This is why the real Beatitudes are today the powerful scandal they were in Jesus’s day. Because the kingdom is for the hurt, the grieving, the mourning, the poor and poor in spirit, the meek, the downtrodden, the marginalized, the discarded, the weary, the torn, and the broken. And why is that?

This is the main reason why a pastor who preaches grace but is not otherwise fixated on it or captivated by it can often be a cranky sourpuss among his congregation, or worse. Many of us know of churches that make a big deal out of their commitment to “sovereign grace” but have a gracelessly stifling communal climate. Some of the most theologically

The reality is that, as Anderson is able to reveal from that fabled other side, there is no promised land until the Promised Land of the real heaven. We always think things will finally be . . . well, final when we get “there,” wherever “there” is for us. But there is no there. There’s only here. Because once you get there, there becomes here, and

Every week people file into our church services aching for eternity. In our zeal to provide something they may find comfortable and useful and inoffensive, are we offending the God who wishes to offend us in awe of his glory? Are we dismissing our brother Jesus, whose formula for victory includes crucifixion?

People will always hear what you haven’t said. Or they will hear the minor points and miss the major ones.

Still, many seem pathologically devoted to anything warm and fuzzy that is not the gospel. “If I just stay positive, things will be okay.” Well, no, they won’t. And I’ve told you that a billion times. “If I just pray more, my life wouldn’t be so difficult.” Are we reading the same Bible? “Just keep hoping; that’s all we’ve got.” That doesn’t even

We have to help our churches understand what grace is. Many Christians have the mistaken notion that grace is a variety of Christian niceness or tolerance. Even a cursory reading of Paul’s letter to the Galatians ought to dismiss such superficial ideas. Grace can result in niceness, but in fact is not itself niceness. Some think that grace means

The long and short of it appears to be that an entire ministerial enterprise dedicated to meeting felt needs, supplying biblical advice, and providing top-notch production values has quietly become a huge success at drawing crowds but a huge failure at what the Bible actually calls the church to do.

Wife and family first; church second. This means that pastors are first charged with pastoring their family. Indeed, one cannot even be allowed to pastor a church if he cannot or will not pastor his family.