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.
Sympathy cards address the sadness death causes, but few acknowledge the rage. Yet that rage is real. It should be: death is the very opposite of God and all that he has created. We should hate it. Christ did.
"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.
8 Bible studies unpacking Jesus' great commission for our lives and churches.
Five studies on John’s Gospel, plus one study focusing on the Old Testament background needed to understand John (6 studies).
I’m reversing the order this week, since ‘for better or worse’ the issue of last week won’t go away, but tends to take the spotlight off our positive gospel work.
What we believe deep down always bubbles to the surface, whether in an idle word or in the way we behave. In particular, what we believe theologically will inevitably be expressed not only through what we say but in how we do things. And when we behave inconsistently with our stated convictions, it reveals the struggle that goes on within all of us below the surface—the struggle to believe the truth.
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.
I want to let you in on a little secret that exists among Christian pastors. We don’t like premarital counselling.