The other means of grace highlight our union with Christ too. Think of the Lord’s Supper. There, Paul tells us that when we drink the cup at the Lord’s table, we participate in the blood of Christ. And the bread that we break—it is a participation in the body of…

Another time in the New Testament that we read this phrase “great joy” is in what the angels say to the shepherds. And interestingly, it’s also said in the context of fear. “Do not be afraid,” the angel says to the shepherds, “I bring you good news that will cause…

The book of Proverbs speaks of the fear of man, which lays a snare, which is counterpoised with trusting in the Lord being safe (Proverbs 29:25). The Lord Jesus rebuked His disciples for their fear when they feared for their lives in the storm: “Why are you afraid? O you…

As Matthew covers things, there’s been a plot against the Lord Jesus—this being a betrayal of the Lord Jesus. He’s eating a last meal with his disciples, and yet they’ve denied him, deserted him, and abandoned him. He has become overwhelmed with sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane. He’s been…

Take Genesis 22, for example. If I hear this in the ‘it’s all about you’ kind of way— “Abraham was asked to give up Isaac, and if I approach that reading thinking,  Genesis 22 is about what God is asking me to give up, just like he asked Abraham to…

Look at verse 4. Another amazing thing about them is that they risked their lives for Paul. ‘And not only I,’ Paul says, ‘but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.’ They also risked their lives for Paul and the churches. We don’t know exactly what Paul is…

If you are part of God’s church, then Jesus promises that no one can snatch you from his hand: ‘My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.’ (John 10:29). ‘If you confess with…

That truth should work itself out in our theology. It needs to shape how we apply every bit of theology we learn. If you are ever learning doctrine, and it doesn’t work itself out in your life or change the way you live, then you’re not doing doctrine properly—you’ve not…

Because that’s why the Son of Man bled on the eighth day, to prepare us for the fact that he would bleed and die for the sins of his people, and then rise again on the eighth day, beginning the new creation future. These are the themes that Paul ties…