Christianity was originally never understood as a set of teachings that one took on. Christianity was a power that took you up. It completely turned you inside out, transformed you from the inside. The classic example is the conversion of Paul

Converted by the Cross

3 days ago 41m 31s

Conversion is a radical change of life. And in its early days, Christianity grew through conversions. It spread so rapidly that it changed a hostile society completely.What does it mean to become a Christian? By looking at the conversions in A

A Woman, a Slave and a Gentile

5 days ago 44m 9s

Christianity was born into a culture that was every bit as resistant and unsympathetic to its claims as ours is. So how did its message come into the lives of people and actually change them? In Acts, we have more case studies of conversion th

Stay With the Ship

8 days ago 42m 56s

The biggest problem people have in believing in God is probably the problem of evil and suffering. In the Greek imagination, the voyage was a metaphor for your life’s journey, and a storm was a metaphor for the evil and suffering and tragedies

No Other Name

10 days ago 42m 33s

Christianity was born into a society hostile to its claims. And the claim that was most revolting to that society is also what our society sees as the most repugnant: the shocking claim that salvation is found in no one else.It’s critical to r

To an Unknown God

12 days ago 45m 10s

The culture in which Christianity was born was every bit as skeptical of the claims of Christianity as ours is. But the case for Christianity was made so strongly that skeptical people believed in numbers so great that it changed the entire Rom

Many Convincing Proofs

15 days ago 42m 3s

It’s a simple fact that in the Greco-Roman world, the claims of Christianity were found every bit as implausible, if not more, than people find them now. So why did so many people believe? Fortunately, we have a case study in Theophilus. How d

The Meaning of the City

17 days ago 41m 6s

When the Jewish exiles got to Babylon, they found a huge city—hostile, big, brutal—and it was filled with other exiles, with different people groups and radically different views. Our culture is not so different.Liberals feel our country is so

The Longing for Home

19 days ago 40m

We’re not at home. We live in a world that doesn’t sustain or support the deepest needs of our hearts.Martin Heidegger (a fascist sympathizer) and Karl Marx (the father of Communism) were very different, prominent thinkers; yet, they both agre

The Freedom of True Love

22 days ago 47m 19s

In a culture where people really don’t know who they are and what life’s about—in a fragmented culture like ours—the fastest way to still feel good about ourselves is romance. It’s the ultimate philosophical narcotic. “I don’t know what life i

The Sickness Unto Death

24 days ago 43m 30s

In a fragmented culture like ours, identity formation is a challenge. We decide our own goals and standards, and we get our sense of worth from whether we can achieve them.Jeremiah shows us that there’s something profoundly disordered and sick

The Necessity of Belief

26 days ago 44m 13s

We live in a fragmented culture. There’s no consensus about the big questions of what’s right and wrong and true. Jeremiah is a prophet in this same situation—he lived and wrote in a fragmented culture. One of the challenges of a fragmented cu

Gifts of the Risen Lord (Easter)

29 days ago 38m 28s

Jesus Christ says not just “I was resurrected,” but “I am the resurrection.” Present tense. He comes after his resurrection with his arms full of newness. I don’t know why we get into gift-giving at Christmas—I think we ought to be getting int

Doubt, Joy and Power (Easter)

1 month ago 35m 46s

We’ve been looking at the life of Jesus and we come now to the risen Jesus.At the end of the gospel of Luke, the risen Jesus does four things that change the lives of his disciples forever. And because he’s the risen Jesus, he can do the very

The Hour of Darkness

Mar 25th, 2024 45m 55s

The night Jesus was betrayed has a theme: darkness, night. Right in the middle of the passage, Jesus makes an odd statement: “But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.” What that must mean is the physical darkness is a representation of somet

The Upper Room

Mar 22nd, 2024 45m 22s

One of the great questions of history is, “Why in the world did the early Christians adopt the cross as their main symbol?” All the other founders of the great religions died old and successful. In absolute contrast, you have Jesus, who dies a

The Robbers’ House

Mar 20th, 2024 43m 48s

The last week of Jesus’ life addresses not just our minds or our wills, but our hearts. We are to see Jesus, to meet Jesus. As Luke shows us the last days of Jesus’ life, all the doctrines and themes will be narratively depicted in the most vi

Good News to the Poor

Mar 18th, 2024 35m 6s

If you ask the question, “Why should a believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ be passionately involved with the poor?” this text gives you the answers. Isaiah 61 is the last of the Servant songs, a prophecy about the Servant of the Lord. And J

To Revive the Spirit of the Lowly

Mar 15th, 2024 35m 9s

This is a text of realism. There are many promises in the Bible about the great blessings Jesus’ salvation brings. In Isaiah 57, we have a reminder that we still live in a world filled with tragedy, difficulty, and suffering. The salvation we

An Everlasting Name

Mar 13th, 2024 41m 13s

For some, when they hear that salvation is absolutely free, their first response is to say, “If I really believed that, then I wouldn’t have any incentive to live a good life.” To that, I would say, “If, when you lose all fear of being smacked

The Maker Is Your Husband

Mar 11th, 2024 40m 19s

There are two pictures of two different women in Isaiah 54. And they teach us something miraculous.These last chapters of Isaiah are about a figure called the Servant of the Lord who is going to bring God’s salvation to the world. The New Test

Pierced For Our Transgressions

Mar 8th, 2024 38m 43s

Isaiah 52 is the best chapter in the whole Bible to explain what happened on the cross. We know that because the New Testament writers were constantly referring back to it. It was the basis for their understanding of what happened on the cross.

The Mocking and the Spitting

Mar 6th, 2024 35m 40s

What did Jesus come into the world to do? In the final chapters of Isaiah, a mysterious figure called the Servant of the Lord is prophesied. This figure is going to come into the world and bring God’s salvation. And the New Testament writers i

Can a Mother Forget?

Mar 4th, 2024 38m 18s

Isaiah 49 gives a sweeping, panoramic view of God’s salvation. But immediately following that promise, there’s a fascinating skeptical response.This is the second of the Servant songs, a prophecy about the Servant of the Lord, who the New Test

A Bruised Reed He Will Not Break

Mar 1st, 2024 42m 12s

Isaiah prophesies about a mysterious figure called the Servant of the Lord. In the New Testament, the writers identify the Servant of the Lord with Jesus Christ. These prophecies tell us some things about Jesus, about his work, about what he b