Although I (sadly) learned very little Korean during our two years living in Seoul, even still, the sound of the language itself became beautiful to me. If I was one of those people who listened to soothing sounds to fall asleep, I’d happily drift off listening to the Korean nightly news! Now that we live… Read More The World is Praying for You, America
In our culture, “pet peeve” has somehow became an acceptable euphemism to justify a response of inappropriate irritability, anger, and resentment. These are all things we should be putting to death as followers of Christ.… Read More Put Your Pet Peeves to Death
I have always found Jesus’ baptism intriguing yet a bit mysterious. Why did the perfect, sinless Son of God insist on being baptized by John the Baptist, who offered a “baptism of repentance”? I think the answer is actually in the Old Testament!… Read More Why Was Jesus Baptized by John?
Last week we considered the possibility that we may be too quick to call fellow brothers and sisters legalistic because they have a stricter conscience conviction on something. Paul was actually very forgiving of these brothers with overly cautious conscience convictions and even tells us to welcome these brothers. We mainly concluded that we should… Read More Charity & Conscience (Part 2, Looking Inward)
Many of us have a highly-sensitive Legalist radar. Any time it seems someone is adding unnecessary rules to Scripture, we are quick to point this out and label it as legalism. However, while legalists may very well be the “rule police”, I fear many of us have become self-appointed “legalist police.”… Read More Charity & Conscience (Part 1, The Legalist Police)
It’s no secret parenting is one of life’s great challenges, yet I don’t always remember to pray like I should for fellow parents. Here are ten reminders why we parents with kids at home could use your prayers plus some practical ways to pray.… Read More Pray without ceasing — for parents
How can you mourn with those who mourn? (Rom 12:15) For once, I think Job’s friends got it right. I have often been in the position of trying to comfort others, not just as a friend, but also in a professional capacity since I work every day with people who are struggling with depression, grief,… Read More In mourning, Job’s friends got something right
There is a large spectrum when it comes to Christians’ convictions and interpretations regarding the Fourth Commandment (“remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”) and how it may or may not relate to how we spend Sundays. While I am convinced from Scripture that Sunday is a day of rest and worship which is… Read More Practical Ways to Rest on Sundays
Just as preaching is Christ revealed to us in a “Spoken Word”, the sacraments are given to us as a “Visible Word”. Our water baptism visibly portrays and reveals something of God’s work for His people. Recently I preached a sermon on the blessings of baptism and during that study I thought it would be helpful to reflect… Read More The Revelation of Baptism
Imagine you were given the opportunity to meet the Queen of England. It’s likely you wouldn’t wing it, arriving in your favorite comfy outfit to share some personal stories about your family dog. Instead, you’d probably study to find out what you are supposed to do when you were in her presence. Likewise, we should… Read More The Regulative Principle and First Corinthians 11
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