Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “theology”
Have you ever straddled a fence for so long that you get splinters in your backside? I’m speaking figuratively of course, because I grew up in the suburbs and we don’t sit on fences in the suburbs. My question really is directed to our tendency to avoid commitment in areas where we are unsure of the outcome of that potential …
After God saved me in the Summer of 1994, I immediately began to proclaim everything that I knew (which was not much!) about Jesus to anyone who would listen. I testified about how He had delivered me from a life of misery. I shared in homeless shelters and prisons about how the King had broken the power of my decade-long …
With the launch of New Bridge Church last month, many have wondered how I, as a Baptist minister, arrived at the place of leading our church into a journey that included the validating of the active status of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Granted, this belief is not the norm for those who have been Baptists their entire Christian …
So many among God’s people are sensing some difficult-to-define rumblings taking place. God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, as stated in Second Peter 1:3. The objective Word of God constantly serves as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Psalm 119:105), so we may walk by faith …
Once upon a time I was an invisible observer of a debate in an online chatroom which was focusing on the issue of what was required for a person to be granted good standing with God. This was during the pre-Facebook days of the internet and chatrooms were where a lot of the action took place. Dozens of people were …
“You are not thinking long enough nor hard enough about this, Jeff.” So came the words from a person whom I trust and love. His commitment to Christ is unquestionable in my opinion. He knows His bible. He is degreed from a well-known Christian seminary and has both age and years of experience on me. For those reasons I felt …
There is a plane somewhere in the air right now which will eventually make its way to the Atlanta airport. On that plane is a seat reserved for me and I’ll be planted in it for several hours as I head out on a little ministry jaunt. Flying does not bother me but airports do. I do not like the …
Going through the Scripture and pondering the lives of those on its pages, I am seeing with fresh eyes how powerful changes were wrought in people after their personal encounters with God. You might be tempted to say, “Duh! If a person has an encounter with God it goes to figure that their lives would be changed.” I’ll see that …
The pressure is not imaginary. As a matter of fact it has been imposing its squeeze on us for so long now that you may no longer feel its discomfort. It is likely that you have gotten used to it, perhaps yielded to it and, God forbid, maybe even started exerting it yourself. To what do I refer? There is …
The world didn’t end this morning and if you are reading after the end of 12/21/12 then you can breathe a sigh of relief that the Mayans got it all wrong and the Scriptures still hold true. The world hasn’t ended but one day it will. Here is a concise look at what I believe Scripture teaches about what is …
You are not good enough. You are not educated enough. You are not experienced enough, skilled enough, or holy enough. It’s not found in the depth of your prayer life or your good deeds which benefit others. Your baptism does not provide it. Church attendance doesn’t hold it all together. No, not your parental devotion, your marital excellence, your bible …
I used to like to hide from God. Somewhere along the way I picked up the notion that I had God summed up fairly well and I could cram Him down in my pocket and pull Him out whenever I thought He would suit my purposes. God was, in my mind, an authoritarian to be feared, a killjoy to be …
Yesterday afforded me the opportunity to dialogue with three men whom I’ve come to love and respect. Speaking primarily on Kingdom matters coupled with deep issues of the human heart, I came to find myself hungering for God’s instruction through these men. I was gold digging and bordering on profiteering from my time with them as I opened my ears, …
From about the age of fourteen to the age of twenty-four I was on a quest. Looking for something solid to believe in, I spent those years dabbling in anything I thought might make my emptiness disappear only to conclude a thousand different times that my skills as a hunter for truth must be sorely lacking. Nothing worked. I found …
Has God given you a heart sensitive to your sin? Most people in our world have a moral barometer and know the difference between right and wrong. They live out their days endeavoring to keep the scales heavier on their good than on their bad, yet this is not the same thing as a sin-sensitive conscience. Are you aware that …
A few years back I mentioned to Mr. David Price, a dear friend in England, that I was going to “preach a revival” in another state. The communication was through email so I could not exactly detect his tone when he politely requested that I clarify what I meant by using the term revival. Stumbling through my response I sought …
For a while now it has been my desire to seek to encourage you on Monday mornings more so than any other day of the week. Many of you experience a peak in gathering with the family of God on Sundays. You worship with your brothers and sisters in Christ and spend time in committed service unto God and others. …
Standing at just a tad under four feet tall, armed with a pair of super-powered binoculars and determined to discover something remarkable, Landon approached me with a look of resolve on his face. I was relaxing in an easy chair as my son approached me the way one of those reptile lovers on the National Geographic Channel approaches a python …
Several times over the last week I’ve been involved in conversations where the issue of one’s general outlook on life comes up. We typically throw one another into two groups: the optimist or the pessimist. While I’m unsure if too many people are always optimistic about everything or habitually pessimistic concerning all topics, I do believe we all have a …
Last week my son and daughter went with a group to a local wildlife ranch. Deer, mountain lions, beavers, peacocks and a host of assorted critters were there in close proximity to my children. Landon found out the hard ways that there were also some bees. Yep, my lil’ fella took a stinger on the finger after he, admittedly, stirred …
