God never promised to make life easy or enjoyable. God never promised we would be able to do everything we want to do. God never promised that life wouldn’t be costly. God did say, “I will accomplish all my purpose…I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”
Last year it was brought to my attention on a few occasions that I had been teaching salvation by works. Now, it’s essential to understand that no gospel-preaching pastor would ever want to be accused of leading people to believe that salvation comes by any other means than by the grace of God through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. So, the assertion that I was teaching a false gospel was, to put it mildly, a gut-punch.
Far too often, church members decide to leave their church, not because God has directed them to do so, but because of an offense that has not been addressed, a misunderstanding that has not been resolved, or a sin that has not been confronted.
While on vacation earlier this month I had the opportunity to read Dean Inserra’s new book, The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel.[1] The book was, in some ways, eye-opening. However, the book also helped to reinforce some of my own observations from nearly fourteen years of pastoral[…]
It’s funny how much things change in a decade. Ten years ago, the Marvel Cinematic Universe consisted of one film, Iron Man. The iPhone was in its infancy, and the iPad did not even exist. Billion-dollar companies such as Uber, Lyft and Air B&B were nothing more than ideas, while Snapchat, Spotify, and[…]
Have you ever heard the story of the guy who could not decide what side he wanted to fight for during the Civil War? He put on the coat of the North and the trousers of the South, and guess what? He got shot at from both sides! This is[…]
The approach and philosophy of those who produce some events for Christian women are disappointing. To be clear, not every conference created and designed to encourage and equip Christian women is filled with meaningless pabulum—as a matter of fact, some conferences are outstanding. But for every good conference, it seems[…]
Helen Roseveare became a follower of Jesus Christ while studying medicine at Cambridge University in 1945. Not long after she gave her life to Christ, she knew she was called to missions, saying “I’ll go anywhere God wants me to go, whatever the cost.” She went on to graduate[…]