The best place for us to begin our quest to discover whether Jesus rose from the dead is by examining what the Bible claims to have occurred. Even many non-Christian historians and scholars now accept that the Gospels were written down within at most a few decades of Jesus’ life and convey eyewitness testimony of what Christians claim happened on the first Easter Sunday. Read more
When considering if Christianity is true, it all boils down to whether Jesus rose from the dead. The lives of Christians today demonstrate that the resurrection is still changing people. The resurrection changes fear into love, despair into joy. It takes Jesus’ resurrection to raise the spiritually dead so they become alive to God. The resurrection wipes away guilty condemnation replacing it with a celebration of forgiveness and freedom. The resurrection can remove anxiety and replace it with a hope that goes beyond the grave. Resurrection power can change our sinful hearts so they want to follow the Lord Jesus. The power of the resurrection is relentlessly killing sin in every true Christian. Because we neglect to emphasize this truth, many Christians have a meager expectation of the extent to which we can today experience resurrection life and victory over sin. The resurrection is far from being something we only benefit from in the future! Read more
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Let’s celebrate the diversity in our congregations and do whatever we can to promote it. Many local churches now have a mix of backgrounds. As populations continue to move choice of new church is often not about the denomination or family of churches. In your church family you may well have people from all kinds of backgrounds now enjoying fellowship with you. One reason for this is an Anglican Church in one town may be more similar to a Pentecostal... Read more
Does your church truly rely on the Holy Spirit? Or is your trust on human effort, planning, and committees? How important is the divine presence in your life together? Francis Schaeffer once asked his wife: “Edith, I wonder what would happen to most churches and Christian work if we awakened tomorrow, and everything concerning the reality and work of the Holy Spirit, and everything concerning prayer, were removed from the Bible. I don’t mean just ignored, but actually cut out—disappeared.... Read more
To some he is the gentle humble one. To others he the mighty King who will ride on a horse to war as he returns to rule. Does your mental image of Jesus lean only one way or the other? What kind of Jesus are you praying to? Sometimes we remake Jesus in our own image. But if we want Jesus to save us, we must make sure we are coming to the REAL Jesus, not someone we... Read more
How attached are you to what your church teaches you? Many Christians are committed to doctrinal statements, the teachings of their denomination, and even the practices that they have inherited from the past. What can sometimes be forgotten is that most of those traditions if you are in an evangelical church were forged out of a desire to be Biblical and reformed. But Reformation is not a once for all thing. Stott explains: “The hallmark of authentic evangelicalism is not... Read more
Have we seen enough of our Christian heroes fall spectacularly yet to stop putting our trust in humans? Christians will never be perfect in this life and we must stop encouraging the delusion that any of us have our lives all together. As we journey through lent, its a great time to remind ourselves of our vulnerability to sin. It’s time we stopped putting certain Christians on a pedestal. I understand the desire to grow in Christ and become more... Read more
In Edward’s work on Revival he argues in a slightly odd way to to our ears about the move of the Holy Spirit. He uses a double negative. He says that it is NOT a sign that a work is NOT a work of God if there are great impressions made on people’s minds, imaginations or “frames“. He seems to be arguing something close to what the modern charismatics call a flawed non-perfect form of prophecy or other gifts of... Read more
We are saved By Grace THROUGH Faith Have you turned faith itself into a work? Keller turns to the word “frame” to explain a crucial point about how we must not trust in our own faith but rather in the object and producer of that faith: Jesus. It’s tremendously dangerous for you to mistake these prepositions. When it says it’s by grace but through faith, the grace of God, the power of God, that’s what makes you a Christian. The... Read more
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