Throughout the latter half of John’s Gospel we’ve seen the incredible importance of the local church. In John 13 Jesus washed the disciples’ feet—something normally done by one’s self or by a slave—and then he had the audacity to tell them to do the same for each other. Serving one another in the church is…

I’ve always been a “word guy”. I love words. I love the interplay of words and the nuances of meaning between closely related words. For example, there is a difference between a bracket and a brace. A bracket holds something up while a brace provides stability and strength. A table may have a brace to…

We’ve all looked at evil around the world and wondered why. Why does God allow evil? We must be careful in asking this question because as much as we want to limit this question to other people, we cannot limit it in this way. What is really being asked is why God allows the sins…

The prophet Habakkuk cried out to the Lord for all the violence and injustice he was seeing—violence and injustice that seemed unchecked by God. He wondered why God would “idly look at wrong” (Habakkuk 1:3). God responded to him by telling him that Habakkuk wouldn’t believe all that God was doing about evil and wickedness…

Fasting has long been a regular practice of God’s people. It was required in the law of Moses on the Day of Atonement. Over time fasting expanded beyond this one day a year. By the time our Lord was on earth fasting was a regular part of the lives of God’s people. It had also…