Training to… Suffer?
World-class athletes train for intense competition by pushing themselves on a daily basis, denying themselves the indulgences that make them sluggish and weak, and focusing on the prize that motivates them to win. In the same way, if we believers are following Christ in obedience, our daily walk will prepare us for… suffering. Jesus warned...
Truth vs. Tradition: Where Do You Land?
What would you do if, in the regular, methodical study of God’s Word, you came to see that a long-held belief, precious doctrine, or firmly ingrained tradition were actually not biblical? What if taking a stand to expose the truth of God’s Word meant the loss of dear friends, church family, respect, position, and income? ...
Personal Legalism
Forlines makes a distinction between soteriological legalism and ethical legalism. In my own words, soteriological legalism is when a sinner seeks to gain salvation by works and ethical legalism is when a Christian seeks to elevate ethical standards as equal with God’s moral law. Peter and the leaders at Jerusalem were clearly guilty of ethical...
Hit the Right Mark.
Let me give it to you right out of the gate this morning: If everybody in the world thinks you’re knocking it out of the park, but you’re not living up to what God has called you to do, you’re not living up to who you’re called to be. Everybody around you could think you’re...
Trouble at UNC
Homosexual sex, the issue that refuses to go away; an issue where competing views of Scripture, legal rights, communal responsibility and individual freedom collide head-on. The current controversy surrounding a UNC Christian a capella group’s decision to ask a member who publicly embraced homosexuality to leave the group has created major waves in the Chapel Hill area. ...
Guest Blogger: Chad Smith, Kirby FWB Church
Several weeks ago, my two boys (7 and 5), were just having one of those days. I became frustrated with their bad choices and lack of obedience. As they would call it…they were not being “good listeners.” At one point, I was afraid that maybe they had lost their hearing altogether! Just before we started...
The Triumph of Death
Unbelievers live according to the law. They rely on the flesh. They justify their actions, accuse others of their shortcoming and transgressions, work hard to feel good about themselves, punish themselves for wrong-doings, and so forth. It’s all about what they do and don’t do. But Christians struggle with the law as well. Christians often...
Deeper Teaching or Simple Truth?
Most of the time, preachers get one of two critiques. People either say, “I just want some deeper teaching – I need to be fed!” or people say, “This is too deep; people need the simple truth of Jesus!” So then, what is the responsibility of the one who speaks God’s Word? I tend to...
Defining Obedience for Our Children
3rd post in the series: Seeing the correlation between obedience and true faith, it is imperative that we train our children to mold their hearts after obedience. As Paul points out in Ephesians 6, the way children obey God is to obey their parents. Since we are responsible for training our children to love and...
Just DO it!
Part 2 on obedience: Having seen numerous biblical accounts of great faith leading to giant steps of obedience in spite of serious risk, I am challenged to examine my own faith and see if it really measures up: Will I begin moving, even if I don’t know yet which way to go? Am I willing...
The Faith-Obedience Connection
This is the first in a series of posts containing a few thoughts on obedience–first as it is exemplified in the Bible, second as we should practice it, and third as we should teach it to our children. As I make my way through the Old Testament chronologically (thank you, Bible app!), one recurring thought...
Consequences
Consequences: Part One of Two (Exodus 33:1-11) Consequences – a concept that keeps smacking us in the face. Take the United States for example. When I started college, America was involved in no major wars. Today we are engaged in three. When I started college, the Democratic President and Republican Congress negotiated the country into...
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