Refusing to Distort the Truth to Fit Our Culture’s Demands
We need to keep representing and sharing the truth without compromising it, regardless of people who don’t get it or oppose us for upholding it.
truth
God’s Truth
The Bible is full of severe and hard realities. Its propositions aren’t fuzzy or soft; they’re strong, stern and unambiguous. Its heroes aren’t hailed for being sensitive and emotional; they’re lauded for being principled…
Knowing Our Absolute Standard
We must be especially attuned to the state of our conscience, making sure it is rightly calibrated to God’s truth, and then faithfully followed by God’s grace.
Hard Truth
We all work to make our lives as comfortable and pain-free as possible. We buy all sorts of appliances and gadgets to make hard jobs easy, and seek out any available remedy to alleviate our bodily aches and pains. And this makes perfect sense. Only a masochist would…
The Essential Archaeological Guide to the Bible Lands
Their World Informs Our World There are many in our world that will say the Bible is made up; it’s just a bunch of stories with no historical foundation. Why should anyone believe any of it? But when we look at the archaeological evidence from the ancient Holy Lands, we find that their …
Unbiblical Thoughts
To grow in our understanding of God and the Christian life requires that we leave behind wrong ideas about God and the Christian life…
Relativism
After recently preaching on the problem of relativism, I am reminded of just how pervasive, yet inconsistent, this way of thinking actually is. Many loudly insist that it doesn’t matter what you believe regarding religion, because, after all, “God is loving” and he wouldn’t conclude that anyone’s views about him are wrong. It doesn’t matter, they insist, if your beliefs don’t
If It Feels Good
Countless Christians have warned of the folly contained in the well-worn phrase, “If it feels good, do it!” But this warning should be applied to more than just the indulgent physical pleasures that would transgress the bounds of righteous and godly behavior. We ought also to be cautious…
Spiritual Humility
Real spiritual growth requires humility. An accurate understanding of truth and its appropriate application takes place in those who humbly recognize their need for truth and change. These are the Christians who have learned to…
True Truth
As many faithful defenders of the Christian faith have pointed out, the truths we speak of as Christians, are claims we assert to be “true truth”. We do not presume to be proffering religious preferences or personal values. We are boldly claiming…
Absolute Truth
Truth is always true. Even so, it is amazing how many people seem to think it’s up for grabs. While we can reasonably reach an impasse as to which restaurant has “the best” Mexican food, when it comes to what you had for lunch yesterday there is a right and wrong answer. That’s the thing about “truth”…
Imaginary God
Often we struggle with a variety of verses in our Bible reading because they grate against our preconceived ideas about who we believe God to be. That would never happen if…
Wishing vs Truth
Whenever we study the Bible we have to do our best to let the text speak for itself. The goal is to excavate God’s message, ascertain God’s values, and comprehend God’s perspective. We may have many ideas and expectations about what we hope to uncover and what we wish to find, but the Bible has to be approached with…
Scripture
One big challenge of the Christian life is to courageously stand our ground regarding the veracity of God’s word, while living in a world which makes a sport of mocking, maligning and ridiculing it. It is helpful to regularly study and frequently recall how the Bible stands apart from all other
Stand for Truth
God warned of a great apostasy as the end of human history draws near (2Th.2:3; 1Tim.4:1-3; 2Tim.3:1-5; 4:3-4; et al.). This is not a promise of a religion-less world. On the contrary, the end times events are filled with references to popular and influential religious organizations (Rev.17:1-18). What God’s word predicts
When It Intrigues Our Mind
We would do well to be aware of the prevailing worldly rationale which infects our thinking and threatens to pollute the biblical truths that are presented to us.
Acquiring Wisdom
Some think that learning about God should be easy. But the Bible warns us that real wisdom and insight will require a great deal of effort on our part. While some prefer to call their innate impressions and their subjective feelings…
Strengthened by Our Unity
Biblical unity is not only a joyful and gratifying reality, it is also an essential component of any strong, vibrant, and fruitful church.
Unified by the Truth
We must be wholeheartedly submissive to God’s word, sincerely calling for unity among God’s people under those truths, along with their wise application.
Bible Abuse
If only we could see how often we abuse the Bible (and therefore, its Author) in an effort to bolster and justify our personal views and proclivities. The process is called “isogesis” – presupposing our own interpretation and views and “reading them into” a passage of Scripture when they…
Leveraging the Detours
We can expect non-Christians to often misunderstand the gospel message, but that should only motivate us to passionately and strategically clarify the truth.
Truthfulness
In Psalm 15 David recounts key virtues of a godly character – a kind of character that he says will experience intimacy with God. At the top of the inspired list we find the attribute of truthfulness, as we might expect. How can one claim to
Biblical Tension
It has been rightly said that we should never use biblical truths in unbiblical ways. We make this costly error at times without knowing it. We may be hailing some aspect of God’s word with a resolute focus while unwittingly beginning to utilize that affirmation to deny some other forthright teaching of Scripture. Take for instance our confidence in the sovereignty of God, which is of course a…
Bible Reading
When God is at the center of our theology and Christ is at the head of our lives we begin to understand the Bible as it was intended to be understood. Approaching Scripture as God’s self-disclosure instead of our tool for self-improvement will undoubtedly open up an entirely new experience of Bible study. It is not hard to see the extreme difference
Truth
Truth is not always popular. Depending on the environment, statements that reflect absolute truth can be downright offensive to many. That is one reason the Bible instructs us to make sure our hearts are centered on pleasing God even before we open our mouths. We need to keep in mind the ultimate goal of our conversation so we don’t get entangled in personal…
Historic Truth
Some chide us for “checking our brains in at the door” when we come to a place of trusting in Christ for forgiveness and new life. But that is not how Christianity is presented to us in Scripture. The New Testament evangelists never asked anyone to stop thinking, stop inquiring or stop analyzing the claims of Christ and the Apostles. No one was asked to just…
Truth & Tolerance
The Bible, unlike some religious texts, calls its individual adherents to battle for truth with theology, not swords. In our daily lives Christians are called to fight ideas, not people. This proper understanding of New Testament Christianity has historically allowed…
Authority of Scripture
Without an unswerving resolve to affirm that God has inscribed his authoritative voice on the pages of Scripture we are hopelessly lost on…
Fickle Feelings
Our feelings are fickle but God’s word is unchanging. There may be several factors, righteous and otherwise, which will influence our emotions, yet the Bible stands as our unalterable source of divine information providing eternal clarity regarding God’s values and priorities. This is why the Bible must…
The Sting of God’s Word
Some naively presume that good preaching should leave the congregation feeling good. But most seasoned Christians have come to realize that the best, most meaningful and effectual sermons usually sting, if not wound. God warned that the Scriptures are…