Healthy Pastors Leading Health Churches
This is the heart of the matter. This is the message that blows quietly, sweetly through the whole Bible. It’s easy to lose it in the strictures of law, the violent stories of the people of Israel, the doom-laden pronouncements of the prophets, or the near-psychedelic foretelling of future events. It’s so tender, so gentle, that … [Read more...]
Gabriel must have scratched his head at this one. He wasn’t one to question his God-given missions. Sending fire and dividing seas were all in an eternity’s work for this angel. When God sent, Gabriel went. And when word got out that God was to become man, Gabriel was enthused. He could envision the moment: The Messiah in a … [Read more...]
Even though none of us actually plays by the rules (according to Romans 3:10, 23), we still try rather hard to do so. We’ve all sinned and fallen short, but in our broken condition, we just keep on plugging away in hopes that in eternity all of our trying and fighting and working will somehow qualify us for heaven in God’s … [Read more...]
Back in the day, Rodney King echoed these famous words, “Can’t we all just get along?” How do we get along? Is it possible? YES! BUT WE CAN’T DO IT IN OUR OWN STRENGTH. Reflect on Philippians 2:1-4, NIV: Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His … [Read more...]
At what age will I be considered an expert about life? It is a troubling question to me. Personally, I have traveled the path of professional education in an attempt to master knowledge. The result is I have more classroom credits than anyone in his or her right mind should ever think of getting, yet I am still puzzled, perplexed, … [Read more...]
My wife and I spent our first Christmas as a married couple at her parents house in southern California. One of the things that California has that Illinois—where we were living at the time—does not is decent card rooms. I fancy myself a bit of a poker player and was looking forward to checking one of them out while we were … [Read more...]
This is the Apostle Paul's way of telling the story of the Bible and the meaning of the Gospel. If Adam was not a historical figure, and thus if there was no Fall into sin and all humanity did not thus sin in Adam, then Paul's telling of the Gospel is wrong. Furthermore, Paul was simply mistaken to believe that Adam had been a real human … [Read more...]
Each generation of Christians faces its own set of theological challenges. For this generation of evangelicals, the question of beginnings is taking on a new urgency. In fact, this question is now a matter of Gospel urgency. How are we to understand the Bible’s story, if we can have no confidence that we know how it even … [Read more...]
But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …. (Matthew 5:44 TEV) “Had Jesus only told us to love our brethren, we might have misunderstood what he meant by love, but now he leaves us in no doubt whatever as to his meaning.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer Jesus is absolutely relentless in pushing … [Read more...]
Should you not eat today so someone else can? Scott Todd argues it will help you and your congregation understand the suffering and hunger caused by extreme poverty. The end of extreme poverty will require deep social resolve. Guiding the three sectors of society (government, business, and church) depends on our collective will and … [Read more...]
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