In the past few days I have noticed a surge of interest in the 40 Days of Community program, the follow-up to the 40 Days of Purpose program some 20,000 churches have already participated in. The initial launch of 40 Days of Community is the Fall of this year, which would explain the increased interest…
After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For…
For reasons I cannot quite ascertain (though I am hoping they are not prophetic), I have been thinking a lot lately about the issue of whether children who die in infancy are automatically ushered into heaven. In other words, what happens to children when they die? I have heard various answers to this question, and…
As Christians we believe that the Bible is the word of God. We believe it is, as it says of itself, “living and breathing, sharper than a two-edged sword.” We believe that the Bible is the greatest revelation of God – despite the incredible beauty of nature, it pales in comparison to what we find…
At the conference I attended this weekend, I heard the powerful testimony of Richard Ganz as he gave his reflections on thirty years of Jewish evangelism. Richard is Jewish, and was at one time not only a practicing Jew, but a very strictly practicing Jew. His testimony caused me to think about some verses from…
There have been several times over the past few weeks when I have been challenged on my Calvinist theology. People have not been confrontational, but I believe by-and-large have been honestly seeking answers and have asked my opinion on various matters. They generally come from an Arminian background and truly want to discover the truth…
This morning I spent an hour wandering the aisles of WalMart while I had the oil changed in my van. Here’s a shopping tip for you: you can beat the back-to-school craziness by shopping at Wal Mart at 8 AM on a Saturday morning. I very nearly had the place to myself! As I wandered…
Have you ever thought about what kind of things you take for granted? In most cases, when you come to a stop sign, you stop, then look both ways. If there is a stop sign to your right or left and a car is approaching, you go ahead and pull through the intersection. Right? You…
How many times has someone told you that they “accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior?” Have you ever asked them what it means that Jesus is their Lord? Have you ever asked them how Jesus is their Savior? What makes Him their Savior? And what does it mean that He is their personal…
Unless you’ve been hiding in dead, country churches for the past decades, you’ll know that there is a movement in the Evangelical church to be relevant to the culture around us. Obviously, there is nothing inherently wrong with being able to effectively communicate with the people in our society. Since the days of the apostles,…
I spent almost the entire duration of my education in Christian schools. From the first grade until the eleventh I attended several different Christian schools in various parts of Southern Ontario. The only exception was a year I spent in Edinburgh, Scotland where I attended first the local public high school and then the American…
Today I am honored to post an entry by Doug McHone, author of CoffeeSwirls, one of my favorite blogs. Before we discuss freedom, Let’s take a look at it’s polar opposite: This is the widely-accepted definitions of a slave. Essentially, a slave is one who has no control over their own actions or destiny. They…
A reader of this site posted an interesting story in the forum that I had not read before today. It is taken from the Corpus Christi Caller-Times (which is a newspaper, if that isn’t obvious by the name) and is entitled ” 165 members ousted from Gardendale Baptist.” To avoid copyright infringment I will not…
Salvation is the central theme of the Bible, and indeed the very heart of the gospel. The promise of salvation is what stirs the heart of the new believer and continues to encourage Christians until the time they are called home. Salvation is a promise, a reality and a hope. Today I want to look…
Last week I mentioned that I had discovered 9 Marks Ministries and that I was thrilled to find an organization that is dedicated to recovering many of the traditional marks of a Biblical church. While they mention that the nine marks they outline are not the only important marks of a healthy church, they do…
About a month ago I wrote about Cliched Christianity and spoke of the danger of allowing words to lose their meaning. Today I would like to explore one word that has become little more than cliché to many Christians. I have chosen to begin at the end, so to speak, with the word “amen.” I…
Today I will be writing about how redemption is applied to the lives of believers. An obvious prerequisite to this article would be one about how redemption was accomplished. I will not be writing about that at this time, so we will have to consider it sufficient to say that redemption was accomplished through the…
Much has been made in the past few years of mutual submission within marriage. Where traditionally women were encouraged to submit to their husbands, today we are told that the correct Biblical pattern is a mutual submission where the husband and wife submit equally to each other. This teaching seems to contradict the traditional Biblical…
Many months ago, inspired by discussion revolving around The Passion of the Christ, I wrote an article I entitled “Take This Cup Away From Me.” In recent days I have been continually struck by the greatness of Jesus’ sacrifice and my lack of understanding as to how great it really was. My thoughts turned to…
Last week I posted some new ideas on the passage in 1 Corinthians that seems to say it is better to stay single than to marry. If you missed the post, you can get all caught up here. One question that arose in subsequent discussion (some in the forums and some via email) concerned verses…