Theology and deep thoughts on two wheels. A wandering Wesleyan – “Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with God.” J. Wesley
Introduction The foundation for all flavors of Wesleyan theology (United Methodists, Nazarene, Free Methodists, and the newly formed Global Methodists, among others) is the sermons of John Wesley (1703-1791). In these sermons, Wesley spells out the distinctiveness of his approach to holiness, salvation, evangelism, and many other areas of doctrine. In the sermon The …
Continue reading "John Wesley’s Sermon #2: The Almost Christian"
Introduction When the people of God gather in worship and proclamation, there is an agreement that is understood. The corporate gathering of believers links the individual with the church. The Holy Spirit is the common linking denominator between believers. However, there is also a standard agreement of doctrinal beliefs, culture, worship style, and more. …
Introduction When my wife and I were married in 1988, we embarked on a honeymoon that was a bit different than most folks. We decided to go on a student trip to Europe, visiting and studying in England, Western Europe, Scandinavia, Poland, East Germany (as it was known then), and the Soviet Union (back …
Continue reading "Evangelism Part 3 – Speak the Language Acts 17:16-34"
How To Study The Bible Part 3: Exegesis and Hermeneutics In this video, I get into the guts of Biblical exegesis and hermeneutics. I mention a 4th class in the video but I will not post a video for that. The 4th class focuses on doing exegesis and hermeneutics together focusing on a specific passage. …
Continue reading "How To Study The Bible Part 3: Exegesis and Hermeneutics"
https://youtu.be/DpiHMWjy2G0 Links to some of the Bibles mentioned: ESV Bible CSB Bible NET Bible MEV Bible NLT Bible KJV Bible
The great British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge once said that "The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact." The human condition of war is evidence of that. War involves pain. War involves sacrifice. War involves death. While war is identifiable, the pain, sacrifice, and death are the results of the kingdom of the enemy. That is what is resisted.
Here is Part 1 of a four part series on how to study the Bible. This part looks into "What is this Book?" We look at how the Bible came together, the Septuagint, Old and New Testament.
My kids are grown now. Both have moved out of the house and are living lives that are independent of their parents. I am exceedingly proud of my kids and what they have accomplished in their lives. But in that pride is a bit of sorrow. I miss picking up my daughter and her beeping my nose, saying, with a laugh, “Boopies, I got you first!” I miss having deep conversations with my then four-year-old son. “Daddy, what ‘cuz the world to go in circles around the sun?” Yes, they had their times of disobedience, and they needed to be corrected from time to time. However, those memories have faded into the past. Mostly what remains are memories of happy, joyous times with my children.
In John 20, Jesus does something entirely unexpected. The resurrection itself was quite surprising, but now, in the upper room, Jesus breaths on the disciples and states, “Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22 (CSB). This essay will review the background understanding of the Holy Spirit for the Jewish disciples, exegesis of John 20:21-23 with observations and interpretations, and conclude with an application.
Pilate ends the discussion with the famous question from John 18:38 – “Veritas, quid verum?” Pilate then, literally, walked away from the Truth.
Let me ask you a question. What do you understand the gospel to be? Some might answer like this: "Accept Jesus as your Savior, and when you die, you will go to Heaven." Or "Put your faith in Jesus, and your sins will be forgiven." Or "Follow Jesus, and you will find meaning and purpose for your life." All of these answers are right – but they are only partially correct. These statements are parts of the gospel, but they are not the entirety of the gospel.
Here is a video devotional I made for our CMA chapter during the COVID-19 pandemic. My prayer is that these words can give you comfort during this stressful time.
Are you living in the Third Day - the Resurrection Day, or are you living in Saturday - a day of hopelessness?
The passage we are going to look at today is Colossians 3:1-7. Before we get into the passage, I want to start with an illustration. One of my favorite stories is Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. My favorite character in that tale is Sam Gamgee.
Tonight, we are going to look at a passage of scripture that, to be frank, is difficult. For those of you who come from a Roman Catholic background, you will know about the Stations of the Cross and you will recognize this scripture as one of those stations. While most of the stations reflect on the actions of Jesus, this station, the fourth station, reflects upon the actions of Peter and his denial of Jesus.
Welcome to the first in a series looking at the Kingdom of God (KoG). Through this series, I will be writing about how the KoG impacts our lives now as well as how we have something spectacular to look forward to in the future. To start this series, I want to look at how Jesus and the Bible talk about the KoG.
Catherine of Siena (1347 – 1380) was a woman devoted to her God and her Church. Deeply moved by the corruption of the Church in her time, Catherine dedicated her life to holiness and piety. After learning how to read and write, she began working on The Dialogue in December of 1377 finishing it in October of 1388.
Today I want to speak to you about being lost and being found. Who among us has been out there, on the road, and completely baffled as to where we are? Maybe heading up to the Dragon in Tennessee you took a wrong turn and ended up who knows where? Well, today I can’t be your road GPS, but I want to speak on how God’s revelation to us is our spiritual GPS.
Next to despair, grudges and unforgiveness are the enemy’s greatest weapon to derail us from our Christian walk. When someone holds a grudge – withholding forgiveness and retaining bitterness in their hearts - they damage their relationship with God.
In the first part of this series, we looked at who exactly we are fighting. We examined the fact that we are not fighting people but fighting against spiritual satanic forces. The enemy uses people, but they are not the enemy. In this part I am going to look at the wicked weapon of despair, and how God has given us a powerful weapon to defeat that weapon in worship.
There has been a lot written about spiritual warfare. Most discussions focus on the celebrated passage in Ephesians 6 concentrating on the full armor of God. That is a remarkable passage, but I think the Scriptures give us far more than defensive armor and one weapon. As powerful as the …
Continue reading "Weapons of Spiritual Warfare: Part 1 – Who Are We Fighting?"
What makes the New Covenant superior to the Old Covenant? The writer of Hebrews makes a bold claim in chapter 8:6. “But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been established on better promises.” He is claiming that a New Covenant …
Why did Jesus wait four days before visiting Lazarus? When a loved one or a friend is on their deathbed, the usual response is to go immediately to them and be with them in their final hours. When Jesus received word that his dear friend Lazarus was sick (11:3), he delayed going to visit him. …
What was it about the “tax collectors and sinners” that caused such angst among the Pharisees, but who were the object of much of Jesus’ ministry? Luke 15 presents an interesting confrontation between the religious leaders and Jesus. Since the beginning of his ministry, Jesus spent the most time with those who were outside …
Recently there was an article that came my way that challenged me in the way I think about how Christ followers should react to people that are transgendered. The article can be found HERE and relates how Korn guitarist and devoted Christian, Brian Welch, prayed for a young person who is transgendered. He made this …
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