I’m sure that all Christians have heard glib, basic conclusions in Bible teaching in churches. Maybe you’ve heard a preacher tell you that God is love or God is in control. Or a Bible study leader tell you that you should love God and not money, or that you should tell other people about Jesus. …
Too many sermons are more complicated than they need to be. Like any specialty, the Christian world has its own special vocabulary. Words like holy, justification and glorification do turn up in the Bible, yet they rarely if ever turn up in everyday conversation. On top of this, there are all kinds of theological terms …
It is that time of year when I need to plan what I want to do around the weather forecast. For the past few weeks, it has rained a little on most days and a lot on others. Outdoor activities have needed to be cancelled or moved around at times. Plans to do the washing …
A few weeks ago, our family went through the usual seasonal cold and flu time. All of us were sniffing, tired, and had sore throats. Nothing too extreme, nothing that even needed a doctor’s visit, just the common cold. Yet this relatively minor ailment led to some missed work and school days and our usual …
Those who are not married and those who are married are of equal value in God’s sight. All people are made in the image of God. All Christians are saved only by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross for our sins. In no way does our marital status impact whether …
When people get married, you often see a familiar pattern emerging. Instead of spending time with their friends as they used to do, all of their time is now devoted to their spouse. They stop going to parties and their previously-large social circle begins to shrink. It is this phenomenon that the Skyhooks sang about …
Song of Songs tells the story of a passionate relationship between a man and a woman. They long to be together. They dream of one another’s company and the future they might have together. In that context, the man comes to the woman’s house in chapter 2. She is living with her mother and he …
A great many people simply assume that sex and relationships are two completely different things. Sex is seen as only a physical act. For many decades now, from one-night stands to Tinder ‘dates’ to internet pornography, many seek out sex as a means to their own gratification. The connection between sex and a real relationship …
Christians tend to be nice people. That’s a good thing, of course! But it does mean that many people make the mistake of thinking that being nice or good in some moral sense makes you a Christian. That is a very long way from the truth. In fact, the truth is pretty much the opposite. …
In the account of Jesus’ death in Matthew’s gospel, we get some of the strangest verses in the entire Bible: 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and …