As Jesus begins to describe what citizens of his kingdom are like, we see many surprises and differences compared with the kingdoms we see. Blessed are the meek? Those who mourn? What kind of kingdom is this? Jesus tells us that these are the people who belong to his kingdom.

Jesus warned his disciples that if the world hated him, then the world would hate them as well. While we as Christians may enjoy sunny seasons of tolerance and good relationships with the society around us, we shouldn’t be surprised when the dark clouds of persecution come and our culture views us as a threat. And yet we can be confident that no matter how hostile a people may be against the church, God will cause his purposes to prevail and his people to multiply.

What does it mean to be citizen of the kingdom of heaven? Jesus answers this question in Matthew 5

Exodus is the epic story of God saving Israel from slavery in Egypt and leading them to Mt. Sinai to be his own covenant people. In this book we see God’s faithfulness to Abraham, his sovereignty over nature and nations, his awesome holiness and his fatherly love. God’s redeeming of Israel from bondage is truly the defining saving event in the Old Testament. And yet the story doesn’t stop there. Exodus anticipates and foreshadows the greater salvation that would come through Jesus Christ.

These days skepticism is in and certainty is out, especially in religious matters. You will seem enlightened when you doubt and question, but naive and unsophisticated when you express certainty about spiritual things. How can we really know if there really is a God, and if so which one is it? Is there really a heaven to gain and a hell to escape? How could we possibly have assurance we are headed to the one and avoiding the other? Yet in study of 1 John, God wants us to know for certain how we can know him and have hope of eternal life.

We love love! Everyone wants to be loved or find true love. But what is love? John tells us that God is love, and then describes what God's love is like. We want to be careful not to lower God's love to how our world defines it, because God's love is far greater and when we understand God's love, it leads us to show our love in powerful ways.

We are bombarded by voices in our lives. It seems like we are hearing messages from every direction, telling us what to buy, what to wear, where to eat, and so on. In the global Church, we have access to more teachers and preachers than ever before in history. It's amazing! And it's overwhelming. Who should we listen to? Who should we follow? Which church is right? In 1 John 4, God gives us a warning and some tools to discern the true Spirit of God from the impostors and deceivers.

We know that Jesus said to love one another, but what does that really look like? 1 John 3:11-24 sets the standard high for our love for fellow believers. It’s more than just warm feelings and kind words, it’s ongoing actions that actually provide a clear marker of our faith in Jesus Christ.

How do we tell apart the children of God from the children of the devil? In today's passage, John gives us a key mark of a true Christian

Sometimes believers can get comfortable and drop our guard, forgetting that we are in the final stage of history. All around us there are counterfeit gospels and false teachings that seek to lure us away from the truth. All around us are denials of the deity of Jesus and his saving sacrifice for sinners but all true believers have the anointing of the Holy Spirit who teaches us to discern truth from error by the Word of God.