True Worshippers, Not “Great Worship”

True Worshippers, Not “Great Worship” – “Our boast is in Jesus. Our rest is in the Gospel. Our hope is in you. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ exalted and worthy name.”

 

No Forgiveness

No Forgiveness – “What would a world without forgiveness look like?”

Way More Hope Than Fear

Way More Hope Than Fear – “Lord Jesus, though the eradication of all evil will require your return, you have already destroyed the devil’s pernicious work by your finished work on the cross. Satan’s crushed head and broken dominion bring …”

Laboring a Few Days for Christ: How Great Loves Make Burdens Light

Laboring a Few Days for Christ: How Great Loves Make Burdens Light – “With all this talk of how our love for Christ strengthens us to labor and suffer with joy, we must remember how our love for Christ grows: by beholding him and his love for us.”

10 Big Things Jesus Said Which We Keep Forgetting

10 Big Things Jesus Said Which We Keep Forgetting – Sometimes we have a tendency to “mute” certain things Jesus said.

What a World Ours Will Be

What a World Ours Will Be – “God did not create the material universe, including our physical bodies, to be thrown away at the end of this age.”

On Boiling Goats

On Boiling Goats – If you’re reading through the whole Bible you’ll find some  unusual verses. Why are we prohibited from “boiling goats in their mother’s milk”?

Acts: The World’s Salvation Cannot be Stopped

Acts: The World’s Salvation Cannot be Stopped – “Each of the book’s seven sections highlights a particular obstacle or state of affairs that threatens the fledgling Jesus movement. And the dramatic tension and climax of each section shows the movement overcoming the obstacle in such a way as to precipitate even further growth. This movement simply cannot be stopped.”

Not A Trophy, A Gift

Not A Trophy, A Gift – “One of the negatives of social media is the manner in which it has encouraged us to think of life as a performance: we are all stars in our own reality TV show now.”

Why Are Young Adults Increasingly Identifying as Bisexual?

Why Are Young Adults Increasingly Identifying as Bisexual? – “Bisexuality as a form of social contagion has numerous and often self-reinforcing causes.”

What’s the Unforgivable Sin?

What’s the Unforgivable Sin? – “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable, not because God is unwilling to forgive but because the repentance that is the necessary precondition for God’s forgiveness is absent.”

Until Christ Be Sweet, Sin Will Not Be Bitter

Until Christ Be Sweet, Sin Will Not Be Bitter – The order can be reversed sometimes too and the truth of both remains.

Swinging the Pendulum Too Far

Swinging the Pendulum Too Far – The Equality Act is the most significant threat to religious liberty in a generation.

No Condemnation

No Condemnation – “God’s motivation for convicting you is that he loves you and wants to help you mature. Satan’s motivation for condemning you is that he hates you and wants to make you miserable.”

What a World Ours Will Be: Why the Universe Longs to Be New

What a World Ours Will Be: Why the Universe Longs to Be New

Should I Ever Pursue My Dreams?

Should I Ever Pursue My Dreams? – “We should pour our energy into becoming radically God-centered people, radically Christ-exalting people.”

The Bible’s Story on a Kid’s Napkin

The Bible’s Story on a Kid’s Napkin – “From beginning to end and for his glory, God is bringing the world to peace with himself under King Jesus.”

A Spectacle Unto Angels

A Spectacle Unto Angels – “They have departed. Their eyes behold the King, face to face, in all His beauty—how could they turn away? This is all true. Yet it does not mean the departed saints go about their living blinded to the happenings of the earth, deaf to our murmurings and cries.”

Pray Because God Is Sovereign

Pray Because God Is Sovereign – “If seeing and embracing the sovereignty of God causes us to pray less, we have not yet understood his sovereignty, or prayer.”

Head Coverings, Custom, and Proper Decorum

Head Coverings, Custom, and Proper Decorum – “When tempted to skip over certain passages, we must remind ourselves that we’re dealing with the Word of God.”

9 Things You Should Know About Pollution

9 Things You Should Know About Pollution – It is often discussed and lamented. Here are nine things you really should know.

News as Spiritual Deformation

News as Spiritual Deformation – “People’s preferred news source seems to be the most powerful voice in their lives. It tells them what to believe about who they are, the problems of the world, who is at fault, and what to do about it. The news has become a lens through which the Bible, the Christian faith, and the local church is interpreted and evaluated.”

Creative Ways to Teach Kids About Race

Creative Ways to Teach Kids About Race – “We have to look in the mirror and ask the hard questions about what we truly believe about our neighbor and how what we believe is spilling out of us and onto our kids.”

What Is Hell?

What Is Hell? – “There is no biblical concept more grim or terror-invoking than the idea of hell. It is so unpopular with us that few would give credence to it at all except that it comes to us from the teaching of Christ Himself.” 

The Gospel of Church Government

The Gospel of Church Government – “Democracy doesn’t work when it’s transferred to spiritual things. Democracy in the church would be a disaster. That’s what you’d call sheep without their shepherd, scattered and defenseless. In fact, spiritually speaking, democracy is what we need saving from! Christ came to save us from democracy.”

Never a Christ-Absent Fire

Never a Christ-Absent Fire – “No matter the temptations, trials, or traumas of 2021—Jesus is with us and for us. This side of the new heaven and new earth, life won’t be crisis free. But it will never be Christ-absent. We’ll never experience a Christ-less fire, or day.”

The Way to God

The Way to God – “Jesus was worshipped as God, controlled nature as God, forgave sins as God, did miracles as God, and lived perfectly as God. Jesus is the truth about God.”

Five Ideas to Manage Your Kids’ Screen Time in a Pandemic

Five Ideas to Manage Your Kids’ Screen Time in a Pandemic – “Qustodio, a monitoring device that tracks screen time reports that kids’ screen time has increased 100 percent since the COVID-19 outbreak started. One dad noted that his son played video games 40 hours in a single week. That’s a full-time job.”

Death Leads to the Good Life

Death Leads to the Good Life – “It is one of the foundational paradoxes of grace. You cannot understand God’s work of redemption if you don’t pursue this theological paradox: Death leads to life.”

Four Ways to Kill a Movement

Four Ways to Kill a Movement – “While we may be more aware of characteristics of movements, I want to share four ways to kill a movement, which I believe are reasons why Christianity struggles to see gospel movements in the West.”

Protected from False Teaching

Protected from False Teaching – “Joyful faith in the all-governing providence of God is like a spiritual inoculation.”

23 Reasons Why Gathering for Corporate Worship is Loving

23 Reasons Why Gathering for Corporate Worship is Loving – “As the New Testament church worships together, there is much-needed love extended inward and outward by the grace of God, for the glory of God.”

How Do You Want to Be Remembered?

How Do You Want to Be Remembered? – “I can’t help but reflect on my own life when attending these funerals. I wonder what people would say about me at my funeral. Would people talk about how many long hours I worked? Would they talk about how many comic books I had amassed? More importantly, would anyone mention that I was a Christian?”

Real Churches Commune with Dead Saints

Real Churches Commune with Dead Saints – “There are some connections that even death cannot sever.”

Evangelicals in America: The Stats May Surprise You

Evangelicals in America: The Stats May Surprise You – “Theologically orthodox and active evangelicals may be the true remnant inside the larger movement.”

Slavery Old and New: Comparing Early America with Biblical Times

Slavery Old and New: Comparing Early America with Biblical Times – Thomas Kidd takes on a tough subject. “The Old and New Testaments do forbid practices that stood at the heart of the institution of slavery.”

This Week’s Dress Code

This Week’s Dress Code – “As for our ‘clothing’ choices, thank you that these grace-garments never go out of style, need altering, replacing, or updating…”

Who Wrote the Bible?

Who Wrote the Bible? – “Human authors wrote the Bible, and God wrote the Bible through the human authors. They actually held the quill that moved across the parchment, but what they wrote was ultimately what God wanted written.”

 

5 Ways You Shouldn’t Be Like Jesus

5 Ways You Shouldn’t Be Like Jesus – “There are at least five ways we shouldn’t try to follow Jesus’ example—at least not exactly and without acknowledging Jesus’ uniqueness.”

Reading the Fine Print in the Gospel

Reading the Fine Print in the Gospel “You will not find any fine print or fast talk in God’s Word.” Unlike the ads we see that include the disclaimer “results may vary”.

Sustained Through the Hardest Suffering

Sustained Through the Hardest Suffering – “The confidence of a joyful future breaks the power of fear and greed and anger and self-pity.”

Semler’s ‘Preacher’s Kid’ and the Limits of Inclusion

Semler’s ‘Preacher’s Kid’ and the Limits of Inclusion – “By his wounds, ours can be healed. That’s the sad irony of an artist denying Christ while declaring her music Christian. It’s like making peace with pain while denying the medicine.”

Blessings We Get At Salvation – Inheritance and Security

Blessings We Get At Salvation – Inheritance and Security – “What inheritance do I have as a believer?”

Jesus Gives Peace

Jesus Gives Peace – “Our lives never depend on making the right choice, but trusting the only Savior, Shepherd, and Sovereign. That is you, Jesus. Help us. Grant us peace…”

 

‘Hallowed Be Your Name’

‘Hallowed Be Your Name’ – The Greatest Prayer in All the World

Our God Is a Teacher at Heart

Our God Is a Teacher at Heart – “How different is our world and history, and our own lives, and our hope for days to come, because our God is a teacher at heart.”

The FAQs: What You Should Know About the Pro-LGBTQ Equality Act

The FAQs: What You Should Know About the Pro-LGBTQ Equality Act – “Next week the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the radical Equality Act. The bill would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to “prohibit discrimination” on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.”

What You Need to Know about the Arrest of Pastor James Coates

What You Need to Know about the Arrest of Pastor James Coates – “Canadians who support religious freedom should be concerned about this case: the arrest of a Canadian pastor in connection to religious practice creates an unsettling precedent.”

3 Values That Drive Social Media

3 Values That Drive Social Media – “When it comes down to it, there are three foundational values of a social media economy. These values do exactly what values do in any other context: they determine what is valuable. The three foundational values of social media are...”

The Pain of Pretended Omniscience

The Pain of Pretended Omniscience – “In this post I want to explore one element of this phenomenon – the pain of pretended omniscience when it comes to social media, the sense of knowing too much about matters we can do nothing to change, and some of the anxieties and problems this can present us with emotionally and spiritually.”

Dried Play-Doh

Dried Play-Doh – “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” 2 Cor. 4:7

The Miraculous Ministry of Jesus

The Miraculous Ministry of Jesus – “The ministry of Jesus is miraculous. It was miraculous from the beginning, being born of the virgin Mary. It was miraculous at the end, being raised from the dead on the third day. And it was miraculous every moment in between.”

Seeing Kingdom Light in Cultural Dark

Seeing Kingdom Light in Cultural Dark – With events of the last year in our country, it’s easy to lean toward despair. However, God is still doing great things.

What Is the Meaning of Life?

What Is the Meaning of Life? – “The meaning of life is to know God, and to enjoy God, and to reflect some of the beauty of God as we know him in Christ.”

Let’s Talk: People Pleasing

Let’s Talk: People Pleasing – “It’s not a bad thing to want to please others. So when do we cross a line into sinful people-pleasing?”

‘Adieu, Adieu, My Brother’ – John Calvin and the Five Martyrs of Lyons

‘Adieu, Adieu, My Brother’ – John Calvin and the Five Martyrs of Lyons – “Keep this sentence in mind, that he who dwells in you is stronger than the world.”

The Work Of The Wilderness

The Work Of The Wilderness – “The road to maturity is never an easy one, but God loves his children too much to deliver them from the path that leads to such a good destination.”

Burn Long Not Just Hot

Burn Long Not Just Hot – “Passion for Christ is not exclusively burning hot; it’s also burning long. The endurance of a long, warm flame is a virtue too easily undervalued.”

Am I Really a Christian? Lessons from John Owen on Assurance

Am I Really a Christian? Lessons from John Owen on Assurance – Owen offers good, practical encouragements.

Self-Talk and Sanctification

Self-Talk and Sanctification – “Who do you sound like when you talk to you? I’m specifically referring to the tone of voice in your head. Does it sound like Jesus? Or does it sound more like a harsh drill sergeant, a hard-to-please father, or a hypercritical, disappointed mother?”

Martin Luther’s Death and Legacy

Martin Luther’s Death and Legacy – “Luther preached Christ, and Him crucified. And when his congregation heard Luther preach, they did not see Luther but instead saw Christ and Him Crucified. That is Luther’s legacy.”

10 Things You Should Know about the African Church

10 Things You Should Know about the African Church – “It is said that the number of Christians in Africa at the beginning of the twentieth century was about 9 million and that by the end of the twentieth century it was about 380 million.”

40 Days of Lingering in Jesus’ Presence

40 Days of Lingering in Jesus’ Presence – “Christians around the world celebrate today as Ash Wednesday—the beginning of the 40-day season of Lent, which culminates with the explosive celebration and joy of Easter Sunday.”

Sustained Through the Hardest Suffering

Sustained Through the Hardest Suffering – “The confidence of a joyful future breaks the power of fear and greed and anger and self-pity.”

How Do I Know You?

How Do I Know You? – “Paul wants his readers to understand that part of being a new creation in Christ is a change in how we view others. However, we’re so used to seeing people from the world’s perspective that it can be difficult to change.”

Do You Observe Lent?

Do You Observe Lent? – “As we approach Holy Week, where we remember the sacrifice, suffering, and resurrection of our Savior, it’s good to give ourselves to humble and thankful mourning.”

The Long View

The Long View – “God is straightening the church through COVID braces. Shouldn’t my prayers be weighted toward the long view of his straightening over the short-view of escaping the bracing effects of God’s spiritual adjustment?”

6 Actions Every Christian Should Take in Light of Jesus’ Return

6 Actions Every Christian Should Take in Light of Jesus’ Return – “How should we live in light of Jesus’ return? Here are six actions to take from the book of James.”

‘I Have a Boring Testimony!’ No, You Don’t.

‘I Have a Boring Testimony!’ No, You Don’t. – “We easily misunderstand the seriousness of every sin. Those who downplay an early conversion, and those who exalt a dramatic conversion, are highlighting the wrong thing.”

The Blessing of a Bothered Conscience

The Blessing of a Bothered Conscience – “Christ’s work for you and his cleansing blood, we must listen to and work to obey our conscience when it accuses us before God and his Law.”

Bring Your Sin into the Light

Bring Your Sin into the Light – “Solitude is dangerous because it leaves us alone with our sin.”

Why We Must Think Worldviewishly

Why We Must Think Worldviewishly – “The concept of a worldview is an intellectual key to open new levels of understanding for apologetics and social critique especially, but it applies to all aspects of the intellectual life.”

What Satan Means for Evil: Four Ways God Is Defeating the Devil

What Satan Means for Evil: Four Ways God Is Defeating the Devil – “In all his acts, Satan is subject to God’s overruling and guiding providence.”

Don’t Fill Every Open Moment with Content

Don’t Fill Every Open Moment with Content – “Recognize that stillness is vital for your spiritual health in an over-stimulated age, even if it means missing out on some quality content.”

Don’t Run to the Hills!

Don’t Run to the Hills! – “Lifting their eyes, these exhausted pilgrims faced a choice. Would they settle for false worship in the hills with its promise of immediate relief? Or would they remain on the road and trust that God would be faithful to bring them to their destination?”

Just Keep Going

Just Keep Going – “A wise pastor used to say anything good done in this world is done by tired people. Nothing worthy moves forward on momentum alone. It takes sustained effort over a long period of time.”

Forsake Your Favorite Excuse: How Christ Frees Us to Own Our Sin

Forsake Your Favorite Excuse: How Christ Frees Us to Own Our Sin – “Christians alone can look our sin square in the face and own it, confess it, and apologize for it, because we alone know a Savior who died to forgive it.”

Why Is Baptism Important?

Why Is Baptism Important? – “In baptism, we dramatically portray what happened spiritually when we received Christ.”

Our King Converts the Lost

Our King Converts the Lost – “No one is too lost.”

Uprooting Evil in the Fields We Know

Uprooting Evil in the Fields We Know – “We are to use all of the strength we have in the times we have been placed to uproot evil on our little plot of earth, in the little time we have.” 

When Jesus Brags About You

When Jesus Brags About You – Jesus promises that “everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.”

All Christians Are ‘Losers’

All Christians Are ‘Losers’ – “Christian influence on American culture and politics is not the measure of Christ’s kingdom.”

Undone by Indecision: How the Fear of Man Paralyzes Us

Undone by Indecision: How the Fear of Man Paralyzes Us – “Looking specifically at the failures of Pilate, then, consider four ways the fear of man opened him to manipulation of various kinds — all still common to man today.”

Ravi Zacharias and the Judgment of God

– The story is tragic but we are also reminded here that no one escapes the judgment and justice of God.

Standing Fast in the Digital Age

Standing Fast in the Digital Age – “To enter a social-media platform is to enter into a virtual theater of spiritual warfare. Social media is spiritual war.”

Bring on the Substitute

Bring on the Substitute – “Here are three ways that Jesus was our substitute.”

We Must Reclaim Friendship From the Bonds of Social Media

We Must Reclaim Friendship From the Bonds of Social Media – “It is important to have real friends with whom we spend time in person. We have to resist the temptation toward our screens becoming mediators of every relationship we have.”

Worthy of Family Worship: First Steps for Christian Homes

Worthy of Family Worship: First Steps for Christian Homes – “Every Christian family is able to show that God deserves to be worshiped daily in our homes. The essence of family worship is simple. It requires no preparation. It can take as little as ten minutes. It consists of three single syllables: read, pray, sing.”

iGeneration and iDentity

iGeneration and iDentity – “The iGeneration isn’t logging onto social media to argue about politics, post memes, or catch-up with long lost friends. They’re logging on to find themselves – to form, shape, and define their identity.”

The Gift Giver’s Joy

The Gift Giver’s Joy – God is the great Giver and there is joy in following His example.

The Gospel Crushes All “Us-Versus-Them-Ness”

The Gospel Crushes All “Us-Versus-Them-Ness” – “Forgive us when we think of our sins as monochromatic in a world of Technicolor sinners. Forgive us when we view our need for grace as vanilla, compared to the jalapeno-spicy-ness of other people’s failings.”

Worshiping the Infinite and Intimate God

Worshiping the Infinite and Intimate God – “In our corporate worship gatherings, as well as our personal interactions with God, we tend to swing between God’s transcendence and immanence like a pendulum. At times, God feels too distant, dissimilar, and above us to be loved. At other times, God feels too near, present, and like us to be feared.”

Fragile

Fragile – Perhaps it is a small act of carelessness or even cruelty. People are already edgy, if not right on the edge. An unkind word, a thoughtless act, a dismissive interaction, and over the edge we go.”

There’s Something About Your Faithfulness, Sister

There’s Something About Your Faithfulness, Sister – There’s something about a simple life of faithfulness, sister, that makes people wonder what it is they are lacking, what it is you have that they don’t.”

Inventing A New Sin

Inventing A New Sin – This was an interested article on how our culture seeks to justify and redefine what Bible calls “sin”.

The Rebranding of Aunt Jemima and the Future of Evangelicals in American Culture

The Rebranding of Aunt Jemima and the Future of Evangelicals in American Culture – While Jim Denison touches on race issues, the primary focus goes well beyond in a Christ vs. Culture application.

Church Small Talk Was More Important Than I Thought

Church Small Talk Was More Important Than I Thought – “It would be a mistake to conclude that just because a relationship isn’t close it isn’t important.” This is so true of church life and a part I deeply miss.

Gender Neutrality Goes to Washington

Gender Neutrality Goes to Washington – “This rejection of God’s created order is a rejection of God himself. For it is God who created us male and female, no matter how much the US House of Representatives or President may say otherwise.”

The Bored-with-Reading-the-Bible Antidote

The Bored-with-Reading-the-Bible Antidote – “When we come to His Word with an awe and expectation—that childlike trembling in anticipation of the gift before us—He will meet with us. How can we be bored with that?”

Giving Our Cares to Our Caring Father

Giving Our Cares to Our Caring Father – ...because He cares for you.

Is Eternity an Eternity Away?

Is Eternity an Eternity Away? – “Compared to the eternal glory of living with God in a fully restored world, the troubles, tasks, pleasures, and celebrations of the here and now are light and momentary.”

A Recipe for Wisdom in a Post-Truth World

A Recipe for Wisdom in a Post-Truth World – “God created his people for wisdom, but sometimes we are lazily content with our lack of wisdom.”

On Feeling Lonely

On Feeling Lonely – “According to the Bible, we experience loneliness not because there is something wrong with us, but because there is something right with us. We experience loneliness because we know, deep down, that we were made for more connection, intimacy, and love than we seem to experience.”

5 Things You Can Give to God Every Day

5 Things You Can Give to God Every Day – “It is giving back to him what he has entrusted to each one of us. To that end, here are five things you can give to God every day.”

Of Faith and Fear

Of Faith and Fear – “It’s one of those Christian slogans that is undeniably true, and, at the same time, less helpful than it may seem.”

The Root of Beautiful Patience

The Root of Beautiful Patience – “God is always weaving something wise out of the painful, perplexing threads that look like a tangle in our lives.”

Faith: Just to Take Him at His Word

Faith: Just to Take Him at His Word – I enjoyed this reflection on the hymn writer who penned, “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, Just to Take Him at His Word; Just to Rest Upon His Promise, Just to Know: Thus Saith the Lord.”

Donald Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial Begins Today

Donald Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial Begins Today – Three biblical principles offer hope in divisive days.

Jesus Loves You, Tom Brady

Jesus Loves You, Tom Brady – “Christians and Our Complicated Adulation of Athletes.”

If Everything Will Pass Away, Why Bother Doing a Good Job?

If Everything Will Pass Away, Why Bother Doing a Good Job? – “If I’m a construction worker, or Amazon employee, or accountant, will everything I’ve done be destroyed? If so, what’s the point of going to work—or of doing more than the bare minimum to earn my paycheck?”

How Obedience Can Make You Antifragile

How Obedience Can Make You Antifragile – “The Christian faith is another example of a system designed to be antifragile.”

Self-Talk and Sanctification

Self-Talk and Sanctification – “Jesus never abuses his people. He is lovingly stubborn, relentless even, but he is never cruel. He is never annoyed or disgusted with us. He never rolls his eyes at us. He never lashes out at us. Of course, he had hard words for hardened, self-righteous hypocrites, but repentant sinners heard loving words of forgiveness, cleansing, and hope.”

Why We Should Embrace Trials

Why We Should Embrace Trials – “If God brings us into the trial he will be with us in the trial.” 

Evangelical Christians Must Take Action to Love Thy Neighbor

Evangelical Christians Must Take Action to Love Thy Neighbor – “In our focus on the individual, evangelical Christians—including me—sometimes lose sight of the Gospel’s community implications. Not only do souls require redemption but so do societal systems and structures.”

Prohibiting Prayer in Australia

Prohibiting Prayer in Australia –  “The state of Victoria in Australia, however, just passed a bill that will considerably intensify the conflict between religious freedom, individual choice, and identity politics. And it might well become a model for laws elsewhere in the democratic world.”

The Right Kind of Boring

The Right Kind of Boring  – “I think it’s one of the most important issues facing us right now—and that’s boredom. Let’s talk about the right kind, the wrong kind, and the best kind of boredom and being boring.”

Big and Much Grace Needed

Big and Much Grace Needed – Let’s make some grace-decisions this week. Our graceless world needs to see what grace looks like.

This Is How He Carries You

This Is How He Carries You – “Our ability to endure suffering is completely dependent upon God’s power at work within us. He walks beside us, wipes our tears, comforts us in our sorrow, and leads us through the darkest valleys.”

 

From Sunrise to Sunset, And Everything In-Between

From Sunrise to Sunset, And Everything In-Between – “Our journey of life will take us through rough patches, to say the least. We’ve persevered through the beginnings of a pandemic. We’ve experienced pain and hardship in relationships, finances, and illness. We know that in this world we will have troubles.”

Blessings We Get at Salvation

Blessings We Get at Salvation – Here’s what redemption means for us.

Do My Sins Hinder My Prayers?

Do My Sins Hinder My Prayers? – What does Peter’s warning mean for our prayer lives?

A Proper Christian Response to Sexual Sin in Our Culture

A Proper Christian Response to Sexual Sin in Our Culture – “Do not allow the normalization of pornography, the normalization of wickedness to dull your senses to the outrageous horror of what is being perpetrated.”

Seek a Broken Heart for Sin

Seek a Broken Heart for Sin – “With God, strength comes through weakness, greatness through service, and wholeness through brokenness.”

Seek a Broken Heart for Sin

Seek a Broken Heart for Sin – “The triumphant, victorious Christian life is marked by a curious feature: it rarely feels triumphant or victorious.”

Don’t Lie To Me About God

Don’t Lie To Me About God – “This is our toughest challenge: telling the whole truth.”

‘Holy, Holy, Holy’: Blazing Hope for the Ruins Around Us

‘Holy, Holy, Holy’: Blazing Hope for the Ruins Around Us – “Our fathers die. Our heroes die. Our kings die. We die. But not the holy God. Yahweh is alive.”

The Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness

The Fruit of the Spirit: Kindness – “Kindness is easily pondered, but not so easily carried out. We live in an age of velliety, where simply publishing our desires for kumbaya and world peace are lauded as good deeds, and nice intentions are stated as if they are triumphs.”

Seeking Truth with Sherlock Holmes

Seeking Truth with Sherlock Holmes – “I sometimes wish Holmes could show up at my door and, with a cocky grin, explain everything. Here are lessons we can learn from Holmes as we navigate these confusing times.”

Israeli Archaeologists Find First Purple Fabric from King David’s Era

Israeli Archaeologists Find First Purple Fabric from King David’s Era – “The color purple appears several times in the Bible, usually in a robe draping one of the kings of ancient Israel. But the search for an authentic artifact dyed the royal color from the time of King David has always proved elusive.” 

How Do I Talk to My Children About Sex?

How Do I Talk to My Children About Sex? – “So, your children are likely already learning about sex. Are they learning what they know from you? Or from somewhere else? And if somewhere else, do you really trust their teachers?”

Pruned to Bear Fruit

Pruned to Bear Fruit – “Pruning indeed makes us more fruitful, and even more so, it is a reminder of cleansing that only God can do. Let us understand this fruitfulness.”

Proclaiming The Gospel To A Secular Society

Proclaiming The Gospel To A Secular Society – “Paul could not simply be a sightseer when there was such spiritual need. He was in Athens as a soul-winner.”

Things We Remember

Things We Remember – “Those Israelites grew weary, as do I. So I am reminding myself that our Savior will soon return. He is cheering us to run our race in faith, trusting in him until we are safely home.”

A Prayer for This Weekend

A Prayer for This Weekend – “Lord Jesus, the rest you give us doesn’t depend on circumstances, people, or anything changing. It’s not tied to the economy, politics, or the pandemic.”

The Only Tears In Heaven

The Only Tears In Heaven – This reflection was a blessing to me today.

‘This Is My Beloved Son’: A Father’s Glimpse into the Heart of God

‘This Is My Beloved Son’: A Father’s Glimpse into the Heart of God – “No doubt, we could name other aspects peculiar to the father-son relationship and love, but at least for these three, what stands out as common among them is the power of the father’s words.”

You Say You Want Social Justice?

You Say You Want Social Justice? – “It’s possible for the same person to be both oppressed and an oppressor.”

Is there a Pattern to the Bible’s Miracles?

Is there a Pattern to the Bible’s Miracles? – “They seem to come in punctuated spurts. The most significant clusters surround creation, the exodus, the lives of Elijah / Elisha, and the ministry of Jesus. It’s probably not random that these events are also massive advances in new revelation (the Pentateuch, the prophets and the Messiah) and the miracles to certify it (Heb. 2:4).”

Joseph Wept: 7 Strategically Arranged Scenes in Genesis

Joseph Wept: 7 Strategically Arranged Scenes in Genesis – “The central scene—the heart of all Joseph’s tears—is reconciliation.”

3 Ethical Issues In Technology To Watch For In 2021

3 Ethical Issues In Technology To Watch For In 2021 – “While 2021 will likely have a plethora of things to engage with, we should address the pressing ethical challenges that technology poses in order to present a worldview that is able to address these monumental challenges to our daily lives.”

We can “profess to know God” but “deny him” by our works. What does that mean?

We can “profess to know God” but “deny him” by our works. What does that mean? – Paul makes the statement in his letter to Titus and then goes on to define it.

An Introduction To Honour And Shame

An Introduction To Honour And Shame – “Those who have grown up in the East know full well what honour and shame are. They are foundational to most Eastern cultures. In essence, it means that your actions impact your reputation and the reputation of your family.”

The Fear of “Phobic”

The Fear of “Phobic” – “You’re supposed to be so afraid of being labeled phobic that you’ll change your position or, at least, never express it again in public. If you do, prepare to be canceled...Here are three reasons why you shouldn’t let the label bother you.”

Is Censorship Escalating Against Evangelicals?

Is Censorship Escalating Against Evangelicals? – Jim Denison offers three biblical responses.

Alienated from God and Others

Alienated from God and Others – Paul Tripp’s description of physical suffering resonates with me and likely will with others in physical suffering.

Learn the Lesson of Aaron’s Oily Beard

Learn the Lesson of Aaron’s Oily Beard – David uses an interesting image in Psalm 33. Here is an explanation.

Hagar, the Single Mom

Hagar, the Single Mom – “The Lord not only saw Hagar in her destitution; he also heard her son in his need.”

Economics for Church Leaders: How Minimum-Wage Laws Affect the Poor

Economics for Church Leaders: How Minimum-Wage Laws Affect the Poor – As with many issues in our society, the issues are complex and the ways society wants to address the real needs is overly simplistic.

Those the World Overlooks, God Sees

Those the World Overlooks, God Sees – “In God’s eyes, no one is too ordinary to go unseen.”

Escaping the Fog of Triviality

Escaping the Fog of Triviality – “In a culture filled with silliness and superficiality, seeing and savoring the providence of God protects our hearts from trifling with divine things.”

Want to Know How I Fight off Discouragement?

Want to Know How I Fight off Discouragement? – “It is not for us to calculate our victory or fear our defeat, but to do our duty and leave the rest in God’s hands.” As Christians face increasing opposition to biblical faith, this perspective may be helpful.

The Grace of Good Rebuke: How to Love with Hard Words

The Grace of Good Rebuke: How to Love with Hard Words – This is good, biblical counsel for hard spiritual conversations.

Justice, Mercy, and the Gospel

Justice, Mercy, and the Gospel – “As discussions and debate continues in the church and on social media, let’s resist the urge to blindly support whatever goes by the name of justice. Instead, let us be men and women who apply the principles of Scripture consistently wherever there is true injustice and wherever there is a real need for mercy. To fail to do so will inevitably undermine the principles of the gospel itself.”

The Water of the Word

The Water of the Word – “My point is that I want to think carefully about the choices I make which lead to either more or less engagement with God’s word whether privately or corporately. The seed of faith was sown in my heart by the Sower, not my own hand.”

Why We Dig: The Importance of Biblical Archaeology

Why We Dig: The Importance of Biblical Archaeology – “Archaeology provides confirmation of the reality that biblical events did occur in history”...and much, much more.

When Looking for a Church, Beware the “Right Fit”

When Looking for a Church, Beware the “Right Fit” – “New Testament churches consisted of an array of people from different cultures and classes. Rich and poor, men and women, Jew and Gentile—they were all members together, called to serve one another in love. This made the church attractive to surrounding people. Here was a place where status didn’t divide, and where otherwise dissimilar people found the deepest and most stable bond.”

‘Whoever Is Ashamed of Me’: A Call to the Quietly Christian

‘Whoever Is Ashamed of Me’: A Call to the Quietly Christian – “Most of us do not face a cliff, but this soothing slope of small denials. Instead, we deny him in peaceful conversations around many fires.”

Building and Destroying, Transforming and Terrifying – All with a Word

Building and Destroying, Transforming and Terrifying – All with a Word – “Because this news of a thing done two thousand years ago is power today straight from another world. It crushes strongholds, destroys spiritual kingdoms. It resurrects the dead, revives the weary. It captures and frees, builds and destroys, transforms and terrifies.”

Jesus Headed Toward Those at the Bottom of the Pile. Will Our Children Follow Him?

Jesus Headed Toward Those at the Bottom of the Pile. Will Our Children Follow Him? – “As we read through Luke’s Gospel, we can’t miss Jesus’s concern for the marginalized (the tax collectors, the infamous women, and the beggars).”

Should We Pursue Unity At All Costs?

Should We Pursue Unity At All Costs? – “Are there priorities that we should place even above unity? Should our pursuit of unity be at all costs, or is there something else we should pursue even at the expense of a supposed unity?”

In Days of Trouble, the Church Matters

In Days of Trouble, the Church Matters – “Psalm 20 is an anthem for the pandemic. It begins, ‘May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!’ And certainly, we’ve been living in trouble for the past 365 days—ever since we first heard about the novel coronavirus.”

We Needed 2020 (and Still Do)

We Needed 2020 (and Still Do) – “Let’s do the hard work of grieving the losses of this past year, that we might genuinely rejoice in Christ’s eternal comfort.”

6 Signs You Are Not Doing Empathy Well

6 Signs You Are Not Doing Empathy Well – Caring for others regardless of the circumstances is central to the Christian life. Learning and relearning empathy for others is a big deal.

Building and Destroying, Transforming and Terrifying – All with a Word

Building and Destroying, Transforming and Terrifying – All with a Word – “In a world of perverse wickedness, of rampant injustice, of deep brokenness, of desperation and of despair—this one little message is our only hope.”

Walk in His Providence: How God Opens Doors for You

Walk in His Providence: How God Opens Doors for You – “How could the all-pervasive providence of God energize some and paralyze others? How could it cause some to blaze boldly into the unknown, and others to putter on the same tired paths, rarely dreaming, never risking?”

An American Repatriate

An American Repatriate – “Christians can and should engage in the political life of their country––but only as citizens who recognize they belong to another country.”

One Of The Ugliest Sights In The World

One Of The Ugliest Sights In The World – “It is the task of loving parents to help their children grow in wisdom, and wisdom comes through both giving and denying—giving what is good and denying what is harmful.”