Pearls From Peace

"... Filled with glory and grace, I want to see my Savior's face, cause heaven is a wonderful place." This was a song I grew up with as a kid. I don't know how often you think about heaven, what it will look like, what we will do when we're there, who will be there, and all the other questions we've always wanted to ask God. Revelation gives us an image of what heaven looks like, a

As we celebrate the Last Sunday of the Church year, we begin going through the last book of the Bible, Revelation, as we near the end of our two-year journey reading through the Word of God. Next week starts the season of Advent and we'll think and prepare for Christ's first coming at Christmas. As we celebrate this Last Sunday of the Church year, also know as Christ the King Sunda

The Bible covers many topics. And if you were to say what the main point of the Bible is, the most important thing it contains, what would that be? Would you talk about love? That love for God, love for other people is the most important? And that if you're not loving you're actually hating? And if you hate than are you truly a believer? 1 John 4 digs into the topics of love and ha

As we read through the Word of God we see many things about Jesus. That He is light and in Him there is no darkness. That He is the light of the world who calls us to be lights in this world, shining in the darkness the light of Christ. That He is the Word, and that in the beginning was the Word. Therefore, in the beginning was Jesus. So, what does it mean for us and our faith that

Salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, and we know this through the Word alone. However, as Peter writes, there are those who will come into our world, our lives in order to lead us away from eternal life. They are the scoffers who come scoffing, tempting us to believe things about God that are contrary to His Word. On this All Saints' celebra

When we think about celebrating the Reformation, we think of the time when Martin Luther sought to bring the Church back to the truth of the Word of God. He pointed to Christ's redeeming work, and not our own good works. He pointed to how we are saved by grace through faith and not anything we can do to earn our eternal life. He pointed to how we are made right with God, justified,

Peter writes, quoting Proverbs, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." We see a practical version of this in the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector. One is proud, one is humble. One leaves justified, one does not. As we look at our own lives, do we live lives boasting in ourselves and in our works, or do we humbly boast in Christ and His work?

The Bible talks plenty about love, not as much about hospitality. We hear in 1 Peter that love covers a multitude of sins, and to show hospitality to one another. Hospitality literally means "love of a stranger." As we also remember Thanksgiving this time of the year, we give thanks for the many things that God has given us including His love. We love because He first loved us. We

Peter writes, "in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." We have a living hope because we believe in a living God, and in the world we live in people may ask us questions about our faith, and we're called to always be ready, prepared,

If you are a little older, you might be able to easily sing the lyrics of the song. Or you may think about some comedian that talked about how he got "no respect." Who is respect for? Is it earned? Is it freely given? If we use another word synonymous with respect, we might use the word honor. In a world that often lacks respect or honor, what does God's Word say about it, and how