What Is the Gospel?
Let me start by stating the simplified answer to the question, “What is the gospel?” The “gospel” is an expression in Scripture that simply means “good news.” It is best to think of the gospel in three related parts. The Gospel – Jesus is the Messiah, the promised saving King described in Scripture. He came […]
Why Do We Confess Jesus as Messiah and Lord?
We call the “good confession” what Christians confess out loud when they convert to Christ. Early Christian formulations of the good confession point to two important ideas. First, confessing that Jesus is the “Christ” is saying that he is the promised Messiah of Israel. The Old Testament contains promises, titles, prophecies, and sufferings regarding the […]
Resisting the Lure of Legalism
“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?” (Mark 7:18, NIV) Let’s talk about legalism. I know about legalism because I used to be a legalist. At the time, I didn’t believe legalism was really a thing. I’ve actually said to people, […]
Beatitudes: The Path of the Kingdom
Jesus’ original audience often misunderstood him because they filtered his teachings through their preconceived worldview and the skewed questions that flowed from it. We have a different worldview with different questions, but we basically do the same thing. In the Sermon on the Mount, where we see a bunch of rules, Jesus is trying to […]
Jesus Clears the Temple (and What He’ll Do to You Too)
Have you ever seen somebody get really angry who normally doesn’t get angry? It’s a little like, “Oh! Never seen that side of you.” You realize it must be really bad if that person is upset. This is how we react to Unikitty from Cloud Cuckoo Land in the first Lego Movie. Unikitty is always […]
What Was Jesus’ Teaching? Rediscovering Jesus’ Primary Message
It would be a glaring understatement to say that the Church today is in deep crisis. And not just local churches and their leaders—but the whole enterprise of global Christianity. You don’t have to be a prophet to know something has gone terribly wrong somewhere along the way. I was confronted with one aspect of […]
What Prevents Us from Life Transformation?
At a ministry conference recently, I commented that, when measured against the heart of God in the Sermon on the Mount, large segments of American Christianity seem to be going completely off the rails. Even though it was a rather sedate crowd, that comment got an “Amen!” That reaction tells me two things: 1) Not […]
Take My Yoke Upon You
Living in the world is tiring. From work, to school, to familial duties, to just living life, it can all be so much. The good news is that our God is a God of peace, and he offers us rest. Matthew 11:28-30 gives followers of Jesus an invitation to come to Him, as well as […]
