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What Is the Purpose of Preaching? Over the past many years of life as a theologian I have heard numerous sermons. Some were in churches I attended as a member or regular attender. (One would not let me become a member because I had only “alien immersion” so I attended but never officially...

Living With Urgency [ 1 min read ★ ] The night is about over, dawn is about to break—Romans 13:11-14 No question, a lot of us men are living in "I know, I know" mode . . . in "I’m gonna do it, but just not...

The Importance of Positive Reinforcement in Your Relationship During our couples counseling sessions, Kylie, 48, complains about Justin’s, 50, lack of love and attention. She feels like they are roommates and that he rarely gives her praise for being a loving and supportive wife. Likewise...

How Can Having a Narcissistic Parent Damage Your Child? There is growing concern among parents about the influence of a parent who have narcissistic traits upon their child. Many books and articles have been written about narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). While these publications have...

4 Common Mistakes People Make When Trying to Fix Their Marriage When my marriage was in the tank, I got a lot of great advice that made it worse. Sure, I read books and talked to people. But none of it helped. So how do you deal with a failing marriage? Seems like when you’re having a hard...

5 signs your marriage is on the wrong track I often talk to couples who are in crisis and on the brink of divorce. Very often, I find that these couples ignored or minimized some “warning signs” along the way that should have been a wakeup call to make some changes in the marriage. If one of...

How Do We Say What Matters? Every man, woman, and child has a secret place within them where they store their treasures. You can call this heart or soul or whatever you want. It is the core of who we are, the thing that makes us unique and valuable. By the time an emotion gets to our brain, a...

4 Common Mistakes People Make When Trying To Fix Their Marriage When my marriage was in the tank, I got a lot of great advice that made it worse. Sure, I read books and talked to people. But none of it helped. So how do you deal with a failing marriage? Seems like when you’re having a hard time...

The Emotional Abundance Of God Those who’ve read my other posts will know I often write about the need for breakthrough into the miraculous in the Church, and the importance of healing and deliverance. Wonderful though such things are, and much though they reflect the heart of God for his...

We May Not Long For Death, But We Long For Heaven Isaiah 25:8 says, “He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears… The LORD has spoken!” (NLT). God could have said death will cease or come to an end. Or fade away. But no, like a great lion, God is stalking...

Solve the Scripture Problem [ 1 min read ★ ] Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path—Psalm 119:105 We must read Scripture, brother. God chose those words for you and for me. "Even if it was...

If AI Needs An Intelligent Creator, So Do We In his recent blog Erik Strandness discussed the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) in the hands of fallen humans. In this second blog reflecting on Nick Bostrom and Rosalind Picard’s Big Conversation on Unbelievable? he examines how AI has...

Jesus And The Dialectic Jesus was the master teacher, better at “Socratic dialogue” than Socrates. The Athenians began with (mostly) rich young men in one of the most educated cities in the Mediterranean world. Jesus walked with a much more diverse group of disciples, men, and women, rich and...

Shame Is A Unique Solution To A Unique Problem When distinguishing guilt from shame, we can easily oversimplify what makes them different and not appreciate certain similarities. I began to make this point in Part 1 of this series. In this post, I want to add a few unique features of shame...

Tamar The Righteous Some observations about the story of Tamar and Judah, recorded in Genesis 38, inspired by a lively discussion of the narrative at the Theopolis Regional Course in Dallas last weekend. 1) The chapter has a chiastic structure: A. Judah’s family, vv 1-5: take wife and...

What You Love to Do? Do That! [ 1 min read ★ ] Get away with me and you’ll recover your life . . . Learn the unforced rhythms of grace—Matthew 11:28-29 MSG We’re all built by the same creator. And we’re...

Jesus Peace, Not Hippie Peace; Or, “Let There Be Peace On Earth” Isn’t A Christian Hymn Business hands joined together teamwork One of my favorite preachers, the Rev’d Dr. Jeffrey Hanson from Boston’s Church of the Advent, shared a helpful and amusing illustration on the peace of Christ in a...

Christ Washed The Feet Of Judas (George Marion McClellan) Mary and Martha, prayer and labor, grace and justice: that is the balance we all must achieve. Labor without grace can degenerate to ideology: mother of tyranny. Grace without works transforms amazing grace to platitudes masking...

What To Do When You Sin How to handle sin in a God-honoring way isn’t often clearly addressed in the church. So what steps should I take in order to deal with sin? First, I must admit my sin to myself. I need to call sin what it is: sin, not just a mistake or a little slip. I must quit...

Do You Believe The Gospel That Saves? The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us, “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart” (Ecc. 7:2). He tells that on those days we are faced with grief over...