Stephen De La Vega

  We often see the path we’re standing on, but not always the path around the corner. Sometimes it seems we’re on the wrong path because we don’t see what we hope to see or we’re walking farther than we wanted to walk. We question the decisions we’ve made along the way. We even question the published trail guide sometimes. Can we trust the guide? Of course we can. So, why do we question it? Sometimes we struggle to trust the truth. Sometimes we struggle to trust our Savior even though He is altogether trustworthy?   In our third and final visit with Jesus in this series, we join Him when He appeared to His disciples after He defeated death. Satan and his organized, world system could not keep Jesus and His truth locked away in a tomb . He rose from His grave just as He foretold and promised ( John 2:18-22 , Matthew 16:21 ). He told His disciples many times that He would rise on the third day. On one occasion, as we studied in Resolution 12 , the mother of James and John change...

  Sometimes I clam up when it comes to openly talking about Jesus and claiming Him as my Savior and Lord outside of Christian circles. I bet I’m not alone in this. Somehow the gospel of Jesus doesn’t always roll naturally off the tongue, even from tongues of seasoned Christians. A year ago, I pondered this question: How did Peter transform from denying Jesus at the cross to boldly preaching the gospel to people across social, economic, cultural, and political classes? So, I launched into a personal exploration of his story which grew into a 9-session series in our work Bible study. Any one of us could’ve been Peter, an everyday, hard-working fisherman earning a normal living and spending non-work time with family and friends. By the end of the series, we recognized Peter as a man who loved Jesus more than he loved himself, and who died a martyr because he wouldn’t stop declaring Jesus as the Savior of the world. In a series of 3 blog posts, we look at what made Peter the outs...

At Christmas time we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  It’s not only a declaration of, “It’s a boy!”  It’s the coming of a Savior – the one the Jews waited for some 2,000 years. Some of them maybe even forgot He was coming. And when He did come, they didn’t realize it because they expected a King, not a baby. But this was no ordinary baby. He was the Son of God! ↭↭↭ (This post can be read aloud to a group. It is a gospel presentation and a celebration of the birth of our Savior. If you want to share this with a group, you have my permission to read it. That’s why I wrote it. Or, feel free to make it more interactive. Ask questions. Solicit thoughts to get listeners engaged. And pray that they will understand, appreciate, and accept the Savior and His gospel.) ↭↭↭ Most of us have lived long enough to realize we’re not perfect. Sometimes we fail people. Sometimes we wrong them. And deep down inside, we know we don’t measure up to what we consider to be God...

Patrick Henry had the right idea when he stood before the Virginia Convention and said , “Give me liberty or give me death.” He wanted freedom, but not just freedom from British rule. He wanted freedom to be an American, freedom for his countrymen to write their own history. He knew that living under British rule was not really living at all. The same was true for Coco… [Note: This is Part 1 of a 3-part trilogy that includes some extraordinary but true animal stories and offers insight into some of our human tendencies, a.k.a., animal instincts. ] A true story about a dog named Coco In January 2013, 4-year-old Coco, a gray and white poodle, entered the doors of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals . His coat was so severely matted that he couldn’t lift his head. But even more shocking were 2 other problems: A 6-foot long wire was wrapped around his entire body His collar was embedded into his skin, including his name tag He was...

We may not think of Jesus’ tomb as a tomb of honor, but it was. It was prepared with honor, it was sacrificed with honor, and Jesus was buried in it with honor. But it was not honor that led Him there. The death of Jesus was a death of mockery, deceit, divisiveness, lies, misunderstanding, and, especially, hatred, retaliation, and pain. But this was all part of God’s gracious plan to restore us into His fellowship. Amazing grace led Jesus to the cross. It’s a story known across the globe and through the ages. We can be saved because of God’s amazing grace. Grace ushered Jesus to the cross and to His earthly grave. By grace we are saved through faith, by grace we enjoy a personal relationship with Christ, and by grace we serve a resurrected Lord. How could someone spread His arms so open with love, and leave them extended to take the blows of torture, of humiliation, of rejection ...even rejection from His Father? How can someone’s love be so perfect? ...