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In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
May 22, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Outcast

There have many times in my life when I felt like an outcast. I wasn’t doing what everyone else was doing. I wasn’t wearing what everyone else was wearing. I wasn’t watching what everyone else was watching. Sometimes, I’ve been glad for this. I’ve been happy to stand out and stand up for my principles and beliefs. Other times, I’ve resented this. I just wanted to fit in with my friends and peers, and I felt judged and excluded for being different. Whether I felt my outcast identity was good or bad in the moment, it pretty much always has left me feeling lonely. Life is hard, and it’s even harder when you’re doing it alone, without the help and encouragement of someone else who’s been in the same boat.

If we’re being honest, we’ve probably all felt like outcasts at some point or another, each of us experiencing varying degrees of loneliness, judgment, and exclusion. But in the book of John, Jesus comes upon a woman who was likely far more alone, far more judged, and far more excluded than we could ever imagine. And He met her in a city of Samaria.

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In Blog, Salvation, Theology on
May 16, 2022

Just As If I’d Never Sinned

One Sunday when I was in middle school or early high school, my pastor was teaching about the difference between the three parts of the salvation process: justification, sanctification, and glorification. As he was describing justification, he said “When I am justified, it’s just as if I’d never sinned.” This play on words has always stuck with me and reminded me of what being justified means.

But even this helpful phrase may leave you wondering—What exactly is justification? How is justification possible, and how can I know if I’ve been justified? What happens to me when I’m justified? If you’ve ever considered these questions, keep reading because this post is for you!

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In Bible Study, Blog, Genesis on
May 9, 2022

King of Righteousness, King of Peace

I love a good mysterious movie. A movie where you don’t fully understand the plot or the characters until it reaches the climax. A movie that keeps you guessing until the very end. One in particular that I very much enjoyed was The Murder on the Orient Express, a film that is based on a novel of the same name written by Agatha Christie. As you can imagine, the story focuses on the murder of a man on a train, and the great Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates the crime and interviews numerous train passengers with mysterious backgrounds. If you’ve never read the book or watched the movie, I won’t spoil it for you, but the climax of the story when Poirot solves the murder is thrilling!

The Bible has its share of mysterious characters. People that pop in and pop out of the storyline that we know very little about. Men and women that seem so unlikely that we at times wonder if they even really existed. One of the most mysterious characters in all the Bible is a man named Melchizedek, a king who lived during the time of Abraham.

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In Apologetics, Blog, Book Reviews on
May 2, 2022

Mama Bear Apologetics

If the past two years or so have shown us anything it’s that we live in a crazy, broken world. We’re having conversations and facing situations that we would never have thought of in our wildest imaginations just a few years ago. The culture is constantly telling us that what’s wrong is right and what’s right is wrong, and they’ve even begun instilling this in our children. When I was in elementary school, I was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Nowadays, kids are being taught how to march in a protest, how to choose their gender, and how to reject the values and morals of their parents. They’re being trained in a postmodern worldview that is dangerous and unbiblical.

What’s a mother to do? When her children are coming home regurgitating secular ideologies they learned at school. When her children’s favorite TV shows feature characters who discuss their gender identities and sexual preferences. When her children appear to be drifting further and further from biblical Christianity. As author Nancy Pearcey once wrote, it’s a parent’s God-given responsibility to protect and educate his or her children.[1] That means it’s time for mama bears to rise up and empower their kids to challenge the lies of the culture and live in obedience to Scripture. And how exactly can this be done? According to Hillary Morgan Ferrer, mothers must engage in apologetics.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Luke on
April 25, 2022

Jesus Draws Near to the Burdened

I do not watch horror movies. I know that some of you are probably flabbergasted that I haven’t and will never watch anything that falls in your favorite movie genre, but I just don’t enjoy horror films. I don’t like the jump scares. I don’t like to be kept up all night worrying that someone or something is going to kill me. And since most horror movies feature some demonic character, I don’t like focusing on these creatures that are very evil and very real.

I think a lot of people can forget that demons are real beings because we don’t typically see obvious examples or evidence of demon possession in today’s world. But they are real, and they have possessed many real people. During His ministry, Jesus encountered many people who were possessed by demons. One of them was a particularly burdened soul who dwelled in the Gentile region of the Gerasenes.

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