Worldviews & Apologetics Series, Part 2 In the first part of this series, we laid out the idea that everyone has a worldview.  A worldview is your comprehensive perspective on everything in the world, founded on the answer to five basic questions concerning God, Man, Truth, Problem, and Solution.  It’s not just Christians who have answers to these questions. Whether people are aware or not, everyone has a perspective on these crucial issues.  On the attached chart, you can see ..read more

The New Testament puts forth the return of Christ and the accompanying resurrection as the grounding of our future hope. Christ is reigning from heaven now and we are enjoying new life in the Spirit as believers, but something greater awaits! Christ is coming again (Acts 1:11). This should be the focus for the Christian, the goal and hope for which we pray and yearn. I’d like to highlight a few of the glories that will attend his coming. No ..read more

Our Church Matters series has brought a lot of memories to mind of the churches I have attended, but one overarching lesson is that I need a better understanding of church discipline. It can be easy to imagine that church discipline is something to groan about in our heart. But this is not God’s design, is it? Church discipline is his idea. It is something to be valued, not dreaded.  As a child, my family made a small but significant ..read more

Worldviews & Apologetics Series: Part 1 This blog post is the first of a multi-part series on Worldviews & Apologetics.  We’re going to spend time learning about the foundations of worldviews, understanding false worldviews, upholding the Christian worldview, engaging with false worldviews, and defending the faith (apologetics).  ______________________________ Imagine living your whole life with red tinted glasses, and never realizing it.  You’d live your entire life thinking that everything in the world had a red hue!  Or even worse, imagine living ..read more

Knowledge and wisdom are connected, but they are not the same things. You might say that knowledge is having familiarity with information through study, training, or experience. Knowledge can include facts but also skills. A person knowledgeable in history can explain the causes and instigating events that led to the first World War, while someone who knows how to fish can tell you what bait to use to catch certain fish and what time of day is best. Some people ..read more

by Brittney Perkins Since the time I was a little child, I have always been wired with an extra dose of empathy and a raging demand for justice. Tucked into my memories of being a sibling or a classmate are stories of feeling the pain of others around me as if it was my own.  Over the years, the Lord has refined those qualities and used them in my life to minister the gospel and disciple people through major seasons ..read more

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing – as it ..read more

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. | Hebrews 7:25 Sin is powerful. Even after salvation, it often feels like a foe that is constantly winning the battle for our soul. Is Christ really a powerful Savior? Can he rescue me when the darkness threatens to overcome me? Let’s unpack this verse. “Consequently, he is able to save…” Sinful people need ..read more

by Mike Santoro Christians long for the day when Jesus will return. While some details in the Bible remain mysterious, we know that when Jesus returns, there will be a grand celebration to include all the nations (cf. Rev. 21).  So what does that have to do with the Olympics Opening Ceremony? While it is not a perfect comparison, the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics has some interesting parallels. When all nations gather in celebration for the Opening Ceremony, we can dimly see something like what we will experience when Jesus returns. From our perspective as Christians, we can appreciate ..read more

What is the right use of God’s law in the life of a Christian?   We know that obeying the laws of God won’t make us right with God.  Galatians 2:16 makes it clear that “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”  And yet, God’s Word is filled with laws, commands, expectations, and calls to obedience.  We can’t ignore them, so what do we do with them?   Th ..read more