Most of this site's readers are aware that biblical literacy in Evangelicalism is quite low. Many people claiming to be Christians are unfamiliar with Scripture, but another problem can arise for those who are well-acquainted with the Bible. There is a veil of familiarity that can cover its pages and cause us to miss the … Continue reading Scripture and the Veil of Familiarity
How many of us desire to love life and see good days? My guess is it is all of us. Only the jaded have abandoned this hope. This desire for the good life may seem like something from the self-help section, but it is directly from scripture. Peter addresses it in his first epistle. Peter … Continue reading To Love Life and See Good Days
I am sure this will sound strange to some of you, but I take pleasure in pulling out a chair and sitting next to a table or desk. The simpler, the better. My favorite is a basic wooden chair next to a simple wooden table or desk. It is its simplicity that makes it a … Continue reading The Joy of Sitting in Chairs
Do you have joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8)? I like this question because it speaks to our experience. The truths of scripture are true regardless of how we feel, so we should never put our sympathies above scripture, but when scripture speaks of the Christian experience, we should pay attention to … Continue reading Joy Inexpressible and Full of Glory
If you want to turn the world's wisdom on its head completely, this is it. The Apostle Paul says he will boast about his weaknesses (2 Cor. 12:9). We do not boast of weaknesses; we hide them because they hold us back from being who we should be. They threaten our competence. They are faults … Continue reading Weakness: Our Unlikely Ally
Of all organizations, does the local church have preeminence in our lives? In the clip below, Pastor Jeff Saltzmann of Bethel Grace Baptist Church unpacks a quote from the church covenant. What he says is counter-cultural to non-believers and even ruffles the feathers of many professing Christians. Many others would agree with this idea of … Continue reading The Preeminence of the Local Church
This morning I was a guest on the Kurt and Kate Morning Show on Moody Radio FL. We discussed a recent article called Misreading Providence for Personal Gain. In the interview, we discussed topics such as rain on Sunday morning, Covid lockdowns, and church attendance post-pandemic, among other things. They were gracious enough to podcast … Continue reading Misreading Providence Radio Interview
Israel had done everything wrong as their house of worship lay in ruins. They had stopped building the temple God had told them to build because some politician issued a prohibition. Not only did they stop working, but they also used the mandate as an excuse to focus on building fancy houses for themselves (Haggai … Continue reading Restoring a Heart of Worship
Matthew Henry once suggested we can sometimes neglect to obey God because we misinterpret trials and challenges as permission to shirk our responsibility when, instead, God allowed these hardships to test and exercise our courage and faith. Here is an example. Imagine you are a pastor the Holy Spirit has called to preach the whole … Continue reading Misreading Providence for Personal Gain
God’s mercies are new every morning, and they are also new every year. However, sometimes, we can expect too much from the turning of the calendar. If we look back over the past year, even with its joys and graces, many aspects of this fallen world still plagued us, including personal battles with sin. This … Continue reading The Turning of the Calendar
The Fight of Faith 