Can Christians Speak Things Into Existence?
The postmodern says, speak your truth and make it real. The distorted Charismatic says, speak your desire and make it happen. Biblical faith says something far better than either. Seek God's truth. Speak in alignment with it. Trust God to accomplish His purposes in His way and His timing.
How to Choose the Right Church
In a culture where churches exist on nearly every corner, the question is no longer whether there is a church, but how to discern which one you should join.
This decision is more consequential than most Christians treat it. The church you sit under will shape your view of God, your understanding of sin, your patterns of worship, and your sense of what normal Christianity looks like. Over time it will form you, whether you intend it to or not.
Truth Before Tribe
Tribalism offers the comfort of belonging but exacts the price of truth. To prize truth above tribal loyalty is not to abandon community or to grow cynical toward leaders. It is to repent of an idolatry we may not have known we held, and to redirect our deepest allegiance to the One who alone deserves it.
The Role of Sex in Marriage
One of the greatest lies the world tells about sex is that it belongs to the individual. It is my body, my desire, my satisfaction, my choice. The world treats sex as something to be used for personal gratification, self-expression, or pleasure without covenant responsibility. Scripture gives us a completely different picture.
Discipled by Feminism or Formed By Scripture?
One of the great issues facing the church today is whether we will be discipled by the world or discipled by the Word. That really is the issue underneath many of our debates about men, women, marriage, family, and the church.
In 1 Corinthians 11:3, Paul writes, “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” That verse is not popular in our culture. It is not celebrated by modern feminism. It is not easily accepted by people who have been trained to think that any structure of authority is automatically oppression. Yet this is the Word of God.
What is “A Worthy Manner?”
The Lord’s Supper is a beautiful gift to the church. It is one of the ordinary means of grace, along with the preached Word and prayer, that God uses to strengthen our faith as we gather together for worship. It is a way for us to remember Christ, fellowship with Him and one another, and be reminded again of the gospel.
Yet in 1 Corinthians 11:27–34, Paul gives a serious warning. There is a wrong way to observe the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthians were not treating it as a holy reminder of Christ’s body and blood. They were turning it into something selfish, divided, and sinful. The rich were eating and drinking before the poor arrived. The church was being separated into social classes. The very meal that was meant to proclaim unity in Christ was being used to display division in the church.
The Trap of Sinful Comparison
There is a dangerous game that everyone of us knows how to play. It is the comparison game.
We compare our appearance, our finances, our parenting, our career, our spiritual maturity, our gifts, our intellect, our suffering, and our circumstances. Social media has only made this worse. We scroll through pictures and posts of other people’s so-called perfect lives, wishing we had what they have, looked like they look, or succeeded as they have.
The problem with the comparison game is that it usually produces one of two sinful reactions. Either we look at someone else and think, I am better than they are, or we look at someone else and think, They are better than I am. One produces pride. The other produces despair. Both are deadly.
How Should Christians Think About Zionism?
Zionism is a major cultural talking point right now, but before Christians can respond biblically, we need to define the term carefully. The problem is that people do not always mean the same thing when they use the word Zionism.
Where Are Your Tears Bringing You?
Since tears are a gift from God, what reward have your tears brought you? Or I can word it like this: To what destination are your tears leading you?
Even if you do not realize it, your tears are doing something in you, and how you handle them determines where they will lead you. Everyone processes grief differently, and we must not judge someone for still feeling sad. We cannot predict how long someone’s grief will last or if they will ever fully heal. Some people move through grief quickly, while others take their time. Tears are part of the journey, but they will lead you somewhere.
The Mark of the Beast and 666
Few phrases in Revelation have produced more fear and speculation than “the mark of the beast.” Many Christians immediately think of microchips, barcodes, vaccines, QR codes, Social Security numbers, or some future technology that people might accidentally receive and doom themselves forever. That fear misses the point of Revelation 13:16–18.
The mark of the beast is not something a Christian accidentally receives at a grocery store, through a medical decision, or by scanning the wrong code. The mark of the beast is about worship. It is about allegiance. It is about who owns you, who rules you, and whose name you are willing to bear.
When the Church Wounds
The irony cuts deep. The place God designed for healing becomes a source of harm. David captured this anguish when he wrote, "It was not an enemy who taunted me, then I could bear it; it was not a foe who dealt insolently with me, then I could hide from him. But it was you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend" (Psalm 55:12–14).
Church hurt is a painful reality that has wounded countless genuine believers, causing many to step away from local churches, not because they've abandoned the faith, but because they carry deep wounds inflicted by those called to care for their souls. The pain is real. The injustice is often grievous. Yet Scripture doesn't allow retreat into isolation. Hebrews 10:25 reminds us that absence is not neutral, that we must not neglect meeting together, "as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
Pauls Unmistakable Conclusion
In many churches today, preaching is built around what people call “felt needs.” The focus centers on practical questions. How can I improve my marriage? How can I manage stress? How can I raise better children or handle my finances?
Those are important questions, and the Bible does speak to them. But there is a deeper issue underneath them all. The average person does not actually understand their greatest need. We tend to think we need improvement. What we truly need is rescue.
That is why Paul writes the opening chapters of Romans the way he does. Before he tells us how to live, he confronts us with a hard truth. We are deeply sinful and completely unable to save ourselves.
Beyond What Is Written
Satan rarely persuades a man to reject sola Scriptura explicitly. He does not need to. He has a subtler and far more effective method. He habituates the man to dissatisfaction with Scripture's sufficiency, leading him to functionally supplement it long before he ever denies it confessionally. The doctrine is not overthrown. It is hollowed out from the inside, and the man who has emptied it is often the last to notice.
This is the oldest strategy in existence. In the garden, the serpent did not begin by contradicting God's word. He began by questioning whether God's word was really enough. "Has God indeed said?" was not a denial. It was an invitation to consider whether God had said enough. The moment Eve entertained that question, she had already moved beyond the sufficiency of what God had spoken. The fruit was an afterthought. The real fall happened in the mind, when divine revelation became a starting point rather than a boundary.
The First Resurrection Sermon
History has a way of remembering the speeches that follow world-changing events. When something monumental happens, someone eventually stands up and explains what it all means.
After the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. After Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt addressed the nation. When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, he gave words to the moment.
In Acts 2, we find another moment like that, and it is arguably the most important one in history. The resurrection of Jesus has just taken place. The tomb is empty. Peter stands up to preach the first sermon explaining what it all means.
To understand the weight of his message, we need to understand the context.
The Dangers of Jealousy
Have you considered lately what Scripture says about jealousy? I was recently struck by how serious this sin is in the eyes of God. Consider Proverbs 27:4: “Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” The idea is that wrath and anger bring destructive consequences, but jealousy is far worse. It is dangerous—don’t toy with it. The passage that especially grabbed my attention is Acts 5:17: “But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.”
When God Justifies the Ungodly
The entire Bible tells the story of Christ. In broad terms we might say the Old Testament is Christ concealed, the Gospels reveal Christ, Acts proclaims Christ, the Epistles explain Christ, and Revelation shows Christ glorified. Romans stands at the forefront of those Epistles because it explains how the work of Christ on the cross becomes ours through faith.
And that raises a remarkable question: How can sinful people be made righteous before God?
None of us have lived up to God’s perfect standard. We have all lied, lusted, dishonored others, and broken God’s commands. Yet the Gospels show us Jesus living a perfectly obedient life. He alone fulfilled God’s law without sin.
Romans explains how the righteousness of that perfect Son can somehow be given to people like us.
The Gospel According to Abraham
Abraham was not declared righteous because he obeyed perfectly. He was not declared righteous because he kept the law. In fact, this declaration came before many of the great acts of obedience for which Abraham later became famous.
Before circumcision.
Before Isaac’s birth.
Before offering Isaac on the altar.
Abraham was declared righteous because he believed God’s promise.
God’s Divine Dilemma: How the Cross Glorifies God
Most people assume the cross primarily answers the question, “How much does God love me?” And it certainly does reveal God’s love. But Paul emphasizes something else. The cross answers the question: “Is God righteous?” Or in other words, “Is God just?”
Which Thief Are You?
There were three crosses on that hill that day. Two of the men hanging there were guilty. They deserved to be there. Jesus did not. Jesus was innocent, sinless, and perfect. He is the spotless Lamb of God, the new Adam, the one who obeyed God completely without fail. He came to seek His bride and purchase her with His own blood. Yet on that cross, there were really three stories unfolding: the story of Jesus and the stories of these two criminals.
Luke 23:39–43 gives us the responses of the two thieves crucified with Christ, and their responses force a question upon every one of us: Which response have you given?
Loving the Church Like Jesus
The Church is not just an institution or a building. It is the body of Christ, a living, breathing organism made up of individuals who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ (Acts 20:28). While the Church is a divine institution founded by Christ, it is also a visible community of still-being-sanctified believers. Loving her means embracing both her divine origin and her human need.