Back to the point, however, Jesus here makes it impossible for all three world religions “common root” in Abraham. Jesus is too pointed here to allow such a facile claim. He doesn’t concede any such thing to the Jews. He concedes that they are “offspring” of Abraham (ESV) but he doesn’t care about that. The... Continue Reading

“On a larger scale, sports are very much like a religion to fans like me. We worship and study. We proselytize. We tell others how to act. We abide by a rhythmic calendar and a set of rituals. We seek to argue people into agreement with us and try to persuade them with everything from... Continue Reading

It’s interesting in the UK you now have people that travel round the world telling us all how to do church, whether it’s house church or church to the poor and that we’re all too posh and yet, whether they are actually doing the business at home is, I think, pretty debateable. There are some... Continue Reading

When tempted to sin, you are told to put on the whole armor of God—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and so on. Each of these pieces of armor is donned and deployed through prayer. You resist sin and withstand temptation through humbling yourself in prayer and by crying out to God for... Continue Reading

These days, it’s considered cool for a Christian to be a questioner, a doubter, and a skeptic. We’re not going to accept the canned faith of our parents! We’re not going to accept anything at face value! We’re going to ask all the hard questions. Our parents simply accepted what they were told from the... Continue Reading

This isn’t an article about my pain, but it’s an article about the pain so many of you carry on this day. God calls us to bear one another’s burdens, and in my calling as a counselor and friend, I have heard your stories, and I hurt for you today. I wanted you to know... Continue Reading

In other words, you will have seasons in your life when you won’t be able to participate in church as much as you like or reach out to your neighbors. The parents of small children, for example, typically have their hands full. It’s all they can do to get the family in the car to... Continue Reading

I heard of a situation in which someone who had been accused of falling into a grievous sin was told by someone at the church they were attending, “What are you doing here? Don’t you know that you’re not welcomed here?” Apart from the fact that the person who said that had no authority to... Continue Reading

We do not live in a world of chance or chaos. It began with a purpose, it is sustained with a purpose, and it has an ultimate purpose. This is my Father’s world, and His rule is purposeful, not capricious and arbitrary. Purposelessness is a manifest impossibility.   “Why?” This simple question is loaded with assumptions... Continue Reading

It was not our sins that “caused” God to give His Son.  The only cause was the love of God set on sinners, who deserved only condemnation.  Despite our sins, God’s hand was not constrained to save. But He did, and did it out of love.   I read a devotional recently that spoke of... Continue Reading