The better we understand God’s sacred design for human sexuality, the less we will settle for smaller pleasures that quickly turn into spiritual bondage. Instead, we will be so captivated by God’s sacred design that we will feel compelled to surrender our sexuality to Jesus Christ, and experience the freedom and the joy that will... Continue Reading

I want to challenge the notion that our pursuit of clarity in preaching for the average hearer, absent rhetorical flourishes that emphasize our being well-learned, equates to emptying our teaching of doctrinal terminology and intellectual rigor. Rather, I want to argue that it is pastorally imperative that we encourage our hearers to think hard and... Continue Reading

Sex with children is still considered a heinous offense.  Revelations of child sexual abuse in churches, no less, still fill most of the public with outrage.  But, according to Stella Mirabito in her Federalist article The Pedophile Project, a movement has begun to legitimize and legalize pedophilia.   One by one, our sexual taboos have been falling.  According... Continue Reading

Jesus himself had declared all foods to be clean: “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him” (Mark 7:18). For a church to forbid the eating of foods without biblical warrant was to play the Pharisee, to lay a burden upon a man’s conscience that God himself had not... Continue Reading

You are set free, not to fulfill your lusts and to walk in hatred and enmity, but set free to love God and love your neighbor. You can now love freely without fear. You can walk in the commandments of God, which are good and give life and freedom of conscience. And when your conscience... Continue Reading

Can you think of a time when you felt compelled to say something and immediately regretted it? Even though we had good intentions of saying something biblical or trying to give hope, our words were more hurtful than helpful. Often, our timing is off. I’ve heard similar stories from people who have lost a family... Continue Reading

Why emphasize the liberal arts and humanities alongside Scripture? Because a liberal-arts education, received under the lordship of Christ, uniquely prepares students to live as broad-minded, big-hearted Christians in the home, the church, and the world.   He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17) At Bethlehem College & Seminary,... Continue Reading

Last week we looked at a glimpse of the kingdom, from the Transfiguration in Luke 9. Peter, James, and John experienced a moment of heavenly glory come to earth, and they heard the audible voice of God. This raises a question as to whether glimpses of glory and hearing God’s voice do still happen today.  ... Continue Reading

Humanity’s first exile cast us from God’s manifest presence and put us and the rest of creation under God’s curse. Work became hard, childbearing became painful, and everyone eventually died. We were spiritually stillborn, making it impossible to fulfill our covenant obligations or turn to God in faith. We lived in broken fellowship with God... Continue Reading

I know, I know. The whole Bible is about Jesus. Read from a redemptive-historical perspective, you can find Jesus in the books of James and Jude and Jeremiah. He is the point of every page. And yet, the Gospels are just different. They are different because they give you the words, actions, and deeds of Jesus... Continue Reading