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Why Religious People Go to Hell
“The boy didn’t need to hear it. There was already a deep black wordless conviction in him that the way to avoid Jesus was to avoid sin.” –Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood: A Novel (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1949/2001), 22. So I have this friend who hates legalists. I mean hates. And he has a saying Continue reading
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Herod The Great People Pleaser
“What will my friends think?” This pressing question is constantly swirling in the head of one known as a people pleaser. The clothes they wear, who they sit with at lunch, the college they attend, the person they marry – in short, almost everything they do, every decision they make is calculated to please other Continue reading
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The Field is the World
It’s pretty easy to get focused on those close to us when we think about reaching out to the lost. If your child doesn’t know Christ, or your mom or dad, or your spouse, it’s fairly easy to forget about what’s going anywhere else, and focus only on them. It’s also easy for us pastors Continue reading
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Comfort for those who believe they have committed an unpardonable sin (Part 3)
We’ve been discussing the trouble Christians have with believing they have somehow done something beyond the grace of God. Part one is here and part 2 is here. Here is the second reason Christians need not worry… 2. The gospel. Over and over again, Scripture makes it clear that justification (God declaring us righteous) comes by Continue reading
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Comfort for those who believe they have committed an unpardonable sin (Part 2)
“The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.” Good old Fanny Crosby – she knew what she was talking about when she wrote the above words back in 1872, in her famous hymn, “To God be the Glory.” And yet, so many Christians through the years have been determined to Continue reading
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Comfort for those who believe they have committed an unpardonable sin
In January of 1991, I filled up my 1984 Chevy Celebrity with all my worldly goods and headed east to help start a church with my friend John Cox. John was a fairly recent Fuller seminary grad, and I was out of college working at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. We had met at Willow Creek in Chicago where Continue reading
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Blessedness Found Here…
The opening Psalm of the Psalter sets the stage for all the worship that is to come, and paints a picture of the fruitful, blessed life that every man, woman and child would like to live. Since I mistakenly posted my article on Matthew 11 yesterday (see the post “Dealing with Doubt”), today I’m sharing the Continue reading
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He’s So Heavenly Minded…
(Hey Inspired Readers, please take note that I posted Matthew 11 a day early. Click here to read that post. In the meantime, here’s Matthew 10!) “He’s so heavenly minded that he’s no earthly good.” You ever heard that one? If you have I hope you didn’t buy it. In fact, it’s impossible to be Continue reading
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Dealing with Doubt
(Hey Inspired Readers – please note that I accidentally posted this a day early. Click here to read the post on Matthew 10.) Some number of years ago, like a tidal wave, the thought came over me that Jesus was perhaps not the Son of God. The idea seemed to come from nowhere, debilitating and Continue reading
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The Surprising End of Matthew 9
My college buddy Mike once determined to radically obey Jesus’ command to “give to anyone who asks of you.” So, walking down the streets of Chicago, he committed to give something to every homeless person who asked. And then he went on a trip to India with the same plan…and gave up. There was just too much Continue reading
About Me
I’ve been a follower of Christ since an upper-class cadet at West Point showed me…read more here
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Entrusted with the Gospel 