Monthly Archives

August 2021

In Attributes of God, Blog, Theology on
August 30, 2021

He is Sovereign

Human beings do not like to be controlled. We’re born with a tendency to resist what we’re told to do. And if we’re told we can’t have something, we immediately want it. We want to be in charge of our own lives and blaze our own trails! We want to be kings and queens in our own little kingdoms. This tendency goes all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). The reality is we’re not kings or queens, and there’s very little in this world that we can control one hundred percent of the time. We’re not in charge of this universe. The One who truly is in charge is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and only He is sovereign (1 Timothy 6:15). Our God is sovereign!

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In Bible Study, Blog, Revelation on
August 23, 2021

Lukewarm Laodicea

For a lot of people, Revelation is a scary and daunting to book to read. It talks of various seals, bowls, trumpets, angels, and plagues. It describes a dragon, a prostitute, and a leopard-ish, bear-ish, lion-ish beast with seven heads and ten horns. It speaks of much death and destruction, but also of the final victory of Jesus and the beauty of the New Earth. The book of Revelation is difficult to understand and difficult to interpret, so many try to avoid it at all costs.

But these people often forget that not all of Revelation is filled with frightening images and confusing apocalyptic language. They forget that the first three chapters of Revelation are actually letters from Jesus to seven first-century churches. While these short letters were written almost 2,000 years ago, they are still very applicable to the Church today. And one letter that is particularly relevant for the American Church is the letter to the church of Laodicea.

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In Blog, Feelings, Theology on
August 16, 2021

My Feelings are Valid, or Are They?

My feelings are valid!

If you’ve followed any female influencer who prioritizes self-love and self-care for any length of time, you’ve probably heard this phrase before. Or perhaps you’ve even used it yourself. We live in a culture that highly prizes, validates, and affirms one’s feelings, whether they be good or bad. And this culture is even trying to train us to always speak in a way that will never leave anyone out, offend anyone, or hurt anyone’s feelings. Rene Descartes, a French philosopher who lived in the seventeenth century, once said, “I think, therefore I am.”[1] But is appears our culture has changed this to, “I feel, therefore I am.”

Many people today find their identity in how they feel, so they want their feelings to be validated because that then validates their identity – who they are as a person. But the problem with this phrase is that not all feelings are valid. Therefore, as believers, we cannot and should not affirm those feelings which are in fact invalid.

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In Blog, Book Reviews, Self-Help on
August 9, 2021

Getting Over Yourself

There’s a new kind of gospel being spread amongst the western Church today. This gospel is a very me-centered gospel, one that is focused on MY dreams and MY destiny. It tells you that God has something greater for YOU, YOU have untapped potential, God has a vision for YOUR life. Those who preach this say that God is turning YOUR setback into a comeback and that the best is yet to come for YOU.[1] This message is very hyper-focused on the self, and it is incredibly anti-gospel. It could be described as a “self-help” or “new prosperity” gospel, and pastor Dean Inserra exposes this false gospel in his new book, Getting Over Yourself.

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In Attributes of God, Blog, Theology on
August 2, 2021

He is Righteous

Nobody likes a self-righteous person. Nobody likes those people who always think they’re better than everybody else. Nobody likes those people who always try to one-up others. But, if you think about it, you’ve probably acted in a self-righteous way at some point in your life. There’s probably been a time when you’ve believed you were better, smarter, or stronger compared to someone else, whether you verbalized that thought or not. There’s likely been an instance where you did something to one-up another person. We don’t like self-righteous people (and the self-righteous side of ourselves!) because we know that nobody is altogether righteous and nobody is really more righteous than somebody else. Everybody sins! There’s only one Person who truly is more righteous than anybody else, but He never puts us down because of it-

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