Which Old-Testament Promises Apply to Me?
Christians may rightly embrace the promises of the Old Testament made to Israel, because in union with the Messiah, Jesus, we are Israel, we are the true Israel
“Let me see if I can simplify some very complex issues and provide a two-step process that enables Joe and the rest of us Christians to appropriate the Old Testament, especially the promises for our use as Christians in the 21st century.” We get a lot of questions in the inbox about how to... Continue Reading
Making Peace With Parker: How The Lord Has Brought Me Full Circle
Anywhere but Parker, I said, because Parker for me was pain
“Our heart’s cry is that God would awaken our community through our humble church plant—that Parkerites would not be so easily satisfied with their lives, but that they would seek and surrender to Him, forging a new life with the Gospel at the center.” “I will move anywhere but Parker,” I said several times... Continue Reading
Iraqi Christians Fear Future Persecution in Post-ISIS Iraq (Interview)
Iraqi Christians are uncertain if they will be included in negotiations deciding the power structure of a post-Islamic State northern Iraq
“Even though IS is being driven out of the area, many native Christians will not return until they are given guarantees from the Iraqi government, Kurdish Regional Government and the international community that they will be able to live without fear that another radical Islamic uprising will put their lives in danger once again.” ... Continue Reading
Running the Race of Redemption
After his diagnosis, John entered a race--a race in which he acknowledged his need for Christ to carry him across the finish line.
John's life became a glorious testimony to God's redeeming grace. As painful as it was for me to sit by his bedside as he lay dying, my mind was repeatedly filled with a sense of the infinite wisdom of God in crafting the circumstances of John's life in order to draw him to His Son. One minute, John was a law enforcement hero, the next, he was a weak man who recognized his need for Christ and his utter dependence on God to sustain his life.
Sexuality and the Gospel
Homosexuality, in Paul’s view, represents as obvious and intentional an inversion of the created order as is this idolatry.
It is so obvious, to Paul, that God designed the bodies of men and women for sexual relationship with one another, that one needs to willfully suppress this truth to imagine that directing sexual passion to one’s own sex is in line with the creation order. Paul’s argument is not that these people’s conduct is so bad because their passions are so disordered. His argument is that their conduct is so obviously out of accord with God’s purposes in creation that it shows them to have been given over to the same sort of willful self-deception that is at the root of idolatry.
Who Was St. Nicholas?
Why was Nicholas so famous? It’s impossible to tell fact from fiction, but this is some of the legend of St. Nicholas
Nicholas was also hailed as a defender of orthodoxy. Later sources claim he was in attendance at the council of Nicea. According to tradition, he was a staunch opponent of Arianism. Writing five centuries after his death, one biographer said, “Thanks to the teaching of St. Nicholas, the metropolis of Myra alone was untouched by the filth of the Arian heresy, which it firmly rejected as a death-dealing poison.” Stories of his courage abound, one claiming that Nicholas traveled to Nicea and, upon arrival, promptly slapped Arius in the face.
Seven Reasons You Should Not Indulge in Pornography
My goal is to motivate you to say no to pornography by God’s grace.
You should not indulge in pornography for at least seven reasons: (1) It will send you to hell. (2) It does not glorify God with your body. (3) It is a poisonous, fleeting pleasure. (4) It foolishly wastes your life. (5) It betrays your wife and children. (6) It ruins your mind and conscience. (7) It participates in sex slavery.
Christmas Peace
In truth, the craziness of Christmas reminds us that we need someone to rescue us from ourselves!
The Son of God living among us? Who would’ve thought? But that’s not all. Jesus didn’t come just to live among us, he came to do something. He came to redeem and restore what was broken. He came to heal the hurting, find the lost, free the bound, and save sinners. He came to bring peace on earth. But not just any peace, the peace that comes from knowing God and being known by him. The peace of redemption.
A Real Redeemer, or: “Remember the Rose!”
Christians call Jesus the Redeemer, and he is, but we sometimes forget that biblically, to be redeemed means to be ruled.
Is there ever really a situation in which we’re not ruled by someone else, even when we think we’re calling the shots? Self-rule, autonomy, is a delusion. We are utterly dependent creatures, created to be dependent upon and cared for by a good and loving God, whose law points the way to real, full, freedom. But we’ve all broken that law; we are way beyond the category of repeat offenders. We need a redeemer who loved God’s law enough to keep it, obeying it himself, suffering the deserved death penalty on behalf of lawbreakers who’d trust in him, and risen to reign not as a superhero, but a sovereign. Jesus frees us from the tyranny of autonomy and its delusional pursuits. He calls us to renounce autonomy, not just rein it in a little.
The Neglected Advent
Very little time and thought is given in the church’s calendar to the second coming of Christ.
Most commonly, I fear, is the idea that there are so many prophecies still to be fulfilled before the second coming (e.g. rise of the antichrist, conversion of the Jews, etc.) that there’s no chance of Christ’s return anytime soon. We forget that very few were expecting or ready for Christ’s first advent. They understood the prophecies only with the benefit of hindsight, and even then most were still in a major muddle. What makes us think we’re any better placed regarding the second advent.