False and superficial religion fills this world. But we who love Christ dare not accommodate our worship to the styles and preferences of an unbelieving world. Instead, we must make it our business to look to Scripture alone to direct our church practices.
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In the book of Revelation, Jesus wrote seven letters to cities in Asia Minor. He didn’t write them to city hall; He wrote them to the church.
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Music, movies, and social media all contribute to shaping the world’s view of love. It is regularly confused with lust and usually driven by the quest to gratify our own selfish desires. As Christians we need to recognize the hypocrisy of that worldly mindset. The defining quality of God’s love is that He set aside what rightfully belongs to Him in order to benefit those who rightly deserve His judgment ...
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We live in a world where morality is constantly evolving. Sins once frowned upon are now celebrated as liberating and legitimate. And those who consider themselves spiritual demand a god who is flexible and accommodating to our shifting moral standards.
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Just let go and let God. If you’ve been around the church for any significant time, you’ve probably heard someone offer that passive maxim as spiritual advice. In fact, many believers might use that as shorthand to describe the process of sanctification. It’s the idea that God will do what He wants, when He wants, and believers are just along for the ride.
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The Christian life is anything but a passive pursuit. The New Testament commands believers to “be all the more diligent” (2 Peter 1:10), to take “every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5), to “strive to enter through the narrow door” (Luke 13:24), to “run” that we may obtain the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24), and to “work out” our salvation (Philippians 2:12). Our spiritual growth clearly involves ...
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What did Jesus set out to accomplish? Did His death and resurrection have any practical effect for this life, or was it all focused on eternity? Consider this: the holy Son of God set aside His glory, humbled Himself by taking the form of a man, lived a righteous life, and willingly surrendered Himself as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of others. Was this all intended merely to forgive ...
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If an unbeliever with no religious background walked into your local church, what sense—if any—would he or she be able to make of phrases like “Ask Jesus into your heart,” “I felt led,” or “Let go and let God”? Taken at face value, what should any of that mean to an outsider? And more importantly, how would the explanation of those Christian clichés lead anyone to a clearer understanding of ...
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Most people read a book only once—satisfied they’ve learned the story or the information it communicates, they don’t feel the need to read it again. Some ardent fans might return to a cherished book again and again, but the majority of readers eagerly move on to something new.
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When it comes to views of Scripture we live in a skeptical age. While there have always been those who questioned the authority and authenticity of God’s Word, the church itself was not home to doubters and skeptics. The staunch anti-authority trend we see among professing believers today began in the eighteenth century and the post-Reformation Enlightenment—during the ascendancy of human reason—when skeptics and critics brought the legitimacy of God’s ...
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