Character is More Important Than Talent
If you find you’re less talented than others, be encouraged that God looks at the heart.
I haven’t been in ministry long, but I’ve already seen many cases in which people with great talent fall due to lack of character. On the other hand, I’ve seen many godly people overlooked in spite of their faithfulness and godly character simply because they weren’t as talented as others. My son walks around... Continue Reading
How Does COVID-19 Expose the Lie of the Prosperity Gospel?
The shifting of the goal posts is evident to all.
The phrase “health and wealth gospel” captures the two sides of this phenomenon. It’s this latter promise that has been exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prosperity gospel preachers all over the world claim that Christianity, when well understood and applied, is meant to give you a long life of health and a lot of... Continue Reading
Unbelief and the Hard Heart
Unbelief is a product of both a hard heart and deception.
There is nothing wrong with debating those who express doubts. However, it is a complete waste of time to continue to cast pearls before swine. Who is this? These are those in unbelief. We must give them the truth, the Gospel, but when they reject it, it is time to move on. Did our Lord... Continue Reading
Overview of the Twentieth Century
A questioning of historic Christianity made its way into many American universities and seminaries, leading to tensions between liberals and conservatives in several Protestant denominations.
The foundation of social gospel redefinitions of Christianity was the modern historical-critical method of biblical study, which argued that the virgin birth, miracles, and the resurrection were myths used by the biblical writers to express how Jesus had influenced their lives. Critical scholars in the nineteenth century had challenged the reliability of the Gospel accounts,... Continue Reading
Wisdom and Folly in Christian Responses to Coronavirus
Even in some Christian circles that make confident appeal to ‘wisdom’, the true character of wisdom can easily become distorted.
The wisdom literature is often rather neglected in our churches. Its sapiential character does not fit well within the narrow constraints of our information and doctrine-focused teaching. Its more open-ended and less definitive forms of knowledge unsettle the security of our dogmatisms. Its empirical and pragmatic focus discomforts our ideological abstractions and our personal detachment.... Continue Reading
Justification and the New Perspective
The New Perspective is leaching into the pews at an accessible rate.
Well, let’s first think of the Apostle Paul. What was Paul’s beef with the Jewish leaders regarding salvation? Simply put, they had pursued righteousness as if it could be obtained on the basis of their works (Rom. 9:32). In other words, Cara says, Paul was arguing against a legalistic works righteousness view of salvation. ... Continue Reading
Did Jesus Desire to NOT do Something His Father Commanded in the Garden of Gethsemane?
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Should Jesus have desired to become sin (2 Cor 5:21)? Should Jesus have desired to be forsaken by his Father, to drink the cup of his Father’s wrath (Matt 27:45-46)? If Jesus is holy man, he should not desire to become sin and should not desire to be forsaken by his Father. Introduction Matthew... Continue Reading
7 Habits of Those Who Love the Light
Don’t be a spiritual cockroach that flees from the light.
Crawl out of your dark, dank, musty cave of sin, and let the Sun of righteousness disinfect you, warm your soul, clean your mind, mature your conduct. The cure isn’t behavior modification, it’s the fruit of a relationship with the Light of the World that drives out the darkness. When I was a young... Continue Reading
Overcome Your Fear of Others, by Fearing God
We fear failure, over commit, get defensive, avoid risks, compare, envy, or twist the truth often because of what others will think of us.
In Scripture, fear is more than feeling terrified. The fear of man certainly includes that, but it also means revering people, needing them, or valuing their opinion so much that our decisions end up being controlled by them. We obey what we fear. They were trapped. On one side a massive Egyptian army coming... Continue Reading
Doctrinal Shifts
For several decades Reformed theology was something of a small underground reality.
Since the beginning of the Enlightenment, questions of authority had remained at the forefront of philosophical and theological thinking. The authority of Scripture and/or the church was no longer taken for granted by most, but what was the alternative? Many Enlightenment thinkers had placed human reason in that exalted role, but others, such as those... Continue Reading