For a better life and a better eternity
I’ve been a Christian for nearly 30 years. I’ve been working as an evangelist for over 20 of them. I confess that in the last month, I’ve realized I have had evangelism exactly backwards. I discovered this from one of the most well-known parables, which I’ve read over and over and over for years. Perhaps it is because it was so familiar to me that its real message was lost on me. Please, allow me to explain.
Wow!
What a game on Monday night, huh? Exciting.
What a victory for Alabama. I was so excited for them. It must feel so good to put such a victory under their belt.
Wait?! What’s that you are saying? Alabama didn’t win? But they had more points for 58 minutes of a 60 minute game. Surely that counts for something. They led the score for much longer than Clemson did. Surely that should matter more than what happened in the last few seconds of the game.
Many of my non-Calvinist friends fear election. I’m not talking about that thing that happens every four years in America. I fear those too. I’m talking about the doctrine of God choosing the saved. There is no need to fear this term. Paul and Peter didn’t. Paul used it in Romans 9:11 and Romans 11:28. Peter used it in II Peter 1:10. We can use it too. The problem is with how Calvinism defines this term and explains it. I believe in God’s election of the saved, but I still don’t want to be a Calvinist. Read on to find out why.
[Read more…] about How to Rely on God without Becoming a Calvinist: Election (Part 3)
“You’re such a Pharisee!” he said with a sneer.
Why don’t we ever hear the same thing said about being a Sadducee? Why aren’t we worried about a Sadducaic influence the same way we are a Pharisaic one? I am increasingly afraid that we are so concerned about the leaven of all the potential Pharisees out there, that we are letting the leaven of all the potential Sadducees slip by unnoticed.
What on earth is God looking for? Wouldn’t you like to give it to Him?
Online and face-to-face discussions abound about grace, work, and salvation. People on all sides fuss and feud, casting accusations, knocking down straw men, looking down noses. How can we cut through all the mess and see what God has really said about grace? I think there are pictures of grace throughout the Bible that mark the way of God’s grace. One such picture is the lame beggar in Acts 3.
[Read more…] about The Lame Beggar of Acts 3: A Picture of God’s Grace