I am a reluctant convert to the Swedish Method for Bible study. I read the Briefing article all of those years ago and decided to try it out in a couple of Bible study groups. It didn’t work! It didn’t seem to make group members think deeply enough about the passage, and it seemed to promote surface-level easy answers.
Sometimes, as Evangelicals approaching Roman Catholicism, we look at various parts of Catholicism without considering how they relate to the whole Catholic system.
The traditional Christian view of the Bible is that it is God’s word. Some churches recognize this by finishing each Bible reading with “This is the word of the Lord”. What does it mean for how we read the Bible?
Bible reading with ready ears and an open heart is engaging and fruitful. There’s something fresh about letting God speak for himself, especially when you search the Bible yourself, making the effort to hear.
If we want to hear from God, to know him more and more and to see his works in the world, we can do no better than regularly listening to him in Scripture for our entire lives.
"Do we have to forgive people who aren't sorry?" How would you respond? Our instinct can be to rush in with some kind of ‘yes/no’ answer. What we may fail to do is consider whether or not answering the question as asked is the most helpful response.
Charleston, forgiveness and safety, the idolatry of guns, making disciples, serving in your local church without going under, the conversion of the wallet, the Proverbs 31 man, how the church can help gay young people, how to be a welcoming and biblical church, and the GoThereFor 2.0 launch.
Yes, I’ve watched The Lego Movie... Its famous song touches on something that we know intuitively to be true: working together, being part of a team, having someone to rely on and trust, is a good thing.
We all get tired of showing up—showing up to do ministry, showing up as a member of church or Bible study, carrying out our role as a parent or spouse, or simply being a Christian.
It was the week following the videos coming out of the beheading of 21 Christians by ISIS, which made our discussion about Jesus saying to turn the other cheek pretty tough to wholeheartedly embrace. It’s a difficult demand, and you’ll find there’s plenty more in the New Testament about not taking up arms and solving problems with violence, but rather living as part of the kingdom that is not of this world.