The New Testament is filled with commands Christians are supposed to obey: And the list goes on and on. When reading through all the stuff Christians are supposed to obey, it can feel crushing. But paying close attention to the context of these NT commands is important if we’re going to approach obedience appropriately. There are…
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Life is liking walking through a minefield. You never know what the next step will have in store for you. However, the book of Proverbs is like having a map showing you where all the mines have been buried; “step here, step there, don’t step over here…” While often overlooked, I wonder if we Christians…
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Titus 1:1-4 tells us about Paul’s ministry patterns and principles. Because we are part of the apostolic ministry, these patterns and principles Paul adopted, ought to be patterns and principles we adopt as we execute God’s game plan for the Christian life. We’ll consider two patterns of Christian practice we need to cultivate in our…
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Being in pastoral ministry for almost 13 years now has put me in the tough spot of being pastorally involved in more than a few cases of adultery. Tim Challies has written as clearly as anyone on how an affair really begins. I’ve summarized this below, but wholeheartedly recommend reading his longer version. 1) Eliminate Affairs begin…
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While it may not jump off the page at you, the main theme of this chapter is idolatry. So we’re going to ask and answer the following questions: 1) What is idolatry?2) How is idolatry diagnosed?3) How is idolatry cured? 1) What is idolatry? When we hear the term ‘idolatry’ we think of wooden or…
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It’s my prayer to see the local church be a place where people are given a taste of the new heavens and the new earth. The church is meant to be a harbinger of heaven to come. If the church is going to do that well, it must possess compassion. Without compassion, a church will become judgmental,…
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How does God’s grace affect change in people? I don’t know for sure, but sometimes I wonder if our mental picture of God’s grace is something that is soft, warm, and cuddly. If grace was personified it would be that newborn baby in the hospital nursery swaddled while everybody on the other side of the glass…
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As a Christian, I believe there are numerous compelling reasons to become a Christian. First, death is real. While we prefer to insulate ourselves from this hard reality, that doesn’t make it go away. By becoming a Christ-follower, however, Easter is a prediction of my future. Christians will live, even though they die (John 11:25-26). Second, Christianity is…
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Jonah is a biographical account of a man who is deeply religious, but far from God. This book gives the reader various aspects to a life that is religious, but spiritually dysfunctional. In chapter 1, we discover one aspect to a dysfunctionally religious person. Like Jonah, people like this have a category in their heads…
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There are two things every religion in the world agrees on. First, they all agree there’s something wrong with our world. Second, they all offer some ideal future. But that’s where the similarities end. In Hinduism the “problem” is Samsara, or the cycle of reincarnation. The goal is Moksha or freedom from this cycle. And…
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