Teaching without compromise.
Loving without exception.
As God graciously works among us to transform our minds and hearts (to renew us in light of the truth, that we would love what is good), I pray as you ponder them, these brief thoughts on the difficult topic of abortion would do that very thing:...
Jesus, who was crucified on a Friday two-thousand years ago, amazingly, rose again, rose to life on the following Sunday. This radical reality should, above everything else, reframe your reality. But has it? Does it? Strangely, many people today who accept Christ's resurrection as an historical reality don't seem to actually live in light of that reality....
What is the Apostle describing in Ephesians 6:10-17? He's describing life on the battlefield. Conflict. Forces of Evil. Putting on armor. This is the language of warfare, of a battle taking place in which the Ephesian Christians are involved. And if we believe their faith is our faith, if we believe this was and is God's word to his people, then we are on that same battlefield....
Will a genuine follower of Christ, one who has truly been “born again”, a person genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit, struggle with sin? The answer from the New Testament is an emphatic “yes”. And there are many passages that speak to this reality of the believer's struggle with sin. But though many want to offer these verses as evidence and use their language, Romans 7:14-25 isn't one of those passages....
Maybe you've heard this identification before: “Yes, when we were ministering to that homeless gentleman in front of the old firehouse, I knew we were ministering to Jesus himself, just like the Bible says.” Of course the individual in question could be any number of people in need: an incarcerated relative, a child in 'the system', a dying neighbor. But does the New Testament really teach that when we bless such people, we are actually blessing Jesus in disguise? ...
...When visiting the different, themed sections of Disneyland, Fantasyland is not typically high on my priority list. But even those who enjoy the Tea Cup ride or King Arthur's carousel know there's much more to the Disneyland experience. Think about it: who would pay full price for admission, but then simply cycle through just the ten or eleven rides in Fantasyland? No one. But God's word warns us that, too often, we're the kind of people who do something very similar when it comes to everyday life: we regularly choose to pitch our tent in a land of fantasy rather than reality....
The fallacies I have in mind are ones that have been circulated over the centuries by what some call popular or folk Christianity. Undoubtedly, these kinds of 'Christian' beliefs can be found in all sorts of categories, not just the one labeled 'Christmas'. But these Christmas fallacies are some of the best known, since they are promoted annually through things like nativity scenes/sets, television and movies, and even Christmas carols....
In light of the moral universe revealed by the Scriptures, I suggested modern ideas regarding 'self-forgiveness' make very little sense. But this doesn't mean there are not areas of overlap between biblical concerns and modern, therapeutic concerns. Care for hurting individuals is the common goal. So where are the points of connection, and how does God's word address modern concerns?...
Have you ever heard someone say, “I just can't forgive myself”? If you're a follower of Jesus, than this struggle should stir our hearts to help. But as I think many would agree, we must help in light of God's word. Here's the challenge: while it's a well-known concept in both counseling contexts and popular culture, attentive readers of Scripture know that 'self-forgiveness' is not an explicit concept in the Bible....
While Christians are not called to keep the day, Yom Kippur can serve as a powerful reminder that this yearly ritual was only a picture of the perfect sacrifice God would provide and did provide through Jesus (cf. Isaiah 53:10)....
When we read often-neglected stories like this, we're reminded that it's very easy to slip into a mentality of, “Jesus? Oh yeah, I know Jesus. I know all about Jesus.” But God is so good to unsettle us in terms of the often unsettling truth about the real Jesus....
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Faithful fans of Hamilton will certainly know how the play ends. But few people know how the final hours of Alexander Hamilton's life actually 'played out'... yes, “in the room where it happened”....
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Having just finished another study in the deeply meaningful, but often misunderstood, book of the Revelation, I couldn't help but reflect on how John's vision in chapter 7 speaks to our current, culture-wide conversation about race and inequality....
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Social influences, insecurities, selfishness, and many other factors can keep us from the faith-shaped relationships we read about in Scripture. Currently, it is the unexpected reality of a global pandemic that has not only distanced us socially, but also tempted many of us to fizzle rather than fight when it comes to fellowship. But why?...
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From now until the end of the month, you can, amazingly, provide over 100 meals for a person in need in our community for just $15! We are pleased to partner with All Faith Community Services in Buckeye to bless so many who are struggling in light of the current crisis....
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Consider for a moment the Apostle Paul's encouragement regarding the church in Titus 3:14. He writes... And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. Brothers and sisters, is Way of Grace an "unfruitful" church in regard to "cases of urgent need"? I hope we aren't. In fact, if your past eag...
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Behind that question is one that's been asked for millennia. It's often referred to as 'the problem of evil'. Why does God's plan include the rescue of some and not others, the severe suffering of some and not others? Frankly, there are no easy answers to such questions. But the assumptions behind our questions can be helpful. Your piece assumed the value of all human life...
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Resurrection apart from death is not resurrection. It is reconfiguration. It is reinterpretation. It is renovation and remodeling. But it isn't resurrection....
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Many people today are looking for answers. Pandemics, like most crises, have a way of driving us in that direction. But many seem hungry for more than just health advice, social guidelines, and up-to-date statistics... I would offer up that these people are looking for what we might call spiritual answers. That collection of ancient scriptures we call the Bible is (and for...
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At a time when sickness is on the minds of so many, the 'benefits package' offered by the often-termed 'prosperity gospel' might seem especially appealing. What is the prosperity gospel? It's the belief (popular in many Charismatic and Pentecostal circles) that Jesus came, not simply to save you from sin and self, but from disease and debt as well... But is this really wha...
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