#john van schepen

Nothing deterred this wilderness preacher from his single-minded devotion to Jesus. From the beginning, John made clear that he was not the Messiah (Christ). His ministry was about pointing people to Jesus. ...

Rahab was a prostitute, a traitor to her own people, and an outsider. Even with those three strikes against her, God did not say, “You’re out!” Rather, she received a place among God’s people and is held up as an example of faith (Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25). ...

When King David died, his son Solomon became the next king. He had an excellent start, but Solomon later turned away from God. His actions angered the Lord (see 1 Kings 2-11). When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam was crowned as king. The coronation was interrupted by Jeroboam, who pleaded with Rehoboam to lighten the crushing taxes that Solomon had put in place. ...

Genesis 3 tells us the sad story of the fall into sin. God had called Adam and Eve to obey him freely and willingly as they cared for his creation. But they failed to obey. Because of their disobedience, which we call sin, this world and our lives are now filled with brokenness...

The opening words of Mat­thew present us with a list of names in the family line of Jesus. Some readers skip over such lists, seeing them as boring or only filled with names that are hard to pronounce. The gospel account of Luke has a list of names like this too. These lists are selective genealogies of Jesus—and in them God is saying, “See, I have kept my word; the promised Messiah and Savior has come through my chosen people.” ...

We have observed many people in Jesus’ family who either anticipated or experienced God’s plan of salvation. We have also seen how, by faith, we can become part of Jesus’ family. ...

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” says an old Christmas song. But for some of us who are reading these words, today may be far from wonderful. Maybe your life has been devastated by disease, or you have recently lost a loved one, or some other painful event is causing you to cry out, “Why is this happening to me?” ...

Life can get messy, and Judah made a mess of his life. Perhaps your life is in a jam right now. My mother (echoing some old preachers) often said, “God can make a straight line with a crooked stick.” Genesis 38 shows how God’s grace can give us hope in the midst of life’s messiness. ...