Will Vaus

A man went to see his doctor in an acute state of anxiety. “Doctor,” he said, “you have to help me. I’m dying. Everywhere I touch it hurts. I touch my head and it hurts. I touch my leg and it hurts. I touch my stomach and it hurts. I touch my chest and it hurts. You have to help me, Doc. Everything hurts.”   The doctor gave the man a complete examination. “Mr. Smith,” he said, “I have good news and bad news for you. The good news is you are not dying. The bad news is you have a broken finger.” [1]   The book we are visiting today in our journey along Route 66 is also a good news, bad news story. The bad news is much worse than having a broken finger. But, like the doctor in my little story, this book begins with the good news. Listen for God’s word to you from Romans 1:1-17… Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle   and set apart   for the gospel of God— the gospel he promised beforehand   through his prophets   in the Holy Scriptures ...

Today we are continuing our journey along Route 66. We are visiting a different one of the 66 books of the Bible every week and this week we are stopping off to visit the book of Acts. Let’s begin our visit by reading Acts 1:1-11 together. Listen for God’s word to you…   In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you ...

Today, we are continuing our journey along Route 66, and we are stopping off to visit the Gospel of John…   AUTHOR   First, we must ask and answer: why is this called “The Gospel of John”? As we learned in our study of the other Gospels over the past few weeks, the titles of the Gospels were not an original part of the text, but they reflect who the early church thought the authors of the Gospels were.   So, who is the John that the early church thought wrote this Gospel? As you may know, Jesus had a disciple named John. But the interesting thing is that John, the disciple, is never mentioned by name in this Gospel. That’s the first fact to take note of.   The second fact to notice is that this Gospel, unlike the other three Gospels, refers to “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. He is mentioned for the first time in John 13:23 where we read, “One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.” That is, next to Jesus. So, this disciple whom Jesus love...