God’s Plan
The core teaching of the New Testament can be found in one of the most beautiful verses of Scripture: ”For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever... »
Peter Amsterdam
Peter Amsterdam has been active in Christian service since 1971. In 1995 he became co-director (together with his wife, Maria Fontaine) of the Christian community of faith known as the Family International. He has authored a variety of articles on Christian faith and theology. (Articles by Peter Amsterdam used in Activated are adapted.)
God in Three Persons: The Trinity
For the uninitiated, the impression could be that Christianity believes in three Gods—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But that’s not the case. Christians believ... »
Celebrating Easter
Why the Resurrection Makes All the Difference Every time we celebrate Easter, we are commemorating God’s gift of salvation. In His love for humanity, God made a way for u... »
God’s Unconditional Love
God’s unconditional love has no bounds, is unchanging and without limitations. It is given freely, no matter what. All of us have sinned, and sin brings separation from G... »
The God of hope
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” [[Romans 15:13]]. When we read the Gosp... »
Rediscovering joy
Most of us experienced the cumulative impact of the COVID pandemic on our everyday lives throughout the past few years. For some of us, this resulted in a lessening of ou... »
The good Samaritan
Many of us are familiar with the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37. However, because we live in cultures very different from that of first-century Palestine,... »
The birth of Jesus
The story of Jesus’ life begins with the story of His birth, as told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The Old Testament foretold His coming, revealing specific informa... »
Jesus’ life and message: light
Shortly after Jesus taught His disciples how to pray,[[See Luke 11:1–4.]] He proceeded to speak about light in three short sayings. He started with a reference to physica... »
Jesus—His life and message: Zacchaeus
The Gospel of Luke tells of Jesus’ surprising interaction with Zacchaeus, a Jewish man who was a chief tax collector for the Roman government. Jesus entered Jericho and m... »
Give it all to Jesus
Forgiving is one of the most difficult things for a person to do. But whenever we give our hurts to God and tell Him, “Jesus, take this. I don’t want it anymore. I’m tire... »
Feeling unsettled?
In Philippians 4:6–7, the apostle Paul instructs the believers: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, pres... »
Got potential?
What can you realistically expect to be or accomplish? That depends in part on how you define “realistic.” Nobody knows what we’re capable of better than God, and often H... »