So how does a church follow the three-step roadmap of “Remember, Repent and Recover the first things”? The answer is found in the Epistles of Paul, who had revitalized churches and who mentored both revitalization pastors Timothy and Titus. It is there that the ten strategies to implement the three-step roadmap of Remember, Repent and... Continue Reading

Take the truth of what you do know and use it to trump the uncertainty of what you don’t know. Too often we look at God through the lens of our circumstances. And Satan, like a mad optician, repeatedly inserts the lens of circumstances into the frame and asks us what we think of God now—and... Continue Reading

As sinful children of the devil, we were fatally flawed. We were spiritually blind and could not see. We were spiritually deaf and could not hear. Our hearts were hard, our wills were wicked; we were all dead in our trespasses and sin. However, God was us. He effectually regenerated and irresistibly drew us to... Continue Reading

There is a superficial readiness all around to believe anyone who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, forgetting that Satan often masquerades himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). There is a wide-spread ignorance among professing Christians–every heretic who speaks well is surely believed, and anyone who doubts him is called narrow-minded and unloving.... Continue Reading

The mainline message of inclusion is a good reminder to check our inner Pharisee but it is only the beginning. If we are to respond faithfully to and minister faithfully in the name of our Savior we must articulate and model the first part of the message: “Welcome!” We must also, however, articulate and model... Continue Reading

In sum, understanding these four categories is an essential step in removing misconceptions about the NT canon that seem to abound today.  Knowing these categories can give a person a fairly basic picture of how the canon developed:  (1) there was a core canon from a very early time, (2) there was dispute about some... Continue Reading

Obedience to the law of Christ is an outgrowth of our faith in Jesus Christ, and serves the purpose of our communion with him. This goal of communion is clear from God’s presence in the Garden (Gen 3:8), Jesus’ prayer “I in them and you in me” (John 17:23), and our marital consummation when Jesus... Continue Reading

“Humanity’s binary gender design as male and female reflects in some mysterious way the nature of God. While sharing a common humanity, the man and the woman are unique and complementary rather than identical.”   1. We were created male and female by divine design. According to the Genesis creation account, God created humanity male... Continue Reading

“Our passions ebb and flow in response to the changing world for we ourselves are subject to change. God is without passions, he is not subject to change, but he is not without hatred and he is not without love.”   A month before our son was born my wife came home from the baby... Continue Reading

“The departure from divine revelation has brought our culture to chaos in the area of ethics. We have lost our basis of knowledge, our epistemological foundation, for discovering the good.”   At the heart of Christian ethics is the conviction that our firm basis for knowing the true, the good, and the right is divine... Continue Reading