Is Suffering a Spiritual Discipline We Should Pursue? Some People Avoid Persecution and Others Pursue It In my post that listed spiritual disciplines, I explained that spiritual disciplines are an activity we willingly pursue to draw us closer to...
Book Review: The Jesus Bible Artist Edition The purpose of the Bible’s 66 books is to reveal God to us. More specifically, the Bible reveals Jesus to us. The Old Testament anticipates him, while the New Testament celebrates him. This is perhaps...
Who is a Pharisee Christian ? Doctor Luke records a curious line when writing about the early church. He says “…some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees…” That means some Christians were also Pharisees, a Pharisee...
God Brings Low the Pride of the Arrogant God Wants Us to Celebrate Him and What He’s Done for Us As Isaiah moves forward in his sweeping prophecy, he devotes a section to the city of Tyre. Tyre is a city of prominence, a center of trade and...
The Nazarene Sect: There are Two Sides to Every Story Gamaliel offers wise advice for whenever religious factions stand in opposition Paul’s in jail, imprisoned for doing what God told him to do. This isn’t Paul’s first incarceration for his...
Biblical Murderers and How They Relate to Us Biblical Murderers and How They Relate to Us Consider some of the best-known biblical murderers. Cain Kills Abel We’re only four chapters into the Bible when the first murder occurs. Cain kills his...
More Than 52 Churches: The Journey Continues Wasn’t visiting 52 churches in a year enough? No way. Not even close. Let the journey of discovery continue in this poignant sequel to 52 Churches. This time we take a wider swath as we visit more of...
Five Confusing Verses About Tamar I blogged about Tamar and her lustful half-brother who raped her. I spent three weeks reading and re-reading this story, meditating on it and trying to make sense of it. Despite that, five perplexing verses still...
Are You One of God’s Chosen People? Isaiah tells the people that God will choose them again, but did he ever stop? One phrase jumps out from today’s passage in Isaiah’s prophecy to God’s chosen people: once again he will pick Israel. God, through...
Sometimes God’s Instructions Are Temporary After Jesus rises from the dead, he spends a few weeks hanging out with his followers. He tells then to stay in Jerusalem, waiting for a surprise Father God has planned for them: the gift of the Holy...
