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Theology
Highlighted series:
Tertullian: Against Praxeas
Tertullian may or may not have been a lawyer. He certainly was good at arguing. God used that ability to help the church more clearly articulate the doctrine of the Trinity. Starting with the word Trinity. People may have used the word before he did. But it wasn’t because they found the specific term in the Bible. What they did find was the concept. They sometimes struggled to explain it however…
God speaks through what He has spoken
When we think about someone speaking to us, we normally think of them standing in front of us, opening their mouths and saying words. Obviously that’s not what is happening with us and God when we are having devotions. But before we minimize what actually is happening, we should step back and think. Because, we all know there are different ways we receive communication from others....
A Wordy Relationship
If I sit down and talk with you about enjoying your relationship with God I am going to talk with you about reading the Bible. Sometimes when I say things like that, people push back. “You are telling me that a big part of how I am supposed to interact with God is through reading a bunch of words?…
The Always Good God
How can you be sure that God’s looking out for your good? After telling us that every good gift comes from God, James gives believers one proof of God’s goodness in James 1:18. He writes, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures…
Awesome God
God is frightening. There are many things about God that are frightening. He has unstoppable power. If He wants, He can save someone or destroy someone in a moment. He is absolutely holy. There is no one in the universe who hates evil more than He does. His justice is absolute…
God’s Word, God’s Power
If you are going to be spiritual, you are going to need to do a lot of reading and listening to words. For many people honestly, that doesn’t sound very exciting. Perhaps one reason for that is because we tend underestimate the power of words…
God speaks
We assume if there is a God that He is going to speak. But He didn't have to. If we are going to know Him however, we need Him to…
Biblical Spirituality
I’ve been reading books on spirituality, recently. I think it’s a little bit of a funny word. It’s not a word the Bible uses a lot. But I get what people mean, I think. What does it look like to have a good everyday relationship with God?…
Racism is heresy...
Justification by faith is important. It glorifies God. It humbles us. It unites Christians. One reason Paul wrote the book of Romans was because of tension between Jewish believers and Gentiles…
The Gospel and the Spirit
"But you will say, what is the gospel but a verbal story told us when preached, or read, or meditated on? It represents Christ to us but as words do and words are shadows, pictures, and indeed less lively…
A Theology of Fasting: part 6
Why should we fast? When should we fast? How should we fast? We have been looking at what the Scripture teaches about fasting over a series of posts, and we have seen that fasting can be an important…
A Theology of Fasting: part 5
Why should we fast? We are looking at some very basic principles for understanding how we should fast. First we look to Scripture. Second, we find examples. Third, we consider the examples to discern which we ones we are supposed to glean fasting principles…
A Theology of Fasting: part 4
Do you fast? People in the Bible definitely did. What can we learn from the way they fasted? We are going to have to work a bit. Drawing principles from examples is a little bit more difficult, than from straight up commands or instructions…
A Theology of Fasting: part three
We are looking at what the Bible teaches about fasting.Emphasis on Bible.It's possible to fast and not accomplish any spiritual good. How we fast must be directed by the Scriptures.Fortunately, we have material to work with…
Fear and the Coronavirus
Is it wrong to be afraid of the Coronavirus? It depends. God gave us fear for a reason. As Jay Adams once explained, “Fear . . . is not wrong. God implanted all emotions in man. . .
A Theology of Fasting: part 2
We have to go back to what the Scripture teaches because fasting is not profitable, in and of itself. It is not like, hey I just stop eating food and the magic happens. I know sometimes people think if there is a religious practice that we find in the Bible, doing it will always be good for us…
A Theology of Fasting: part 1
I have not heard many people talk very much about fasting where I come from. Unless it's intermittent fasting for health. But, not fasting for spiritual purposes. Africa is a little different. Fasting is a big deal in Africa. That could be a good thing…
Jesus is Scarier Than You Might Think
I thought we could play a little word association game.I'll write a word and you say the first word that comes into your mind.Jesus.I say Jesus and you say…There are a lot of words that come into our mind when we hear the name of Jesus. Important, perfect, Son of God, Savior…
MisUnderstood: the Bible on sickness and healing, part 6
If the Bible doesn't tell us that it's always God's will to heal us right now, what hope does it give me? That’s question number 6.And to understand, the answer to that question, you are going to have to understand there is a bigger problem in this universe than even, physical suffering…
MisUnderstood: the Bible on sickness and healing, part 5
God can heal.But he doesn't always heal.Why?We are asking some questions about what the Bible teaches about sickness and healing. And, we've come to question number five…