Pursuing a holistic expression of Christian faith that is true to the Bible and applicable for today’s world.
Embrace the Benefits of Meeting Together When we can’t attend church, to meet in person, and must experience a service online, does that count as going to church? The essential parts of the service are the same. There is music, a message, and a prayer or two. F or these three key elements, the result […]
Ideas for Having a House Church Over the years there have been times when I couldn’t go to church. I’m not talking about the Sundays I was ill or traveling. Instead, I’m referring to times when the church canceled its service. These have included weather-related problems, power outages, no heat, and construction issues. Each of […]
Jesus Died as the Ultimate Sacrifice So That We May Live The Old Testament of the Bible overflows with instructions about offering sacrifices to God and how his people but them into practice. One of those sacrifices served as an annual sacrifice for the sins of the people. The people had to repeat it each […]
We Benefit When We Share Our Joys and Burdens with Others When God created us in his image, he put within us a desire for community. Just as God lives in community with himself—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—he wants us to be in community with him. He wants a relationship with us. He pursues us. […]
Exploring Christian Practices That Lack Biblical Support For years I’ve told people that I strive to write from a Christian worldview. That’s what I believed I was doing. I even regularly prayed that God would empower me to do so, that each word I wrote would embrace, support, and advance a Christian worldview. However, I […]
Some People Avoid Persecution and Others Pursue It In my post that listed spiritual disciplines, I explained that spiritual disciplines are an activity we willingly pursue to draw us closer to God or to honor him. After listing seventeen examples of spiritual disciplines, I wondered about four more possibilities. One of those is suffering. Is […]
Biblical Murderers and How They Relate to Us Consider some of the best-known biblical murderers. Cain Kills Abel We’re only four chapters into the Bible when the first murder occurs. Cain kills his brother Abel. The account in the Bible suggests that Cain premeditated his actions. First degree murder. But let’s not view Cain as […]
Consider How the Example of the Early Church Can Inform Our Actions Today What is your perspective on miracles and supernatural signs? I’m talking about the things we read about in the Bible, especially the New Testament. This is about people receiving healing from their physical ailments and deliverance from their nonphysical afflictions. It’s about […]
The Holy Spirit Gives Jesus’s Followers Special Abilities In the Bible, Paul talks about spiritual gifts, special abilities given to us by the Holy Spirit. These aren’t for our personal use but for the common good of Jesus’s followers, that is, his church. Some of these supernatural abilities enhance our existing capabilities, while others are […]
Hanging Out with Those Who Share Our Beliefs May Be Comfortable, But It Isn’t Good In the post “Can You Be a __ and Still Be a Christian?” we discussed our tendency to judge other Christians and evaluate their faith through the lens of our life and the spiritual decisions we make. But these choices […]