As you may or may not know, I desire to someday be a pastor. I’ve wanted to be one (and have felt called to be one) for probably around ten years now. It is what led me to obtain a degree in Pastoral Leadership Studies. Long story short, I’m not one…not yet. But I do [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Arrogance, Church, Confession, God, Grace, Hypocrisy, Pastoring, Prayer, Preaching, Pride, Tension | 2 Comments »
First, watch this: C.S. Lewis once observed that, in a world where we’re likely to be so self-focused that we ignore God completely, pain has the ability to soften our hearts and open our eyes to the reality we often ignore. For many, no doubt, this reality hit closer to home than they [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: America, Apathy, Bible, Christianity, Church, Comfort, Culture, God, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, Pain, Preaching, Redemption, Salvation, Scripture, Theology | 2 Comments »
My new friend and fellow blogger Jason Huffman recently blogged about the Christian buzzword “Relevant” and we had a brief conversation there that I think is worth rehashing and expanding here. The question is this: is it important for the church to be relevant? At first glance, it seems like this might be a trick [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Christianity, Church, God, Gospel, Jesus, Relevance, Sermon | 1 Comment »
There’s an underlying assumption that goes mostly unnoticed which dramatically affects the nature of so-called Christian preaching: That Christians don’t need to hear the Gospel. At least not with any degree of regularity. They already know the Gospel, many say. Why continue to preach something that they already know?!?! A few rhetorical questions in response: [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Christianity, Church, Evangelism, Gospel, Jesus, Redemption, Salvation, Sermon, Theology | Leave a Comment »
I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with someone about the need for preachers to point to Christ in their sermons and I realized that while we both affirmed preachers should do so, we disagree rather emphatically about what it means to do it. So, I thought I’d offer a few thoughts on the matter. To [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Christianity, Church, Gospel, Jesus, Redemption, Salvation, Sermon, Theology | 2 Comments »
Innovation is one of those buzzwords that everybody likes. What, after all, is there to not like about innovation? It’s innovation! It’s new and exciting. Innovation has made things like the internet (ever heard of it?) possible. And the iPad. And the Macbook Pro on which I am currently typing. Innovation makes life interesting. Just [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: America, Christianity, Church, Culture, Entertainment, God, Gospel, Jesus, Scripture, Theology | Leave a Comment »
I’ll start off with a confession: I’m a terrible blogger. It has been months since my last post. I keep resolving (silently, in my head) to blog more often, but I refrain from ever saying this to anyone so I can’t be held accountable to it. Know this: my spirit is willing, but my flesh [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Christianity, Church, God, Gospel, Jesus, Law, Pastoring, Preaching, Theology, Works Righteousness | 1 Comment »
Okay, so my last post focused on the importance of making the distinction between what is descriptive and prescriptive in Scripture, and in particular, when reading of others personal experiences with God. I concluded that blog post briefly rehashing the story of Hosea who was called by God to marry a prostitute. The Israelites wouldn’t [...]
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In Part 1 of this short series on the sufficiency of Scripture, I made the argument that the hunger among Evangelical Christians for personal revelations from God as requisite to an intimate personal relationship with him is a sin. This blog is dedicated to the question that inevitably gets asked in response: if God doesn’t [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Bible, Christianity, Church, God, Theology | 1 Comment »
In my last post, I wrote about how, in my opinion, Evangelical Christians do not really trust Scripture. As you can imagine, that sparked some controversy. I’ve had conversations about it over the phone with some, others in person, and a select few actually commented on the blog, Facebook, or Twitter. One thread that seems [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Bible, Christianity, Church, God, Theology | 3 Comments »
