Have you ever experienced a déjà vu moment? That’s the strange feeling that you get when you’re in a situation that feels like you’ve been in the exact same situation before. In John 21, we see several of these kinds of moments. Did you recognize them when you were reading this passage? If not, take…
John now shows us the great sign to which his gospel has been pointing – the cross of Christ. He has carefully selected seven statements and seven signs to answer the question, “Who is Jesus and how can I be certain that his claims are true?” These statements each begin with the declaration “I am”:…
In his Upper Room dialogue with his disciples, Jesus mentioned several times the special Helper he would send from the Father to assist them. The disciples were devastated by his announcement he was soon going away and they would see him no more. But then he astounded them with his announcement it was “to their…
Jesus words in John 14, “Do not let your heart be troubled…” have brought great comfort to Christians through the ages. But there is a good reason Jesus told his disciples this. Sitting in that upper room, there was a lot to be troubled by. The crescendo of opposition against Jesus from the religious leaders was growing…
For all of the trivia buffs out there, what is the shortest verse in the Bible? If you answered John 11:35, “Jesus wept”, you are mostly correct. That is the shortest verse in the King James Version but it is actually the 3rd shortest in the original Greek language. What’s the point you might ask.…
In John 9, we have the account of Jesus healing a man who had been born blind. This is the only miracle in the gospels where the sufferer is spoken of as being disabled from birth. The chapter falls out nicely into three parts. First, is the account of the healing itself (9:1-7), then there…
“When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself” (John 6:15) In the sixth chapter of John, we have John’s account of one of the most stupendous miracles of Jesus’ ministry; the feeding of the five thousand. It…
Jesus was doing things all wrong: He left a fruitful and popular ministry in Judea and went where most Jews would not go: Samaria. He spoke to the wrong person (a woman) and He did it in the wrong place (in public). But in reality, Jesus was doing all the right things. He obeyed the…
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:21) A trip to India will cause you to reassess things in your life. On my recent trip, it was very difficult to acclimate to the spiritual, cultural and literal climate. But undoubtedly the most unexpected aspect about the culture is that blatant, daily and literal idolatry…
… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith… Hebrews 12:1 The cloud that shrouded the tower was slowly drifting away, and the view that unveiled before us was stunning. Melissa and I had spent most of the day on a long and demanding hike up the heights of the El…