When Failure Saves and Success Destroys
While success can be a tremendous blessing to ourselves and others, it can also be the stuff idolatry is made of.
It feels awful to fail to advance in our vocations, to miss our goals, to be surpassed by our friends, to miss out on making our mark. It feels soul-crushing to fail to receive the plaudits of the people we admire. And while this failure can be a tremendous sorrow to ourselves and others, it... Continue Reading
Is There Anyone Praying For You?
Mothers today still experience what Monica, Augustine’s mother, must have felt before the Lord answered her pleas for the one she called “the son of so many tears.”
It is useful to ask non-Christians in our culture if they know of those who are praying for them; there probably are people praying for them. And it is good for them to be reminded of it….Christian parents of unbelieving children love to know that others are praying for their children. The Lord still works... Continue Reading
Q&A With Former Mars Hill Church Executive Pastor Sutton Turner
An interview with Sutton Turner, once one of the executive pastors of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He presided over the growth and decline of the church that closed its doors in 2015.
Over the last 4 years, I have studied the culture from Mars Hill and talked extensively to people that were negatively affected by the culture and its leaders. I am building a set of material from this research to help other organizations which I have shared with several pastors and leaders. They have identified one... Continue Reading
Setting a Course for Faithfulness
Why is it important to express and defend a biblical Christology?
“Consider this: Can we have the gospel without a biblical Christology? The answer, of course, is no. And without the gospel, we cease to be the church. We are called to proclaim the gospel and live out its ramifications. The heart and soul of the gospel is a biblical Christology. We must confess it, teach... Continue Reading
3 Reasons Why Every Christian Needs the Church
Christians were never meant to live apart from other Christians—we were made to be part of the same community.
It’s common for people to attend a church regularly without officially belonging to that particular church. What this sort of church attendance fails to understand is that all sheep need a shepherd. Jesus is, of course, our ultimate Shepherd, but he leads his sheep through under-shepherds who are specially called to care for his people. ... Continue Reading
When the Church Becomes Worldly
The greatest enemy of the Western church is not the state or any ideology such as atheism, but the world and the spirit of the age.
Jesus said, ‘You will know them by their fruit.’ Just wait long enough for their ideas to ripen, and in case after case it turns out that the much-trumpeted ‘new kind of Christianity for a new world’ turns out to be the old kind of compromise and heresy. Such worldliness is inexcusable because it is... Continue Reading
Compromising the Truth in Love (of Self)
There are often long-standing underlying patterns of non-biblical responses to people and circumstances that must be exposed.
People come to be counseled assuming that you will accept their self-definition of their problem. If you do so, you will invariably give them advice that does not help them. Often, such advice will make their problems worse rather than better, but they will leave thinking of you as kind, caring, and compassionate. If you... Continue Reading
Three Reasons to Include a Concise Summary of the Gospel in Every Sermon
I’m talking about inserting, somewhere in your sermon, a short explanation of the main truths about who Jesus is and what he has done, along with an exhortation to repent and believe.
I was persuaded of the wisdom of this approach about fifteen years ago. Having now followed it faithfully for over a decade, I can see many benefits of including a concise gospel summary in nearly every sermon. Here are three reasons for your friendly consideration for why you should adopt this approach as well. Among... Continue Reading
Changing the World. One Word at a Time
Maybe someday Jesus will use me for something “big”, but I don’t think that’s how God does most of his work.
But I can make a difference in the lives of those who are in my immediate circle of influence. My kids. My wife. The people at the coffee shop I usually go to. The people in my community group and Bible study. And one of the simplest, yet most profound ways I can make a difference... Continue Reading
Five “Short-Timers” Who May Not Stay Long at Your Church
One of the reasons there is more than one church in nearly every town in America is because none of us is capable of being everyone’s pastor.
Sometimes, no matter what you do, people are going to leave. In my experience, there are five types of individuals who are most likely to not stay very long. I’m afraid there is nothing in this article that will help you keep them. But perhaps, if you have advanced warning, their departure won’t hurt so... Continue Reading
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