After over twenty years in pastoral ministry, it is my observation that most people in our churches have not been intentionally discipled. Rather, all too often the approach taken in our assemblies is one of osmosis. The unspoken but very real rule is, “If you hang around long enough you will catch on to how…
My recent article, “Are We Preaching with Power?,” kicked up some responses at Sharper Iron. The discussion was positive (a rarity on the internet), and it prompts this expansion of the theme. To review, the passage that prompts this thinking is Acts 24, where Felix becomes frightened when Paul preaches on righteousness, self-control, and the…
Jeno’s pizza, rock quarries, and filing cabinets are three items that to most people do not mean much of anything. But to me they symbolize times in my teenage life when someone mentored me. To this day, whenever I eat a Jeno’s pizza, I remember the graciousness and sacrifice of a young couple who invited…
“It’s just a piece of paper.” Is it really? A young couple celebrates a wonderful Christian wedding with their church family, many friends, and relatives attending. However, when it is time to sign the marriage license the young couple realizes that in the whirlwind of activities leading up to the wedding, they forgot to go…
A lack of hydration and increased exposure to the elements can leave a person in a dangerous physical condition. As we noted in previous articles, heat exhaustion carries many parallels to spiritual exhaustion. A lack of spiritual hydration (the Word) and increased exposure to the elements (our worldly culture) can leave a person in a…
Christians are people of truth, because we believe in a God Who IS truth. Because God cannot lie, and we are to imitate His character, we must not lie either. Yet Christian people all too often communicate what is untrue, or at least unproven. Having grown up in the church, and now approaching thirty years…
On December 31, 1999, I, along with millions of others, was watching television early in the day as the New Year arrived in far off New Zealand and Australia. Normally, the arrival of the New Year in other countries would hold little or no interest for me. However, this was the year of “Y2K.” Everyone…
When Paul preached to the Roman governor, Felix, the Bible says, “as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened.” (Acts 24.25) Paul’s preaching on these topics brought conviction to the heart. This response is in keeping with the Lord’s promise in Jn 6.8-11. In verse 8, Jesus says,…
The spirit of the new evangelicals of the mid-twentieth century was a desire to be respected by the theological liberals. R.C. Sproul Jr. said it this way. Fundamentalism is so named for a fundamental reason. It was a movement that concerned itself with affirming, defending, and maintaining the fundamentals of the faith. As a movement,…
Revelation 7:9-10 Palm Sunday is a traditional celebration with Scriptural foundations. What is the meaning of this day? Why is it important? What should catch our attention as we think about this special day, one week before Resurrection Sunday? Is it enough to merely enjoy the greening of the grasses with the anticipation of the…