Rob Bell was once the poster-boy of the evangelical world, a pastor who wrote books with hip titles like Velvet Elvis and Sex God. Some touted him as ‘Billy Graham’ for a new generation. Then his theology began to implode. A decade ago, his book Love Wins ‘deconstructed’ biblical teaching on heaven and hell. He
Every pastor has dealt with sin in the body of Christ, and every pastor longs for an effective, sure-fire way to help believers turn from their sin and pursue righteousness (1 Tim 6.11; 2 Tim 2.22). One way which has gained popularity in recent years is public confession, where people stand in front of a
I’ve been spending a lot of time in the fifth and sixth centuries B.C. recently. The prophet Zechariah, the focus of my present sermon series, has led me there. Zechariah’s ministry was to Jews who had returned from their long Babylonian captivity after the Persians, under Cyrus the Great, defeated Babylon in 539 B.C. His
Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your
As Christians ask God for wisdom and grace to live in days of increasing evil, the lessons from our sermon series “How Should We Now Live?” become ever-more applicable. This month we look back to an especially dark time in our nation’s history, which highlights the importance of Christians standing for truth. PC On
We Americans have been spoiled. For all our lives, the expectation of freedom to believe what we wanted, worship as we wanted, speak biblical truth without fear of reprisal, and be the open ‘conscience of our nation’ has been part of our social fabric. Persecution was always something I heard of behind the Iron Curtain
One hundred years ago, pundits dubbed the second decade of the century “the roaring twenties.” World War I was over, and America entered a decade of unparalleled expansion in everything from industry and technology to culture and crime. Prohibition reflected our desire to promote morality; bootlegging and a huge rise in organized crime exposed our
As we come to the end of another year (can you believe it?!), our culture is floundering. Effects of COVID (and of politicians’ attempts to control it), violent groups destroying cities (under the guise of confronting violence), and news media which most no longer believe, have undermined our traditional foundations. Our nation’s ‘soul’ already wounded
As I sit to write, we are one week from election day 2020. This is, in my perspective, the most divisive election in my lifetime. Political viewpoints are driving a wedge between co-workers, family members, and Christians – yes, support for the ‘wrong’ candidate is dividing even the body of Christ. Virtually all of
…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3.18a You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2.1 In more than three decades of ministry, I have marveled at many truths of Christianity: The wonder of prayer,
