To Abide

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Lord, may Your words abide in me (John 15:7, 10).

These words from our Lord should serve as a wake-up call to every professing Christian. There are many today who have an abstract belief in Christ. By that I mean they assume it is possible to affirm certain truths about Jesus while remaining largely unaffected by His authority. Christ becomes someone to admire rather than someone to obey. Faith is reduced to intellectual agreement or an emotional experience instead of a life of faithful submission.

Jesus leaves no room for such a distinction. In these verses, He presents obedience as the natural expression of genuine faith. He says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you…” (v. 7), and then explains in verse 10, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.” He is not describing two different kinds of Christians but the essential character of every true disciple.

To say that Christ’s words abide in us means far more than simply knowing Scripture. Many people can quote Bible verses without being transformed by them. For His words to abide in us means they take up residence in our hearts. They shape our thinking, govern our desires, direct our decisions, correct our attitudes, and determine our priorities. The Word of Christ becomes the controlling influence of our lives.

Notice the order Jesus establishes. We do not obey in order to earn His love or secure our salvation. Rather, because His words have taken root within us, obedience becomes the fruit they produce. A living faith cannot remain hidden because it inevitably expresses itself through a life that increasingly conforms to the will of Christ. Obedience is not the basis of our relationship with Him; it is the evidence of it.

Verse 10 reinforces this truth. Jesus says, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” Our Lord Himself is the perfect example. Throughout His earthly ministry, His delight was to do the Father’s will. His obedience was not reluctant or burdensome; it flowed from His perfect love for the Father. Likewise, the believer’s obedience should not be viewed as legalistic duty but as the joyful response of one who loves Christ and desires to please Him.

This passage also exposes the danger of a Christianity that values religious feelings while neglecting biblical obedience. We cannot claim to abide in Christ while consistently ignoring His Word. Wherever Christ truly dwells, His Word reigns. The same Savior who invites us to come to Him also commands us to follow Him (v. 14). His grace forgives our sin, but it also transforms our lives.

Therefore, this should become our daily prayer: “Lord, let Your Word dwell richly within me. Shape my mind by Your truth. Bend my will to Your commands. Let every decision, every conversation, and every act of service be governed by what You have spoken. May my life demonstrate that Your words truly abide in me, and may my obedience testify that I am abiding in You.”

Preaching the Word

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Titus 1:3, “In his own time he has revealed his word in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior.

Preaching is never a casual act. It is not to be taken lightly. It is not entertainment, performance, or even merely education. The preacher is not just disseminating information. Preaching is participation in the divine act of revelation. In that regard, it is an encounter with the living God. When Paul says that God “has revealed his word in the preaching,” he declares that the living God still speaks through it. The pulpit is not the platform for a man to speak his mind; it is God’s instrument to reveal His will. The preacher stands, not to offer his opinions, but to herald the truth that has “one and for all been entrusted to the saints” (Jude, 3)

Through preaching, the veil is lifted and God discloses Continue reading →

When Hope Becomes Hype: Guarding Against Cultic Eschatology in the Pre-Tribulation Tradition

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Throughout church history, eschatological expectation has been both a catalyst for holiness and a crucible for error. From the Montanist movement of the second century to the Millerites of the nineteenth century, anticipation of Christ’s return has at times fostered spiritual excess and social upheaval (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1998).[1] In recent years, a resurgence of end-times enthusiasm, fueled by social media, political uncertainty, and cultural anxiety, has given rise to movements claiming prophetic insight into the timing of the rapture or tribulation. While most evangelicals who affirm a pre-tribulation rapture do so within the bounds of orthodoxy, some of these movements exhibit behavior characteristics of cultic systems. These behaviors include Continue reading →

On True and False Teachers

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Of all the deceptions that exist, there is nothing so egregious as that of religious deception. People can and do (unfortunately) deceive others on a great variety of issues, but the one who deceives in religious matters brings God into his sin, associating Him with a lie. This is why false teachers are so destructive: they not only mislead people but also tarnish the reputation of Christ before a watching world.

Recently, a false prophet named Joseph from South Africa predicted that Christ would “rapture” His church on the Feast of Tabernacles, September 23rd or 24th of this year. He claimed with “a billion percent” certainty that Jesus Himself had spoken to him in 2018 about this event. Many pre-tribulation believers

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A Time to Rebuild

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Charlie Kirt was a good man. He was a faithful Christian who sought to bring biblical truth into the public sphere. He exemplified what it means to “let your light shine” before others (Matt. 5:13–16). In every video I watched, he was always kind and respectful. He was also firm and unwavering in his convictions. The problem we face today, and what I believe contributed not only to his death but also to the insidious mocking of it by many, is that firm convictions make people uncomfortable. Today, truth is often no longer defined by principles or objective reality; instead, for many, it is defined by

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The Leadership Principle: Leadership Begins with Action

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What is leadership? This is a question many have tried to answer, offering various definitions. John Maxwell, perhaps one of the best-known popular authors on the subject, famously summarized it as influence: “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” Others emphasize that for leadership to be effective, relationships are essential (Kouzes & Posner); others emphasize certain traits (Thomas Carlyle); while still others analyze effectiveness through various lenses, such as transformational leadership (Burns), servant leadership (Greenleaf), or adaptive leadership (Heifetz). Still others delve into the various components of leadership skills and competencies, seeking to understand how one can become an effective leader (Stephen Covey). Everything from great man traits to various leadership theories seeks Continue reading →

Be Fruitful

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John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”

In his Systematic Theology, Charles Ryrie writes concerning this verse, “Believers have been chosen to bear fruit; not to do so would be contrary to God’s purposes.” Ryrie considers fruitlessness a sin. This is an important point to understand. While Ryrie points out the negative aspect of fruitlessness, namely that it is sinful, Jesus states the truth in the positive, namely that the Christian life was designed by Him to be fruitful. He states that we are chosen, that we “should go bear fruit.” The Christian life was meant to be fruitful. Or stated another way,

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An Unwelcome Blessing

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Jeremiah 6:27-30

God told Jeremiah that he had been appointed an assayer among God’s people. In this capacity, he was called to examine them on God’s behalf. But his job was not limited to just examining the people. He was also called to be a refiner. Through the preaching of God’s Word, he was called to lead them to live faithful lives before the Lord. Jeremiah continually called upon the people to repent of their sin. Their greatest sin was idolatry. Instead of turning to the Lord, they continually went after the many false gods of the surrounding nations. However, despite their idolatry, they still worshiped God in the temple. He wasn’t pleased.

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A Living Faith

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Hebrews 10:26-27, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

We are called to live a life of faith. For many people, however, belief is equated with faith. In other words, they assume that if you “believe” in Jesus, then you have faith. However, saving faith is not just intellectual belief expressed through verbal consent. Saving faith is expressed as a life lived for Christ on his terms (cf. Mark 8:34-38; Luke 14:25-33). James echoes the same truth (cf. James 2:14-18).

We live in a day, however, where false assurances of “belief” abound. People are commonly called to make decisions for Christ. Churches that lead many people to make decisions for Christ are heralded as models to emulate. If those decisions are translated into an active life of discipleship through intentional training and equipping, they are worthy of emulation. If no discipleship takes place and people are told they can now have assurance of eternal life while they continue to live life on their terms, then such a church is not to be emulated.

The author of Hebrews sends a strong warning to those who fail

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Thinking about Lawlessness

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Matthew 7:23, “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”

Matthew 13:41, “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness.”

Matthew 23:28, “Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Matthew 24:12, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”

Lawlessness is an interesting word. It was used frequently by Jesus. In the original language, it is the word for iniquity (anomia). The original word is a compound word. The prefix “a” means “not” or “without,” and the root word “nomia” means law. So, the meaning of the original word is “without law.” It is like the word apolitical in English. The letter “a” modifies the word “political” and refers to someone who has no interest in politics or is otherwise not involved.

Again, Jesus used this word frequently. We would do well to pay attention to what it means. It refers to a person who sets aside the law. But Jesus is not referring to any law. This is a person who shows no interest in God’s commandments. When I use the word “commandments,” I am not referring only to the ten commandments, but to the will of God as revealed in scripture. I believe this is how Jesus is using the word. What is important about the word, then, is not any specific law to which it refers, but the concept of being without law.

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