On This Day: When Today’s Nicodemus Meets Jesus

   Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? (John 3:9-12)

   For a long time, I have pondered how different modern “apologetics” is from what I read in Scripture. The whole idea of apologetics comes from the Greek word “apologia”, which means to make a defense. Peter spoke of this when he wrote about “always being prepared to make a defense (apologia) to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).

   As I have considered that Peter was writing to persecuted Christians, not contemporary Bible students, and that the New Testament is full of examples of what it means to give a defense for the reason we have hope, it has stood out that the biblical focus is not proofs for creation, proofs for the worldwide flood, proofs for the divine authorship of any particular book of the Bible (all good things), but on explaining what God has done for us in Jesus Christ and then watching how it divides the “few” from the “many”.

   Quite recently, when I went through the book of Acts, I was drawn to the way Paul shared the good news in Athens where the people had no knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures or what Jesus of Nazareth had done to secure our redemption. It was very instructive to see what Paul did and did not emphasize. I could see that he stated the truth of what we all must deal with in relation to God, and then met with those who believed.

   Now I am in John 3 where Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus is showing me how the Messiah addressed what this “teacher of Israel” needed to hear. And what I conclude today is that Jesus wasn’t doing left-brain apologetics. He wasn’t matching proofs to challenges.

   Instead, he was seeing the soul-condition of a man who was not alive. This teacher of Israel was still dead in his trespasses and sins.

   And THAT attracts my attention. How did Jesus speak to a man who saw nothing more than signs that proved Jesus must be from God in some way he couldn’t figure out?

   Answer: Nicodemus, “You must be born again”!

   How does that explain the hope that is within me?

   The reason for the hope within me is that I have been born again!

   How have I been born again?

   Well, let me tell you a story…

   And on we go into the “good news of great joy” that God has given us “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

   Let me tell you what Jesus Christ did for us through his sinless life, his horrifying death, and his liberating resurrection. 

    Let me tell you about how “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” and how the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 came “to seek and to save the lost”.

   Let me tell you how “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (II Corinthians 5:21), and how “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

   And let me share the wonder that “God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27) so that my hope is perfectly defensible. It makes perfect sense that I would have hope in Jesus’ return, in my resurrection, in me becoming like him when I see him as he is, when you list all the things that God did for us through Jesus Christ so that the faith I have in the present time is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

   Which brings me back to this whole soul-condition stuff. Jesus came to give “rest to our souls”. That rest includes the justification by grace through faith I have already experienced upon being born again by the Spirit. It rests on the sanctification by grace through faith whereby I am presently being “transformed into the same image (as Jesus) from one degree of glory to another” (II Corinthians 3:18). And it rests on the promised glorification by grace through faith by which I will finally be “glorified with him” who secured our so great salvation.

   How do I see Jesus doing this with Nicodemus?

   The central thing is that Jesus spoke exactly what Nicodemus needed to hear to be born again. We can’t improve on that.

   What do our present-day Nicodemuses need to hear? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

   And when they complain that this doesn’t make sense, what do we say? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

   And how do we explain why we aren’t going to argue in earthly ways? Because “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Which means, arguing in the flesh only produces fleshliness. Earthly thinking. It goes nowhere. That’s why Paul warned Timothy not to waste time in such things.

   And when the Nicodemuses still defend their right to unbelief, we echo Jesus’ words, “You must be born again.”

   This continues into Nicodemus asking, “How can these things be?” Isn’t that a perfect time to go into contemporary apologetics and explain all the reasons we know the Bible is true? There may be some room for this, considering most people we will talk with don’t know their Bibles like Nicodemus did.

   However, while contemporary apologetics seems to aim at helping people understand, Jesus’ focus was on helping Nicodemus see that in his soul-condition he did not understand. Jesus made a point of it. He made Nicodemus admit, at least in his mind, that he was a teacher of Israel and did “not understand these things”. He pointed out that his problem was, “you do not receive our testimony”.

   And today, I have been meditating on this: “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12).

   What stands out is that Jesus did not try telling Nicodemus earthly things to help him accept heavenly things. Rather, he exposed the sinner’s soul, that his inability to understand the earthly things made the heavenly things impossible.

   This wasn’t to show him it was impossible, but that it was impossible for HIM, for Nicodemus, for the man who was not born again!

   And just in case anyone is wondering if I would turn this into a system whereby I develop my own brand of apologetics, no, I’m not interested in that. Neither am I suggesting that the apologetics that can explain all the background information to other religions, to atheists, agnostics, and skeptics is without value.

   All I am sharing is that, when we look at how Jesus did things, his work was to address people’s soul-condition in a Beatitudinal way that would cause them to feel poverty of spirit, to mourn their sin and ignorance, and to meekly resign to their own helplessness and the authority of Jesus Christ. Why? So they would hunger and thirst for righteousness that is satisfied while every man-centered quest for righteousness is constantly denied.

   Ever since I began factoring in the Beatitudes into everything God is doing with me and others, it is apparent that Jesus was doing this all the time. He wanted Nicodemus to feel his poverty of spirit. This would not come from earthly arguments about how we know the Bible is true, but from the admission in a sinner’s heart that he or she does not have eternal life.

   I am eager to see how John 3:16 will sound to me a few verses from now when I get to it. But right now, do any of us need to admit that we are not born again and that is why we are always looking for signs instead of attaching to Jesus’ words?

   Do we need to agree with Jesus’ assessment that, for all our searching, our problem is that we do not understand (because we are not born again)?

   Do we need a reminder that we have already repeatedly NOT received the testimony of Jesus, John the Baptist, and the apostles in what they have written of the kingdom of God?

   And do we need to admit that we have struggled to understand the earthly things (like evidence for the Bible’s divine authorship), and that is why we are having so much trouble accepting the heavenly things?

   I know I have a propensity to say far too much. But I hope this little bit explains how Jesus seems to focus on exposing people’s soul-condition rather than giving left-brain evidences that prove the Bible can be trusted. If people aren’t born again, they cannot see beyond the “signs”, the external evidences of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

   As I’m watching Jesus’ ministry to Nicodemus, I have in mind that there is good reason to believe he did become a disciple in the end. He was one of the men who took Jesus’ body down from the cross and placed it in the tomb. But I’m also watching how Jesus shared the good news with him in a Beatitudinal way so that, instead of left-brain arguments, he gave right-brain attachment to show that Nicodemus did not have attachment to God. And Jesus’ signs weren’t enough to give him that. He needed to be born again.

   Centuries ago, Augustine described how he had to believe to understand rather than understand to believe. He was expressing the new birth. He had to be born again to “get it” about everything else, and that is what we see Jesus doing for Nicodemus back in the day, and us in our time.

   If none of this is clear to you, take the time to read the first two chapters of John to see how they lead to Jesus’ visit with Nicodemus in chapter 3. Perhaps you need the same journey he took to come to know Jesus for real.

 

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

On This Day: The Crucified Savior Who Resurrects Himself

   So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. (John 2:18-22)

   I recently heard someone refer to this verse where Jesus said he would raise himself. Then I was watching some Gary Habermas videos yesterday (I highly recommend the guy) about Jesus' resurrection.

   So, when I came today to Jesus' own words on the matter, that he would raise himself, I considered the whole thing going on with Jesus' body/soul/spirit humanity and his eternal deity.

   I would remind you that my focus in getting to know God through his word is not on forming doctrinal statements, but on understanding his word and growing to know him better each day than I have ever known him before.

   In the brain science view, I don’t just want a left-brain belief; I also want a right-brain bond with God. I want to know the truth about him, but I also want to know him in his truth.

   As I pondered all these things this morning, I found myself wandering into a field of thoughts I had never really considered: What happened to Jesus in his body/soul/spirit/deity when he died?

   First off, the only “part” of Jesus that died on the cross was his body. Like any other human, his soul/spirit was still alive, and this was in union with his divine nature. I do not want to do an injustice to this by reducing it down to words, but to invite you into what G. Campbell Morgan once said, that “out of wonder, worship is born.”

   Yes, this is about feeling wonder about Jesus as “the Word” who “became flesh” to live among us. This is the wonder of considering the union of Jesus’ humanity and his deity during his 30+ years of living among us. We don’t need to reduce it to a perfectly worded statement; we need to let ourselves be the children who stand in awe of our glorious Savior in his place in the glory of the Triune God and delight in the feelings, and thoughts, and desires that come with that. The wonder of having a Father whose thoughts are so far above us that we cannot contain them all, but what we can contain causes us to delight in him, and rejoice in his love, and praise him for our security in Jesus Christ.

   Which brings us back to Jesus' claim that he himself would raise himself from the dead. Yes, Jesus, fully alive and fully himself, raised his human body from the dead, re-entering it in some way that seems mindboggling to me, and in his glorified body made so many appearances to his disciples that even unbelievers and skeptics admit that the early church absolutely believed that Jesus was divine, and that he was raised from the dead.

   Two dozen years of watching what children are like with us in our home has helped me immensely in appreciating why God wants me to come to him like a child, rest in his love, feel the reverence and awe and wonder of his presence, and, today, marvel at how Jesus now lives forever in his glorified human and glorious divine existence because he raised himself from the dead.

   And I really look forward to seeing him as he is!

 

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

Today's Short: "Watching Disciples Being Discipled"

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: A Sign of Glory for a Disciple’s Faith

   Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (John 2:6-11)

   Today was one of those “domino” kind of experiences in the word. One thought kept leading to another until I found myself somewhere that felt both brand new and familiar at the same time.

   When I consider what a sign meant in John’s writing, I relate it to what signs do today. They point us somewhere we are intended to go. So, where are we going with this sign?

   When I read about how the sign “manifested” Jesus’ glory, I want to let myself see this. I want to be real with it, like I don’t want to miss anything it is showing me.

   And that means that it isn’t first and foremost about what I see, or what I am getting out of my devotions, or what I have time for today, but what God is manifesting to us today in what he manifested about his Son back in the day.

   It is standing out that what Jesus manifested in that sign was his glory, and that John’s prologue has already told us to expect this. Our guide for the journey (the apostle John in this case) has already told us something about how to think about what we are seeing.

   Which begs the question, are we the people who won’t be convinced of Jesus’ glory until we have seen every sign and come to a conclusion about them? Or are we the ones who already know that the whole gospel account of John will be revealing and manifesting the glory of the Word who became flesh, the Word who was God, and was with God, and was the Life that is the Light of men to this day, and we are ready for it, watching for it, receiving it, delighting in it?

   The biggest part of this seemed to be where I ended up in my journey, that a disciple is someone who has attached to a specific teacher for the purpose of learning that teacher’s way of life. At least two of Jesus’ first disciples had already been disciples of John the Baptist, which meant they had attached to him as a teacher and were learning from him. But as soon as John pointed them to Jesus as “the Lamb of God”, they became disciples of Jesus instead, exactly as John had wanted.

   The part of discipleship that really stood out to me was the attaching to a teacher part. Disciples had purposefully attached to a teacher they believed in as a good teacher, a good role model, a good example of living as a human being. This was the common way of educating oneself, to become a disciple of a teacher.

   Lately, I have seen so many cheap grace pop-ups that focus on proving to people that there is nothing expected of us except to believe. They believe that anything more than that is a work in progress. But they leave out what the gospel calls us to, and that believing means fully attaching to what the gospel says. It is all of faith, but as the two disciples had first attached to John the Baptist as their teacher, and then they switched to attaching to Jesus as their teacher, when we are told by Jesus to “go and make disciples,” we are already under obligation to Jesus as our teacher that we put into practice what he says, which means making disciples who from the first breath of salvation are eager to attach to Jesus as their teacher.

   You know, like we want to learn from him.

   Or more precisely, that we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit who “will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26).

   Why are we to be taught all things?

   So we will be the “wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock” instead of the “foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:24-27).

   I keep coming to the way Paul introduced and concluded Romans with the aim “to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations” (Romans 1:5) and “according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26).

   Does your personal discipleship under Jesus Christ your Lord look like you are eagerly learning whatever Jesus is teaching you through his word and his Spirit every day? Do you describe your response to God’s word each day as “the obedience of faith”? If our belief in Jesus is no better than what the demons believe, we can’t even be sure we are saved!

   But if our faith in Jesus looks like sheep following their Shepherd, like children following their firstborn brother, like disciples learning from their teacher, with everyone watching knowing we are disciples by our love for one another, it is likely that the fruit is proving the tree good.

   Where are the dominos of God’s word leading you today? And are you already to do whatever it takes to keep in step with the Spirit?

 

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

On This Day: Getting In Trouble For Speaking God’s Truth

   “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. (Acts 26:19-21)

   Yes, the parallel to Charlie Kirk is plain to see. However, I want to both expand the picture from “Be like Charlie” to “be like the Apostles”, and narrow the picture from what everyone out there is doing to what God is doing with you.

   My first concern would be, how are you doing with this whole getting in trouble for talking about Jesus stuff? Are you one of the troublemakers who hate it when Christians claim that there is “no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”? or that Jesus alone is “the way, the truth, and the life”?

   Are you one of those fearful Christians who has never settled with God that “Jesus Christ is Lord”, and so you don’t see why you should set yourself up for trouble by telling people about him?

   Or are you a believer who sincerely tries to find opportunities to talk to others about Jesus but finds the scary side of things a bit overwhelming?

   I have never been a believer who has felt I had the right to keep the good news to myself. You know, just go to church, soak in the grace of God so we feel good and safe, and just leave that scary evangelism stuff to the hero Christians. I think I have known from childhood that the good news I was told was the good news I had to tell.

   However, I can really relate to the fear-based side of evangelism. You know, getting in trouble even when doing nothing wrong! That was such a painful thing for me in my growing up that it was ingrained into me to avoid danger. If I got someone mad, it always meant I was doing something wrong.

   Over the years, God has clearly ministered to me about this fear as John described, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love” (I John 4:18). Yes, my fear had to do with fearing punishment (getting in trouble for doing things the wrong way), and God’s love for me as his adopted son has been constantly working to “cast out fear” and fill me with faith in Jesus as my security with God.

   I am now able to look back at a long history of getting in trouble for “speaking the truth in love” and accept that it is the norm. If Jesus got crucified for BEING the truth in love, and Paul kept being persecuted for telling the truth in love, then us facing hate and hardship from the world for declaring to them “the good news of great joy” is just a fact of life. There’s nothing we can do about that except water down the message so people are no longer offended by truth, and that is NOT an option (even though so many churches are doing it)!

   I regularly find that Scripture, God’s word, is “teaching” me what to believe and share with others, “reproving” me in areas I was mistaken in something I believed and taught, “correcting” me in what I should believe and teach from hereon, and training me to walk in the “righteousness of faith” that is constantly growing up to be and act like Jesus.

   And the trouble that comes is simply a badge of honor that the world would treat us the same way as it treated our Savior. We don’t seek trouble. We don’t seek to be troublemakers (we are peacemakers). But we do accept the trouble that comes no matter what the direction and who the instigator. We unite with Jesus’ church in “the obedience of faith” without favoritism or partiality, and we support one another in whatever troubles we get in for sharing the good news about Jesus.

   I am pretty sure this is the first time I have gone through Luke’s account of the gospel and straight into his history of the early church as written in the book of Acts (normally I would have continued into John’s gospel).To see what happened to Jesus, and how the apostles led the way in living for Jesus no matter what, is still our living example of how to live for Christ.

   And if we need encouragement to tell people about Jesus, the best examples are right there in the word of God. So let us get in the word so we can go into the world with this good news. 

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

On This Day: Making No Apologies for an Apologetic Defense

 

   “Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.”

   And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said… (Acts 22:1-2)

   As my post to the left states, I had spent considerable time yesterday addressing for myself and anyone listening that there is a way Jesus wants us to rejoice when we are slandered instead of defending ourselves. So, when I turned the chapter to Paul’s message to the angry audience, I had to chuckle at his use of the word “defense” in reference to what he had to say.

   When I looked up the meaning of the word in Greek, I discovered it was the familiar word “apologia” from which we get the idea of “apologetics”. This is not the making of an apology, as though we are sorry for offending anyone with our sharing of the gospel.

   Rather, it means, “defense (legal) n. — the speech act of attempting to prove some act or belief to be reasonable, necessary, or right; especially occurring in a court of law” (Bible Sense Lexicon). With this one word, everyone listening understood that Paul wanted to make a legal defense of his ministry to the Gentiles, showing that he did nothing to disparage the law of Moses as the slanderers claimed.

   One of the threads in my journey of growing up in Christ has included the discovery that I had learned a self-protective way of making a defense. It was conditioned into me because I was constantly being traumatized by accusations of failing, doing wrong, not measuring up, when I knew that I had done none of the above. I knew the accusations were unjust, so I would have arguments in my mind about why I was not guilty of the charges angrily levelled against me. Sometimes I would take a chance and argue my case, but, as I think of it, it wasn’t when I was being attacked personally, but when someone else in the family was the target. Then I could be quite defensive!

   It has been around 50 years since I developed those self-protective strategies. Since then, I have had to learn that anything to do with self-protection, self-justification, self-indulgence, or self-centeredness is contrary to Christ. What, then, is Paul’s example in making a defense that uses the specific word “apologia” as a legal defense of his teaching?

   I know this will become clear in what I explore next (in Paul’s speech), but my first thought was what Peter said in I Peter 3. I will share the longer section here because it explains what it looks like for all us everyday disciples to follow Paul’s example.

   But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. (I Peter 3:14-17)

  In this paragraph, Peter affirms Jesus’ words that we are to consider ourselves blessed when we suffer unjustly (see the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:1-12). However, he calls us to “make a defense” using the same word as the apostle Paul. The key is in the focus of our defense: “a reason for the hope that is in you”.

   I have not done much studying of the early history of the church outside of what is written in Scripture. I am not sure how making a defense of our hope as the apostles meant it developed into what we now call “apologetics”. Today’s apologetics seems like a calling for gifted men, while Peter spoke as though every believer could make a defense (apologia) of the hope we have been given in Jesus Christ.

   Whatever I will learn in examining Paul’s defense in Acts 22 will include a mix of Paul’s unique calling. But what I learn about how every believer can give to others a defense of our faith comes down to the “reason for the hope that is in you” as is clearly taught in Scripture.

   In other words, if we have opportunity to share with others why we have hope in Jesus Christ, we do not need an apologetics degree in how to prove the Bible is the word of God, or how we know the Bible has not been corrupted over the years, or how to answer every claim of contradictions presented by skeptics. Some people are gifted in that, but it is not the way every believer is to give the reason for their hope in Jesus Christ our Lord.

   Instead, when I picture the everyday Christians of the first century being asked why they had hope in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah/Christ, the reasons they gave would be the biblical ones. It would be sharing what Jesus did for us on the cross that gave us our hope of eternal life. It would include sharing whichever of the prophecies we could remember that were clearly fulfilled in his coming. And it would most certainly revolve around how the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives us the absolute assurance that everyone who believes in him will also be raised up to be with the Lord forever.

   I do listen to the apologists of our day who can show how the Bible stands up to the evolutionary religion, to the Bart Ehrman kind of skeptics, to antagonists who try to hide their sins behind problems with the Bible, and to Mormons, Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I respect the truly biblical ones who are gifted to share the good news with people in all these different backgrounds and cultures.

   However, I do not believe that’s what Peter had in mind when he called us to always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks us the reason for the hope that is in us. I believe he was talking about how every Christian can state the reasons that we have hope in Christ according to the Scriptures.

   And, with that in mind, I am quite sure that Paul’s defense in Jerusalem will help us everyday Christians in today’s world share the reasons for our hope even while Paul did at such a foundational level. Every believer has the same reasons for why we have hope. Those reasons are all in the Scriptures. So share what you know from the Scriptures that Jesus did to give “Christ in you, the hope of glory”, and thank God for the gifted men who are doing the same thing in each of their gifted areas.

 

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

On This Day: Accepting the Dangers of Preaching Christ

   While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.” (Acts 21:10-14)

   In over 3 decades of treating God’s word like he is speaking to me, one of the most comforting and affirming characteristics has been the way God teaches me things that are exactly what I need at the time.

   Sometimes those things are just personal. God ministers a scripture to my heart for thoughts, feelings, and needs no one else even knows about.

   Other times, like today, the Scripture God uses speaks to me personally, but while addressing something going on in the world around me on a much bigger scale.

   And right now, as the world is reeling from the murder of a young lady on public transit and the assassination of Charlie Kirk, what in the world would God say in his word that is perfectly timed to how his children are doing in handling all the griefs and sorrows we are facing?

   I have just gone through Acts 20, where Paul was preparing the elders of Ephesus for his departure. He told them they would never see him again because he could see the finish line ahead and knew his race would soon be over. What a weight to carry! Not only were suffering and death always looming over Paul’s life, but he knew this particular journey would be the end of his ministry and the elders needed to know how they must build on “the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:20-21).

   What really stood out to me was the impact of the relational dynamic between Paul and the disciples. In relation to Paul leaving the Ephesian elders, Luke writes, “And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again” (Acts 20:37-38).

   In the case I shared above, Paul’s heart was breaking over the way the disciples were weeping at his willingness to suffer and die for the gospel. Even though Paul was the one who had endured so much already (with one “near-death experience”), these things affected everyone around him. You know, like is happening all around the world right now as people who never met Charlie Kirk are feeling deep grief over the ugliness of his death, the shock to his wife, and the loss to his children.

   The fact is that Jesus said this would happen. He warned about the suffering. He warned about the martyrs. He warned about the unjust trials and unfair persecutions. He made clear that the people living in darkness would see the great “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Corinthians 4:4) because “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (vs 6).

   And the next thing he testifies to is “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies” (vss 8-10).

   The two things I want to leave with you are the specific testimonies of Paul and the other apostles that, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). We may never face the same threats to our lives as Paul did. We may never be in danger of being in an assassin’s crosshairs. But we must have the same heart and mind, that our temporary and transient earthly lives are lived for Christ, and our deaths will give us the greatness of being with him forever in his eternal paradise

   And the other encouragement is to have your daily time with God in his word and prayer so you can see for yourself how personally God speaks to his children, that we know what he is saying, we can recognize what he is doing, and we can get to know him by experience as we join him in his work.

   That God would do this for me today in such a profoundly obvious way is not just for me. We are all to benefit from “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” because that’s how we know how to “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom,” and how to “sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God,” even when the relational dynamic in our churches is filled with heartache and sorrow (Colossians 3:16).

 

© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)