The Tulip Driven Life

By: Sean Rice Aside from  Matthew 7.1 , which says "judge not, that you be not judged,"  John 3.16  is the most well-known Bible verse in the world. This verse is on plaques. This verse is on T- shirts. Max Lucado even wrote an entire book on this verse called  3:16: The Numbers of Hope , which came on the scene with a whole multitude of related products, church music, CDs featuring top Christian music artists, and "ancillary publishing products," according to the Amazon.com website for the book (link above). This short quote completely overshadows the rest of the context in which it is found. The full verse is as follows: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in  him  should not perish but have eternal life." John 3.16   OUT OF CONTEXT This quote just feels sort of warm and cuddly, doesn't it? God loves us, and we're going to have eternal life! And both of these things are true. Still,...

By: Nathan Fox Colossians 1:9-12 God’s Will- Specific or Not The topic of God’s will is one that is spoken about often, but very rarely addressed on a specific level. The answer for that is this: God has a specific will for your life that no blogger (like myself) could tell you about. I am not going to try to tell you EXACTLY what God’s will is in this blog, but hopefully by the end of reading this you will see some traits and habits that we can extract from Scripture that certainly line up in the will of God. My hope is that after reading this what we have covered will at the very least urge you to understand that knowing God’s will is not attainable for humans on a specific level (in terms of where to live, what food to eat, etc.), but it is accessible on a general level through His Word. We would always be wise to turn there first to understand somewhat what God’s will for our life is. God’s Will Defined by Paul The first thing (and ultimately the thing upo...

By: Thomas Clayton Booher Part 1:  read here Part 2:  read here Part 3:  read here Ephesians 1:18 ....that you may know what is the hope of his calling.... Paul’s first encounter with city of Ephesus is recorded in Acts 18. The events that occurred early in the chapter have a direct bearing on that first visit and more prominently with the letter he later wrote to the Ephesians some time between A.D. 61-63 while a prisoner at Rome under house arrest (Acts 28:16-31:Eph 3:1; 4:1; 6:20). Paul had met a Jew named Aquila in Corinth . Both were tentmakers so Paul stayed with him and his wife (Priscilla) and worked. As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, and using the scriptures, he explained in a cogent, clear, and coherent manner the person and work of Christ. It was effective because he persuaded both Jews and Greeks (Acts 18:1-5). However, there was opposition, in particular from Jews who ‘blasphemed.’ The nature o...