Pamela Palmer

An important part of Paul’s ministry was to keep in touch with Christians and churches, to encourage them in their faith and to help them avoid heresy or get persuaded to believe anything other than the true Gospel message that was preached to them. He did this by visiting and writing letters.

Saul did not believe the Good News that Jesus had been the long-awaited Messiah, and therefore, viewed Christians as deceitful and a threat to Judaism. Saul’s rejection of Jesus as the Messiah led him to believe that he needed to persecute the followers of Jesus to stop the spread of the Gospel.

Baptism is an important event in the life of the believer. It signifies rebirth into one's faith and a commitment to the Lord. But Jesus lived a perfect sinless life, and is one part of the Trinity. So why did he ask to be baptized? Did Jesus really need to commit this act? 

We must do everything in love because it is an act of obedience to God, keeps our motives right, and guides us to be more like Jesus.

This moment is incredibly important because the Israelites have finally entered the land promised to them by God and they go on to successfully conquer the first city along their journey. The fallen walls of Jericho became a key affirmation that God was fulfilling His promise to them, and that God would be with them as they took possession of the Promised Land.

Jesus offered wise and beneficial teachings about judging others when He walked this earth. From Scripture we learn that we are not to judge others based on appearances or to cause quarrels within the body of Christ. Judging others by anything other than God’s word is wrong and is behavior that we should avoid. Yet believers can and should judge sinfulness from righteousness. Jesus instructed His followers to judge correctly.

“Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly” (John 7:24).

Only God can see the whole picture and truly know the heart, motive, and intent of a person, however, believers can judge situations and actions by God’s word so that we know sin from righteousness, truth from deceit, and believers from false teachers. To judge by appearances is sin, but to judge correctly is what Jesus taught.

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The powerful message of this verse means that Jesus, who lives in each believer, is more powerful than the enemy who is in the world. What an amazing guarantee that God is greater than anything followers of Jesus will endure or face in the world!

Scripture places the Sadducees at immense odds with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Sadducees were Jewish, religious, wealthy, and held power. Many were high priests or noblemen. It is likely that along with the Pharisees and elders they plotted to have Jesus arrested and sentenced to death.

The life of Ishmael is tragic and confusing in some ways, but we find that God took care of Ishmael and his mother, Hagar. In Ishmael’s life, we see evidence of a loving God who is faithful and good.

It was a highly significant blessing given from God then, and it is still an imperative blessing today. We can continue using this as a blessing for all God’s beloved followers. The entire blessing demonstrates the great love that God has for his children and his desire for us to have goodness and peace in our hearts and lives.