Did you know?

Elizabeth was six months pregnant when God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee. There, Gabriel appeared to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph, descended from King David. “Hello,” the angel said. “God is with you. And he …

A benediction of hope from a surprising Bible writer.

“God has given a gift to everyone. He’s kind like that. Find your gift and use it to help others. Sharing your gift is a good use of God’s kindness” (1 Peter 4:10 Casual English Bible).

Christians didn’t start teaching that God expected a 10% tithe of income until the mid-1800s, according to some church historians. Reportedly, there are no sermons on tithing before then. John Wesley didn’t tithe or preach on it. John Calvin …

I GOT ANOTHER SURPRISE yesterday, while paraphrasing Revelation for the Casual English Bible. Most Bibles say that the massive end-time army from somewhere east of what is now Israel will tally 200 million soldiers (Revelation 9:16). These are the …

Q LIFE APPLICATION. Paul asks for Christians to do what they know God wants them to do, and to do it without complaining or arguing (Philippians 2:14). Some people in the church complain a lot. What do you think is a good way to deal with someone …

IT SEEMS LIKE A CRAZY WAY to start telling the story of Jesus. John introduced him as “the living Word of God” (John 1:1 Casual English Bible). What? Try picturing that in your head. It’s so much easier to picture him as a baby in a …

I GOT CAUGHT OFF GUARD by one verse in particular, when I was recently paraphrasing my way through the Gospel of John for the Casual English Bible. See if this makes sense to you: “Eternal life comes from the Spirit. Our bodies have nothing to …

The typical meal for Jewish folks in Roman times featured Bread olive oil dried figs and a mess of stew made from beans, lentils, and peas. I wrote about that in a recent article: Ancient diet for a trim look. Richer folks could add some wine and …

Paul said that one day Jesus “will change our frail bodies into glorious bodies like his.” Exactly how glorious is that?

Paul said that one day Jesus “will change our frail bodies into glorious bodies like his.” Exactly how glorious is that?

Does God figure out who's most important to him the way we figure out who's most important to us?