You cannot follow Jesus halfway. You cannot hold onto control and still call it obedience. You cannot keep negotiating with what God has already made clear.   “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51) Stephen stands in front of the... Continue Reading

Read as a whole, Jonah is not chiefly a story about the fish. It is a story about the Lord dealing with a servant who does not want God’s mercy to go where God has chosen to send it. From the opening command to the final question outside Nineveh, the same issue remains. Jonah wants... Continue Reading

This has been a massive win for free speech, for genuine counselling, for those needing help, and for basic reality and biology. Hopefully many other countries will also come back to common sense and stop the persecution of those wanting change, and those offering change.   Let me start with a scenario: a person who... Continue Reading

When we see the proto-deacons appear in Acts 6, there is a phrase that is used by the apostles that gives us our best guide to diaconal ministry: to serve tables. The Greek word here (trapeza) that we translate table means both an eating table (Luke 22:30) and a money table (Luke 19:23). With this phrase, we have the... Continue Reading

As the church of Jesus, we get a special experience of the “heavenly walk,” when and as we celebrate The Lord’s Supper services together on those sweet Sundays (when we do this).  This privilege sets the stage for us, to live in and “walk in” heaven throughout the rest of our Christian churched lives.   In the old King James Version, Philippians 3:20 reads this... Continue Reading

Children are to be brought up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) This isn’t accomplished easily or quickly but involves years of conscientious effort.   So, you’d think I’d be telling you how to accomplish more, faster. And believe me, if there’s a faster way, that is a good way, then... Continue Reading

The Old Covenant had a problem: it could never change people internally. There needed to be a way for Ezekiel’s promise of a “new heart and new spirit” to come about. Once again, John’s gospel helps us see this: what Jesus would accomplish for His people is that “out of their hearts will flow springs... Continue Reading

Many young Christian men are attracted to their brand of Christianity for political reasons. To be Christian is to be anti-woke. From this view, Christian faith becomes a political and tribal marker as much as or even more important than personal faith. The church, as they define it, chiefly through self-selected online sources, is the... Continue Reading

We’ve been set free from bondage to sin. We’re not ensnared or enslaved by it anymore. Sin does not rule over us. Christ rules over us now. In that freedom we have real power, real ability, and real responsibility to run hard after holiness and righteousness.    Our Position in Christ Union with Christ refers... Continue Reading

Left to ourselves, the pattern holds. It always has. But Easter declares that we are not left to ourselves. Past behavior may predict future performance. It often does. But it is no longer the final authority. Because the One who stepped into history, took our past upon Himself, and walked out of the grave now... Continue Reading