As a youth, we attended a church that had a large focus on college students. If you moved to town, and began attending our church in the summer, you would find a small community of a few hundred gathered regularly and living life together. However, the moment students began to arrive at Mississippi State University for the fall semester the church would begin to burst at the seams and the congregation became numbered much closer to the thousands, with the median age being around twenty. It turns out that back in the 80’s our church was Evangelical, Missional, & Intentional – much like what...
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Do you think it is possible to square Biblical events with science? I was speaking with a few European brainiacs (and atheists) over beers in NYC in January on the topic of Faith vs. Science. Andy proposed that the Scientific discipline is one which states Anything not Disproven is Possible while the Faith discipline is one which states I Believe, Even If I Know It is Not True placing the two paradigms in a nullifying juxtaposition so that they can not coexist. I asked the three of them whether they considered me a man of Science or a man of Faith, to which one of them stated (and the others laughingly...
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Songs, fellowship, big dinners, sweet words, beautiful liturgies, the holiday season was upon us! What joy, what merriment, entire towns were dressed up to reflect the pervasive spirit of celebration. Hot chocolate, fresh baked cookies, warm fireplaces, warmer friendships, praise the Lord for our ability to celebrate Him so. In reflecting on our celebration, let us look at the gift of salvation and remember what made that celebration so sweet; and perhaps be encouraged to deliver the gift to others this year. It seems simple enough to say, “Christ died for our sins” and there we have it, nutcracker...
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Overview Bubba tends to be of an extremely analytical and logical nature; as such, he is drawn to systems, frameworks, and workflows in understanding and visualizing concepts. While most everyone appreciates a diagram or picture to help them understand a concept, there aren’t as many (though you are likely one if you are reading this) who are truly attracted to a systematic approach of frameworks and workflows. A long way of saying that this might not be for you, but I find it helps me towards greater clarity in analysis and understanding. First, we will acquire a framework for understanding...
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Our scripture today is meant to help us scrutinize our own lives and discern the degree to which we conform to Christ’s example and standard. Before we go into the text, I admonish you to resist the significant temptation to skip over applying this text to yourself and immediately begin judging others by the standard it sets. That act, in and of itself is counter to what we are teaching here. So then, what is it that we are teaching here? What is the point of our review of these twelve verses? Quite simply to review what Paul defined a Christian as. Now, there are a number of layers to defining...
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Pressing Toward the Prize in Christ Jesus Contending or Contentious? Beloved, I was eager to preach to you today regarding our common salvation; however I find it necessary to appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Now, you might rightly ask, why? Why is it necessary to appeal to me to contend for the faith? Am I not a child of God? Haven’t I faith? What is to be contended for? What is this contention that you would encourage me to participate in? Can’t we all just be friends? You might even be so clever as to quote 1 Corinthians 11:16 to me, wherein...
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Synopsis A friend of mine recently read a statement on Wikipedia regarding Calvinism, and I quote, “One person is saved while another is condemned, not because of a foreseen willingness, faith, or any other virtue in the first person, but because God sovereignly chose to have mercy on him.” He brought the statement to my attention and asserted that this was one major reason in his objection to Calvinism as a system, because – according to his interpretation of scripture – this is directly opposed to “clear bible teaching”. I asked him to provide me an example of “clear Bible teaching”...
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A friend recently asked me this question after reading through The Roman Road: A Well-Engineered Path to Salvation. It's a fantastic question and gave me reason to write down my understanding of how they work out. Synopsis Let us begin by looking at the text at hand. First, Romans 10:9 – "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Second, Matthew 7:21 – "“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father...
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Erik Weihenmayer is blind, yet on May 25, 2001, he reached the peak of Mt. Everest. Suffering from a degenerative eye disease, he lost his sight when he was 13, but that didn't stop him. On a mountain where 90% of the climbers never make it to the top – and 165 have died trying since 1953 – Erik succeeded, in large measure because he listened well. He listened to a little bell tied to the back of the climber in front of him, so he would know what direction to go. He listened to the voice of teammates who would shout back to him, "Death fall two feet to your right!" so he would know...
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You doubtless remember many figures from history, Socrates, Plato, Albert Einstein, George Washington, the list goes on. These individuals, who influenced nations or impacted the world, are remembered because of the impact that of their lives. Jesus, who more than any one other person changed the face of world history, is remembered not so much for His life but for His death! Why do you suppose that is? Why is Christ's death any more interesting than Socrates, or Plato, or Einstein, or Mr. Washington's? What does the bible mean when it states that He died for our sins? What did His death really...
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