There is actually a seamless connection between the four major events of Jesus’ life: His birth, death, resurrection, and ascension. All four events stand or fall together. At the same time each event had its own unique role to play. What role, then, does the resurrection of Jesus play in the overall story of redemption?... Continue Reading

The imprint of Jesus coming not only remains at Christmas but is all around us today. As we follow this Jesus we gain the greatest gift that no Christmas tree can hold or no toy factory manufacture: Peace with God, the forgiveness of sin, and eternal life.    I admit it. I’m a bit of... Continue Reading

By all means, let’s pray for our temporary, leaky tent to get patched up and thank God every time he does. But let’s long even more for the eternal mansion he has given us through Jesus Christ.   Christians can and should pray for healing. James 5:14 says: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders... Continue Reading

The humbling witness of the virgin birth is that God did consider us worth it. Worth saving, worth sending his Son for, worth giving up his Son to the sufferings and death of the cross for.   Picture life as a journey, a journey from birth to death. We are born, we live, and we... Continue Reading

We have many faithful English translations that we may trust to give us the sense of the text intended by the divine and human authors. They faithfully communicate the words and intended sense of the original text, which was inspired by the Holy Spirit and is infallible and inerrant.   Is biblical inerrancy just for... Continue Reading

The ancient church calendar rhythms and weekly worship rhythms of the local church can be powerful counter-formational forces in our lives. Like anything, it’s all about regularity and habit.   When every moment of our iWorld existence conditions us to celebrate the self, the church boldly celebrates something bigger and grander and more compelling. In... Continue Reading

With God, there is no room for improvement. He has always been, and always will be, utterly and delightfully perfect in every way.   I recently watched a short film that still haunts me. It was actually from a comedy show, but it had such a sense of sadness to it. A man goes into... Continue Reading

The gospel is the power of God for salvation and the gathering of God’s people where the Word is rightly preached, the ordinances are rightly observed, and the saints are rightly taught, equipped, and sent out to make disciples is sufficient to accomplish all that God intends. The question is, will we believe God’s message and God’s... Continue Reading

Just as the seeker-sensitive movement made many professing Christians vulnerable to the emerging church 15 years ago, the social justice movement today is making many professing Christians vulnerable to deconstructing their faith.   The first people to deconstruct their faith were not young people in America—they weren’t people dissatisfied with American Christianity. The first people... Continue Reading

Advocates of so-called “social infertility” suggest it is unjust when two men or two women cannot conceive and that, therefore, the government should step in. This assumes, of course, that conceiving a child is a “right” even when biologically impossible, an idea only plausible in a culture in which the value of children is tied wholly to... Continue Reading