Weapon of War One of the best known passages on spiritual warfare can be found in Ephesians 6. Here Paul goes through the various pieces of armor a soldier of his time would have put on himself to engage in warfare. He encourages believers to put on truth (belt), righteousness(breastplate), the gospel(sandals), faith(shield), salvation(helmet), and,…
Jesus’s Love
Sacrificial Love The most extreme example of the love that Jesus had for his people was that he suffered the punishment of death for the sins they had committed. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 However, another example of that extreme love came…
Repentant Atonement
Unintentional Sin Throughout the Old Testament, we find instructions regarding sacrifice. There are many kinds of sacrifice. Some were for thanksgiving others for fellowship. Probably the most well known sacrifice, however, is the sacrifices for sins. There are many places in scripture that reference these sacrifices and in many of them, there is a constant…
Unfinished Church
What The Church Does If you ask the average American Christian what the mission of the church is, most would tell you the commission Christ gave his church after the resurrection: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all…
Meaning of Freedom
What is Freedom In America, even in the church, freedom is treated as one of the highest virtues. Indeed, many will argue, after granting that something like pornography, insobriety, or abortion is objectively wrong, it would still be immoral to restrict or ban it because that would limit freedom. Every murderer no doubt believes they…
Brotherly Independence
Love One Another The Thessalonian believers were known by Paul to abound in love for one another. Not just locally, but in their entire region, they endeavored to care for their fellow believers. Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for…
Resurrection Mindset
Not a Martyr The church has put a lot of effort into teaching about how Christ died on our behalf. This is an integral part of God’s redemptive plan for his people, so we should! However, one of the ways to error is to overemphasis one truth to the neglect of others. To that end,…
Natural Longing
Why Suffering? People often ask the question of why bad things happen if God is who we claim he is. If he’s all knowing, he knows the consequences of everything he does. If he’s all powerful, there’s no limit to what he could do. If he’s loving, shouldn’t that mean there should, at the very…
Hearts Far From God
Defiled Hands Cleanliness was an important part of the Jewish culture in the time of the apostles. Because of the concept of ceremonial cleanliness, the idea that things could make one unclean weighed on them. It was important for them to cleanse themselves and prepare in order to worship God properly. God had given specific…
The Power of Leaven
The Object Lesson The first command God gave regarding leaven is found during the exodus of Israel out of Egypt. God instructed his people to eat bread without leaven in the Passover feast as a memorial of the first Passover, which was eaten quickly in preparation for them leaving Egypt. Seven days you shall eat…