Pursuing a holistic expression of Christian faith that is true to the Bible and applicable for today’s world.
Discover How God Can Have One Son and Have Many Sons (and Daughters) Too The Bible calls Jesus the Son of God. We see this in forty New Testament verses from speakers ranging from his disciples to his detractors, including evil spirits and even Satan. Saying that Jesus is the Son of God suggests there’s […]
The First Reformation Happened 2,000 Years Ago As the time for Jesus’s sacrificial death approaches, his enemies come to arrest him. They’re armed. This might be as a show of force or maybe because they expect trouble. I imagine Jesus smiling a bit at this weapon-wielding mob. “Do you think I’m leading a rebellion?” he […]
We Must Distinguish Between Prescriptive Text and Descriptive Text The Bible contains a lot of versus that tell us what to do and what not to do. These verses stand as commands from God. Bible scholars call these prescriptive texts, as they prescribe the behavior God expects from us. However, many more verses in the […]
Discover What the Bible and Our Experience Teach Us In my posts, I write a lot about the importance of community, specifically meaningful spiritual community. I’ve mentioned community over one hundred fifty times. Two related words—or potentially related words—are fellowship and discipleship. Aside from my posts about 52 Churches, I’ve written about fellowship ten times. […]
In the Ultimate Battle Between Good and Evil, the Winner Is Clear For the first part of my life I assumed God and Satan were equal yet opposite forces. I picked up this inaccurate image from culture, starting with the old cartoons of the devil sitting on one shoulder whispering bad advice into a person’s […]
God Often Wants to Delight Us, If Only We’ll Ask Too many people say safe prayers, such as, “God, please guide . . .” These are safe because no matter what happens, our confidence in God remains unchallenged. These timid prayers accomplish little. Instead we should make bold prayers. Pray with Bold Expectation A few weeks ago, a […]
The Kingdom of God Is About Power, Not Words When Paul writes to his friends in the city of Corinth, he encourages them to change their behavior. In the middle of this, he slips in a curious line about the kingdom of God. He says that God’s kingdom isn’t about talk but about power (1 […]
Focusing on Ourselves Is Selfish While Focusing on Others Is Selfless There was a time when I headed up our church’s small group initiative. One of the things I learned was that small groups with an inward focus lasted about eighteen months and fizzled out. However, groups with an outward focus would last much longer. […]
God Told Abraham That He Would Bless Him and Through Him Bless All Nations How often do we ask God to bless us? It’s a request I make most every day. Sometimes more than once. I suspect you may often ask for God’s blessings too. What do we mean when we ask for God’s blessings? […]
Questions Arise as We Study the Bible and That’s Okay In the post Is It Okay to Question God? I share stories of Job, Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, and Jesus. They all question God. Seriously, they do. But God doesn’t punish them for questioning him and his sovereignty. He listens. He’s patient. Asking Questions Is […]