Galatians is a small but precious epistle. It is full of treasures. It has 149 verses and in my forthcoming book, The Grace Bible: Galatians, I unpack every one of them. Here’s a taste: I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20) I have been crucified with Christ. My old self – the one that was concerned with rules and sin – died with Christ (Rom. 6:3). It is no more. Many Christians are trying to crucify the ..read more

Did you know you have been chosen by God to bear fruit? Jesus said: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last… (John 15:16) One way that we show that we are disciples of Christ is by bearing his fruit (see John 15:8). But how do we do that? How do we become spiritually fruitful? And why are some Christians unfruitful? Fruitfulness is the product of intimacy. So the way to a fruitful life is knowing God in your daily life. Easy to say, but what does that mean? How do we live the life that is ours in Christ? In his sec ..read more

“God is not mad at you, he’s mad about you.” “Oh, yeah? What about the rebukes of Revelation? How does that fit your lovey-dovey grace theology?” Tell people that God loves them just as they are and someone will invariably point to those scary seven letters to the churches at the back of your Bible. “Haven’t you seen how Jesus spoke harshly to the Revelation churches? ‘Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline’ (Rev. 3:19). God expects us to be holy. If we’re not holy, we can expect harsh training, correction, even scourging.” As if. I am well acquainted with the so-called Christ’s letters t ..read more

We all stumble from time to time. We all make mistakes. Even you. Even though you are 100% righteous and holy in Christ, your behavior is not 100% righteous and holy. From time to time… you sin. And what does God do when you sin? Here’s a list of 7 things God doesn’t do when you sin: God does not smite you with judgment God does not condemn you God does not scourge you God does not give you sickness God does not withdraw his presence from you God does not kick you out of his household God does not unadopt you Sinning is destructive. Sinning has consequences. But the consequences of sin are ..read more

Do you know how to stay free? We stay free by testing everything. We test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 John 4:1). We test teachings to see if they align with scripture (see Acts 17:11). And we test our Bible commentaries to see if they fully proclaim the gospel of Christ. I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. (Romans 15:19b) In an earlier article I said that your pastor reads two books – a Bible and a Bible commentary. Many Christians have been profoundly influenced by the Bible, but few realize they have also been influenced by their pastor’s favorite commentary ..read more

List all the verses that scare people and this one would be near the top: “If we deny him, he will deny us” (2 Tim. 2:12). Having been raised on a diet of Chick Tracts, I used to worry that I might lack the courage to maintain my faith in the face of persecution. As an occasional Bible smuggler, I sometimes wondered what I might do to avoid a Chinese prison sentence. If someone held a gun to my head would I deny the Lord? And if I did, would he deny me? Would he kick me out of the kingdom? It’s a ridiculous question, when you think about it. No one thinks we can use guns to force people into ..read more

Recently I was listening to a podcast that said young men are becoming emasculated because they live life through a screen. They don’t take risks, they don’t leave home, and they definitely don’t ask girls out on dates. The remedy, apparently, is they need to be taught how to handle rejection. Learning to handle rejection is an important life skill. But there’s an easy way and a hard way to learn it. The hard way is to let life knock you down again and again until you either harden up or die trying. The easier way, is to lean into your Father’s acceptance. Because when you know who is for yo ..read more

As a young preacher preparing to preach, I needed to take care that I didn’t say anything stupid. For this reason, I would check my sermon notes against one or two of my favorite Bible commentaries. I considered these commentaries guard rails that kept me in line. I now realize they were also fetters keeping me shackled to dead works. Pastors read commentaries, sometimes late on a Saturday in a mild state of panic. Of course, you don’t have to be a pastor to read a commentary. Many believers use Bible commentaries and study Bibles for their own personal study, and why wouldn’t they? A Bible ..read more

Every Bible teaching, sermon or message you have ever heard has been one of three kinds: law-based, grace-based, or a mixture of grace and law. A law-based interpretation puts the emphasis on you and your works, while a grace-based interpretation puts the emphasis on Christ and his work. Law- and grace-based interpretations can be recognized by their different vocabularies. Keywords of law Words that often appear in law-based messages include; you must, you should, work, duty, debt, obligation, perform, produce, lack, service, strive, struggle, suffer, obey, sin, confess, convict, judgment ..read more

Are you familiar with Biblical covenants? Reading the Bible without understanding covenant is like going to a medicine cabinet when you are ill and swallowing whatever pills you find. You might get better, or you might get sick and die. All medicine is good, but not all medicine is good for you. In the Bible there are at least five covenants between God and man. But the two biggies are those by which we divide the scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, or the old and new covenants. (Pro tip; the old covenant does not begin in Genesis 1 and the new covenant does not begin in Matthew 1. The o ..read more