Biblical Insight Today

They threw the apostles in jail— and the prisoners rejoiced in the Lord. That single fact should stop us in our tracks. Not just survive prison, but rejoice in it. Not grumble, not despair, but overflow with joy in the darkest possible circumstances. Jesus had already prepared His followers for this kind of supernatural joy. On the night before His crucifixion, He told them: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11) Notice the beautiful double promise. Jesus doesn’t merely offer us joy—He offers His  joy. It is His joy flowing into us. And He doesn’t promise a trickle or a temporary high. He promises that our joy can be full . From Resurrection Joy to Fullness The disciples tasted real joy when they saw the risen Christ. The Gospels tell us they were filled with “great joy.” But that wasn’t the end of the story. It was at Pentecost—when the Holy Spirit was poured out—that they experienced the fullness Jesus had pro...

In John 3:16 (ESV) Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” It is only one sentence. And that sentence contains only twenty-four words. Yet that one sentence is packed with so much truth that we literally will not have time to fully unpack its contents, but I will try. From this one verse we can find at least seven truths (probably more) about the love of God. Let’s look at them now. 1. THE LOVE OF GOD IS UNCONDITIONAL.   For God so loved the world The Greek word for world (kosmos) is defined as “the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ.” This is the world that God loved. It doesn’t say that God loved all the good guys. Or that God loved all the Jews. Or that God love all the saints. It says, “For God so loved the world.” That God should love the world only heightens the mystery of this love. Were we t...

God made prophets, priest and kings. God made Abraham a Father of many nations. He made Moses a deliverer, Levi a priest, David a King, Solomon the wisest man in the world and Jeremiah a prophet. The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” God made Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Apostles. He made John a Seer who wrote everything he saw in the book of Revelation. He made Paul a “letter-writer” to the churches. He said, “It was [God] who gave some to be...evangelist, some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ is built up.” This verse has our names all over it. What Pastors do for Christ and the church is no accident or fluke. Paul wrote, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to [be set apart].” (Eph. 1:4) The LORD does not call pastors to be shepherds of His flocks and...