“There are six things the LORD hates – no, seven things he detests . . . a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”

~ Proverbs 6:16, 19

In this new series, I’m going to identify a number of common ways in which seeds of discord (dissension) are sown among sistren and brethren in Christ.

We’ll look at the first today and the rest this week.

The first is rather subtle so it broadsides many Christians when it takes place. This is how it works.

One of your friends . . . a Christian, perhaps even a member of your fellowship . . . says the following to you:

 ”You know, Jimmy doesn’t like you . . . I’m telling you this because I’m your friend.”

Or they may say something like:

“I probably shouldn’t say this, but I think you should know that Twila said such and such about you.”

Immediately, your defenses go up. You feel insulted. Hurt.

You suddently look at Jimmy and Twila, whom you’ve regarded as trusted friends, in a completely different light.

Your friend was doing you a favor by telling you these things . . . right?

Think again.  Continue Reading…

In Reimagining Church, I set forth the authority of the Scriptures as being the unchangeable standard for Christian faith and practice – including church practice. In the course of the book, I also discuss the creeds of the Christian faith saying,

Historic Christian teaching on the essential doctrines of the faith plays a crucial role in keeping a church on scriptural track. Throughout the centuries, Christians have preserved the core beliefs of our faith: Jesus Christ is God and man, He was born of a virgin, He was crucified for our sins, He rose again in bodily form, etc.

These core beliefs do not belong to any one ecclesiastical tradition or denomination. Instead, they are the heritage of all genuine believers. And they reflect the voice of the church throughout history. These “essentials of the faith” embody what C. S. Lewis called Mere Christianity—“the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” (Vincent of Lerins in these words: “Christianity is what has been held always, everywhere, and by all.”)

Thus the call to recover the ecology of the New Testament church doesn’t translate into a summons to reinvent the religious wheel on every theological issue. Nor does it include a rejection of all that has been passed down to us by our spiritual forefathers. At the same time, everything that is postapostolic is subject to scrutiny and should be critiqued by the apostolic tradition itself.

The call to restore organic Christianity sides with every voice of the past that has remained true to apostolic revelation—no matter what segment of the historic church to which they may have belonged. The primitive church was rooted in the soil of Christian truth. And staying within that soil requires that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. As C. H. Spurgeon affirmed, “I intend to grasp tightly with one hand the truths I have already learned, and to keep the other hand wide open to take in the things I do not yet know.”

Reimagining Church, pp. 237-238

What follows are the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed – two creeds I believe all Christians should be familiar with as they are part of our heritage.

While these creeds aren’t complete theological statements, they are correct theological statements. And they represent the consensus of the body of Christ throughout the ages. Continue Reading…

“The worst thing is not being wrong, but being sure one is not wrong.”

~ Paul Tournier

P.S. Check out the new podcasts – Jesus & the Scriptures * Jesus: A Theography – Introduction * The Untold Story Behind Writing the New Book. Also on iTunes.

See also I Don’t Know.

Going through a tough time? Experiencing a crisis, a trial, an insuperable problem?

Contrary to what you might be feeling right now, let me remind you that your Lord is a good God.

He is a God of kindness and mercy.

Sometimes we need to remind one another about this. Especially if we’re going through the northeast corner of hell.

The Lord allows pain and suffering to come into our lives for reasons too numerous to list.

Sometimes it is to get our attention, to soften our hearts, and to bring us to a place of sheer desperation for Him.

Other times it is to show us areas of our lives that we would have never seen before.

Sometimes it is to demonstrate His power and glory against the dark backdrop of a black night.

Other times it is to build something eternal within our character that cannot easily be dismembered.

When we’re walking through the fire, it’s easy to doubt God’s love and care for us.

But here are two proofs of God’s unwavering love for you.

Continue Reading…

“Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth. I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him, please Him. Mayhap, in mercy, He shall give me a host of children that I may lead through the vast star fields to explore His delicacies whose fingers’ ends set them to burning. But if not, if only I may see Him, smell His garments, and smile into my Lover’s eyes, ah, then, not stars, nor children, shall matter, only Himself.”

~ Jim Elliot

P.S. Jesus: A Theography hit the #1 spot on Amazon this weekend in the “Jesus” category and it was in the low hundreds on Amazon most of the weekend. I appreciate your willingness to buy the book and want to thank you in advance for telling your friends about it. I still can’t believe that Amazon is selling this 400+ page hardcover for only $10.29 USD.

The following is a guest post by Melissa K. Norris. Melissa is a Christian fiction writer who just came out with a new book entitled Pioneering Today – her first non-fiction work. Click on the link and check out her special promotion that expires October 31st. The following post has been excerpted from her new book.

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“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” (NIV) Ecclesiastes 3:1

Many scriptures and parables in the Bible talk about seasons and gardening. There is the parable of the mustard seed, the fig tree, the weeds, and numerous other verses that have to do with crops, harvesting, and growing things.

During Jesus’s time on earth, he used parables that were relatable to the time and people. Stories and analogies that were common and familiar to them.

But I think there was another reason Jesus used these examples. A reason in our fast paced technologically filled world, we are sadly missing.

I believe that when we are still, away from the hustle and bustle of technology, we can feel God’s presence. It is stronger when there is no static or interference from man-made noise.

I don’t feel it’s coincidence I feel closer to God while gardening. The creator of all life, the I Am, who could have chosen any place or environment in this world to house Adam and Eve, placed them in a garden. Continue Reading…

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

~ John 4:13-14

Early in His earthly ministry, Jesus was invited to a wedding banquet. In those days, the bridegroom was responsible for supplying both the food and the drinks for the banquet.

The mark of a good wedding feast was that the wine be of good quality and sufficient quantity.

Running out of wine was a social disgrace and represented a grave error on the part of the groom. In this particular banquet, the bridegroom made a colossal mistake. He failed to provide enough wine for the feast, and he was to blame.

But the Lord was there.

Upon assessing the situation, Jesus performed His first miracle. He converted six twenty-gallon waterpots into wine. Yet it was not ordinary wine.

The wine the Lord created was superior in quality to the wine that had run out. And it was more than enough to supply the needs of the banquet.  Continue Reading…

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’” 

~ C.S. Lewis

Lewis’ observation is not only true in the end, but it’s true in this life as well. And it’s true for all human beings, including Christians.

God sometimes releases people to do what they wish, even if it’s to their own destruction.

So don’t be the kind of person to whom God says, “Thy will be done.”

That’s a scary place to be in.

“He Himself is the great Man of Sorrows who knows our ills, Who was called the son of a carpenter, though He was the Son of God and the great Healer of sick souls. Who laboured for 30 years in a humble carpenter’s shop to fulfil God’s will. And God wills that in imitation of Christ, man should live and walk humbly on earth, not reaching for the sky, but bowing to humble things, learning from the Gospel to be meek and humble of heart.”

~ Vincent van Gogh

David was anointed at Bethel to be king. Immediately afterwards, however, he returned to his ordinary life as a shepherd.

He didn’t get shipped off to some training school. Rather, it was in the sheep fields as a shepherd that David learned to exercise and build his faith in God.

There in the sheep fields, he tested his shepherd’s sling.

When the hour came when he would face Goliath, David used that which he had tested in secret as a shepherd.

He declined the sword and the shield, but used that which he experienced in the trials of ordinary life.

And so it is with every servant of God. Or so it should be.

Wherever God puts us in life is our training for reigning.

“If we endure, we will also reign with him . . .” 2 Timothy 2:12