At the end of His ministry, Jesus commissions His eleven apostles to continue His mission to call Israel to bear the fruits of repentance, to make disciples, and to imitate His manner of life. Jesus then ascends to the heavens on a cloud. This episode looks at a common misunderstanding of "the Great Commission" as well as the theological significance of Jesus' ascension.
All resources referencing Romans 1
Blog entry
Are you saved?
Evangelical Christians are united in the belief that salvation is essential. However, various streams in the church have deviated in articulating what we have been saved from and when that salvation would be evident. Some say we are saved from sin, others say we are saved from sickness, poverty, and lack, and still others say we are saved from hell and unending torment. Yet as Jesus, John the Baptist, Paul, and the rest of the New Testament writers present straightforwardly, salvation is about being saved from the future wrath...
Article
The church and the state have become increasingly entangled since Constantine's rise to power in Europe in the early 4th century. Theologians call this time the Constantinian shift where Christianity was adopted as the state religion of the Roman Empire. As Christianity was legalized, persecution virtually stopped. The church began to acquire power, wealth, and land in Europe like never before. Theology was altered and the "spiritual interpretation" hermeneutic began to take root, dramatically affecting the church'...
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Yesterday much of the Far East and the Southwest US experienced an annular solar eclipse, often described as a "ring of fire" because of the way the moon blocks out most of the sun, leaving a bright ring around it in the sky. Much of the event was also visible here in Missouri, beginning around 7:30pm and lasting for 45 or 50 minutes.
I was able to view the eclipse at my folks' house where they have an open view of the western sky thanks to the rolling Missouri plains. We took turns looking...
Article
In my last post, I wrote about how our lives must be completely other-oriented, where we realize that the reason why we take in breath right now is ultimately for Christ’s glory, renown, and fame, not for ours. I wrote about how self-denial and a daily death march to the cross is what we are beckoned to by Jesus Himself (Luke 9:22-26), because a life of self-denial is the way to bring the most glory to Another.
Though the way is narrow and difficult, the path to...
Blog entry
Yesterday I was meditating on and praying through Hebrews 1 with one of the worship teams here in the house of prayer. The whole chapter such an amazing passage, but I got “stuck” on the first two verses:
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,”
(Hebrews 1:1-2 NKJV)
Those thirty words are full of spiritual gold directly from the...