Build on Rock - Sharing the faith in God's beloved Son, Jesus Christ

The Counsel of Gamaliel (Acts 5)

November 5, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

“When they heard this, they became infuriated and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee in the Sanhedrin named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up, ordered the men to be put outside for a short time, and said to them, ‘Fellow

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Be honest with God (Acts 5)

October 14, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

Acts of the Apostles is one of the most hopeful books in the Bible. And yet, in the midst of the inspiring stories of the early Church, we have the sobering tale of Ananias and Sapphira, the married couple who lie about their charity and fall dead at the apostles’ feet.

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The Community of Believers (Acts 4)

September 23, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

Twice in Acts Saint Luke wrote short paragraphs describing the life of the early Church. These short vignettes serve as models for how the Church in every age should live together as a community of believers. Let’s look in detail at how the early Church followed Christ: “They devoted themselves

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Why do the heathen rage? (Acts 4)

September 3, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

After their release they went back to their own people and reported what the chief priests and elders had told them. And when they heard it, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, maker of heaven and earth and the sea and all that

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God forgives (Acts 3)

August 19, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

In chapter 3 of Acts we see the work of Pentecost continues. There is another miracle – Peter, invoking the holy name of Jesus, heals the man lame from birth – that draws the crowds to the apostles. Peter proclaims the gospel message: that Christ was raised from the dead,

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The Miracle of Pentecost

August 12, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

On the morning of Pentecost, in 33 AD, there were maybe 500 followers of Jesus in the world. By the end of the great day, 3,000 people had been baptized. The Church grew sixfold in one day. It was the greatest day in the history of evangelization. How did it

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Pentecost: The necessity of the Holy Spirit

July 29, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

The transformation of the apostles by the power of the Holy Spirit is one of the primary themes of Acts. The Holy Spirit empowered the apostles to boldly proclaim the Good News of Jesus at the risk of their own lives. The contrast between the apostles’ words and deeds in

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The Ascension of Jesus and the Last Hour

July 14, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

The Ascension of Jesus is the transitional point between Jesus’ earthly ministry and the Age of the Church. Luke both ends his gospel and begins Acts of the Apostles with this event. The Ascension is also the culmination of the Resurrection. Jesus did not defeat death for its own sake,

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Acts of the Apostles (Introduction)

June 25, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

On Sunday morning, May 24, in the year 33 A.D., 120 people were gathered together in the city of Jerusalem. Their leader had been killed seven weeks earlier, and they were in hiding. They were men and women, mostly humble workers, fishermen and the like, who lived outside the big

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Share the Love of Christ

June 10, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

Pope Francis concludes his encyclical He Loves Us with an impassioned plea for the disciples of Christ to share the Good News with others: “Christ asks you never to be ashamed to tell others, with all due discretion and respect, about your friendship with him. He asks that you dare to tell

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Consoling the Sacred Heart of Jesus

May 30, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Francis wrote in his encyclical He Loved Us, naturally prompts us to ask what we can do for our Lord: “Saint Ignatius brings his contemplations to a crescendo at the foot of the cross and invites the retreatant to ask the crucified Lord

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Saint Therese of Lisieux and the Sacred Heart of Jesus

May 20, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

In his final encyclical He Loved Us, Pope Francis devoted particular attention to the reflections of Saint Therese of Lisieux on the sacred heart of Jesus. In her inimitable, childlike love of Christ, Saint Therese embodied the sanctity of this devotion in a special way. Pope Francis wrote: “As we contemplate

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Reflections on the Love of Christ

April 29, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

In his recent encylical, He Loved Us, Pope Francis connects the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Father and the Holy Spirit: “When the Son became man, all the hopes and aspirations of his human heart were directed towards the Father. If we consider the way Christ spoke of the Father,

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He Loved Us

April 22, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

Jesus loves every person deeply. He desires to spend all eternity with each of us. He wants us to share in His joy. So many people are unable or unwilling to see this. It is the great tragedy of our time. Pope Francis wrote his latest encyclical, He Loved Us, to

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Five Reasons to Believe

April 3, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

There are many good reasons to believe in God and more specifically in Jesus Christ. Individually these reasons are compelling; collectively, they make a powerful case for Christianity. I want to highlight in this post some of the top arguments for God. I have written about these individually before, so

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Aquinas’ Ways to God

March 12, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

Can we demonstrate with our reason that God exists? Saint Thomas Aquinas, following in the footsteps of Plato and Aristotle, thought so. In his Summa Theologica he gives five ways, five logical demonstrations, for believing that God exists. I’m going to look at three of those ways here, beginning first

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Faith and Science: A True Story

February 27, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

Once upon a time, a man came up with a new theory. His theory, if shown to be true, would change the way people understood the universe. Many people opposed his theory. The theory challenged not only their view of the universe but their view of God. They argued against

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Pascal’s wager

February 13, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

Rare is the individual who is a brilliant mathematician and a brilliant philosopher, but Blaise Pascal was such a man. Pascal was a pioneer in the development of probability theory (if you’re watching a sporting event and there’s a graphic on the screen of each’s team probability to win, you

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One hundred million years from now…

January 28, 2025 / Michael Haverkamp

In the early years of Peanuts (1955-56, to be precise), Charles Schultz had a recurring punch line that Linus would deliver. Lucy would call him inside for lunch, or tell him it’s time to go to bed, or inform that he should color giraffes yellow rather than green, or warn

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Jesus is the King (Luke 24)

December 12, 2024 / Michael Haverkamp

If you want to know Jesus, you need to know that He is our risen King. Our hope is in Him. Read chapter 24 of the gospel according to Saint Luke here. The Resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Jesus conquered two enemies, sin and death. He conquered sin by facing

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