This Sunday we’re taking a look at Paul’s instructions for worship in the gathered assembly in 1 Corinthians 14. As we will see, spiritual worship—worship led and empowered by the Spirit of God—builds up the church, is intelligible or readily understood, and is orderly rather than chaotic. The latter does not require a strict liturgy…

(Note: This article was originally published on June 17, 2021. It has been updated with a video.) The apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome is one of the most widely-studied books of the entire Bible. Whether it’s the so-called “New Perspective of Paul” or questions about Paul’s primary purpose in writing the letter,…

Years ago my wife and I were talking with a man who went on a bit of a mini-rant. Somehow the conversation turned to the desire of many to be beautiful or fit or buff or thin or whatever standard of beauty they may have. He said he can’t stand when people would say, “I’d…

In my freshman year of college, just a few months after turning 18, I had a class about spiritual growth and maturation in Christians and I had to write a paper about the theology of sanctification. How is it that a follower of Jesus becomes more like Jesus? I had been a believer for only…

We’ve heard of persecution. When the general public disagrees with or even derides our views on various issues we may even think we experience persecution. Imagine, however, that God sends a prophet to you to tell you everything will be stripped away from you. The prophet tells you—on God’s authority!—that your people will be taken…