I’ve noticed that it’s always some other church that’s the legalistic one. It’s never my own. If it’s mine at all, it’s always the church I used to attend before I got free from all that legalistic nonsense. This is curious to me, for if there is such a thing as legalism, then ...

I’ve basically been in church every time the doors were open for as long as I can remember. One of the consistent themes I’ve seen emphasized is the Great Commission. It’s found at the end of Matthew’s gospel. “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been ...

“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. ” (Hebrews 11:3, ESV) By faith we understand. The entire verse is a mind bender. But the first phrase packs enough stopping power to drop the bully of Western thinking to its ...

1. You must examine the right person. So often, when we are struggling to forgive ourselves, the obstacle we face is a deep awareness of our own guilt. We KNOW we are guilty. We did it. Forgiving ourselves can feel like the moral equivalent of saying 1+1=3. It’s just not right and saying that it is right ...

“Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” ” (Luke 11:1, ESV) The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. What follows inverses 2-13 is Jesus’ answer to that request. His response comes in ...

I recently finished teaching a class at my church called “What Does God Know About Tomorrow?” This class on the topic of divine foreknowledge briefly surveyed the Reformed, Arminian, and Open views, and the related issues of God’s sovereignty, Man’s free will, God’s relationship to time, ...

The enemy has two main strategic focuses through which he seeks to gain influence in our lives. First, he wants to become our source of truth. When we agree with his lies about God, self, others, or reality his influence increases because he has become the one who defines meaning. Second, he invites us to become our ...

Suddenly I saw with clarity the very issue that all the communication skills in the world depend upon. I saw the foundational attitude without which no other relational changes will be sustainable. It’s about responsibility. Specifically – who is responsible for who and what? If this piece is not right ...

John Eldredge, in his book The Way of the Wild Heart explains the developmental progression all men experience from boyhood to maturity. Not all men experience this progression in a healthy way. He points out that there are two key questions asked by the heart of every man, answered during childhood and adolescence, ...

Romans 8:16 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,(ESV) God has made us three part beings: body, soul, and spirit. Our body is the physical house in which we live. Our soul is comprised of our mind, emotions, and will. The soul may seem more abstract than the body, yet it is ...