Grace or Grit

In a society that only a few years ago seemed poised to do away with any and all stigmas for all people, the opposite extreme has emerged.  Its label is "call-out" or "cancel" culture.  If you do something that is sufficiently offensive or politically incorrect, you must be condemned and ostracized.  That's how it works. Now, the Bible does talk about rejecting heretics, separating from brothers w...

What's the most effective use of a church's foreign mission budget? We can send money overseas. We can send missionaries oversees. We can send humanitarian aid.  We can send literature.  Or, we can send Bibles.  Obviously, in an ideal situation we would be able to do all of the above. But if a choice has to be made concerning what must be sent (or what the order will be), where does...

"Ok, now that we have talked about everything we can think of to talk about (except sex) concerning your wedding and marriage afterward, here is the title of a book for you to read to help you out with that stuff." That's probably not the best approach to sex education in the church.  However, that (combined with a healthy dose of "Flee fornication!" sermons) is a decent caricature of how I'v...

What are you made of on the inside?  I mean you are a soul, you have a spirit, you have a mind, you have a will, you have a conscience, you have a nature!  In fact, you have 2 natures!  Sheesh!  Talk about confusing!   But is it really all that confusing?  Maybe the old comic strip concept of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other is a pretty good represent...

In Proverbs 22:6 Solomon wrote, “Train up a child in the way he should go."  We normally focus on the second half of that verse, but I've left it out intentionally this time in order to emphasize the first phrase.  Regardless of the outcome, it is our responsibility as parents to train our children in the way that they should go.  It isn't the county's job.  It isn't the state'...

Satan was the first critic of the Bible.  But is that really the same thing as being a textual critic involved in collation and/or translation work?  We are all called upon to love God with our minds?  I am commanded.  You are commanded.  I must love God with my mind. So, we are not expected to check our brain at the door when we enter the sanctuary to fellowship with beli...

Does the Bible prescribe how we are to "dispose" of the remains of our deceased loved ones?  Is burial required?  What about cremation?  In Matthew 3:9 we read where Jesus said, "Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."  What does that have to do with it?  Wel...

"No one will ever hate you for loving them."  That is the legacy of Shane Lewis.  Shane was the pastor of Somerville Baptist Church in Somerville, Alabama.  He was a gospel preaching, saint loving, hard working man of God.  But he was also a husband, and a father. Not anymore though.  God allowed Leukemia into Shane's body.  And in the end, it took his life.   Yet, he lives on.  Not only literally...

Have you ever heard of church hoppers?  Have you ever BEEN a church hopper?  Is this phenomenon OK?  Is it a God thing or is it one of the devil's tools? And, what about the pastor's role in such activity?  Especially church planters?  Many church planters are perhaps more focused on church growth than any other kind of minister in any other branch of ministry, and rightfu...

Are you focused on the system, or the Savior?  Is your faith in yourself or in Christ?  Are you living by a list of standards, or in the power of the Spirit?  The letter of the law kills, but the spirit gives life. There are ditches on both sides of the road.  Christ has called us to live in freedom.  He has called us to liberty.  His grace is sufficient.  But our flesh is incapable of cooperation...

How in the world does a man go from a God-denying atheist to a devoted missionary, passionate about taking the good news of the saving grace of Jesus Christ to the Wolof people of The Gambia in Africa? Well, his wife's prayer certainly played a part.  And the preaching of the Word was helpful.  But ultimately it is nothing more nor less that the providential purposes and plans of the Alm...

It is fairly common for outgoing US presidents (on their way out of office) to pardon a few people.  For better or for worse, it is one of many of the checks and balances that was placed (by statesmen who lived before us) into our form of government.  Perhaps we can complain that far to many unworthy criminals receive pardons, but perhaps we should also look in the mirror.  Have you...

Church polity can be a sticky and difficult issue; especially if you are called on to try to change it.  Who is responsible for the decision making in ministry?  Is it the pastor? The deacons? The congregation? The trustees? A board of directors? The most influential family? The riches members? The oldest members? The loudest members? The most cantankerous members?  The busiest memb...

Paul said that we become all things to all men that we may by all means save some.  I've heard it said by some good friends nearby that they are willing to do anything short of sin in order to reach the lost for Christ - or something like that.  But how far will we go?  How far should we go?  Does the church take it's queues from the world, or from the Scripture?  Or is it both?   Of course we can...

Do you struggle to balance the priorities of life?  Perhaps you do struggle.  Do you love God?  Do you love your family?  Do you love your job?  Do you love your church?  You probably love in those directions and in a whole bunch of other directions too.  But sometimes a person can show so much favor in 1 or 2 of these directions that they end up neglecting and e...

Ok, I gave Patrick the week off.  And, we are both taking next week off - from the podcast, that is.  Actually, Apple won't even publish podcasts during Thanksgiving week and for the 2 weeks from Christmas to New Years, which I think is awesome.   Anyway, this time it's just my wife (Tonya) and I reminiscing and talking about Thanksgiving and thankfulness.  It's a shorter episode than normal, so t...

His life may never be the same.  He contracted the coronavirus back in August and still has not completely recovered.  But what was his experience like and how is his life different now than it was before? This is the most interesting episode yet.  Listen as David and Patrick talk with Evangelist Philip Schipper about his personal journey through the pandemic.   Phil is a membe...

God made Adam and Eve in His own image; in His own likeness.  And yet, Satan tempted Eve by suggesting that if she would eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she could BECOME like God.  The proper question might then be: what was Satan up to?  After all, once Adam and Eve ate and fell, God did say, "They have become like us."  Perhaps the simplest answer is that...

If Jesus had waited another 1990 years to be born, would He have social media accounts today? That might sound like a silly question.  And, perhaps it is.  But it also an opportunity to think seriously about the proper place that social media should play in the life of a Christian. Certainly there is plenty of mania, froth, and irrelevance on social media.  There are even existentia...

It doesn't need to be repeated, but let's do so anyway.  Neither President Trump, nor candidate Biden are the hope for America.  Neither major political party, nor any lesser (or imagined) political party can save us.  Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!  If we don't trust in God, no other contrivable strategy will preserve us. However, that is not to say that it doesn...

Some say that the Bible is antiquated and irrelevant.  I say that it is the ultimate classic.  But even from my perspective, I recognize that (due to our culture's general ignorance of biblical history and context) the principles of Scripture may need to be taught in a variety of ways.   So, should we focus more on making the old truths relevant, current, cool, contextualized, moder...

The word ritual is defined as "a religious ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order."  There is nothing wrong with having rituals.  The Bible is replete with them (from the sacrificial system of the Old Testament to the 2 ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper in the New Testament).  But the moment a ritual replaces reality rather tha...

These 2 things should not be viewed as a dichotomy.  Neither should they be viewed as stages or equal parts of our salvation.  Yet faith and effort are inseparable.  Both the epistle to the Hebrews and the epistle of James make the connection of faith and effort unmistakable.  But what is the actual relationship of these 2 things?  And, how do we discern the difference in...

We are the church militant.  I'm not talking about political or physical aggression, of course.  I only mean that we are on a mission of kingdom expansion.  There is territory to conquer.  There is a very real enemy to fight. But, how should we go about it?  Should we take the in-your-face approach, or is there a kinder, gentler way to get the job done? What we are really...

100 years ago, this discussion would have called for many authors and many presentations.  The voices would need clout, degrees, scholarship, and money.  In fact, that is exactly what we find.  "The Fundamentals" were 90 essays written by 64 different authors, initially published in 12 volumes.   Those men were fighting significant errors in the church.  Modernists were sk...