When Jesus is executed, two criminals are executed with him, one on either side. While we don’t know what these two men did to deserve the death penalty, we can assume it must have been something really bad, such as murder or insurrection. Luke’s report of this event gives us a bit more detail than […]
The First Reformation Happened 2,000 Years Ago As the time for Jesus’s sacrificial death approaches, his enemies come to arrest him. They’re armed. This might be as a show of force or maybe because they expect trouble. I imagine Jesus smiling a bit at this weapon-wielding mob. “Do you think I’m leading a rebellion?” he […]
This week we visit another new church, our third one so far (the others are Church #2 and Church #7). This one is essentially a church reboot, with the intent on offering a more accessible gathering within a traditional, conservative denomination. It’s a bold experiment. The decor is by far the nicest we’ve encountered. Everything […]
We all know that Jesus had twelve disciples, right? This number occurs repeatedly in all four gospels. And the first three list them by name. Unfortunately, the lists don’t match. Matthew and Mark list Simon Peter, Andrew, James (son of Zebedee), John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and […]
We Must Distinguish Between Prescriptive Text and Descriptive Text The Bible contains a lot of versus that tell us what to do and what not to do. These verses stand as commands from God. Bible scholars call these prescriptive texts, as they prescribe the behavior God expects from us. However, many more verses in the […]
Sunday we visited a newer church. Their website says “multi-generational contemporary worship service”—and it is. They’re also non-denominational “because God has called all believers to unity.” I like that. We walk in and people are informally mingling; several introduce themselves. Of all the churches we’ve visited so far, this is the most effective at pre-service […]
A Quiet Man with a Lasting Influence Doctor Luke was another companion of Paul. He wrote the Gospel of Luke and The Acts of the Apostles for his dear friend Theophilus, which I address in the books That You May Know (the book of Luke) and Tongues of Fire (the book of Acts). Despite having […]
Discover What the Bible and Our Experience Teach Us In my posts, I write a lot about the importance of community, specifically meaningful spiritual community. I’ve mentioned community over one hundred fifty times. Two related words—or potentially related words—are fellowship and discipleship. Aside from my posts about 52 Churches, I’ve written about fellowship ten times. […]
It’s a quintessential country church and our third Baptist congregation in six weeks. With no online presence, what we know is from their sign out front: its name and service time. The sanctuary is smaller than I expected. One lady greets us warmly and another scurries to fetch us a bulletin. We fill out the […]
In the Ultimate Battle Between Good and Evil, the Winner Is Clear For the first part of my life I assumed God and Satan were equal yet opposite forces. I picked up this inaccurate image from culture, starting with the old cartoons of the devil sitting on one shoulder whispering bad advice into a person’s […]