Modern day Christians often gloss over the term Messiah without fully appreciating its depth and import, stemming from the Old Testament.
To make the text live, help your people live in the text
An untapped method of communicating the meaning of and illustrating a biblical text is explaining in a vivid manner the original context of the Scripture.
Linsanity, Tebow-mania, and the Evangelistic Witness
Jeremy Lin and Tim Tebow represent a new breed of Christian athlete that is worthy of emulation—orthodox, in addition to being outspoken and excellent in their God-given roles.
A Word about Last Words…
As pastors, what should we talk about with those who are dying—experiences from this past life or eternal theological truths?
Following the example of Mary at Christmas
An apocryphal anecdote has been circulated for some time at my alma mater, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, regarding one of my former professors. The story goes that an erstwhile student of this professor once questioned him as to whether he ever gave pop quizzes. With a smile, this peculiar professor responded that he would give a pop quiz the … Read More
A Thought to Ponder at Thanksgiving…
From its inception as a holiday, Thanksgiving has provided occasion to express gratitude for food, family, friends, freedom, and, more recently, football. Indeed, ask any Christian about the object of their appreciation this time of year, and their minds will most often drift to things like good health, stable employment, edifying relationships, etc. And such material things are blessings, aren’t … Read More
Combating a Sexualized Generation with a Biblical Theology of Sex
Perusing the blogosphere recently, a disturbing headline caught my eye. A religion commentary on cnn.com disturbingly asserted, “True love doesn’t wait after all.” Now we all know blogs can tend towards sensational “Chicken Little” claims and arguments and statistics. But the data given in this article, which was itself a commentary on an earlier article appearing in Relevant Magazine, were … Read More
Preach robust theology, so that in tragedy, you don’t have to…
Two years ago, a friend of mine from seminary experienced an incomprehensible tragedy. His almost two-year-old daughter—a surprise baby and their fourth child—began having seizures. A day or two later she died. A little girl—so full of life, so innocent—now dead and taken from her loving parents… As a father of three little boys—four, two, and four weeks old respectively—I … Read More
But God: A Meditation on Ephesians 2:1-7
A dull mist creeps along the walls of the cave. The wisps meld with the ghostly shadows cast from few remaining streams of light creeping through the crevices of the entranceway. ephesians Concealed within the cavern lurks the unmistakable stench of death emanating from the cold, unmoving object sprawled in the floor. Coated with perfumes rendered ineffective by four days … Read More