Closer to Christ

In 2009, Facebook added the “like” button. That same year, Twitter added the “retweet” feature. Interestingly, reported cases of depression began to rise sharply in 2010. It is easy to think that the more people like us, the more successful our lives must be. Likewise, it is easy to believe the more people like a church, the more successful that church is. So here is an imp

When you are trying to share some important information with someone, but they refuse to listen or perhaps totally reject what you are saying, it feels like you have failed. This is especially true when someone rejects the gospel! We proclaim the good news because we want others to know the love of Christ. When people are disinterested in God’s Word, we feel like we’ve failed.

“Who is Jesus?” For the longest time, people thought the answer to that question was, “Mary and Joseph’s son” or “a carpenter from Nazareth.” While true enough, those answers do not adequately describe Jesus. But when Jesus was baptized, God the Father spoke, declaring Jesus true identity. Jesus was the dearly loved Son of God, chosen to be the Savior of the world. �

On Christmas Eve the angel told the shepherds, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10). One wonders if those words struck those Jewish shepherds as odd. For centuries, God had given special attention to one nation—Israel. There were Jewish religious leaders who taught that only members of that special people would be saved. Not accordi

The Son of God took on flesh for two reasons: to be our substitute and our sacrifice. You see, when God created mankind in his image, his desire was that we would live holy lives, full of love for him and our fellow man. When mankind fell into sin, that became impossible. So, the heavenly Father sent Jesus. He is the only human being to keep all of God’s law perfectly. He did tha

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

“Make every effort to enter that rest.” That’s a strange sounding sentence. Effort and rest don’t usually go together. If I want rest, I don’t need effort. I just stop. Anyone can rest by stopping their effort. But the rest we are talking about today is different. It isn’t a rest that comes from inaction, it comes from work completed. The Christian life is not a life of

The original readers of the book of Hebrews were being tempted to let go of Christianity and go back to Judaism. To them, in their culture, following Moses felt like an upgrade compared to following Jesus. But that would be a downgrade! Jesus is best and far superior to Moses. Following Moses didn’t guarantee entrance to the promised land, and those who follow Jesus have the cert

Jesus is the Son of God, the ultimate messenger. But if he was only going to be a messenger, he didn’t need to become human. He could have thundered from a mountaintop or blazed from a burning bush. But thundering voices don’t suffer, and burning bushes don’t die. If Jesus only wanted to be a messenger, power would have been enough. But Jesus wanted to do more. He wanted to b