This blog is Pastor Jay's weekly musings about God's Word, God's world, and God's call to our culture. We hope they encourage, challenge, and inform you. Sign up to recieve them in your email.
Last week our church looked at the difficult doctrine of election as we were going through Ephesians 1:4. Therefore, I wanted to piggyback on that teaching with a thought I believe should be greatly problematic for Arminians. Let me start with one of the key beliefs held by the Arminian. The Arminian holds that the freedom of the human will is so central and vital t...
Keep ReadingThere is a unique moment in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus that I have thought about numerous times. This moment is recorded only in the gospel of Luke and it takes place during Jesus' praying in the garden of Gethsemane. The single verse reads as follows: Luke 22:43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. What is going on in this moment? ...
Keep ReadingWhat you are about to read below is a crown jewel from what is already considered a treasure of literature. It is a short fictional discussion that reaches to the heart of true change. While individual experiences will vary, the truths that shape those experiences are told here in one of the most compelling, hope-giving, soul-freeing ways ever penned. What, then, are ...
Keep ReadingWhen Church is Boring: 3 Problems and 2 Solutions There no getting around the fact. Church can be boring. Why is this? It cannot be because God is boring. There is nothing boring in God. He is the fountainhead of every pleasure. He is the ultimate story-maker who amazes us with the unexpected all the time. Every good thing comes down from the Father of lights. So where...
Keep ReadingBy: Emily Lickey Recently as I raided the cheap school supplies at Walmart for markers, which my four young children rarely actually use up...it is often just a lost lid issue, my cart entered seasonal shopping warp speed when I rounded the corner and met the endcap of Christmas dcor. We shake our heads about this every year. The aisle swap outs for Christmas produc...
Keep ReadingOne of the primary drivers behind the charismatic movement is the desire for an experience with God. While we should always pray for and seek God's power in our midst, we have to be careful what we mean when we speak of these things. Do we mean watching God change lives, illuminate his Word, meet needs, and providentially orchestrate details? Or do we mean visions, dre...
Keep ReadingDon't you get tired of the swinging pendulum? It seems that everywhere you turn you find some out-in-left-field teaching, and before you know it there is a reactionary swing to the other side that creates its own rat's nest of problems. This very thing has happened with the concept of love. We shouldn't be surprised. Love is an essential biblical teaching, a key att...
Keep ReadingPrayer can be powerful. As Spurgeon said, it can be "the slender nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence." But prayer can also be impotent and not get past your ceiling! We need to know the difference between the two because there will be times when we have to wait. In that waiting time, how do you we know if we are actually waiting for God's working to become manifes...
Keep ReadingAre you concerned you will turn away from the Lord in tragedy but confident you will grow if you have all your needs met? Do you fear adversity and hope for security? This kind of thinking is prevalent in many people, and is perpetuated by governments, businesses, and even churches. This thinking is flawed at the core, but since it is wrapped in logic it is easy to s...
Keep ReadingThe health, wealth, and prosperity gospel is a well-established and growing segment of the church worldwide. Though there are countless reasons why the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel is a prostitution of the truth, it just keeps raking in the followers. Why is this? Because there are two powerful forces at work: people are incurably religious and incurably self-ce...
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