Every time someone is baptized, every time bread is broken and wine poured, every time a sinner hears, “Your sins are forgiven in Christ,” Pentecost happens again.
They were still praying, trusting, and hoping. Why? Because they knew who was with them and who was for them: the risen Christ.
So Christ is risen, but what now?

All Articles

In the end, my only hope is that Jesus is always the initiator of mercy. He pursues me, even when I am unfaithful.
I love the liturgy of my church, and ache for its full return. When all the world is changing, and everything is disrupted, what comes to mind is what is unchanging: the grace of God.
Every time the Scriptures are opened, we are repeating this scene. Every time the gospel is preached, we are replicating a moment wherein the faithless ones are greeted by their faithful Lord.
In this season of a global pandemic, Peter’s little letter is especially potent as he writes to sustain the hope born of Christ’s resurrection in scattered believers whose lives were marked by suffering.
It is interesting to note how there is no mention of strife, trouble, pain, suffering or sin in this particular psalm. Nothing but praise as the name of the LORD is exalted.
Nor can we see how God’s hand will guide us through every challenge of this life, we have to believe it. Afterwards, we see how it happened, but in the midst of challenges and trials, we walk by faith and not by sight.
Our text begins with their answer to why they are doing this when they were strictly charged to cease their actions. The answer? “We must obey God rather than men.”
So let’s go to dark Gethsemane. For there we see that even in his greatest moment of weakness, Jesus is our only source of strength. He drinks the cup of wrath so we can drink the cup of grace.
This is how the God of Abraham has become our God, too. This is how God has fulfilled His promise to Abraham and His promise to us: by breaking open His own body and shedding His own blood.
By the blood of the Lamb God's people are given salvation and comfort. We're rescued from hopelessness.
This is no isolated or obscure fragment of New Testament writing. Contained within Paul’s correspondence to Philemon is one of the most striking portraits of the gospel ever recorded.
Christianity is about forgiveness for the sake of Christ. Yet often, we who have been forgiven much are sitting around expecting much from others.