I love the story of when Jesus heals the paralytic in Mark 2:1–12. In this story, Jesus’ popularity has grown to the point where there are so many people coming to see him that the paralytic and his friends cannot get to him. The crowds are...
In times of difficulty, confusion, trial, or darkness the best thing to do, without fail, is focus on Jesus. I cannot count the number of times that I’ve said that salvation and Christianity are all about a personal relationship with Jesus. More...
I’m a huge advocate of corporate worship and communal Christianity. My personal MO is shaped by the fact that salvation is for a people through a people. I make it a habit of pointing out that too often in contemporary mainstream Christianity we...
Jesus used a number of pedagogical methods for teaching his disciples (and the crowds). At times, he went into theological discourse (John 3, with Nicodemus), other times he used parables. There were even times still he taught using “act...
It’s risky business to talk about the cross in ways that mainstream protestant-evangelicals aren’t used to. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I do this quite often. There are several dimensions of the cross and salvation (soteriology and...
At first blush, the Synoptic Gospels (Matt, Mark, and Luke) are so different from the gospel according to John. Two of the three Synoptics start with the genealogy of Jesus (Matt and Luke). Mark jumps right into the story with John’s ministry...
The Old Testament prophets always seem to be so angry with God’s people. One time I was leading a BIble study when someone said, “I don’t read the prophetic literature because it’s so full of anger, judgment and wrath. I...
I mentioned in my last post that Jesus’ teaching was subtle. I chalked this up to the vastness of his teaching. I said that the reason he was so subtle is because what he was saying was so multi-faceted that one cannot grasp it all at first glance...
There’s a popular Christian video out right now called “The Gospel in Four Minutes”. I admit that it’s interesting, creative, and even quite sound theologically. However, there is one thing I wish to take up with it. I...
I’m going to do something risky here. I was invited by some colleagues to write an installment for a small theological education curriculum for folks in the Ukraine. The audience is unreached people groups. People that know nothing about...