Jesus left no one worse than he had found them. None left his presence without some blessing, some challenge, some enablement or encouragement to live for the good of others and the glory of God. And what a difference it would make in this world if we determined to do the same.   Some of... Continue Reading

In the present age of skepticism, the church must be diligent to avoid a deterioration of relational trust. If the body of Christ is to flourish, it must resist the influence of society and diligently pursue the mutualities upon which such trust is built.    Trust is one of the most fundamental components of everyday... Continue Reading

To read the Gospels as covenant documents keeps the larger redemptive-historical narrative of the Bible front and center, allows us to see how the whole of Scripture is unified around the person and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, and reminds us what makes the canonical gospels distinctive from the other “gospels” in the ancient world.... Continue Reading

All of us are slow to see our own sin as well. We explain it away; maybe there seems to be a good reason for it. Perhaps other people do the same thing we just did. Maybe we find God’s rules oppressive and we’d rather do something else. Yet we need to know how bad... Continue Reading

Christian, God’s heart toward you is one of love and compassion. He loves you so much he died to save you from your sins. You are in his care, and even the trials you are facing are doing his excellent work.   You cannot cast your cares on Jesus without a biblical worldview. Often, when... Continue Reading

False teachers in Corinth were trying to lead believers to attain sanctification by legal means. By substituting law-keeping for the internal change made by the Spirit, these teachers were effectively redefining the Spirit and making Him into something other than the true Spirit of God. They were introducing “another spirit.”    As we have seen, 2... Continue Reading

Lookadoo is to be commended for this organized look at the Shepherd of Hermas. Particularly for those unfamiliar with this writing, the section-by-section overview provided by chapter one will be useful for quickly coming to terms with the whole of the writing.   The Shepherd of Hermas is usually described as one of the more popular writings of... Continue Reading

It is only by having a solid understanding of the past that we can clearly see the present and anticipate the future. History is of real value, and Christians should know something about it.    The value of history is that we will hopefully learn from it. But as we become more and more dumbed... Continue Reading

Civil religion is not dead. It has simply gone woke. And in the new form, as in the old, a secularized and domesticated Christianity contorts itself to appear respectable to its cultured despisers.   Over the last few years, I have heard numerous Christians claim that the death of America’s old civil religion is a... Continue Reading

Those who follow Christ are, like him, not of the world. For this reason the world may hate us. So we should ask God to keep us from the evil one and sanctify us in his truth.   Perhaps you’ve heard that Christians are (or ought to be) in the world but not of the world.... Continue Reading