To our minds, “justify” means to explain yourself in order to get out of trouble. In spiritual terms, some say that justification is the teaching that makes or breaks the entire Christian Church. So, what does it mean? And what does it have to do with what we believe and how we behave? Paul can’t wait to answer these vital questions for our faith.

Most people today are familiar with faith. Christians have faith. Buddhists have faith. Atheists have faith in science and humanity. But what does the Bible mean by faith? If we are saved by grace through faith, what are we actually saying? What is faith, where does it come from, and what does it mean to walk “by faith”?

When modern people think of adopted, we think most often of little children and infertile couples. But 1st century people would have imagined a much different picture with gorgeous implications for the work of Jesus. In writing to the Galatians, Paul claimed the point of Jesus’ redemption was our adoption. Let’s explore exactly what that means.

Few words gets as much Christian press as save, saved, and Savior. But what does saved mean? Who is saved by whom and from what and for what? This message gives a robust definition to one of the Bible’s most important words, triggering praises from every person who has truly been saved.

A Google search of “redeem” brings up images of redeeming coupons, frequent flier miles, online codes, and user points. But what did Paul mean when saying “Christ redeemed us”? This message explores the good news contained in a term still used in modern times, an explanation that causes Christians to sing, “I am redeemed!”

Grace is, as some of us have heard a hundred times, amazing. But grace’s familiarity can lead to an unintentional dulling of our hearts. Instead of amazing us, shocking us, and confusing us, grace becomes an acronym (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense) or a catechism definition (undeserved love). This message, though the story of Paul’s conversion, opens our eyes afresh to how amazing grace truly is.

Righteous is a word rarely used these days. For older folks, it calls to mind The Righteous Brothers. For Gen Xers, an 80’s synonym for “cool.” For rap lovers, the latest single from Juice WRLD. But for the Apostle Paul, few words mattered as much as the word “righteous.” So, what does this loaded word mean? And how does one become righteous in the eyes of God?

If there’s a word that seems simple to define, it’s the word “good.” Good is…well…good. It’s someone who isn’t bad. But how you define “good” is gravely important. Are you good? Am I? Are we good enough? If not, how do we become good in God’s sight? In this message, Jesus challenges our definition of good and calls us to the only way to be good enough to get close to God, that is, through following Christ.

The word “reconcile” makes many of us think of a bank statement, a company budget, or separated spouses working things out. But what does it mean for our faith? Paul calls Christianity a “ministry of reconciliation”, claims that God was “reconciling the world to himself” through Jesus, and implores people to “be reconciled with God!” What did Paul mean? And what does this loaded word have to do with us?

Someone you know will die this year. That someone might be a parent, a sibling, a child, a friend, a fellow Christian from church…or you. Death will do what it has done since Adam and Eve, namely, to separate the living from the dead, leaving life a little emptier than it was before. So, how do you deal with that? You think of the presence of GOD. GOD saves his people from death, bringing them into his pain-free presence, while simultaneously drawing near to the grieving and broken-hearted.