This morning was a good morning.  A few weeks ago an idea popped into my head – an experiment for our church’s summer youth ministry: a weekly Breakfast Club. After polling the teens a few weeks ago, we had decided that Monday mornings (!) would work best for the greatest number of individuals. The schedule would be simple: Show up at 8:00 am if you want to help cook, 8:30 for breakfast and Bible, and we’d finish by 9:30.  The goal is greater spiritual health through a habit of personal Bible study. The system to reach that goal is two-pronged:…

“Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.” – Rita Mae Brown As I have been consciously praying the Lord’s Prayer daily over this past year, the one phrase that I haven’t given as much attention to as all the others is also the one most commentaries struggle to explain: “Lead us not into temptation”. On the face of it, it’s a weird thing to pray. The Bible makes it clear that God does not tempt people: James 1:13 “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor…

There was a time not too long ago when I was impressed by biblical “proof texting” – rattling off verse after verse in order to “prove” some theological point you are teaching.  It took a while for reality to sink in to me. And reality is that as a means of argumentation, proof texting is incredibly persuasive but not necessarily trustworthy. Proof texting is used to support any number of doctrines. Calvinist teachers are adept at the practice and can cite several verses from all over the Bible to support propositions like total depravity or unconditional election. But here’s the…

As Father’s Day approaches, I find myself reflecting on one of my greatest embarrassments in recent memory. (But it led to a simple new habit which has deepened my prayer life like no other, so I willingly share the story here with you.) A year ago, I preached the shortest sermon ever! I stepped up to the pulpit of Sardinia Baptist Church to preach on Luke 11:1-13, a well-known passage about approaching God as our Father. It begins with Jesus teaching His disciples  “The Lord’s Prayer”. Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy…

It seems like every “woke” friend and acquaintance I have spends an unhealthy amount of time online, posting indignant memes on Instagram. Those who consider themselves Christians post LOTS of criticisms aimed at fellow believers who are not woke enough.  Have you noticed the same? Recently I watched an interview of a young lady from South Africa, Zandile Powell, on the Triggernometry YouTube channel. She had a lot to say about how her exposure to Critical Race Theory at Cambridge messed up her thinking. The victimhood mindset it promoted eventually left her suicidal. It’s worth a listen.   In the middle of…

I feel a bit intimidated by my choice of preaching passages for this coming Sunday, Romans 5:12-17. The first part of that passage goes like this: 12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so also death was passed on to all men, because all sinned. 13 For sin was in the world before the law was given; but sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is…

I’ve learned to be skeptical of “experts”, so when I come across an unfamiliar theologian, I do my homework.  I want to listen to what they preach and teach with a discerning ear. A guy with a degree can be pretty convincing, but we are still each called to be good Bereans. I am most interested in finding experts who can effectively communicate what they have discovered in their studies. I want to learn something new, not just find someone to reinforce what I already believe. I also check out what sort of company they keep and what their critics…

For almost a year now I have been praying the Lord’s Prayer on a daily basis – pausing over whichever line catches my attention on any particular morning. I have been amazed at how much is packed into those few lines. And even today I was introduced to a new thought concerning the opening words – “Our Father who art in heaven”. Many have commented on the collective nature of the prayer, with Jesus teaching us to use the first person plurals, “we”, “us”, and “our”.  But I had never considered how those opening words could be understood as Jesus…

I’m still wrestling with the nature of death as portrayed in the Bible. In the Garden of Eden, there was no Law. The Law would not come until the time of Moses, centuries down the line. In Eden there was only one rule that God laid out: Do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And what would happen if they broke the rule was also laid out: “You will surely die.”  By the way, there is no indication that Adam and Eve understood “death” to mean “burn in hell for all eternity”. Why would…