In the Old Testament, we saw that God created men and women as equals in order to fill the earth and rule over it (Genesis 1:26-28). After humankind sinned and God promised never again to destroy or curse the earth on account of humanity (Genesis 8:21-22), God chose a nation and gave a Law. The... Continue Reading →
The Biblical Response to Systemic Oppression
The dragon could not devour the child, Christ. He could not consume the woman, national Israel. So, he persecutes the other offspring of the woman, the church of Jesus Christ. John envisions how the serpent persecutes the church and exhorts the church to respond properly to the serpent’s persecution in the tribulation of this age—the... Continue Reading →
The Foolishness of Our Faith
Paul is writing to the believers at Corinth to encourage unity through maturity in the faith (v. 10). He is writing with unity as his goal because there are divisions in the church (v. 11-17). Jesus made Paul an apostle and sent him to preach the Gospel, not in cleverness of speech so that the... Continue Reading →
Prostituting Jesus
A decent man would never use a woman for satisfaction and never care to know her. The modern-day sex trade is based on the willingness of one person to use another for his or her pleasure but never caring to know that other person. Many people do this with Jesus. They desire the benefits of... Continue Reading →
God’s Structure for Ministry
Previously, we began discussing together the structure that God has for His people both in the Old Testament and in the New. We have discovered that God is building a kingdom of priests, where every believer is a priest. From that kingdom, God calls out positional priests (the pastors, elders, overseers, and bishops of the... Continue Reading →
What in the world is holiness?
Imagine you are a great painter and you have an idea for your next masterpiece. You pull out your sketch book to record the idea, and it looks phenomenal. Next, you pull out your canvas, paint the backdrop and a rough outline. You work from back to front painting the simple colors, then the more... Continue Reading →
MLK Jr.
What the nation describes as progress perturbs me. I do not speak often on the ethnic issues of our day, but today is a very important day. It is a day on which we celebrate the life and work of a man who was dedicated to justice for all men and who himself held the... Continue Reading →