Tagged: message of the day

“He humbled Himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross! Because of this, God highly exalted Him.” –Philippians 2:8-9 John’s Gospel particularly highlights the exaltation of the cross of Jesus. John proclaims that the cross is: the throne from which King Jesus inaugurates His victorious Kingdom. On the cross, Jesus is publicly, officially, and universally proclaimed as King, in no less than three languages (Jn 19:19-22), a place of healing (Jn 3:14), the catalyst for faith leading to eternal life (Jn 3:15), where we finally recognize that Jesus is God (Jn 8:28), the place where Jesus draws all to...

“He began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer much, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, be put to death, and rise three days later. He said these things quite openly.” –Mark 8:31-32 Jesus is very open about the fact that we will have to suffer and bear our “share of the hardship which the gospel entails” (2 Tm 1:8). He bluntly states that we who follow Him must deny ourselves and take up the cross (Mk 8:34). Suffering is the way of salvation, necessary for the completion of God’s plan...

“You can depend on this as worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” –1 Timothy 1:15 Paul was the worst sinner in the world (1 Tm 1:15), “an extreme case” (1 Tm 1:16). He was “a blasphemer, a persecutor, a man filled with arrogance” (1 Tm 1:13). Paul is “an example to those who would later have faith” in Jesus (1 Tm 1:16). Because the Lord changed Paul, He can change anybody – even your spouse, child, boss, enemy – even you! No matter how many abortions have been committed, how many children...