“The Preacher is Insignificant”

The apostle Paul is perhaps the best known among all the disciples of Christ. That likelihood is owed to the fact that it was Paul who carried the gospel “to the ends of the earth.” It was Paul who was responsible for the conversion of countless thousands of gentiles throughout the Roman world, the city-state which at the time was the dominant power in the ancient world. Yet, we have scant knowledge of Paul outside the New Testament.

The Lesson of Charlie Kirk

 

As most of you will likely be aware of by now, Charlie Kirk, a firebrand conservative commentator, was gunned down at the campus of a Utah college yesterday as of this writing. Mr. Kirk was famous for engaging college students on campuses all around the nation with his conservative message and made no secret of his faith in Christ and the fact that, ultimately, that faith and the message of the cross is what matters and what will make a difference in our society.

Whose Rights?

The other day on Capitol Hill, senator Tim Kaine was interrogating a witness during a recent Senate Foreign Committee hearing. During the question-and-answer session, Riley Barnes, whom President Trump has nominated to be assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, said that human rights are divine rights. In other words, the rights that we all agree every human possesses come, not from the government or any other earthly entity, but from the Creator.

Jesus – YHWH is Salvation

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21.

Jesus is an English version of the Latin Jesu, which is Latin for the Greek Iesu, which is Greek for the Aramaic Yeshua, which is the Aramaic for the Hebrew Yehoshua. Some people like to put a lot of emphasis on what we call our Lord and Savior, but in every case, be it in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, or English, it has only one true meaning: YHWH (Yahweh) is Salvation.

Promised first in Genesis 3:15, this is the seed of the woman that crushes that foul serpent’s head. This is the root of Jesse, David’s son yet David’s Lord. This is the long awaited Messiah, the one who comes in the name of the Lord, and conquers sin, the grave, and death, and gives the believer newness of life to the one who believes.

He saves HIS people from their sins. What is a sinner? A person who sins it at enmity with, alternatively, one who is an enemy of the Living God. Scriptures tell us, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” -Romans 5:8.

In Isaiah 53:5 it says “By His stripes we are healed.” The wound was mortal, the balm immortal. We were enemies of one whose wrath against all unrighteousness cannot be satisfied, so He, in love, sent the righteous one to fulfill the requirements of the law, the curse, sin, death, and the wrath to come.

John 14:6 is the statement of exclusivity. There is only one way to the Father, the God YHWH, and it is through the Son, the Risen Lord Jesus Christ – “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”

This is a simple truth, Grace, through Faith in Christ, is the only remedy for your separation from God. Grace is the only path to Holiness. To walk humbly with God is to lay the burden of sin on Christ, who took the cross, so that you could take the crown.

Yes, this is the Christ. Look to Him and live. Look to the cross and see your shame, look to the Christ and see your victory. Then, pick up your cross and follow Him.

What's the Harm?

Recently, President Trump signed an executive order that stipulated that all official government buildings were to fly only official flags on all their facilities. That means that only flags that have been determined by the government to be “official” can be flown at buildings such as social security facilities, state and city municipal buildings, court facilities, and such.

Living for Christ by Vox Doulos

Romans 8:12-13 (NASB1995) reads:

"So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

This past Resurrection weekend, we meditate on the glorious wonders of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, who, knowing no sin, became sin in our stead, and bore our condemnation on Himself so that in His resurrection, we also might live. He did not die because we are so valuable, as so many claim. Rather, He died because God chose to ascribe value to us in Him, in the Christ, our Lord.

Jimmy Carter: An Example of Christianity?

This past January 10^th, 2025, former President Jimmy Carter was laid to rest in Georgia. Carter was 100 years old and was the longest living president in our nation’s history. Since Carter often claimed to be a Christian, much is being said and written about his supposed faith. As it was when Billy Graham died, many have attempted to decipher whether Carter was a true Christian or not, at least at the end of his life (Graham said many things in his later years that led many to question whether his faith was biblically based). It is not my intent to speak ill of the dead but to examine what Carter believed in order to determine what a true Christian is. In that spirit then, let us look at some important aspects of Carter’s “faith.”

Sovereign Grace: The Glory of God in Salvation by Vox Doulos

28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified."