Michael Jakes

On the surface, and taken on its own, this verse seems to be a simple statement letting us know that if one denies or rejects Christ, they are at the same time rejecting God — which is absolutely true — but it is so much more than that.

When we see Joseph, he seems to be but a minor player in the grand story of the birth and early childhood of Christ. But this is most definitely not the case. To be sure, the man to whom the God of the universe would entrust the raising of His only begotten Son on this earth would have to be a man with impeccable spiritual qualities.

What staggers the mind and serves to add to the awesomeness of it all is how God has assembled and preserved His Word. Written over a period of approximately 1500-1600 years by 40 different authors from three different continents, and from various levels of society, the Bible is a unified masterpiece. 

We must never allow ingratitude to be named among us because Christians, more than anyone, have so much to be thankful for. Above all the things that we can be thankful for, we are to be most thankful for this great salvation that we have been given, in all of its powerful aspects.

Satan himself has a very “colorful” history, and many are surprised to find out that Satan, as we know him, was not always Satan. Once upon a time, in the dateless past, Satan was known as Lucifer. Why was he called Lucifer, and why was his name changed?

In the Bible, numbers play an even more important role in that they communicate. They symbolically represent essential concepts which help us to better understand the workings of God throughout biblical history. The fact is that numbers that are repeated are not accidental, but intentional; they reveal important truths that we need to be aware of.

At the very heart of the book of Romans are the great doctrines of justification and sanctification; together, they form the core of the gospel, and Paul is careful to distinguish between the two.

Without a doubt the Holy Spirit has been the most misunderstood member of the Triune Godhead. Throughout the centuries, the Holy Spirit’s ministry, nature, and even deity has been questioned and speculated over. Theologians and commentators the world over, from every denomination, have written volumes of books declaring who the Holy Spirit is and trying to ascertain His moving and operations within the body of Christ. They each seek to explore the various intricacies of this, at times complex, but ultimately most inspiring of subjects. Yet, because our knowledge is incomplete, so will be our explanations, because God has chosen to keep some things to Himself. We read:

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

This should not grieve us or cause us to feel that God is somehow holding out on us (after all He is God Almighty), but rather it should give us a hope and an expectation, knowing that the God we serve is even more powerful than we can anticipate knowing in this life. What we can know of the Spirit, and can be sure of, fills us with awe, and we are thus empowered. However, there are some aspects about the Holy Spirit that, if we get them wrong, can send not just our theology, but even our spiritual life out of control. Here we cite four things to avoid getting wrong about the Holy Spirit.

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This gathering will culminate with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, for it is at Armageddon that the short and diabolical reign of the Antichrist, who deceived the nations, will come to an abrupt and fiery end.

Christ in essence is saying here, that not only are we to be people who mean what we say, we are also to be people who keep what we say. If we have to resort to an oath to uphold or reinforce our words, what does that say about us?

While it is true that we are presently living in the last days, the beginning of the last days goes much further back. Christians living through the first and second world wars no doubt thought they were living in the last days. Each generation of Christians down through the millennia who knew the Word of God concerning these things have wondered if they would see the return of the Lord, or else the end of the world.

In the simplest terms, salvation is the deliverance of one from impending danger. As stated, this salvation is prompted by His love, but it is given to us by grace. We read from the book of Ephesians: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The church, as it is, in spite of differences, is the most powerful organism in the universe. We are the body of Christ! His church grows and expands through the power of the gospel.