A ministry of the Word
INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY There are two charges against Stephen: Speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God Speaking in Jesus’ name against the temple and the law His rivals stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes against Stephen and brought him to stand trial before the Sanhedrin. Stephen’s answer, in essence, responds …
https://soundcloud.com/david-istre/the-ministry-of-love-acts-61-15 INTRODUCTION Acts 6:1– 8:3 are an important transition in Luke’s account of the Apostles as he begins to turn from the early beginnings of the Church in Jerusalem to its maturing, growth, and spread throughout the known world. The significance of these chapters can be seen in the fact that the longest speech …
I prayed and asked God to teach me the love of Christ. He gave me an incredibly hard day, filled with physical pain and emotional discouragement, and put in my path selfish and unlovable people - I don't think I encountered a single "normal" person today. I'm going to say something that is counterintuitive: I …
Titus 3:4–5 (CSB) — 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a supernatural experience that cannot be accomplished …
This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister. This introduces us to the concept that conduct exposes certain spiritual realities, and prepares us for John’s discourse on the supreme spiritual …
Continue reading "The Children of God vs. The Children of the Devil: 1st John 3:10"
Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God. John unapologetically repeats his assertion that the nature of God is the foundation of Christian life and experience. We display the nature of …
https://soundcloud.com/david-istre/acts-5-1-42 Ananias and Sapphira Sermon on Acts 5:1-42 Introduction Acts 4:32 (CSB) — 32 Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. Attention to what authentic Christian community looks like: …
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil. John now contrasts the one who practices righteousness and is of Christ with the one who does what is sinful and …
Children, let no one deceive you. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. John’s tender affection for his readers causes him to remind them of the peril of their situation and to be on guard against those who want to lead them astray by convincing them that the …
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. This verse is the natural deduction of the previous proposition regarding Christ’s mission and sinless nature. John has already talked about God’s Word abiding in his readers (1st John 2:14) and their need …
