It is no surprise that much of Scripture is foreign to us. The most recent part of the Bible is over 1,900 years old and was written in a language most of us don’t know and was written to people living in cultures very different from ours, people with a very distinct perspective on the…

In the ancient Roman world letter writing was quite common. People traveled much more than we generally think, though travel was by foot or by boat and, perhaps, by horseback. Travel was much slower than today, yet it was quite common. This made letter writing much more feasible as merchants traveled all over and would…

In last Sunday’s sermon we saw how God’s real mission and method in the conquest of Jericho is still his mission and method today. While we do not go around declaring cities to be “devoted to destruction” and burning them down after the people flee elsewhere, we saw that God’s real mission was the salvation…

We all know the Great Commission. Jesus instructed the apostles—and therefore he instructed us—to make disciples by baptizing new believers and by teaching them to obey his commandments. This process is often referred to as discipleship—making disciples. Our mission is not simply to get converts, but to form mature followers of Jesus. This requires that…

The book of Daniel is an intriguing book. Many know it because of the first half of the book. That’s where we read about Nebuchadnezzar’s dream that only Daniel could interpret. That’s where we read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace and God protecting them in the midst of the…