Posts by Don Johnson
What Is Evangelicalism?
Writers employ much ink and many pixels, attempting to answer this question. Defining such things as evangelicalism (and fundamentalism) is difficult. We are attempting to define movements. Movements, by definition are moving, ergo, we are describing a moving target. Recent reading provides yet another attempt at defining the moving target that is evangelicalism. Observers may…
Read MoreWhere Are the Anti-Liberty Guns Pointed?
Last week, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, Beto O’Rourke, drew headlines for announcing that churches should lose their tax-exempt status for opposing same-sex marriage. “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for any institution or organization in America that denies the full human rights and full civil rights of every…
Read MoreSigns, Wonders, and the Testimony of God
In the Bible, the term “signs and wonders” occurs approximately twenty-nine times. The Old Testament references almost exclusively refer to the birth of Israel under the leadership of Moses, through whom God worked the signs and delivered Israel from Egypt. The only exceptions to this rule are three references in Daniel, where pagan kings Nebuchadnezzar…
Read MoreWar and Grace – a review
War and Grace: Short Biographies of the World Wars (Click for Amazon link) 2005: EP Books by Don Stephens War and Grace is a light devotional book with brief biographies of thirteen individuals who either served as Christians through the World Wars or came to Christ directly or indirectly following the profound influence of the…
Read MoreCultivating Secure Personal Intimate Relationships with God
What kind of relationship to you have with God? Would you describe it as “personal and involved”? Would you describe it as “intellectual but distant”? How about “casual acquaintance”? There could be many other descriptors. Everyone has some kind of relationship with God; but not everyone has a good relationship with God. In a recent…
Read MoreWe Have an Advocate
Fellowship is a big word in the Christian vocabulary. The underlying Greek word in the New Testament only occurs 19 times, but the concept looms large in our thinking about the spiritual relationship Christians have with one another and with God. Even though we use the word a lot, it seems we do not fully…
Read MoreLessons from a Baptist Timeline
We are in a study of Baptist history in our church. Our study lasted just over a year, but we are down to the last lesson or two. The folks in our church tell me they enjoyed it, I certainly enjoyed teaching it. (But then, I would!!) Near the end of our study, I came…
Read MoreWhat Will Sustain You in the Hour of Trial?
I’m doing some preaching/teaching in our church about “thinking about Scripture,” or Christian meditation. In our day and age, you might get a little nervous about the word “meditation.” In the non-Christian sense, meditation has the idea of “emptying the mind.” In the Christian sense, meditation has the idea of filling the mind with Bible…
Read MoreI Just Want to Feel Loved
“I just want to feel loved,” she said. She was the barber taking care of another customer in the next chair. Her remarkably open conversation was about her recent breakup with a man who she liked, but apparently didn’t meet her criteria for continuing the relationship. It sounded like another in something of a series…
Read MoreCalling Young Men to the Work
Our friend Kevin Schaal gave us a motivating piece on Monday, “We Need More Pastors, Where Are They?” As we age, those of us in the ministry become more and more concerned with succession. (Not that we usurp our congregations! But we are looking out over the horizon to see if there are any ships…
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