"All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had." (Acts 4:32 NLT) I used to think this description of the early church looked an awful lot like Communism. The major difference,...

"After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4:31 NLT) When the Apostles faced persecution, they didn't run away or pray for protection. They prayed for boldness....

"For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.'" (Acts 4:11 NLT) Jesus died but lives. In Christ, God turned defeat into victory. Death into life. It's good to know today...

"彼らはみな、婦人たち、特にイエスの母マリヤ、およびイエスの兄弟たち{...

"So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, 'Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?'" (Acts 1:6 NLT)It's amazing to me that even after some 3 years following Jesus and hearing Him teach, the Apostles still didn't get...

Josiah's reforms lead the people back to worshiping the Lord.  But God did not prevent them from experiencing the consequences of their generations of sin.  God is gracious. God forgives.  And in Christ we can be certain of our salvation. But we need to...

The first thing that stands out to me about this passage is that it seems like they found the Book of the Law completely by accident. They were cleaning up the temple and just happened to stumble upon it.  They'd neglected God's Word for so long that they'd...

"...Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives." (v. 5) When I see some of the things some of my Japanese Christian friends have to deal with, and when I see how slow and seemingly unfruitful ministry in Japan can be, I'm reminded of the reality of spiritual...