What Does A Life In Love With Jesus Look Like?
On May 24th, Liz and I will have been married forty-two years. In some ways, it seems like we just met in 1979 in San Diego, dated, got engaged, and married in May of 1980, about three weeks after I graduated from Azusa Pacific University. Wow. How quickly does time pass. One minute you are […]
How Do You Develop An Energized, Intimate Relationship With Jesus?
After a brief hiatus in studying First John because of our series for the Easter season, today we dig back into this helpful and challenging book. You will recall that a ninety-something-year-old John wrote to churches he had probably founded in Asia Minor or was at least intimately associated with. His letter is as personal […]
Mother’s Day 2022
What does a model mother look like according to the Lord? Paul gives us an excellent description in the comments he makes in his second letter to his young convert and pastoral mentee, Timothy. His observations are worth considering this Mother’s Day. By measuring yourself against this holy standard, you can get a good idea […]
Resurrection Road | Easter Sunday 2022
Every time Christ appeared to people after His brutal death by means of Roman crucifixion, He had one thing in mind: to assure His followers He had, in fact, risen from the grave. Many times during His eventful ministry He had prophesied as such: 22 When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, […]
Good Friday 2022
How does a person born with a sinful nature secure a relationship with God who is absolutely holy? You offer a divinely ordered substitutionary sacrifice to appease God’s wrath against your sin and cover and cleanse your evil in His holy presence. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus, God gave Israel four specific blood […]
Isaiah 53:1-9: Salvation Is Grounded On The Servant’s Degradation And Exaltation
Seven times Jewish Christian writers of the New Testament directly identify Jesus as the fulfillment of the role of the suffering Servant/Savior as prophesied with great specificity in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Isaiah New Testament 52:15 (LXX) Romans 15:21 53:1 (LXX) John 12:38 53:1 Romans 10:16 53:4 Matthew 8:17 53:7-8 (LXX) Acts 8:32-33 53:9 1 Peter 2:22 […]
Isaiah 52:13-15: The Mystery of the Servant Jesus
If you are on a journey to discover who Jesus really is because all the other belief systems you’ve pursued have proved wanting, and all of the life endeavors you’ve poured your life into have left you empty, I’m here to tell you it is interesting how the living, true God orchestrates events in your […]
1 John 1:5-10
How do you build a marriage which invigorating and exciting, one full of joy, peace, and ever-increasing intimacy? First, let me tell you how not to do it. Dr. Emerson Eggerichs wrote the book Love & Respect. In the first part of his analysis of what makes great marriages, he dives deep into the following […]
1 John 1:1-4 | The Facts of Fellowship
Join Dr. Marty Baker as we dive into the first four verses of First John to explore The Facts of Fellowship and how the truth of Jesus impacts our human and divine relationships. Two former Christian Scientists, and I do speak of the cult, not the discipline, joined my church plant early on in California […]
1 John: Light & Life – Introduction
Looking back at the New Testament churches, we can falsely assume those were the good old days. Brave saints traveled throughout the known world preaching the gospel, and people from all nationalities and all walks of life came to know the Savior. To study the birth and growth of the Church in Acts is to […]
Psalm 147 – Part 2
On one fishing excursion along the northern shore of Califonia just north of the Bay Bridge, we stayed out a little too late attempting to catch our limit of striped bass. Darkness descened quickly as we headed for the opening of the bay. A thick, gray marine layer dropped lower and lower as well, making […]
Psalm 147 – Part 1
Wikipedia, which is helpful for quick information on most topics, has this to say about pulsating stars: Variable stars may be either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic variable stars: stars where the variability is being caused by changes in the physical properties of the stars themselves. This category can be divided into three subgroups. Pulsating variables, stars whose radius […]