Salvation is the most important word on our list. Yes, there is the physical element to the word which indicates “salvation” from physical harm or danger, but in the overwhelming majority of cases, it means “salvation” from both the penalty and power of sin, and in heaven, from the very

Sanctification is an important word found throughout the New Testament. The Greek word translated as “sanctification” or “sanctify” is hagios, and it means “to be, or to be made, holy,” with the additional idea of being “set apart for divine purposes.” If you recall, “justification” (a word that we considered

As we saw in last week’s blog, it is sin that causes us to be alienated from God, but when Jesus forgives our sins, we are immediately reconciled to God. We also saw that reconciliation is such an important word in the biblical text that its message is part of

Reconciliation is a common word that I suspect we have all used at one time or another. Most of the time we use it to describe two individuals who have been in conflict, only to see that conflict dissolve because they have reconciled. In short, they have “made peace” with

The Bible uses several terms to identify a person’s new position in Christ, and one of them is “justification.” It’s a legal term used to describe the position of the person who has received from Jesus the gift of “LIFE.” This person is said to have been “justified,” or brought

Redemption is the process whereby a person who has been held in bondage is set free. There is always a price to pay for the person’s release, and that is called a “ransom.” Interestingly, the ransom is never paid by the one who is being held captive. It’s almost always

Yes, there really is a difference between merely “existing” and actually “living.” All of us born on planet earth not only “exists,” but we are also considered to be “living,” breathing human beings. But it was Jesus Himself who drew the distinction between “existing” and “living.” You see, everyone is

OK – I get it! It’s a lot easier to talk about bearing fruit than actually doing it. Jesus knew that fruit bearing was a difficult undertaking, and so He provided His disciples with a blueprint for doing so. He did this by using the illustration of a grape vine

Jesus always encouraged his hearers to live their lives bearing the kind of fruit that would bring glory to God and blessings to others. On one occasion, He told the story of a man (God) who planted a fig tree in his vineyard, but never found any figs on it.

Let’s face it – There have been times when we have simply been exhausted: Exhausted after an 8-hour shift of doing hard physical labor; Exhausted after a full day of watching over and caring for rambunctious toddlers; Exhausted after walking off the field after a grueling and intense competition; Exhausted