Posted by: Chad
I love how in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5:1 – 7:29) Jesus gives us the Beatitudes first! Christ gives us the promises of God saying you and I, as Christians, ARE blessed before He gets into telling us how we should respond in faith to these promises. We are not blessed because of anything we did or can do. The Beatitudes are not things we are to strive for in order to obtain the blessings. They are not ...
Continue Reading →Posted by: Chad
I believe the reason a lot of people don’t study their Bible more in depth or tackle theology and doctrine is because they don’t see how all this “stuff” relates to their daily lives. We live in such a pragmatic society that if someone can’t see how something directly effects their day to day life why, bother with it? Though I don’t believe pragmatism (truth is preeminently to be tested by the practical consequences) is something we should praise or ...
Continue Reading →Posted by: Chad
Being the beginning of Holy Week, I wanted to take a look at Christ’s death on the cross, or His atoning work. These are notes from my latest Sunday School lesson, so they’ll be in more of a bullet point format. It begins with His words at the Last Supper (Mt. 26:26-69).
What is it?
Posted by: Chad
There are some major, overarching themes in Ephesians that are fantastic and empowering when we take some time and examine them. I’m not going to examine them all in detail in this post, but we’ll take a look at a few of them.
What do we do with commands in the New Testament since we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone? Take Ephesians chapters 4 & 5 for example. They are chock full of commands and rules. If someone were to just pick up the Bible and flip to these two chapters and begin reading at chapter four, the Christian faith would sound very dogmatic and legalistic. Unfortunately that’s what a lot of teachers and pastors do. They ...
Continue Reading →Posted by: Chad
Originally postsed in April of 2009 as “Having Productive Times With God”. I have made a few tweaks and reposted it for our Men’s Group that will start walking through the book of Ephesians soon.
We’ve all had times alone with God that we wish we could have remembered or applied to our lives better. And I am no different. Lately since I have ...
Continue Reading →Posted by: Chad
This section of Scripture has captivated me for some time now. I pray that it always does. This is the best news in human history! This passage shows God’s wonderful mercy and grace toward us, who were and are helpless. He is the great Rescuer.
This passage knocks in the head the notion that God is just a big cosmic meanie who only wants us to mess up so ...
Continue Reading →Posted by: Chad
In a previous post I talked about how dangerous it is to try to “find your calling” or “find God’s will for your life”. The main premiss being that God has already shown you His will for your life in His Word. The parts of His will for your life that He has hidden from you, He has hidden for a reason.
So, instead of trying to discern God’s will for your life, the question ...
Continue Reading →Posted by: Chad
In Christianity we use the word “called” or “calling” all the time. And though I think, for the most part, we all know what people mean when they say that So and So “found their calling”, I believe there is a hidden danger in using this phrase incorrectly.
We usually use this terminology in the area of vocation. If we’re not careful we can make it ...
Continue Reading →Posted by: Chad
I just recently began digging into the doctrine of adoption as I realized that I was very weak when it came to that area of my theology. I have a hard time accepting that God has made me His son and I get to receive the blessings and benefits promised to those who have been given the status of sonship through the grace of ...
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