Biblical Christianity from Peter DeHaan

A Megachurch (Visiting Church #51)

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 9, 2020
2 Comments on A Megachurch (Visiting Church #51)

I’ve heard much about this church, likely the largest in the area, and am guarded over having too high of expectations. It’s an adventure just getting inside, with a policeman directing traffic and a parking lot crew to rival the best amusement park.

Using cutting-edge technology and exuding excellence in what they do, today is a treat. In the auditorium, the worship team of eight gathers up front. The countdown clock hits 0:00 and the worship leader welcomes us.

52 Churches: A Yearlong Journey Encountering God, His Church, and Our Common Faith

After an opening song set, one of the co-pastors comes up to share and pray. Then we watch video announcements, professional productions that command attention.

The church is in the midst of a series on leadership, with the premise that God calls us all to be leaders in our personal and professional lives.

Drawn from scripture, today’s message is most applicable to church leaders and is easily adaptable to business leaders.

Although the teaching is engaging, I have trouble understanding how it pertains to everyone else.

As the minister wraps up his message, a slide appears, asking everyone to “remain seated during the altar call.”

This confuses me, but I later realize the request is to keep people from leaving prematurely and distracting others who need to hear what the pastor says.

People raise their hands to rededicate their lives to Jesus and the pastor prays for them as a group. For those wanting to make a decision to follow Jesus, he leads them in prayer.

After the service, we turn in our visitor card and receive a tour of their grand facility. Our guide challenges us to come back for the next twelve weeks and see how our faith grows in the process.

[Read about Church #50 and Church #52, start at the beginning of our journey, or learn more about Church #51.]

My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags 52 Churches, megachurch

Bible Insights

Do We Answer When God Calls?

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 9, 2020

When God Calls People to Him, Some Come and Others Run Away

As the prophet Hosea wraps up his writings, he gives us some insight into the heart of God. He writes that the more God called his people, the more they ran away from him (Hosea 11:2). When God calls, what is our response?

When God Calls Us

Imagine God beckoning for us, longing for us to be in a relationship with him. With much expectation, he calls our name. But instead of hearing his call and running into his arms, we turn our back on him and run in the opposite direction.

It’s as if he offers us a high-five and we leave him there, hanging, poised to receive a response we will never offer.

How this must grieve him.

We’ve all had this happen to us. We extend ourselves to others: to family, neighbors, friends, and the church. But instead of receiving the response we hope for, the reaction we long for, we hear only silence or receive a sharp rebuff.

Now multiply that by thousands, by millions, and by billions. That’s how many of humanity’s numbers snub God’s call and ignore his persistent love.

It breaks my heart, and more surely must break his—a billion times over.

God Loves Us

Yet God responds, not in anger, but in love. He still cares for his people. He still wants the best for them. Though he heals them, they do not realize it comes from him (Hosea 11:3). They do not attribute their good outcomes to his loving care for them.

When God calls us, may we answer. When he heals us, may we thank him.

How does God call us? How will we respond? Will we grieve him or delight him?

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Hosea 8-11, and today’s post is on Hosea 11:2-3.]

Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s book, Return to Me: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope from the Minor Prophets

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags heal, Hosea

Visiting Churches

Saturday Mass (Visiting Church #50)

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 2, 2020

We park a block from church. As we hike to where we hope the entrance is, we engage in conversation with a woman, seeming to make a good connection.

I consider asking if we can sit with her, so we may follow her lead during the service. But she breezes inside and scurries away—so much for our connection.

The facility is smartly contemporary: open and airy. The altar is in the center of the sanctuary, with chairs (not pews—and no kneeling rails) positioned around it.

I estimate it seats over four hundred, with about 240 present, mostly middle age and older. Though a college parish, I don’t see many students.

The worship team is vastly different then our past two Roman Catholic experiences, consisting of a guitar, bass guitar, drum set, and piano.

Along with four vocalists, three of the instrumentalists also have mikes. Their songs are likewise contemporary, albeit unfamiliar.

For the Eucharist, I realize I can still have the spiritual experience of Holy Communion without actually going forward to physically receive the elements.

Even so, their process distracts me, and I miss connecting with God during the ceremony.

Afterwards I spot a friend, lingering to talk to her. Candy and I also chat briefly with the priest; he recognizes we’re visitors but makes no effort to learn our names. T

his might be because he’s distracted by a member hovering about, impatient to talk to him.

Given time, I suspect I could find a comfortable and meaningful rhythm in Catholic services.

However, even though this parish was friendlier than the other two, I still feel that making personal connections at Catholic churches presents a challenge.

This is troublesome, since the community aspect of church is important to me.

[Read about Church #49 and Church #51, start at the beginning of our journey, or learn more about Church #50.]

My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags 52 Churches, Roman Catholic

Bible Insights

God Gives Us Options

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 2, 2020

In the book of Hosea, God calls the young man, Hosea, to be his prophet—telling him to marry a prostitute, (see “Hosea Shows Us God’s Unconditional Love”). This is one of God’s most scandalous directives.

What is intriguing is that God does not indicate which prostitute. God gives options. The choice is left to Hosea!

While he could have opted for the first one he saw, picked one at random, or altruistically selected the one who was most needy or deserving of being rescued, I suspect he did none of those.

Remember, Hosea is a guy. He most likely chose the most attractive, most alluring prostitute! If that is correct, the story becomes even more shocking.

But God does give us choices. When God tells us to do something, either through the Bible or the Holy Spirit, it is usually in bold strokes. He gives the big picture, such as feed the poor, cares for the sick, or take care of orphans and widows.

The details are left to us. God gives us options. We determine how we comply. We can factor in our personality, our resources, and our preferences, and, yes, even our passions in determining how we do what God tells us.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Hosea 1-4, and today’s post is on Hosea 1:2-3.]

Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s book, Return to Me: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope from the Minor Prophets

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Hosea, serve God

Bible Insights

Hosea Shows Us God’s Unconditional Love

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date April 1, 2020

In the Bible, many of the prophets are instructed by God to do some strange and bizarre things. Isaiah is a case in point. Perhaps the most extreme, however, is Hosea.

In short, God tells him to marry a prostitute so that his life can become an object lesson of God’s unconditional love.

Imagine young Hosea coming home one day and telling his parents: “Guess what? God called me to be his prophet!”

His parents beam with pride, until a bombshell is dropped on them, “…and he told me to hook up with a prostitute.”

That seems so inappropriate, ill-advised, and ungodly, yet that is what God says to do—and Hosea obeys.

The strangeness doesn’t stop there, however. When his ex-hooker-wife gets pregnant, God tells Hosea to give the kids some unbecoming names.

His daughter is given a name that means “not loved” and his second son, a name that means “not my people.” This suggests that Hosea has reason to question who actually fathered his wife’s children.

Next, his wayward spouse splits, returning to her former way of life. So, God tells Hosea to go find her and take her back.

Although this chain of events was a horrific ordeal for Hosea, it is a profound object lesson for us: regardless of what we do, how badly we act, or how far we stray, God loves us unconditionally and pursues us relentlessly.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Hosea 1-4, and today’s post is on Hosea 1:2-3.]

Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s book, Return to Me: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope from the Minor Prophets

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Hosea, love

Bible Insights

Beware the Adulteress

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 31, 2020

The book of Proverbs contains the majority of the Bible’s mentions of the word “adulteress” (seven times in Proverbs compared to five times in the rest of the Bible).

It refers to a woman who commits adultery, that is, she has sex with someone other than her husband. In today’s language, that is referred to as “cheating.”

Solomon warns his son—and all men—to stay away from the adulteress.

The Law of Moses notes that both the adulterer (the male participant) and the adulteress (the female participant) should be put to death (Leviticus 20:10). That is how serious God views the breaking of marriage vows.

Although the majority of modern society takes a much more casual perspective on lifelong monogamy, God’s staunch opposition to adultery hasn’t changed. Fortunately, his response has.

In the Old Testament (as mentioned above), the prescribed response to adultery is judgment. However, in the New Testament, Jesus—God’s son—demonstrates a kinder, gentler response: mercy (John 8:1-11).

Remember, however, that even though Jesus will give both the adulterer and adulteress mercy and forgiveness, the offended spouse may not likely be so understanding.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Leviticus 19-21, and today’s post is on Leviticus 20:10.]

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags adultery, forgiveness, mercy, Proverbs

Christian Living

Stay Home to Go to Church

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 29, 2020

Ideas for Having a House Church

Over the years there have been times when I couldn’t go to church. I’m not talking about the Sundays I was ill or traveling. Instead, I’m referring to times when the church canceled its service.

These have included weather-related problems, power outages, no heat, and construction issues. Each of these instances affected only one Sunday, and the next week everything returned to normal.

However, I can now add another reason to this list of why churches may close: to stop the spread of a potentially deadly virus in the midst of a health pandemic.

When this occurs, we stay in our home for church. We have house church.

Here are some ideas to have church at home.

Duplicate a Typical Service

We could plan for and provide the elements of one of today’s church services in our home. This means having someone lead worship, pray, and teach a lesson at our house church. If we wanted, we could even take an offering.

This provides the opportunity for better interaction and greater participation. It also requires a great deal of preparation for those who will lead.

The more people who will gather in our home to experience this type of church, the more meaningful this can become. Doing this one time would be hard. It would be even more challenging to sustain it over many weeks.

Participate Online

As an alternative, we have many options online that can bring a church service into our home. These include podcasts of sermons, videos of services (either in part or in full), and live streaming.

From the comfort of our home we can listen to messages or watch services as they take place. This allows us to experience the main elements of a church service with little preparation or effort.

What we lack from this approach, however, is community. Aside from our small gathering of family or friends who sit in our living room to experience our house church, we have no opportunity to interact with others.

These online options do not include the ability to connect with other followers of Jesus.

Just Hang Out

To address the lack of community that will occur when we passively tap into online church services and resources, we have the option to get together with the goal of spending time with each other (see Hebrews 10:25).

Of course, if only the people in our house—who we’ve already been hanging out with all week—are present, we won’t gain much more in doing so on Sunday.

However, if we can invite friends or neighbors over, this could provide meaningful, spiritual community—if we pursue it with intention.

Follow Paul’s Advice on a House Church

Each of these three approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. However, Paul gives us some ideas of what we could do for house church in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14:26).

For now, don’t focus on Paul’s list but let’s look at the phrase that precedes it: “each of you.” This suggests an egalitarian house church, where everyone can participate, and everyone can take turns ministering to one another.

Can we do that? Of course, we can. (Read more about Paul’s house church instructions.)

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.

Tags church, church services, early church, good sermon, house church, podcast, worship

Personal Posts

Spring Has Sprung

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 27, 2020

Whenever I see a robin, I become gleefully excited—really, I do! No, I am not particularly a bird lover, but I am quite affectionate for a new season, when spring has sprung.

The connection is that returning robins (which are a migratory fowl) mark that spring is right around the corner and warmer weather will soon be upon us.

The males return first to stake out a territory and the females follow later when the temperatures climb a bit higher.

Spring is my favorite season. Yes, summer is grand and fall is enjoyable (while I view winter as something to be survived). However, spring is the most splendid time of the year.

Springtime is when the cold dreariness of the winter fades, the dirty snow melts, and plants that were seemingly dead push forth green and are revived.

Spring is an almost spiritual time for me, signaling reinvigorated life and a fresh start, a new birth of sorts.

Already I am starting to see which plants have survived the harshness of the winter months: the tulips and daffodils are just poking through.

Soon the grass will green and with it a slew of yard work will follow. But that’s okay, because it’s spring and I want to get outside and do something other than shiver.

I can firmly cheer that “spring has sprung!”

Do you like this post? Want to read more? Check out Peter’s book, Bridging the Sacred-Secular Divide: Discovering the Spirituality of Every Day Life, available wherever books are sold.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags Sacred-Secular Divide, weather

Visiting Churches

Great Teaching, But Something’s Wrong (Visiting Church #49)

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 26, 2020
4 Comments on Great Teaching, But Something’s Wrong (Visiting Church #49)

With hundreds of people milling about, it’s a packed place. Just inside the door, a man approaches. “Have I met you before?” We assure him he hasn’t but he thinks he should know us anyway. He’s wearing an ear mic.

I wonder if he’s the pastor, but if he is, he doesn’t say so, merely introducing himself as John.

Almost all the ministers we’ve met attached their title to their name when they introduced themselves. John possesses neither the ego nor the insecurity to do so. I immediately like him.

Later, I’m not surprised when John walks up to the podium to give the message. He doesn’t preach a sermon as much as he teaches a lesson. He’s good, really good, the best we’ve heard on our journey.

Though a couple of preachers have been more dynamic, he’s the most effective communicator. This all makes sense when we learn he’s a former seminary professor with a PhD in biblical history.

At one point John tells members to look around after the service for visitors to greet.

Though he modeled this when he met us, no one followed his example then or his instruction now, not even the man sitting in front of us wearing a Deacon nametag; he looks right through us.

Only one couple approaches us; they look vaguely familiar. The wife recognized Candy; we attended the same church a quarter of a century ago.

Aside from them and John, six or seven hundred other people ignore us, perhaps not caring or maybe assuming someone else will take the initiative to extend a welcome.

If you want to remain anonymous at church, a big one is where it can happen. And at this church, it’s painfully easy.

[Read about Church #48 and Church #50, start at the beginning of our journey, or learn more about Church #49.]

My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags 52 Churches, good sermon

Bible Insights

We Should Be Like Jesus

Post author By Peter DeHaan
Post date March 25, 2020

To Discover WWJD We Need Only Look at What the Bible Says

Jesus goes to the synagogue in his hometown to worship God with his family and friends. It’s his turn to read scripture and the day’s scheduled passage is from Isaiah.

It’s a prophecy—about Jesus. After he reads it, he simply confirms that he fulfills this prophecy (Luke 4:16-21).

Isaiah’s Prophecy

In the section Jesus reads, Isaiah prophetically tells the people that the coming savior will move in Holy Spirit power to:

proclaim good news to the poor
bind up the brokenhearted
proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God
comfort all who mourn
provide for those who grieve in Zion
bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes

Be Like Jesus

This is essentially Jesus’s job description: to speak truth to those who are seeking, provide help to those in need, and give hope to those who hurt. As his followers we should do the same.

Though it will take a lifetime to put these things into practice, this is why God leaves us here on earth and what we should do with our time here. It starts with the Holy Spirit.

If we love him we need to do what he would do, starting today. We need to be like Jesus.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Isaiah 61-63, and today’s post is on Isaiah 61:1-3.]

Read more about the book of Isaiah in For Unto Us: 40 Prophetic Insights About Jesus, Justice, and Gentiles from the Prophet Isaiah available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Tags follow Jesus, Holy Spirit, Jesus