Often when we think of discipline we think of punishment. However, in view is the whole of the training matrix involved in our spiritual growth. It involves teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness toward conformity to the image of Christ.   Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.... Continue Reading

Falling in line with pop-culture, I know I have seen many Christians announce their support for BLM. While I will not support their endorsement, I somewhat understand it. They see half-truth, racial injustices on the news coupled with an outcry of a mistreated people, and long for justice. They want equality and fairness; I do... Continue Reading

The truth that “he owns the cattle on a thousand hills” was not penned to grant us assurance that our kind Father can take care of us. No, this assertion’s plain purpose is to shake up complacent religious people by reminding them they’ll never be able to bribe their God. He cannot be bought with... Continue Reading

While we cannot say that the writers of the NT were always operating with the story of Israel explicitly in view, the assumptions that these stories reveal are invariably connected to their other uses of Scripture and should therefore influence our overall understanding of the use of the OT in the NT.   I have... Continue Reading

We want to live full of faith and the Holy Spirit. We want to live boldly, preaching the gospel; and then we want to die in confidence that when we take our last breath here, our next breath will be taken in his presence.   Stephen’s Boldness The Bible is very honest about people. With... Continue Reading

There is no other sufficient philosophical answer than the one I have outlined. You can search through university philosophy, underground philosophy, filling station philosophy—it does not matter—there is no other sufficient philosophical answer to existence, to Being, than the one I have outlined. There is only one philosophy, one religion, that fills this need in... Continue Reading

That toxic opportunism of performing blackness wouldn’t exist if our culture hadn’t created a philosophy that considers perceived oppression as more advantageous than privilege. Blackness has become a commodity because critical race theory and intersectionality demonize whiteness while deifying blackness. Critical race theory has convinced many people—including black people—to find their identity in perceived oppression.... Continue Reading

“I do not regret this emphasis [on social justice] at all, except that there appeared to be no comparable compassion for the spiritual hunger of the unevangelized millions, no comparable call to go to them with the Bread of Life. . . . How can we seriously maintain that political and economic liberation is just... Continue Reading

So, what does this life of repentance look like? Over against the ideas of Roman Catholic renewal advocates, the Reformers refused to see Jesus as merely an ethical paradigm for Christianity. Rather, they insisted on the spiritual union of believers with the crucified and risen Christ as the guiding impulse of faith.   God’s Word... Continue Reading

Partiality has no place among Christians. It’s an enemy to the message of the gospel, to the worship of God, to the life of a congregation, and to the ministry of discipline. Rather, as we hold our faith in the Lord of glory and are controlled and influenced by his interests and purpose, our eyes... Continue Reading