In the past several months there has been a lot written regarding grace. My goal in this article is to make clear the difference between grace, which is God’s undeserved gracious actions and gifts towards us related to our salvation in Christ, and the consequences of sin that come from numerous sources and places.

It has been said that once we as believers in Christ Jesus confess our sins that God remembers them no more (read Hebrews 8:12 and Psalm 103:12). Some have taken this to mean that we can just go on with our lives as if the sin never happened. But, the reality is, based on the severity of the sin committed (yes, some sins are worse than others according to Scripture; read John 19:11, Luke 12:47-48, 1 John 5:16-17), there are various ramifications that arise related to God’s discipline, opening a door to Satan, destroying relationships, and our own heart condition.  Read More

Every week it seems there is another scandal breaking out with a high-profile person, whether in politics, sports, media or the church. A person could have done much good their whole life but with one act of passion destroy everything they have built.

Proverbs 22:1 teaches us that a good name is worth more than riches. One of the things I have found out through the years is that a person’s name and reputation are their greatest capital in regards to opening up doors and having influence in the world; this is a quality people look for even more than gifts, talents, or leading a successful enterprise or ministry. This is because people know success built upon gifts and talents and not on the foundation of character and integrity will not last in the long run. All of us are tempted to fall and have capacity to fail because of our sin nature.  Read More

In the nineteenth century higher critical views of Scripture (as opposed to lower critical views that concern biblical exegesis involving the study of historical context and culture, the author’s intent, and so on) came on the scene when German scholars questioned the authenticity of Scripture with a reductionistic approach, in which the Bible was treated like any other document, instead of starting with the assumption of divine inspiration. The following are some of the common challenges to the widely held Evangelical belief of the divine inspiration of Scripture.   Read More

The word of God is very clear regarding the call of believers to empower the disempowered and the disenfranchised of society.

Jesus opened up His ministry by reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, which is quoted in Luke 4:18, when He says the Spirit of the Lord has anointed Him to bring good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, and set at liberty those who are oppressed. Many evangelicals with an individualistic mindset have interpreted this merely as an individual salvific passage related to healing and deliverance. But when we read the context in Isaiah 61:1-4 we see that Jesus was also referring to systemic sin and God’s desire to bring cities to wholeness.
  Read More

It is my intention in this article to show the relationship between theological formation in the church, particular cultures, and contemporary movements. By culture I mean the language, arts, habits, values, currency, and aspirations of a people group, community, city or nation.  Read More

Charles Finney brought this strong charge back in 1873: “The error that lies at the foundation of this decay of individual and public conscience originates, no doubt, in the pulpit. ... Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree.

“If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it.

“If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.

“Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation."  Read More

"Albert Mohler, who heads the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said on Twitter that votes for same-sex marriage suggested that 'we are witnessing a fundamental moral realignment of the country.'  (Quote from http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/07/election-results-raise-questions-about-christian-rights-influence/ )  Read More

"We have a kind of economic Darwinism going on among many believers: Many churches and leaders abandon their communities , assuming the survival of the fittest; we think if we can move up and out, we should do so . We have lost the theology of place, the biblical understanding of community that connects people to places (e.g. Saul of Tarsus, Jesus of Nazareth). We have reduced mission to sending professional missionaries "there", so that we can go on doing what we want to do "here" " --Ray Bakke  Read More