Theology

“Sex is Evil, Sex is Sin, God Forgives, So Let’s…”

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15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! 16 Do you not know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, 18 and having been liberated from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.
(Romans 6:15-18, HCSB)

New Management

I was in a restaurant in Colorado eating dinner on a mission trip. This restaurant was one of those joints where it was encouraged to write on the wall to inscribe your name or your wisest thought. Among the walls of inscriptions, my eyes caught a glimpse of a poem that someone had penned: “Sex is evil, sex is sin, God forgives, so let’s begin.”

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Show Them Who’s the Boss

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12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.
(Romans 6:12-14, HCSB)

Show Them Who’s the Boss

As a father of two two-year-olds (no, that wasn’t a typo), I am frequently having the conversation about who is the boss in the house. It is amazing to me that someone so little can have such audacity to think that the world obviously revolves around him. As a parent, sometimes I feel that I say “no” much more than I say “yes.”

I will regularly look at my sons and say, “You’re not the boss. Daddy is the boss. You obey what Daddy says. This is not a democracy. You don’t even get a vote.” I’ll never forget that one day I was telling my oldest two-year-old, Obadiah, that he was not in charge and that I was the boss when he interrupted me and said, “No, Mommy’s the boss!”

He was on restrictions for the next week.

When someone or something tries to be in charge when they shouldn’t be, things get chaotic. In a home, it results in bad behaved children, in a spiritual walk, it results in bad behaved adults. Sin does not have the right to rule in our lives, yet it does rule when we obey sin’s desires. As Christians, sin has lost it’s authoritative power over us. It is gone. Yet we give sin the throne when we give up the fight and yield to sinful desires.

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Family Resemblance

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1 Look at how great a love the Father has given us, that we should be called God’s children. And we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know Him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.
(1 John 3:1-3, HCSB)

Family Resemblance

As a young boy, I would often hear from someone how one of my features resembled either my mother or my father. Some people could actually tell I was their child even if they had never met me. Now as a father, I always enjoy hearing from people who they think our boys look like. Sometimes I have left a room to have someone tell my wife, “I won’t tell your husband this cause I don’t want to offend him, but your children look just like you.” I always laugh at that. I’m not upset if my children look like their mother (I did choose to marry her, you know?).

It’s a fact of life: children share family resemblance with their parents. It might be the way they look, the way they talk, or they way they behave, but children often resemble their parents.

As children of God, we are called to do the same!

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Don’t Go in Debt on Black Friday

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Thanksgiving is this week and what does that mean for America?  We are already focused on Christmas consumerism.  We are getting ready to honor the incarnation of God himself by going into debt up to our eyeballs.  Dangerous stampedes will happen all over our country on Friday to obtain gadgets before others do on the cusp of a day to celebrate gratefulness to what we already have.

Maybe there is a different way.

Before going shopping on Black Friday, I want to offer you a few tips:

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You’re Not An Orphan Anymore

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8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, no longer dies. Death no longer rules over Him. 10 For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to …

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Courageous Writers’ Conference

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Last week, I had the privilege of brainstorming with the Sherwood Pictures Team and LifeWay leadership for the upcoming “Courageous Bible Study” based on the Courageous movie coming in September 2011.  I was humbled when they asked me to be a part of the writing process, and I am even more humbled after spending a week working on this material.

I can’t go into too many details concerning the film or the curriculum, but I can share some things with you so you can make this a matter of prayer:

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The Little Engine That Could God

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[Yesterday, I preached on a message at North Greenville‘s Chapel I am loosely calling “The Little Engine That Could God.”  I wrote out the intro in manuscript form.  It was a message on the omnipotence of God.  I’ve been praying about writing a book on the attributes of God by looking at a negative image of God, then correcting it through the Scripture’s teachings.  Writing Freshman 15 for college students was very challenging but also very rewarding (you can learn more about the book here or order it on Amazon here).  Praying about it and would love you to pray with me about if I should go further.  Here is the intro:]

“I think I can.  I think I can.  I think I can.”

 

We all remember this iconic phrase from the children’s classic The Little Engine That Could.  This favorite tale recounts the story of a train hauling toys up the mountain to some needy children.  When the train is unable to make the steep trek, the toys try to chorale other passing trains to carry them up the mountain.  Either due to disinterest or inability, all the trains refuse the responsibility of carrying this load.  Eventually, a little blue engine comes by who is unsure if it is able to pull the load up the mountain.  Seeing the disappointment in the toys‘ eyes, the engine decides to give it a shot.  Repeating that famous phrase over and over again, the engine eventually musters up enough strength to help those out in need.

Many of us follow The Little Engine That Could God.

No one would readily admit to following that God, but we prove it by our actions.  When encountering difficult situations in our lives with what seems to be insurmountable odds, we look for the best and the brightest to come to our rescue.  We research and poll people concerning what they would do.  We seek direction from doctors, teachers, preachers, counselors, and every expert you can imagine.  Once we exhaust all of our human resources, have made meager attempts of our own, we address the King of kings and Lord of lords and utter one of the most tragic phrases resonating in our churches today, “All we have left to do now is pray.”

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Christian Freedom

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Many Christians engage in certain practices that seem possibly loose but claim they have the right due to “Christian liberty.”  The verse that they are casually quoting comes from 1 Cor. 6:12 where Paul says: “All things are lawful for me.”  But most people don’t finish his thought where he states that not all things …

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Kick the Ball High Daddy

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My favorite part of my day is playing outside with my boys in the evening.  We ride cars and push wagons and play ball.  After we have sweated a ton, we eat a popsicle on the kitchen floor and get ready for bed. As we have been learning to catch and throw and kick, something …

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Religion’s Attempt to Rescue

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While attempting to answer the God Question in our day and time is truly difficult, it is not impossible. Religion attempts to address the God Question and provide a belief framework by which a person can live. Religion may be defined simply as “the center of life that gives meaning.” Religion is a framework for …

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