Teaching
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When God Covers Every Base: The Field of Blood and the Lineage of Jesus
One of the most remarkable things about studying Scripture is seeing how individual details that may initially seem disconnected come together to form a much larger picture. The Bible does not always give every detail of an event in one place. Matthew may emphasize one aspect while Luke emphasizes another, and when those accounts are…
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Matthew 18:15–20: Church Discipline, Not a Cover for Sin
Matthew 18:15–20 (ESV) 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence…
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Living Under God’s Care: How Psalm 34 Applies to Christians Today
Do the promises of Psalm 34 belong to Christians today? Yes — but with an important distinction between the general principle the psalm teaches and its ultimate, specific fulfillment in Christ. Getting this distinction right is the difference between reading the Psalms well and reading them mechanically. Psalm 34 Is Wisdom Literature Before applying any…
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Teaching vs. Preaching: Why the Difference Actually Matters
Let’s start with Jesus. When Jesus showed up doing his healing ministry, he wasn’t just being nice. He was checking boxes. The Old Testament prophets had said the Messiah would come and do very specific things: the lame would walk, the mute would speak, the blind would see, the dead would be raised. That was…
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Did Jesus Not Know?
What Mark 13:32 Is Really Telling Us One of the most discussed verses about the identity of Christ — and why it points toward the miracle of the Incarnation, not away from it. “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the…
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Why Our Prayers Go Unanswered: A Deep Dive into 7 Reasons
1. We Have Little or No Faith Faith is the very foundation of prayer. Without it, prayer becomes little more than wishful thinking spoken into the air. Jesus was extraordinarily direct about this connection — in Matthew 21:22 He said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” The operative word…
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By Their Fruit You Will Know Them: A Study of Luke 6:43–45 and Matthew 7:15–23
Luke 6:43–45 43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an…
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The Rejected Cornerstone: God’s Sovereign Plan Through Christ
Mark 12:1–12 “And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. 2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants…
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Godly Sorrow: The Pathway to Repentance, Restoration, and Life
The Christian life is marked not by sinless perfection but by continual repentance. Throughout Scripture, God calls His people to recognize their sin, grieve over it rightly, turn from it, and return to Him. This grief is not an end in itself. It is designed by God to produce transformation. The apostle Paul summarizes this…
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Preaching vs Teaching: Proclaiming and Instructing God’s Word
As we labor to proclaim the full counsel of God, it is important to recognize the distinction between preaching and teaching. These are two ministries of the Word that serve different but complementary purposes. Preaching is often associated with exhortation, calling people to repentance, faith, and action. The Greek word most commonly used for this…