The Bible is very nuanced in its discussion of money. Within its pages, money falls into two different categories. It’s either a “danger” or a “blessing.” If money is a life-pressure, it’s not my financial position that needs to change. It’s my attitude towards it and my relationship with it that needs to change. How…
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I’m in a blog series trying to make the case what a church ought to provide its people is: lots of gospel, lots of safety, and lots of time. Today I want to hone in on the necessity of the gospel being central in the life of a church. A lot of people think the gospel is the…
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“Why do I do the things I do?” Answering that question is the key to unlocking our busyness problem. We have “heart motivations” that drive why our calendars and to-do lists fill up. We have to rethink our lives at a deep level to discover what those heart motivations are so we can address them….
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Establishing a church culture of “gospel + safety + time” is critical to the church’s health and effectiveness. Why? Let’s make an assumption. The assumption is this: the more a church is like the way the Bible says a church should be, the healthier and more effective it will be. Or to put it in…
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What does your church offer? When someone asks that question, they’re usually asking about what programs and ministries the church has to offer. Now churches should be able to tell people about the various ministries that occur each week, but it would be really cool to see a different first response to that question… “Well…we…
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Before we can answer the question, we have to make sure something is clear: the gospel calls churches into existence. That is, the gospel creates churches. Think about it… The gospel is the good news that Jesus has come into our world, lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have…
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I’m sure you’ve noticed our propensity to name drop. “I shook hands with the President!” “I sat next to Aaron Rogers on the plane.” “Channing Tatum smiled at me!” Having close encounters with famous people makes us look good; it makes us look like important insiders. But name dropping only works if you have a…
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I’ve been working my way through Rico Tice’s new book, Honest Evangelism. It’s been both encouraging and convicting. Rico is a pastor at a church in London and one of his primary responsibilities is evangelism. Yet he would be the first to admit evangelism doesn’t come easy for him. It doesn’t come easy for me either….
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Over the years in pastoral ministry, I have been asked on countless occasions, “What do I do when I just don’t have a desire to read the Bible?” I understand the frustration. I’ve lived it. As a Christian, it feels unChristian to even be in that spot. You might think to yourself, “What’s wrong with…
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By most accounts, the apostle Paul seemed to be a pretty passionate guy. He was willing to endure lashings, stonings, and verbal abuse for the sake of the gospel. He traveled the Mediterranean world planting churches. He wasn’t afraid to go the extra mile. But there is only one thing he himself said he “strenuously…
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