Paul Answers the Five Most Basic Worldview Questions in Athens (Acts 17)
If you are unfamiliar with what worldview is…it is the underlying assumptions that we have formed that drive what we believe about the world. Some have called worldview the glasses we see the world through. Another way to look at it is our meta-narrative…the story that runs under all the other stories that we tell […]
It’s All About God – Ephesians 1:1-14
Before we can get into the beautiful and powerful description of who God is and what God is doing in us through Christ that we find in Ephesians 1, we first have to tackle the headings. NIV headings: This is where the NIV committee that assigns headings has themselves all tied up. The heading for […]
Ephesians: Purpose, Background and Structure
A few weeks ago, I started a Wednesday night series on the book of Ephesians. I chose to teach Ephesians because I think Christians today need some help with two things: reclaiming and re-imagining our identity in Christ and how that identity calls us to live. It turns out that is exactly how Paul structured […]
The Centrality of the “One Another” Passages for Christian Unity
The Greek word alaelon, usually translated “one another”, “each other” or “mutually” occurs 100 times in the Greek New Testament. There are only 5 books in the NT that do not have this phrase (1 & 2 Tim, Philemon, 3 John, and Jude). There are two ways this word is used in the NT. 1) […]
The Earliest Gentile Missionaries (Pre-Peter/Cornelius)
Peter is often given credit as the first to reach out to the Gentiles but that is not the case. You might find this interesting: Jesus’ outreach to Gentiles The Syrophoenician woman in Tyre (Mark 7:24-30) The deaf and mute man in Sidon (Mark 7:31-37) Feeding the 4000 (Mark 8:1-13) The formerly-demon-possessed man (Mark 5:1-20) After […]
A Note to Frustrated Ministers
More and more I am noticing that there is a slew of ministers who want to take up the role of prophet…that is, speak words of rebuke and correction to those they minister to. Too often today through social media and on blogs we get a front row seat to ministers complaining about things, complaining […]
The Apostle Paul’s 9 Rules For Healthy Online Conversation
When you read Titus 3:1-11 it is almost like Paul knew Facebook was coming and that Christians would use it as a platform to thrash each other. Obviously he had no idea about that but the Christian internet community would be a lot more Christ-like if we put everything we type through the filter of […]
Free Small Group Lessons: The One Another Passages
I have just uploaded a new small group series on “The One Another Passages“. It is 14 lessons, 29 pages and has been working really well in our small groups over the last month. Feel free to download it now or find it at a later date on the Free Curriculum page on this site. […]
God Has Made Himself Available
Prayer was a big part of the Old Testament. People prayed all the time. They prayed for many things and in many locations. That was possible because they believed prayer reached the very thrown of God. It is one thing for your words to be in God’s presence and quite another for you to actually […]
Adolescent Jesus, Adolescent Spirituality And Growing Up In Your Faith
My friend Jerry Starling has said, “We do a better job being like the adolescent Jesus than the adult Jesus.” Jerry says the picture of the adolescent Jesus we have in scripture if when Jesus was at the temple at age 12. Jerry says, the boy Jesus was answering and asking questions and that we […]