Free will means we have a choice. God gave us this gift. When we choose not to obey God, that is called sin. The first sin recorded in Scripture and its consequences is called “original sin.” When we trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are set free from sin and death. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside us, and we get to live with God forever. How does predestination work with free will?
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If you haven’t heard, the U.S. Capital Building was stormed last week for the first time since the War of 1812. This whole thing upsets me so much that I’m not going to go into much of the whys, wherefores, justifications, morality, and responses. Others have done that. Here are just a few if you…
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What makes you a Christian? It’s not the things you do or labels you wear. You’re a Christian when you trust in Jesus as your Savior. Children’s sermons are often object lessons done more for the benefit if adults than for children. Nancy Ruth takes a different approach. She believes that children can live for…
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In light of the current Coronavirus crisis, we’ve decided to release excerpts from the as-yet-unpublished book Why Do Bad Things Happen? A Devotional for Busy Families. This book will not be released until later this year, but we felt families could use these lessons to talk with their kids about what is happening now. Join…
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What does “faith” mean? Is faith blind? Are faith and reason (thinking) connected or two separate things? Lately, I’ve been reading The Cross and the Crescent: Understanding the Muslim Heart and Mind by Phil Parshall. This post does not contain affiliate links, but I do recommend the book to those interested. In the first chapter,…
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Can you spot a modern-day Pharisee? How do you know if you are one yourself? I recently read a very interesting book by Timothy Keller called The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (not an affiliate link). I admire the way Keller speaks like a normal person, not a hyper-educated scholar. He…
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Last week we defined worship like this: “The meaning of the word ‘worship’ is to ascribe worth to something. In other words, it means to say and act like something has worth. It means to honor something, to say it is good and deserving of special attention. More than that, to worship something means to…
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Worship. You hear that word thrown around a lot at church. There’s the “worship service,” the “worship center,” “worship music,” “praise and worship,” and probably a few I forgot. I get it. Worship is important. But what is worship exactly? Is it more than singing a few Christian songs? (Yes.) Are we worshiping things other…
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Don’t you love it when kids discover the answers to their own questions? A second grade child recently asked me a great question: “What does ‘love the world’ mean?” Soon the class helped answer her question. Our Sunday school that week actually combined two lessons. (We were making up for a week church-wide Sunday school…
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It’s test season in public schools across America. This is the third year I’ve been an elementary school test monitor. Honestly, I love it! It gives me a great opportunity to encourage and pray for students, teachers, the schools, our state, this country, and children in general. I know there is a lot of debate…
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