What Was Martin Luther’s Breakthrough?

What Was Martin Luther’s Breakthrough? – “On October 31 we will celebrate the 504th anniversary of the day Martin Luther made his 95 theses public. But what exactly was Luther’s breakthrough? What realization did he come to that set the Western world on a course that would break the stranglehold of Roman Catholic authorities, produce Bibles in languages people could read, raise literacy rates across Europe, and birth thousands of new Christian denominations?”

What If God Doesn’t Answer?

What If God Doesn’t Answer? – It’s a common question about prayer and it’s good to be reminded of the answers.

Ask God to Send Gospel Workers

Ask God to Send Gospel Workers – “Have you noticed the massive staff shortage across industries during this extended season of COVID? Workers are scarce. The same is true in the kingdom.”

 

What If Thoughts Are Evil?

What If Thoughts Are Evil? – “What if Satan celebrates the fact that many Christians view their thought lives as neutral?”

Explaining God to a Child

Explaining God to a Child – How to Give Age-Appropriate Answers

Fear Not

Fear Not – “My Maker knows me better than anyone, and is with me in my fear and anguish. The Bible is a living gift, offering truth and healing, correction and comfort; a balm for our sore and wounded souls.”

12 Reasons Our Marriages and Homes Are Vulnerable to the Enemy’s Attacks

12 Reasons Our Marriages and Homes Are Vulnerable to the Enemy’s Attacks – “ Here are some reasons for our vulnerability.”

 

How the Fall Affected Evangelism

How the Fall Affected Evangelism – “From the account of Adam and Eve’s Fall in the Garden, there are at least four reasons why believers won’t evangelize.”

I Was Discipled by . . . the Church

I Was Discipled by . . . the Church – “I was discipled by the church. My regular old normal church. I showed up and heard sermons. I attended classes and groups and get-togethers.”

Indulge, Diet, Repeat: Breaking the Cycle of Overeating

Indulge, Diet, Repeat: Breaking the Cycle of Overeating – “Forms of gluttony can tempt both men and women, whether obese or thin, sedentary or active.”

Growing in Godliness One Step at Time

Growing in Godliness One Step at Time – “We quickly lose heart when we expect every small habit to make massive changes immediately. When daily Bible reading or prayer is not producing instant results, we quit or throw more things in the microwave.”

 

How to Keep Christ in Christmas While Allowing Santa to Tag Along

How to Keep Christ in Christmas While Allowing Santa to Tag Along – “Let me share three ways to keep Jesus as the center (as well as the Bible’s teachings) while including Santa in your Christmas festivities.”

 

Three Kinds of Lost People Who Need to Be Found

Three Kinds of Lost People Who Need to Be Found – “Because of our sin, humans tend to hide from God. This is what Adam and Eve did in the garden, and it's what people do today. In our hiding, we become lost. Here are three kinds of lost people who need to be found.”

 

Why I Am a Creationist

Why I Am a Creationist – “We are profoundly convinced that we are at the centre of the universe, not God. We can’t cope with the idea that we might be bit players in someone else’s drama, rather than the star of our own story.”

Sharing the Gospel With a Post-Christian World: Insights From Thessalonica

Sharing the Gospel With a Post-Christian World: Insights From Thessalonica – “Here are four principles for how we can ‘reason, explain, and prove’ to a post-Christian, postmodern world how Jesus is the Christ.”

A Strange and Holy Calm: Holding Our Peace in an Age of Outbursts

A Strange and Holy Calm: Holding Our Peace in an Age of Outbursts – Here are some great biblical examples for such times.

Grief Is Not an Enemy of Faith

Grief Is Not an Enemy of Faith – “Some churchgoers seem to think grief must be a sign of weakness, as if our Christian hope should keep us from shedding tears. But the stiff upper lip owes more to the ancient Stoics than the ancient Christians.”

Why Does God Allow Us To Suffer?

Why Does God Allow Us To Suffer? – It’s a big question and here are four answers.

We’re Not At The Gates Yet

We’re Not At The Gates Yet – “Dear friend, we have not arrived at the gates of hell yet. While we live in trying times, we live with the same sense of confidence our brothers and sisters have lived with for millennia.”

Our Weekly Wedding Rehearsal

Our Weekly Wedding Rehearsal – “Have you ever thought of how every Lord’s Day is like a wedding rehearsal?”

Finding a Life of Gospel Boldness

Finding a Life of Gospel Boldness – “Fear with men is rooted in the fear of not being right with God.”

How God Helped Me Cope with Depression

How God Helped Me Cope with Depression – “All around us are people in silent pain because of something in their nagging past, their anguishing present, or their dreaded future.”

The Brevity and the Beauty

The Brevity and the Beauty – Chris Martin writes, “Spending the last year of my life imagining the last years of my life…”

Teenagers Sharing the Gospel: 21 Ways Kids Can Evangelize

Teenagers Sharing the Gospel: 21 Ways Kids Can Evangelize – “When it comes to teenagers sharing the Gospel, the ideas are boundless. Here are a few to get started.”

 

Don’t Lease Your Faith

Don’t Lease Your Faith – “Whatever you believe, you have to own it. You can’t lease it from anybody, you can’t rent it. If you borrowed it from someone else, now is a good time to see what truly belongs to you.”

Why Your Employer Can Deny Your ‘Religious’ Vaccine Exemption

Why Your Employer Can Deny Your ‘Religious’ Vaccine Exemption – “Treating religious exemptions like a wildcard to be played whenever we don’t like the rules cheapens the concept and encourages backlash.” This is an excellent read on this hot topic.

The Dreaded Answer

The Dreaded Answer – “We absolutely hate it. It’s vile and wretched and rarely the answer we want to hear. Yet, unfortunately, we often find it a regular part of life. What is this four-letter response that leads us to wince when we hear it? – Wait.”

For God So Warned the World: How He Keeps the Ones He Loves

For God So Warned the World: How He Keeps the Ones He Loves – “God, from the beginning, has graciously warned his people of the hidden and inevitable consequences of their rebellion.”

Why Christians Should Avoid Alarmism (And What To Do Instead)

Why Christians Should Avoid Alarmism (And What To Do Instead) – “Alarmism is a sign we’re dominated by fear in an unhealthy way.”

10 Truths About the Holy Spirit from Romans 8

10 Truths About the Holy Spirit from Romans 8 – “A quick count reveals that the word ‘spirit’ appears 22 times in Romans 8.” 

What Spooks You?

What Spooks You? – “Our world loves the dopamine hit of a good scare on Halloween. In contrast, some Christians paint the gospel and the world in Thomas Kinkade pastels, expunging all fear from it. Both are wrong.”

Funeral Pants

Funeral Pants – “We won’t need funeral pants in heaven.”

Social Media’s Anger Problem

Social Media’s Anger Problem – “Someone says something online that we find offensive, and we retaliate with a harsh word, a quick jab, or a joke at their expense. What we have done at that moment is allow them to steal our blessing of a quiet and gentle spirit to pay them back for their worthless words.”

 

Christ Struggled Against Impatience, Too

Christ Struggled Against Impatience, Too – “Jesus lived his entire earthly life without once grumbling in a slow-moving crowd, questioning God’s timing, or griping about the ignorance of his neighbors.”

How Do You Find Meaning in the Bible’s Narratives?

How Do You Find Meaning in the Bible’s Narratives? – “Biblical authors write stories for a reason. They are trying to communicate something to us. They want us to find it.”

Disrupt Your Dullness: Rekindling the Flame of Earnestness

Disrupt Your Dullness: Rekindling the Flame of Earnestness – “These saints have many qualities in common, but one is that, in the words of 2 Corinthians 8:7, they excel in earnestness.”

What I Had Wrong About Spiritual Growth

What I Had Wrong About Spiritual Growth – Here are three things that can help you grow bigger and deeper in your walk with the Lord.

Prayer for the Unconverted

Prayer for the Unconverted – “This little gem from Newman Hall—a poem that expresses in rhyme and meter the longing of many a Christian heart.” 

 

Jesus Spoke a Persian Word From the Cross

Jesus Spoke a Persian Word From the Cross – “Jesus’ words on the cross are coming at the very climax of redemptive history. And one of them is Persian. I find this fascinating. Iranians I’ve shared this with are struck as well.”

Live Like You’ll Live Forever

Live Like You’ll Live Forever – “How would the world change overnight if all people everywhere heard that a man had cured death? How many ages would pass celebrating the discovery? But as it stands, these same people bypass the knowledge of a true eternity because it is not the eternity they invented.”

A Theology of Disappointment

A Theology of Disappointment – “When you’re living in a broken world, sometimes believing and wanting the right things means you’ll be disappointed.”

Back to the Word

Back to the Word – “I’m just about ready to give up the rational conversational approach to social intercourse and to start quoting straight Bible to people. The further we go, the more reason isn’t working anymore. In these sputtering last gasps of the Enlightenment, language itself is deconstructing before our eyes.”

Sing When You’re Losing

Sing When You’re Losing – “We sing to worship the Lord, we sing to bolster one another, we sing to ‘push back the dark’ by declaring the victory of Christ. But, occasionally, we struggle to sing. Especially I think we struggle to sing—or at least I struggle to sing—when it feels like we’re losing.”

Eight Things Healthy Couples Don’t Do

Eight Things Healthy Couples Don’t Do – This is a good list to practice and remember.

Welcoming the Uncomfortable Work of God

Welcoming the Uncomfortable Work of God – “Surely nothing cuts harder against the grain of our natural, sinful humanity than to be humble before God and humble before our fellow man.”

What the Lord’s “Imminent” Return Means

What the Lord’s “Imminent” Return Means – This is a good perspective on the second coming of Christ.

Is Stress Making Me More Holy or More Sinful?

Is Stress Making Me More Holy or More Sinful? – “In the process of sanctification, it often feels like we are going backward.”

Identity vs. personhood

Identity vs. personhood – “Anyone over 40 could have a lot of fun with 249 genders, but it’s no laughing matter for young people trying to figure out who they are in a confused and confusing world. The tragedy is, some may be so intent on crafting identities that they’ve let go of personhood.”

5 Reasons We Don’t Pray

5 Reasons We Don’t Pray – “None of us feel as though we have ‘arrived’ when it comes to prayerful communion with our heavenly Father—but few of us do the searching work of pondering why that is.”

God Grieves With You

God Grieves With You “God is sympathetic, he’s not aloof or apathetic. He’s not standing on the sidelines of your life watching in, he’s in the game and grieving with you.”

 

More: What God Wants for You

More: What God Wants for You – “You may have some ‘respectable’ dreams in the world’s eyes, maybe even some respectable dreams in the eyes of the church. But they’re probably not good enough. God probably wants more for you.”

A Brief History of How Friendships Like Yours Can Change the World

A Brief History of How Friendships Like Yours Can Change the World – “God usually supplies his people with friendships to create the context for God-honoring cooperation. We see this story over and over throughout history.”

Why I Quit Praying for God to “Use Me”

Why I Quit Praying for God to “Use Me” – “Do I want to be used by God in this world? I think that’s the wrong question to be asking these days. Will I have the nerve to go beyond studying love of God and allow God to love me in such a way that I feel his love in this world?”

Silence is Not Violence

Silence is Not Violence – “What if the world needs fewer words, not more? What if silence is not violence and extra words are nothing more than virtue signaling?”

Sister, God Sees You

Sister, God Sees You – “Though God is named elsewhere in Scripture as the God who provides and the God who heals, Hagar named him simply as the God who sees.” 

The Prayer Stump

The Prayer Stump – “The interesting thing about Phil’s prayer stump creatures is that they are hidden. If you aren’t looking for them, they see you, but you don’t see them.”

 

A Pandemic of Disunity: How We Drive the World Away

A Pandemic of Disunity: How We Drive the World Away – “The increase in Christians bickering over non-essentials doesn’t seem to be a passing phase. And it injures our witness, inviting eye rolls and mockery from unbelievers and prompting believers to wonder whether church hurts more than it helps.”

Only One Gift

Only One Gift – “The Bible is the result of a loving Creator unpacking what is true for his creatures so that they will know how properly to make sense out of life.”

 

The Haunting Effects of Sin

The Haunting Effects of Sin – “Sin has a way of robbing us of peace and joy. It can weaken, embarrass, and grieve us years after the indiscretion.”

What If Beauty Doesn’t Last Forever?

What If Beauty Doesn’t Last Forever? – “Earthly beauty doesn’t last forever, though God will restore the Earth to perfect once again. For now, the dirt groans.”

7 Traits of False Teachers

7 Traits of False Teachers – “There is no such thing as a pure church this side of heaven. You will never find it. The wheat and the tares grow together.”

A Leaf Surrendered

A Leaf Surrendered – “The leaves arrest us with wonder; and then they fade and tremble, uncertain, before letting go of what once was, to accept what will be.”

Moderately Important Christianity

Moderately Important Christianity “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.”  –C. S. Lewis

 

Advice to Teachers and Parents When Guiding Teens on Instagram

Advice to Teachers and Parents When Guiding Teens on Instagram – “Millions of teenagers, mostly girls, have spiraled into symptoms of depression and despair after spending time on these platforms. The data seems to indicate the connection between depression and Instagram is not just a coincidence.”

The King and the Beast: Understanding Daniel 4

The King and the Beast: Understanding Daniel 4 – “This is neither a fairy tale nor a description of psychosis but a theological account of how God teaches the proud to praise him.”

 

How Satan Undoes a Mom: Spiritual War in Motherhood

How Satan Undoes a Mom: Spiritual War in Motherhood – “Satan and his ilk look for strategic places to attack, areas of vulnerability. Many of his favorites are common to all mankind, but there are some modes of attack that are particularly successful with Christian mothers.”

Cultivating a Gracious Climate in Your Church

Cultivating a Gracious Climate in Your Church – “A message of grace may attract people, but a culture of grace will keep them. What our churches need, not in exchange for a gospel message but as a witness to it, is a gospeled climate.”

Commercialising Church

Commercialising Church – “We have to accept that the end goal of our use of tools like Facebook, if they are genuinely helpful, is that they reach people where they are and they connect them to Jesus as he is to be found among his people the church.”

Not Easily Offended

Not Easily Offended – “What are some ways that we can learn not to be easily offended? How should we approach those who have offended us? How should we respond if we are approached by a brother or sister who raises an offense with us?”

Standing Tall: Saving Zacchaeus

Standing Tall: Saving Zacchaeus – “If you are a true believer in Jesus Christ then you know that you didn’t have to try to get God’s attention; he got yours. He sent Jesus to die to take the punishment for your sin and he made and orchestrated the divine appointment with you.”

Reckoning with the Message of Job

Reckoning with the Message of Job – “Until we feel the depth and horror of sin, much of the Bible will simply make no sense to us at all.”

From “What if” to “Even If”

From “What if” to “Even If” – This is a helpful, biblical perspective on the things that worry us.

The God of Your Troubled Heart

The God of Your Troubled Heart – “In your moments of greatest fear and doubt, you can trust that his mercy comes running to you.”

God’s not “They:” Divine Pronouns Matter

God’s not “They:” Divine Pronouns Matter – “God isn’t a force or an energy with no opinion of what we think about Him. God is a person, with specific characteristics. God is not a nebulous blob to be molded according to our wishes. God is infinite, but He is not indefinite.”

Why The Enemy Wants You To Think You’re Alone

Why The Enemy Wants You To Think You’re Alone – “When we draw in on ourselves in our anxieties and sin, we play right into the devil’s hand. The enemy’s tactics are simple: separate the struggling from the flock by enticing them to respond to their sin and anxiety on their own, with pride, and not Christ and community.”

Dressed in His Righteousness Alone: What Is Justification by Faith?

Dressed in His Righteousness Alone: What Is Justification by Faith? – “Justification and sanctification are inseparable yet distinct, like the heat and light of a fire. You cannot have one without the other; at the same time, you can distinguish one from the other. Good works, as Paul commends them, are done in our sanctification, but they cannot contribute to our justification. If they do, justification is no longer by faith alone.”

Leaving a Legacy of Bible Reading

Leaving a Legacy of Bible Reading – “As we lead children into the Word, the best way for them to actually become interested is by seeing us already invested.”

Can Anything Mend Our Conflict? How Cynicism Dies in a Divided Church

Can Anything Mend Our Conflict? How Cynicism Dies in a Divided Church – “When it comes to cultivating priceless Christian harmony, or wreaking destructive Christian dissonance, the greatest causal factor, the one the New Testament far and away addresses more than any other, is love.”

Carl Trueman and the Evangelical Mind

Carl Trueman and the Evangelical Mind – “God hardly needs our academic contributions to build the Kingdom. But from Paul’s witness at Mars Hill through today, there have always been Christian voices defending gospel truths in the groves of academe. To whatever extent we can, let’s carry on that witness in our generation.”

If I (We) Had Three Months to Live

If I (We) Had Three Months to Live – “Thank you Jesus for setting an expiration date on all cancer, heart disease, sin, evil, and brokenness. Hasten that Day.”

 

3 Unthievable Treasures

3 Unthievable Treasures – “Almost anything we treasure—from people to possessions to abilities—can vanish in an instant. However, Scripture does teach us about a few precious treasures that no thief, con man, or devil can ever take away.”

Preparing to Meet Jesus

Preparing to Meet Jesus – “Thank you for those who have come before us and are steadfast in their faith in spite of weary bodies. I pray that I will be well prepared when I see my Savior face to face.”

How Do We ‘Dwell in the Shelter of the Most High’?

How Do We ‘Dwell in the Shelter of the Most High’? – “Dwelling in the shadow of the Almighty and abiding in the shelter of the Most High means trusting implicitly in the love of God, the power of God, to give you everything you need to do his will and glorify his name, whether you live or die.” 

See the Evidence of Scripture

See the Evidence of Scripture – “We are prejudiced against the God of the Bible because we know that if he really exists, and if he entered the world through Jesus Christ, our lives have to change.”

Why God Saved You

Why God Saved You – “God saves people for a purpose. Salvation in Christ begins a life spent growing into being like him and serving him faithfully. God forms Christians into Christ’s character and image.”

Our Father Almighty

Our Father Almighty – “If God turned the cross from an instrument of torture and death to an instrument of redemption and new life, can he not deal with your problems?”

 

The Unpopular Key to Biblical Wisdom

The Unpopular Key to Biblical Wisdom – “Why do so many who want wisdom struggle to find it? Solomon can tell us, but his answer might be hard to swallow.”

No Such Thing as Too Hard Music

No Such Thing as Too Hard Music – “Dear saint, let us both look at the music, and play the next note, whatever the cost. One day soon we shall hear the glorious song.”

Every Other Way Leads to Death: Why We Keep Sharing Christ

Every Other Way Leads to Death: Why We Keep Sharing Christ – “If we believe our King, we cannot sit silently. If we care for souls, we cannot grow mute. If we love our God’s glory, we must speak. We cannot watch family, friends, and even enemies pass by with indifference.”

How to Despair Well

How to Despair Well – “The question in David’s heart in Psalm 13 is the question in the hearts of many in times of testing: How long, Lord? Have you forgotten us? Have you left us? When will this end? Will it ever stop?”

Pray for Those in Authority

Pray for Those in Authority – “We are commanded in Scripture to pray for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2) and this command should be taken seriously.”

We All Have the Power of Caligula Now

We All Have the Power of Caligula Now – “So a tool created to help give you justification, identity, meaning, value, and belonging cannot fulfill its promise. It only leaves you worse off than before: depressed and inadequate, anxious and addicted.”

Expressive Individualism: Our Twenty-First Century American Ba’al

Expressive Individualism: Our Twenty-First Century American Ba’al – “Westerners in general, and Americans in particular, have learned to live life without any real reference to God.”

 

The Depressing Dead End of ‘Your Truth’

The Depressing Dead End of ‘Your Truth’ – In her lifetime-achievement-award acceptance speech at the 2018 Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey said, “What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.”

 

The Most Important Thing

The Most Important Thing – “What if, in your hurry and your worry about so many little things, you actually missed the most important thing?”

Five Small Group Values That Encourage Spiritual Growth

Five Small Group Values That Encourage Spiritual Growth – “Here are five small group values that influence spiritual growth.”

The Not-So-Surprising Reason Kids Grow up to Be Atheists

The Not-So-Surprising Reason Kids Grow up to Be Atheists – “A new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science shows that the number one predictive factor for an American child becoming an atheist is growing up in a home with little religion or religious activity.”

Canaries and Coal Mines

Canaries and Coal Mines – “Any physical thing that appears to be life-giving is a delusion. Here’s why.”

The Verse That Helped Me Become a More Patient Parent

The Verse That Helped Me Become a More Patient Parent – “Out of love for others, being patient should not be an imposition.”

God Tells Us How to Know Him

God Tells Us How to Know Him – “God has given his people enough revelation of himself that we are able to trust and obey him.”

The Horocruxes of Sexual Sin

The Horocruxes of Sexual Sin – “The voice of sexual temptation has a thousand answers to our rebuffs. We need a louder, clearer voice of warning than the persistent whine of temptation.”

Your Muslim Neighbors Are Not Monolithic

Your Muslim Neighbors Are Not Monolithic – “For those working among folk Muslims, familiarity with orthodox Islamic teaching is helpful only as it describes some of the superficial layers of their beliefs.”

Avoid the “Us vs. Them” Trap

Avoid the “Us vs. Them” Trap – “Everywhere you turn today, people are split into to two groups: us vs. them. Good guys vs. bad guys. Conservatives vs. Liberals. Vaxxers vs. Anti-vaxxers. Tolerant vs. Intolerant. CNN vs. Fox News. You’re either with us or against us; there is no third option.” 

You Won’t Improve on This Definition of “Worldliness”

You Won’t Improve on This Definition of “Worldliness” – It really is pretty good.

Lesson from Sardis: Finish What You Started

Lesson from Sardis: Finish What You Started – “If you’ve been a Christian for some time, you’ve probably experienced ups and downs in your walk with God—spiritual highs, but also spiritual lows. That’s totally normal. What’s most important is, what do you do in those low times?”

Think Little

Think Little – “Thinking Little is what Jesus did when he spent his first thirty years in quiet, obscurity, obeying his parents in Nazareth. It’s why he spent his three-year ministry training 12 disciples, and confined himself to a small area, in order to change the world.”

He Must Really Love Us

He Must Really Love Us – “One oddly encouraging thing about the Gospels is seeing just how dense Jesus’ disciples were. They are consistently and persistently slow on the uptake.” 

Putting Our Contentment to the Test

Putting Our Contentment to the Test – “Our strength will fail us, our determination will waver, and our efforts will be futile unless we rest in his truth that though we are sinful and broken, our identity as believers is in Christ alone.”

The God of Your Troubled Heart

The God of Your Troubled Heart – “Jesus knows your heart. He knows your doubts and fears. Tell him. He already knows. And, in your moments of greatest fear and doubt, you can trust that his mercy comes running to you.”

How Studying the Bible Restores the Soul

How Studying the Bible Restores the Soul – “I find no better explanation of what I have learned than the words of Psalm 19.”

Not Easily Offended

Not Easily Offended – “People in the church are so easily offended that they are ready to write off another believer over the most insignificantly offensive word or actions. This betrays the fact that we have not learned to bear long with one another and to forgive one another.”

 

Return, O Wanderer: An Open Letter

Return, O Wanderer: An Open Letter – “If Scripture considers it a judgment for a local church assembly to be snuffed out, then why would any individual casually exclude himself from the church—in effect, replicating that kind of judgment on a personal level?”

Community Can Rescue Us from the Brink

Community Can Rescue Us from the Brink – “In the midst of a historic suicide epidemic, we need connection—with each other and with our Creator—because autonomy is a dead end.”

Moms Can Make Disciples

Moms Can Make Disciples – “Disciple-making is not bound to any particular place or program; it is bound to relationship.”

The Weight and Wound of the Word

The Weight and Wound of the Word – “The Bible is miraculously cohesive, but it is not uniform. Different portions were given for different purposes; distinct authors at distinct moments to distinct audiences.”

That Are Not of This Fold

That Are Not of This Fold – “The hardest to reach demographics and people groups have and will continue to surrender a remnant at the power of the shepherd’s voice. The flock – in all its unexpected diversity – will be complete.”

Nobody’s Perfect (Yet)

Nobody’s Perfect (Yet) – “As soon as mankind fell in the Garden of Eden, human beings lost any means of recognizing perfection. The standard was simply unattainable. But that all changed about 2,000 years ago.”

“No Matter How Many Promises…”

“No Matter How Many Promises…” – “You have promised to redeem a family for yourself, and Bride for Jesus, from every people group, nation, and language. You have promised to eradicate all evil and usher in the new heaven and new earth at Jesus’ return.”

 

Victory Through Suffering: The True Meaning of Philippians 4:13

Victory Through Suffering: The True Meaning of Philippians 4:13 – “Paul was at peace with his circumstances because he didn’t rest his hope on them, but on God.”

 

Prayer Tips: For What Should We Pray?

Prayer Tips: For What Should We Pray? – “Two of some of the biggest questions that many Christians ask relate to prayer. On one hand, Christians want to know how they should pray. On the other hand, they want to know what they should be praying for.”

 

The Lord Gave and Took Away: Lessons on Suffering from Job

The Lord Gave and Took Away: Lessons on Suffering from Job – “How will you respond to suffering? Will you see it as a sign that God has abandoned you? Will you curse God and walk away, convinced that he doesn’t exist or doesn’t care? Or will you bless God even in great pain?

Four Lies That Lead to Lazy

Four Lies That Lead to Lazy – “An ordinary man becomes a sluggard one small surrender at a time.”

More Than This Life Only

More Than This Life Only – “Normally, I don’t think about heaven too much. Or resurrection. Not when life is sailing on with ease like a well-oiled machine. But the hard days, that’s different. Heaven presses closer to my thoughts. The resurrection feels more important.”

 

Live Not by Outrage

Live Not by Outrage – “Too few Christians are thinking critically about the consequences of technology: how constant, never-ending access to information, untethered from accountability and community, might be training our spirits in a way that is antithetical to the discipline of taking every thought captive to the mind of Christ.”

“Just Say No”? 3 Practical Ways to Resist Temptation

“Just Say No”? 3 Practical Ways to Resist Temptation – “With all due respect to former First Lady Nancy Reagan, resisting temptation in the Christian life is much more nuanced and challenging than the popular advertising slogan of the 1980s, ‘Just Say No.'”

The Clear and Present Danger of Social Media Out of Control

The Clear and Present Danger of Social Media Out of Control – “Christians must think seriously about technology and understand that technology is a theological issue. A failure to confront the rival religion of technology is just another form of unfaithfulness.”

Don’t Sin To Fix Sin

Don’t Sin To Fix Sin – “You don’t want to multiply sin. It can never be good to sin in a bid to fix sin. Whatever problem we may be faced with, however messy and difficult to untangle, the solution to it is not further sin.”

Profanity and the Gospel

Profanity and the Gospel – “Profanity is becoming more and more mainstream, but its constant use defiles us more than most people realize. Cursing only has one practical use. The act of being boorish has a way of waking people up when they have stopped paying attention.”

God-Plus = God-Less

God-Plus = God-Less – “We may not abandon the true God entirely. But millions of Christians clearly think that they can be married to God, while having a mistress or two, or ten, off to the side.”

5 Productivity Lies Christians Must Avoid

5 Productivity Lies Christians Must Avoid – “Who doesn’t want to be more productive with their time? But Christians must be careful that in pursuing efficiency we don’t fall for these five lies of productivity.”

Encouragement for Beginners: How to Strengthen a Soul in God

Encouragement for Beginners: How to Strengthen a Soul in God – “A scarcity of encouragement can become a crisis for any soul. Can you remember a time you really needed encouragement but didn’t receive it?”

The WHO Has Approved the First Ever Malaria Vaccine, Which Could Save Tens of Thousands

The WHO Has Approved the First Ever Malaria Vaccine, Which Could Save Tens of Thousands – “The world’s first malaria vaccine has been approved for distribution. Malaria is the oldest known infectious disease, responsible for killing around half a million people every year — mostly children in sub-Saharan Africa.”

 

God’s Kindness and Love Keep Appearing

God’s Kindness and Love Keep Appearing – “Weakness gains steady momentum, weariness kind of creeps up on us—all of a sudden, we glance at the dashboard of our souls, and we see our heart-gage is approaching empty.”

The Gift Of Singleness

The Gift Of Singleness – “Paul refers to his singleness as a gift and an opportunity to focus on pleasing the Lord. A gift. Not a disease. An opportunity. Not a failure.”

Bitter Roots

Bitter Roots – “Bitter roots do not belong in clean hearts.”

Confront Hypocrites, But Don’t Cancel Them

Confront Hypocrites, But Don’t Cancel Them – “In several key ways, Matthew 23 teaches us through three lessons that Jesus—not headlines—should shape our response to hypocrisy.”

Dear Entrepreneur

Dear Entrepreneur – “Solomon identifies four areas of life that disappoint us, not despite our successes but because of them. Every entrepreneur today needs to keep a close eye on each of these four areas.”

The “Bad Math” of Derailing Spiritually

The “Bad Math” of Derailing Spiritually – “Everything minus Jesus equals nothing, and Jesus plus nothing equals everything.”

Censorship Isn’t Christians’ Biggest Social Media Problem

Censorship Isn’t Christians’ Biggest Social Media Problem – “A lot of Christians are concerned about social media censorship. Too few are concerned about social media discipleship. This isn’t surprising. We are more interested in the ways we can form the world than we are with the ways the world is forming us.”

Every Father’s Calling: How to Nurture and Admonish

Every Father’s Calling: How to Nurture and Admonish – “Ephesians 6:4 gives us a command to shape all our attempts to form our children into those who love the Lord and desire to serve him all their days.”

5 Pending Supreme Court Cases Christians Should Know About

5 Pending Supreme Court Cases Christians Should Know About – “The U.S. Supreme Court’s fall term opens this week with a number of cases that are of interest to Christians. Here are five specific cases you should know about that deal with abortion or religious liberty.”

“Carry a Candle

“Carry a Candle – “Our very finite and fragile ability to love individuals around us is a gift. And it is also a candle. A profound flicker of light in this hard place. I understood that I needed to shelter it.”

Real Rest Takes Hard Work

Real Rest Takes Hard Work – “True soul rest must constantly reject frantic activity in favor of life rhythms that restore our minds and hearts by remembering the reality of God’s grace.”

The Renewal of the Body: When Shame and Weakness Give Way to Glory and Power

The Renewal of the Body: When Shame and Weakness Give Way to Glory and Power – “The Corinthians had trouble imagining how the resurrection of the body is possible — or even desirable. They suffered from a poor imagination.”

You’re Never “Just” A Church Member

You’re Never “Just” A Church Member – “I think this is one of the reasons why the Apostle Paul ends some of his letters by talking about a bunch of people we’ve never heard of. He wants to remind us that kingdom work is accomplished by ordinary people.”

Going Home

Going Home – “As surely as I know no earthly location is completely home, I also know God put in our hearts a desire for home.”

 

New Life Begins at the Empty Tomb

New Life Begins at the Empty Tomb – “Living through a pandemic has left many people wondering where life is headed. There is no question: it leads to the grave. Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re going to die eventually—but our story doesn’t have to end there.”

 

Unpacking Spiritual Fatherhood

Unpacking Spiritual Fatherhood – “To examine the role a spiritual father plays, we can look to Paul’s relationship with Timothy. In Scripture, we see that…”

How Personal Policies Can Help You Fight Decision Fatigue

How Personal Policies Can Help You Fight Decision Fatigue – “The power of personal policies is that they relieve you of exerting excess energy in making small choices. Personal policies minimize decision fatigue.”

Ever Heard of the Blackout Challenge?

Ever Heard of the Blackout Challenge? – “How Social Media Is Changing Peer Pressure and What to Do About It.”

The Man of Lawlessness

The Man of Lawlessness – “Perhaps you’ve heard of the Man of Lawlessness, otherwise known as the lawless one, who ‘opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God’ (2 Thess 2:4).” 

The Church as a Radical Welcoming Community

The Church as a Radical Welcoming Community – “So next time you spend time with your church family, look for someone different to you to talk to. Speak to someone at least a decade older or younger than you, someone from a very different culture, someone with a very different personality.”

“Un-Snatch-able” Friends, Let’s Hear/Heed Jesus’ Voice

“Un-Snatch-able” Friends, Let’s Hear/Heed Jesus’ Voice – “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” Jn. 10:27-28

 

The Gentleness of God

The Gentleness of God – “He is indeed great and terrible, to be feared above all other gods; but this only serves to accentuate the wonder of his gentleness and deepen our loving reverence for him.”

The Sluggard in Me: Four Lies That Lead to Lazy

The Sluggard in Me: Four Lies That Lead to Lazy – “The sluggard sees his own work as the hardest work, his own excuses as the best excuses, his own diversions as the most reasonable diversions.”

An Earnest Love

An Earnest Love – “We are always bickering over something. Maybe it’s high time to express earnest love for those of whom we disagree? Perhaps it’s time to lay down our preferences, lay down our desires, lay down our egos and love each other—even in our disagreements. 

Prayer as Reverent Conversation

Prayer as Reverent Conversation – “God does not require that we grovel in self-loathing or jump through religious hoops to talk to him, but this does not mean we speak to him as if he is not the perfectly holy Lord of All.”

Devotional Minimalism that Sparks Joy

Devotional Minimalism that Sparks Joy – “We fill our lives with stuff that is meant to produce joy, but the Bible tells us that we only need one thing to live fulfilled lives: a true devotion to God.”

Ingredients for a Theology of Feasting

Ingredients for a Theology of Feasting – “The difference between unholy and holy feasting is not what’s on the table, but what’s in the mind and in the heart.”

How Our Father Wants Us to Experience Him

How Our Father Wants Us to Experience Him – “In this one chapter (Romans 15) of 1169 in the Bible, you tell us you are…

How Do We Stay Joyful when Life Feels Heavy?

How Do We Stay Joyful when Life Feels Heavy? – “As Christians, we need a reliable source of refreshing joy—like water that never runs dry, no matter how dire the circumstance. Consider three places to find joy today.”

 

All Mission Should End in Local Church

All Mission Should End in Local Church – “At the end of the day, all mission should be working to this end: the planting of a biblical church. If you are doing evangelism or running mission with no intent of building a local church, I will go as far as to say you are doing it wrong.”

3 Reasons People Don’t Believe in Christmas

3 Reasons People Don’t Believe in Christmas – “Here are three reasons they might have for thinking Christmas is unbelievable.”

How Do We Prepare for the Second Coming?

How Do We Prepare for the Second Coming? – “One way to summarize our preparation for the second coming is to say that there are three impulses that help us be ready.”

How to Help Children Build a Healthy Body Image

How to Help Children Build a Healthy Body Image – “In a society overflowing with negative messages about physical appearance and personal worth, children’s body image is an urgent issue. Children need to know God made their bodies and made them special.”

Attend to the Eternities amid the Noise of the News

Attend to the Eternities amid the Noise of the News – “Are we grieving over what grieves God and rejoicing over what brings him joy? Or have we become emotionally invested in trivia while growing apathetic about matters of real import?”

One-to-One Bible study

One-to-One Bible study – “Recently I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how uniquely productive it’s been to go through a Bible study in a very small group—just one other person.”