The attitude one has toward doing what has to be done determines if the action is legalistic. An illustration makes this clear: “A serious athlete has to keep training rules. Most athletes are glad to keep them, rigid as they may be, for the sheer love of the sport. A...

God works through the mess anyway. David and Bathsheba, who came to be a couple through illegitimate means, ended up having two children who became part of the Messiah’s genealogy. That speaks volumes about God’s ability to redeem our worst mistakes. But there’s even...

But how are we to grow? Staying with the picture of newborn babies, we note Peter’s reference in verse 2 to ‘pure spiritual milk’: ‘Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.’ In other words, just as the secret of...

https://youtu.be/kfFrdB7Dg6U

I FIND NO REST IN RELIGION. PEOPLE TALK ABOUT CHURCH AND SPIRITUALITY AS IF THEY ARE AN OASIS. IN MY LIFE, CHURCH HAS BEEN A DESERT. You may be confusing Christianity with legalism. Legalism is joyless because legalism is endless. There is always another class to...

But as you’re driving, what do you see every few miles along the way? Exit ramps. David had lots of them. First, David found out that the woman was married. He didn’t take that exit; instead, he accelerated right past it. A little while later, he found himself way off...

A fifth characteristic of radical disciples, I suggest, is simplicity, especially in relation to the whole question of money and possessions. We postponed from Chapter 1 the challenge of materialism. In March 1980 an International Consultation on Simple Lifestyle took...

Okay, if the church website is truly the front door of the church, how do we make the front door the most accessible? Over the past few years, my team and I have looked at hundreds of church websites. We found several recurring and common mistakes, particularly from a...

What led you to visit our church? The question began as an innocent conversation starter. I ask guests questions about themselves and their families. I do my best to get to know them, and to make the conversation about them. But, at some point, my curiosity gets the...

Legalism is the opposite heresy of antinomianism. Whereas antinomianism denies the significance of law, legalism exalts law above grace. The legalists of Jesus’ day were the Pharisees, and Jesus reserved His strongest criticism for them. The fundamental distortion of...

The second reason that churches that care about the Great Commission will devote themselves to sending is a mathematical one. Perhaps you can remember this math conundrum from middle school: If you have a choice between receiving $10,000 a day for 30 days, or getting...

When I was travelling in the 1990s in the interests of the Langham Partnership International, I would often ask an audience how they would summarize the Christian scene in the world today. I would receive a variety of answers. But when invited to give my own answer to...

How often we assume that God is revealing His will to us through the circumstances around us, even when those circumstances aren’t pointing us toward a healthy or godly decision. When trying to discern God’s will, we often value an open door more than we value truth....

https://youtu.be/HwTT3Pjfy3g

Supplement to Lifeway Bible Studies for Life Lesson, June 17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwlGiq5QYes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcSwvijZZTM

To be fair, in our study of first-time church guests, we heard from a number of them who had really pleasant experiences, and decided to return. Let’s look at the top ten responses from the perspective of the happy guest. Some of them are just the opposite of the ten...

https://youtu.be/nGNLfillOnw

Then God gives us His perspective: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). God doesn’t look at...