]
