As we read the gospel of Matthew, we notice that the atoning work of Jesus is bookended by providential dreams: five at the beginning of his life, and one at the end. The phrase κατ᾽ ὄναρ [in a dream] occurs in Matthew 1:20, 2:12, 2:13, 2:19, 2:22, and 27:19. In the first dream, the miracle…
Recently my friend Shaun asked me a question about the meaning of a couple of Greek words---and his question was such a good one that I decided to answer it with a blog post. Here's what Shaun texted me: μετανοέω [metanoeō] means, repent, or turn around. The same word used in Acts 2:38 is used…
This is a guest article by my good friend Josh Roman. We attended the same church for many years and he is a student of the word! Hopefully I can convince him to do more of these in the future. Thanks Josh! One of the scariest revelations I’ve ever come to understand is this: I can…
Recently my friend Peyton Gurley read my article There Is No Such Thing As A Music Minister. Apparently it didn’t set too well with my friend, because he wrote a review of it on his own blog. Even before I saw Peyton’s response I had been studying this issue in greater depth, and had come…
2019 is behind us now, and we are already half-way through January. The new year has begun (but sorry y'all, the new decade doesn't start until 2021)! At the end of an old year, we tend to make resolutions for the new one---we want to learn an instrument, learn a language, read more books, or…
Another guest post by my wife Cheyanne. As usual, she has some awesome spiritual insights about what most of us wouldn't stop to meditate about! In the process of writing what became last week’s post I got curious about how trees are transplanted and pruned. So I went to faithful Elder Google and asked him a…
This article was a guest-post written by my wife Cheyanne. She looks at the world through spiritual eyes, finding life-lessons in what most of us overlook as ordinary. This post was inspired by our marriage, when she left her home and church in Florida and moved to the Midwest to be my wife. Be sure to…
Even before the crucifixion, there came a point in Jesus' ministry when the Jewish religious officials were desperate to have him out of the way. During the feast of tabernacles the chief priests and Pharisees sent the officers of the temple guard to watch Jesus, and take him into custody at the first valid opportunity.…
The other day I was reading my Greek Old Testament (LXX) and I noticed an a similarity that I had never seen before. As we shall see in a moment, the way that the LXX describes the creation of the world in Genesis is strikingly similar to the way that Luke describes Jesus' ministry in…
We naturally tend to think of our life as a story; we especially do this as Christians, because the Bible tells us that Jesus is "the author of eternal salvation" (Heb5:9). When we examine our life, we can find assurance by "looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy…
