christianity

Author Norman Mailer once said, “Every moment of one’s existence, one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit.”

Since fallen creatures cannot correct or remove their own fallenness, identification of an FCF forces a sermon to honor God as the only source of hope rather than merely promoting human fix-its or behavior change.

Talk about lavish and scandalous—you have been given a share in the authority of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Lord of the heavens and the earth. Do you wield it in prayer? Can you see that it just might make a difference if you did?

Those who are not trying to learn will only get spiritual and biblical knowledge by accident or convenience. Occasionally they will hear a biblical fact or principle from someone else and profit from it. Once in a while they will display a brief burst of interest in a subject. But this is not the way to godliness. The Discipline of learning

A change of heart is in the making. The journey will demand much, which is why so few men even take the first step. And when the going becomes too hard, a man may stop taking risks and settle for where he is. He stops because there is a force, a bully at work making attempts on his Life. But as Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, “When a resolute young

We proclaim not helpful hints but eternal visions. We can’t do this if we are making the Bible’s words serve our words. Biblical preaching trusts that the Bible can be set loose to work its power. Brothers, isn’t it wonderful that we are set free from the tyranny of our good ideas to the power of the Bible’s good news?

Sons need fathers who are involved in their lives—dads who will love them, teach them, and discipline them. But clearly, sons also need a masculine vision. They need a manhood language. They need a ceremony. And they need other men.

The gospel is rest. The gospel means Jesus carries the burden of your life. The gospel means you will never have to prove yourself again, because Jesus has proven you on the cross.

To put it yet another way, what matters most about you in God’s sight is not the bad or good things you’ve done but your trust and openness to Christ versus your self-trust and defensiveness toward Christ.