You can listen to the entire message here. Read more

As long as I’ve been a Christian, I’ve noted two spiritual pillars that are incredibly difficult to keep in mind. They are all-too easy to forget. One is to rejoice in our suffering. The other is to put ourselves in the shoes of another person whenever we’re dealing on the level of human relationships. I will confess that I’ve had a hard time remembering these two things. And I’m in need of constant reminding of them. And so is every… Read more

You’ll never cure lukewarmness by guilting people into being hot. You must give them a stunning revelation of Christ. Read more

It was February 1964. Cassius Clay (who would later change his name to Muhammad Ali) was relatively unknown. The Beatles were just becoming known in the United States. Both were about to make history and be called “the greatest.” But that would come later. The Beatles were relaxing in Florida and asked to meet the heavyweight champion of the world, Sonny Liston. Liston had no interest so he declined, calling the four musicians “sissies” and “bums.” The Beatles were then taken to… Read more

The story of Jesus and the “sinful woman” (as Luke describers her in Luke 7) teaches us five big lessons about self-righteousness: 1. You will never know if self-righteousness lurks in your heart until you see someone you regard as “sinful” audaciously loving Jesus. How you react to that situation will uncover what’s deep within your heart. 2. Self-righteousness will disqualify you from the kingdom of God. Serving God, as Simon performed his entire life, doesn’t score brownie points with… Read more

All throughout the Gospel, Jesus Christ is shown to be “the friend (and defender) of sinners” who “ate and drank.” (See Luke 7:34). In this story, we find Him to be eating, drinking, and befriending a female sinner. Jesus welcomed the tax collectors, the thieves, the prostitutes, and the adulterers into His kingdom. For this reason, the Lord consistently violated social taboos to reach out to those who the culture marginalized (Luke 7:1–10), economically (Luke 7:11–17), religiously (Luke 7:24–34), and… Read more

Trials, adversity, pain, suffering, loss, persecution, attacks, and downright onslaught are part of the lives of all who put their hands to the plow and served the Lord. Both past and present. But there’s a great tragedy when a servant of the Lord waste’s their sufferings. There’s no artful way of saying it, but the trick is to learn how to be broken but not destroyed. If you’re looking for a footnote, read 2 Corinthians Chapter 4. That chapter is… Read more

Amy Simpson has written an interesting new book. It’s called Blessed Are the Unsatisifed. I caught up with Amy recently to discuss her new book. Enjoy! What did you write Unsatisfied and who is it written for? Blessed Are the Unsatisfied is written for Christians who have frequently heard that they should feel satisfied because they’re in relationship with Jesus, but who are aware that they don’t actually feel that way all the time. In particular, it’s written for people… Read more

There are two kinds of Christianity. 1. The Christian “religion.” 2. The Christianity we find in the New Testament. The Christian religion is built on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Christian religion can be studied using the same categories of thought used to study any other world religion. It can be analyzed just as Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism are analyzed. The difficulty with the Christian religion (like all religions) is that it makes its adherents think… Read more