Over the next several months I will be teaching our young adults at Jenks Bible Church some apologetics. If you know any young adults in the Tulsa area who are not currently plugged into a Bible-believing church, send them and their families our way starting April 10th, 6:30pm-8:00pm.
Read MoreThe youth in today’s society face a mountain of challenges. Questions of identity, worldview, community, guilt/shame, discipline, growth, time, and relationships are the mountains at which they stare. To complicate things, life is crazy busy and bombarded by distraction. In many ways, this and much more could be said about grown adults, as well.
Read MoreWe may be surrounded by all manner of wickedness. Everywhere we turn there may be assaults on our souls. But there is a truth that is worth recalling from the psalmist in this psalm, and it’s the resurrection. “What?,” you may be asking . . .
Read MoreMeditation is a word that most people have heard of in our day. And very likely they’ve heard about the word in association with yoga, with the word carrying the picture of one sitting in a pose with eyes closed and mind empty. But that picture of meditation falls short of the biblical picture of meditation. Biblical meditation is . . .
Read MoreWhat will the new heavens and the new earth be like? Well we’ve got a sneak peek from the last couple of chapters of the book of Revelation. It will be a place of no more sadness, pain, and tears; the enemy of death has forever been defeated; we will never sin again; there will be no more unrighteousness and injustice; nothing but beauty will be all around us; the tree that gives life will be restored to our existence. We could keep . . .
Read MoreHer big day has come! All the preparations are made, and all the arrangements are set. She has labored to ensure that the moment her soon-to-be groom locks eyes on her, he will see her arrayed in all her beauty and splendor. The New Testament teaches . . .
Read MoreGod owns all things. And those among God’s people who have more things than others should not feel convicted for such a station in life, so long as they are generous toward men and grateful to God. The apostle Paul speaks to this subject when he says that the rich “are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” (1 Timothy 6:18). So, wealth is not in itself evil.
Read MoreGrowing up at the edge of the millennial generation, I have been exposed numerous times to the cereal commercial with Tony the Tiger. “They’re great!” It’s unfortunately true that when I read about someone being great, I hear that tagline in my head. But maybe there’s something redeemable . . .
Read MoreHow do you deal with feelings of guilt? We all have them. And we all have to deal with them. The good news for the Christian is they have already been dealt with. When Christ went to the cross he took with him all our sin and shame, bearing in his bloody body the guilt of our sin. That is a judicial fact. But our feelings . . .
Read MoreAll of human history as we know it is coming to an end. Governments will fall, injustice will cease, sin will be eradicated. Like an army, the events of history are marching to an inevitable end. And we may ask: who is in charge of all this? If we answer, God, we are right. But . . .
Read MoreThen comes the moment of truth. Can Peter Pan regain his leadership of the Lost Boys from Rufio? Peter Pan and Rufio fight it out. And Peter Pan gains the victory. Then in a classic display of loyalty, Peter Pan carves a line in the sand and stands on one side. And immediately everyone runs to his side. Peter Pan was saying, “Who is with me?” In the passage we look at from Mark’s gospel this evening . . .
Read MoreWe come to this verse and we are tempted to think it has nothing to do with what John has already said—he has mentioned nothing about idols. But if we think about context, John said that Jesus is the true God and eternal life (v. 20), so to worship anything or anyone other than him is idolatry. So, in fact, it does fit the context.
Read MoreWhat does Christ’s return do for our present holiness? Does knowing that Jesus will return make a difference in how we live today? These are questions that are answered in this one verse in Second Peter.
Read MoreWe come into a season that is super special. We celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. What a blessed celebration! I love this time of the year. It’s amazing! And the Lord would have us to be intentional this Christmas to be reminded about what this time of the year is all about. But can I tell you, that gets more and more difficult every year here in America, it seems. Christmas has become commercialized . . .
Read MoreChristians lack nothing when it comes to living a godly life. When God saved us, my Seminary professor said, he backed up the dumb truck and dropped into our lives everything we need. We have everything we need for a godly life.
Read MoreWhen we are converted to Christ we get enlisted in a war. The war was going on before our conversion, but we were (unwittingly) fighting on the opposing side of Christ. But things have changed now. And whether we like it or not we have to daily wake up to the battle.
Read MoreWhat kind of service does God require of us? Is any kind of service an acceptable offering to God? Meeting the physical needs of people? Clothing the homeless? Visiting the sick? Helping the impoverished? What “counts” as the Christian disciple’s service? There is a lot of confusion in our day about this question . . .
Read MoreAt the end of an intense warning in Hebrews chapter ten is the encouragement of verse thirty-nine: his audience will persevere in the faith. When you think about this it may seem odd, at first. The author of Hebrews tells his readership that, on the one hand, if they don’t persevere they will face eternal judgment. On the other hand he tells them that they will not face eternal judgment as they will persevere. The natural question might be then: why the warning? . . .
Read MoreWhat has the power to flip a man to call what was once a gain a loss, and to call what was once a loss a gain? The simple answer is: a new love. In the case of the apostle Paul, he found a new love in Jesus Christ, so that what he used to think of as gains became losses because they were hindrances to his love for Christ. Of course . . .
Read MoreWhen we consider the terrible depths to which we have fallen; when we think about how we were once enslaved to sin; when we evaluate the power of sin even in our lives now; when we hold these things up next to the power of God, none of them stand a chance. God’s power is so much greater than these things, Paul has to string together three different Greek words to describe God’s power. It’s quite literally . . .
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