Christians & Black Lives Matter

This is not going to be a short read. It is going to wander a bit at first and not get straight to the point. I’m going to tell you what I’ve worked out in my mind and the conclusions I’ve reached. If you disagree with the conclusions, then by all means tell me where […]

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….for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

I’m working through a rebuttal of what I’ll call the “Filthy Rags Doctrine”, the notion that Isaiah 64:6 teaches us that God views everything we do as worthless, filthy rags. The notion is ridiculous on its surface, and at its foundation, but its a popular one.  And that’s unfortunate. I’m not done working out a […]

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America has a gossip problem.

I’m sure we do on an individual level as well, but I’m not talking about that.  I’m talking about gossip on the national level.  And it’s completely out of control. You probably don’t recognize it as gossip because it isn’t whispered in a private corner at a party or in an empty break room at […]

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You Can’t Say That Hate Is Un-American

Over the past few days I’ve heard a lot of people talking about how “hate” and “racism” are un-American or that you can’t support “that cause” and still be an American. And that is simply not true.  Let me tell you why. 

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Why isn’t Satan killing more Christians?

I don’t mean worldwide, because certainly there are Christians suffering across the world.  But I’m talking about right here in America?  Why aren’t we getting murdered for our faith?  I’ve wondered this quite a bit, not understanding why we have it so easy.  

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Paul’s 3 Prayers

Paul told the church in Corinth that he had prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh.   I think we sometimes approach prayer with an attitude that volume is of great importance.  We’re certainly to be prayerful people (1Thess. 5) and are assured that our prayers are heard and can […]

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What we say…..”Oh my God”

Somewhere along the way the phrase “Oh my God” has become second nature for those who don’t care much about God and taboo for those that do.  And that ain’t right.  

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“Go and sin no more”

I’ve seen this verse quoted over and over again lately in reference to the transgender phenomenon that’s being thrown in our face.  The premise of those misinterpreting the quote by Jesus is that when confronted by sin Jesus simply befriended people and gave them good advice. If you want a more thorough explanation of what […]

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Maybe You ARE A Special Snowflake

Maybe you are a special snowflake.  But what if that special snowflake-ness comes with responsibility, not privilege?

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Christianity Is A Very Exclusive Club

Christianity is a very exclusive club, which is something that not a lot of people like to admit.  The Bible tells us that few people will find the narrow path, and if you look at the sheer numbers of people worldwide who reject Christianity you’ll see how painfully true that is. But it seems that […]

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The Cross….Confidence & Hope

This weekend people all over the world will be reminded of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.  I don’t think I’m equipped to add anything to the magnitude of those events, but will share one small observation about how they’re important in different ways.

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How the story of Christ is different than any other…

Samuel Clemens made a great name for himself writing about the Mississippi River as Mark Twain.  But he said later in his life that after learning the river as a riverboat captain, it lost all of its mystery.  He didn’t see the water swirling mysteriously, he saw the evidence of dangerous hidden boulders beneath its […]

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Here I Raise My Ebenezer

Throughout the Old Testament we see a pattern of God’s followers setting up visual reminders of God and what He had done for them.  When did we stop doing this, and should we start doing it again?  

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Does God Want Us To Be Dependable?

Does God want us to be dependable? Does it even matter if we’re dependable people?  

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Should we “go to church” without emotion?

Should we “go to church” without emotion, when we’re feeling apathetic toward worshipping Him?

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What Hypocrisy Is….And Isn’t

There are few character traits more despised in our society than hypocrisy.  And that Christians are accused of being hypocritical more than any other segment of society.  As a Christian, I think that’s our own fault.

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The birth of Christ

This time of year, when it seems the entire world is contemplating the birth of Christ, I think it’s good to be reminded of WHY He was born.  

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Teaching Teachers

Random thought after attending some training this week. If we won’t let people teach Kindergarten without a four-year degree and a teaching certificate and hands on training in the classroom…. If we have to fill out forms for the government to document that we’ve correctly taught our children to drive…. If teachers of all sorts […]

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What God Didn’t Set Us Free From

A reoccurring theme throughout the New Testament is the freedom that Christ has blessed us with.  He’s blessed us with freedom from shame, unhappiness and discontent, and most importantly the freedom from the consequences of our sin. But there is one thing that God hasn’t set us free from.  

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Our Kids’ First Look At God….Discipline

I’ve mentioned before that our children’s very first look at God and His personality should be in us and how we treat them.  A few days ago we talked about patience, and how God’s example of patience with us should show us how to be patient with our kids.  But how does patience harmonize with discipline? […]

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Our Kids’ First Look At God…Patience

Where are our kids first exposed to God?  In church?  Sunday School?  Bedtime Stories?  I don’t think so.  I think that our kids’ first look at God….Is (or at least-should be) in us, their parents.

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The monster we’ve created

I believe that we’ve created a monster.  It’s not in our power-hungry government, not in our damaging tax code, not in our broken public school system.  I believe we’ve created a monster in our churches.

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Suicide–Why it’s so dangerous to our salvation.

This is the last post is a series that started here.  If you’re interested, it would really be best to start at the beginning and work your way through the series to help understand what I’m proposing now. As I said in this post, I don’t think that every case of suicide necessarily results in […]

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Suicide–Does it always send you to Hell?

We started discussing this in the last post and I’d like to talk about it some more.  The most common spiritual objection to suicide that I’ve heard is that suicide will ALWAYS inevitably result in an eternity in Hell because it’s a sin for which you can’t ask forgiveness. Let me state two things perfectly […]

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Suicide–Why we need better spiritual answers to suicide.

I firmly believe that in most cases suicide is a problem with a spiritual answer.  When people need purpose and fulfillment and joy in their lives, they’ll only be satisfied when they look for those things in Christ. But I’m afraid that often the spiritual answers we have to the problem of suicide do nothing […]

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A Christian’s Response To Suicide-Why worldly answers aren’t enough.

I’d like to spend the week talking about suicide.  Specifically, what a Christian’s response should be when confronted with questions about suicide-whether from their own hearts or from someone else who is struggling with them.   I’d like to organize the posts along these lines (I’ll add links to this list as new posts are […]

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Why I’ve come to cringe at the “5 Steps Of Salvation”

I realized this week, while listening to a sermon posted to Facebook, how much I’ve come to cringe when I hear the “5 Steps Of Salvation”.  

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Telling the STORY of Jesus

I’m afraid that we (me included) sometimes try too hard to break the Bible down into a series of facts and timetables.  We probably do this because facts and talking points are handier to win arguments. And too often, winning arguments and being right is what religion is about for a lot of people.  But […]

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Naaman The Leper & Gay Marriage Licenses

Background on these two (seemingly) unrelated stories….

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Hosanna

Hosanna is quite the interesting word, in that between its roots and more modern use it can mean two very different things.  Or at least they seem different.  Originally, hosanna was a word used to plead for rescue or salvation.  But in the time of Jesus, and today, hosanna is typically used as a shout […]

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A question for serious Bible students…

  I’ve got an idea for a Bible study, I’m just not sure that there’s a market for it.  What do you think?

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Is Every Bad Idea A Sin?

Does it seem to you that there’s a huge problem with Christians today labeling every bad idea as a sin?  Because it does to me.  

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Fishermen are just like the Devil.

Maybe that should read that the Devil acts just like fishermen….  But it’s funnier the other way.  And they’re both true.  

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Christians & Addiction & Our Attitude

What should a Christian’s response be to addiction or to an addict?

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Christians & Addiction–The Danger

When we discuss addiction, it is critical that we understand just how dangerous addiction can be to a Christian’s soul.

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Christians & Addiction & Repentance

I’ve posted before about the nature of repentance, but I think it would be useful to talk about how a correct understanding of repentance is so important for someone suffering from addiction.  

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Christians & Addiction–It Can Be Overcome

People, especially people who are wanting to spend their life in service to God, need to know that addiction can be overcome.  

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Christians & Addiction

A lot of Christians struggle with addiction, but are afraid to ask for help because of how they’ll be viewed for their problems.  And a lot of potential Christians are never converted because of how addiction if viewed in many churches.

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Fellowship….With Yourself?

I’ve spent some time recently reading through old articles in Christian publications and the idea of fellowship keeps coming up over and over again.  Who should we fellowship with?  Who should we refuse to fellowship with?

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Turning the other cheek…A Christian’s response to violence

What should a Christian’s response be to violence?  Is a Christian required to literally “turn the other cheek” when assaulted? This is a long post.  But there are some things in God’s word that can’t always be easily summarized in less than 1K words.  This study was incredibly useful to me and answered a lot […]

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Can Christians bake wedding cakes for gay weddings?

Can a Christian bake a cake for a homosexual wedding?

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Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?

So after dealing with the questions “Why do good things happen to bad people?” and “Why can’t this bad thing happen to someone else?” we’re going to talk about the final part of the series….”Why do bad things happen to good people?” 

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Why can’t this bad thing happen to someone else?

In our Sunday morning bible class we’re looking for biblical answers to the question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”.  But as I studied this question it seemed like the answers I found were actually answering three different questions…. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why don’t bad things happen to […]

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Why Do Good Things Happen To Bad People?

In our Sunday morning bible class we’re looking for biblical answers to the question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”.  But as I studied this question it seemed like the answers I found were actually answering three different questions…. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why don’t bad things happen to […]

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The Sweetcakes Gay Wedding Cake Lawsuit

Yesterday an Oregon judge awarded a lesbian couple $135,000 in damages (for what is essentially mental anguish) after a bakery refused to bake them a wedding cake.  And for the second time in a week, the news was all abuzz with news stories predicting the impending collapse of American Christianity. If you want to run […]

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Gay Marriage…..(It’s not real)

Whoa Nelly!!!!  You’d think that all of Christendom was falling apart around us yesterday.  Just to clear the air, I thought it’d be good to remind everyone what marriage really is….

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Casting Stones….Jesus & The Adulterous Woman

The story of Jesus dealing with the adulterous woman in John 8 is one of the more misunderstood and misapplied passages in the New Testament, especially in our society today.

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The Importance Of Genesis

I’ve been really surprised in recent years by the number of Christians who don’t believe in the creation account found in Genesis.  So here’s ImAGiver’s 10minute version of the importance in believing the Biblical account of creation.

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What sin did Bruce Jenner commit?

Seriously, before you freak out on me think about that question.  For a people who are determined to live by book, chapter & verse….we ought to be able to rationally voice what our problem is with Bruce Jenner.

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A Better Understanding Of Repentance

Several months ago I began a study on the subject of repentance and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ve been understanding it, and teaching it, all wrong.

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Christians Should Be More Like Chipotle

This week Taco Bell and Pizza Hut announced that they are going to start phasing artificial flavors and colors out of their menu.  And I think there’s a big lesson in that for Christians.

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Do you ever wonder about the guys who bought Joseph?

Genesis 37 tells us the story of Joseph being sold to Midianite traders.  Do you ever wonder what the traders thought about that?

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The Challenge Of Our Freedom

Don’t get me wrong, you won’t find someone who loves Bald Eagles, The Star Spangled Banner or capitalism more than me.  I love freedom.  Freedom is great.  But there’s no denying that the culture of freedom that we live in can be a serious challenge to our faith.

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This do in remembrance of…..who?

Man has an interesting ability to make anything and everything something about themselves.  As was recently pointed out to me, even when we put away pride in our lives it’s not long before our mind is saying, “You know, I’m doing a great job at not being so prideful.  I bet I’m doing a better […]

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The Challenge Of A Seared Conscience-Part 2

This post is part of a series on Challenges To Our Faith that you can find here.  You can find the first post in the “Seared Conscience” class here. The Challenge Of A Seared Conscience-Part 2 What are some ways that we can have our consciences seared today?

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The Challenge Of A Seared Conscience-Part 1

This post is part of a series on Challenges To Our Faith.  It’s not really necessary to follow the series in order, but if you’re interested in the rest of them you can find the landing page for the series here.

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The Challenge Of Defending Our Faith–Pigs & Pearls

This post is the second in a series on Challenges To Our Faith and this link can be used to see the entire series.   The New Testament is full of admonishments for Christ’s followers to share the good news of the gospel with the world and to be ready to defend their faith to unbelievers. […]

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Treating the symptom, or the disease?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t really have a big problem with just treating the symptoms of an illness sometimes.  If I’m sick with something simple like allergies or a cold I don’t actually care what is going on inside my body, I just want to feel better. But that’s stupid.

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Challenges To Our Faith–Intro

So here’s the plan…  Every Sunday for the next twelve weeks I’ll be teaching a class on Challenges To Our Faith.  I plan on posting the previous Sunday’s lesson every Monday throughout the series.  It’s a little challenging to convert a conversation completely into print, but I’ll do my best to cover all the material […]

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Four words I’m eliminating from my vocabulary

I.  Told.  You.  So. I’m going to eliminate those four words (in that order anyway) from my vocabulary. On Sunday I talked about how much I love being right.  And if you love being right as much as me, you also know how much fun it is to tell everyone else how right you are. […]

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Why aren’t our kids being baptized?

I’m not going to put a date on when someone should be baptized, but rather I’d like to talk about those kids who, in their own minds, believe what the Bible says about their eternal salvation and feel that they’re in need of Christ’s blood but for whatever reason have chosen to not be baptized.

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Lighthouses and Flare Guns

I’d imagine you’re all familiar with Phillip P. Bliss’ hymn Let The Lower Lights Be Burning, and the story behind it.  Lighthouses are the giant, unwavering beacon in the night that keep sailors safe.  And Bliss’ song and the lesson behind it compares those lighthouses to God’s word, that when “dark the night of sin […]

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A different perspective on our hymns

While getting ready for a song service this Wednesday night I came across this website and thought it was fascinating.  

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