What Does God Think About You?
What does God think about you? Take a breath and a long pause and ask yourself that question. Of all the questions I like—and I love questions—this has become one of the most ground-breaking for me. I suppose the question seems obvious, until you try to answer it. There are other versions: how does God...
Mark McCoy
Preaching: You’ll Never Know if You’ve Arrived if You Don’t Know Where You’re Going
The first question I ask when teaching my Doctor of Ministry course is, “What do you want your congregation to look like in a year?” Followed by, “For what do you want your congregation to be known within the local community?” The consistent reply to those questions is blank stares. My dumbfounded reply to the...
Chuck Sackett
Who Was Peter in the Bible? A Summary of Simon Peter’s Life
Who was Peter in the Bible? The way you understand the Apostle Peter may have been shaped by the church you attended. If you didn’t attend church at all, you probably laugh at the jokes suggesting “St. Peter” leads the pearly gate police, letting the dead know if they are in or out. In one...
David Fincher
I Will Not Put Those Shackles Back On
Christianity has a message of freedom. So why do a lot of people experience Christianity as bondage? The early church was tempted to turn Christianity into following Christ plus following numerous nonessential rules. Some early Christians communicated that new believers needed Christ plus circumcision and other cultural add-ons from the Law of Moses. This “Christ...
Orpheus J. Heyward
6 Ways to Teach Your Church Through Altar Calls
Close to a century ago, C.H. Dodd in his since-controversial The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments argued for a distinction in the New Testament between the kerygma, the preaching of the Gospel to non-believers, and the didache, which he argued was moral instruction given to believers. In other words, Dodd would say when you speak...
Dylan Kirkland
“Jesus is Lord”: A Revolutionary Echo from the Greco-Roman World
In the modern church, “Jesus is Lord” rolls easily off the tongue in sermon and song. It has invaded our vocabulary and become standard in our liturgy. As an ancient acclamation, however, it would have been more difficult to articulate. In the Roman world, recent converts would have gasped, and political prospects would have choked...
Mark E. Moore
Sinners or Saints? Coming to Terms with What We Are
“Golden bars of sunlight come sneaking through the shutters laying stripes on my back like a zebra Sweaty fingers turning pages, and clinging to the bed like it’s a bride and I never want to leave her Paul calls me a ‘saint,’ and the mattress shakes with laughter and the sheets let out a chuckle...
Jim Frech
Did Satan Waste His Last Temptation?
When you’ve been fasting longer than a day, food becomes a temptation. When you’re trying to get nationally known, popularity becomes a temptation. Likewise, when Jesus was fasting in the wilderness, Satan’s first two temptations would have been tempting. Jesus was hungry, so it made sense that Satan would tempt him with the “stones into...
Daniel McCoy
Summary of 1 Corinthians: Understanding the Basics of 1 Corinthians in the Bible
Here is a short summary of 1 Corinthians: 1 Corinthians was written to a young and struggling church in the city of Corinth. Paul had heard reports of divisions in the church and received a letter from the church asking all sorts of questions. The church was riddled with problems and 1 Corinthians sought to...
John Whittaker
The Dirty Secret of the Mission Field
I got on the airplane ready to take on the world. I was moving to India to be a missionary. I couldn’t wait to save as many lost people as possible in India. About seventeen hours later we landed in New Delhi and I…discovered the dirty secret of the mission field. The same guy you...
Matt Missionary
Near Death Experiences and Proof of the Afterlife
“I felt so blissful and whole . . . full of the most love I had ever experienced. I thought to myself, ‘If this is dying, then it’s not as bad as everyone thinks it is.’ Then I saw a light from above me. It was pulling me away from the room. I figured it...
Chad Ragsdale
Why Memorize Scripture? 3 Reasons
“I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.” (Ps. 119:15-16) “More to be desired are [God’s words] than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant...
Brayden Morrison
Stumbling Blocks: What They Are and How to Avoid Becoming One
What are stumbling blocks? The metaphor of “stumbling block” is used in various ways throughout Scripture, but it often depicts an obstacle along the path of life that makes us stumble. Stumbling blocks in our path are important for us to watch out for, but we must also be vigilant that we ourselves aren’t placing...
Thomas Hamberger
Family Discipleship? The Tools Your Church Needs.
What’s the best way you can invest in the future of the church? The answer: family discipleship. To invest in your church’s future, you empower parents to disciple their children in the ways of Jesus. It’s God’s “plan A” according to Deuteronomy 6. We at RENEW.org are passionate about family discipleship! That’s why we have put...
Renew.org
Good Work: Learning to See Work as a Gift
I am starting to believe there is a difference between being a hard worker and having a good work ethic, and I think one of the main differences is how a person can learn to enjoy the work they do. Someone can be a hard worker, but complain all day long about what they have...
Tim Casey
What Are You Worth?
Have you ever been to the grocery store and your jaw dropped at the skyrocketing food prices? That was me a few months ago as a broke college student wanting to buy a snack at my local campus convenience store to hold me over for the night. I was too lazy to walk half a...
Azariah Estes
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