A Snapshot of the Gospel
Entire lifetimes of study on the nature and comprehensiveness of the gospel fall short of its beauty and significance, but we want to offer a simple snapshot. The apostle Paul clearly stated that the gospel brings salvation and is the core message of the Christian faith on which we stand. How does the gospel bring […]
Five Questions to Discern Ministry Idolatry
Local church ministry can be thrilling, even addictive. Seeing the Lord transform lives and bring people into a relationship with Himself provides a buzz that nothing in this world can provide. And because we are prone to replace God on the throne of our lives with something else, something lesser, ministry can easily become the […]
Three Lessons Learned from a Season of Idolatry
Last week, I shared the story about how God graciously rescued me from ministry idolatry. For a season, I placed ministry above my relationship with Him and my relationship with my wife. Here are some of the lessons I learned: 1 – I am the one responsible. Godly people in the church surrounded me, but […]
Hezekiah and Makeovers
Hezekiah was a revolutionary for simple. He was extremely focused. He was against cluttered spiritual lives. Evidently God liked this characteristic about him because 2 Kings 18:3 indicates that Hezekiah did what “was right in the Lord’s sight.” He returned God’s people to the Lord. He brought them through an extreme makeover. He got rid […]
Only the Gospel Forms Deep Community
“PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST . . .” This phrase is used countless times each weekend when churches gather for worship across the United States and around the world. And while such wording is helpful in describing the intimacy of our fellowship with God, it is only part of the truth—because it neglects the reality that […]
Ministry Is a Cruel God
I took my first full-time pastoral position right out of college. I was serving as a full-time student pastor and desperately wanted to see students meet Jesus, live out their faith, and grow in the Lord. But at some point in my first few months, I became unhealthily obsessed with the ministry. It was likely […]
Harvard Research on Life Change
Modern research studies often demonstrate principles that Christians know to be true—truths about life and humanity already disclosed by God in Scripture. This should not be surprising to us because whether the researcher is a believer or not, research studies typically examine an aspect of God’s general revelation, in this case, humanity. For example, one […]
Remember You Are His Bride
As you live, remember you are the pure and forgiven bride of Christ. Remembering your identity as a pure bride should lead you to live pure and blameless. Purity is your new identity. To live impure is to not live the reality of who you really are. To live impure is to revert to your […]
Clarifying the Gospel
Gospel is derived from the Greek word evangelion, and it means “good news.” Thus, the gospel is fundamentally news and not advice. Advice is typically counsel about something that has not yet happened and requires the listener to do something. Dress like this for the date. Ask these questions in the interview. Use this type […]
Church Identity: How Your Church Must Be Unique
No matter the denomination, socio-economic makeup, ethnic mix, city, or geographical region, a church must have Jesus as her foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11) and her chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:19-21). At the same time, a local church is a unique expression of God’s Church. Tim Keller, in his book Center Church, writes: “Church models are in […]