G Notes

The key distinguishing characteristic of a follower of Jesus is living a life of repentance. Another way of saying that is: the mark of a Christian is that he or she bears fruit in keeping with repentance. Why is repentance is so important?  It's because repentance is the key to enjoying God and His goodness. Repentance is what gives us access to God's grace. In other words, without repentance, hope is impossible. Thus, it is extremely important that we have a biblical understanding of what it means to repent. Here's the bad news and the good news: judgment is near, but salvation is here. That is what John the Baptist preached: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). The way we avoid judgment and enjoy salvation is through repentance.  Furthermore, not only are saved through repentance but we are also sanctified by it. The gospel of grace rescues us from judgment, but it also transforms us. We are saved by grace through faith in an ...

"Racism" isn't only an evil human invention; it's also a misnomer. Racism assumes that there are multiple races. But what does the Bible say about "racism"?  In Genesis 1:11 God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed,  each according to its kind , on the earth." Genesis 1:21 tells us that "God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm,  according to their kinds , and every winged bird  according to its kind ." God created all the plants and all animals and commanded them to reproduce according to their kinds. The words "according to its kind" reveal that there are multiple kinds of plants and animals - different species. However, when God blesses humanity and commands us to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth," the words "according to its/their kind" ...

I get the sense that most people have never been taught the reasoning behind church membership. To try to shed a little light on the subject here are 9 reasons why covenant church membership in a local church is important, right, and good. 1.     C ovenant church membership is about universal church membership. Local church membership reflects membership in the universal church. When we become followers of Jesus, we become members of the universal church. The way we flesh out our membership in the universal church is by joining a local church. Membership in the local church is a picture of our membership in the universal church. 2.    Covenant church membership is about protection. Membership protects us from becoming unequally yoked with unbelievers. Scripture warns of the dangers of entering into covenant relationships with nonbelievers. Covenanting with other believers in a local church is how we become equally yoked with other Christians, ...

We live in a world of pessimism, negativity, and doom and gloom. This world preaches despair and hopelessness. The prevalent worldview is fatalism. The philosophy of the world is that this world, and life itself is awful. Are you familiar with the nove   Don Quixote , or its musical version   Man of La Mancha ? In the story Alonso Quijano loses his mind. He goes insane, and the lines between reality and fiction become blurred to the point that he believes that he is a knight. He changes his name to Don Quixote of La Mancha. The, he declares a neighboring farm girl, Aldonza Lorenzo, to be his lady love, and renames Dulcinea del Toboso. He does this without her knowing anything about it. He goes out on a knight's adventure, ends up at an inn he thinks is a castle. He gets into a fight because someone insulted his dear Dulcinea. The fights results in Don being severely beaten and left by the side of the road. Most famously, he gets into fights with windmills becaus...

[ I have begun my doctorate work. Over the next three years, I will be investigating the topic of leadership as it pertains to church ministry. My hope is to post thoughts about Christian leadership along the way as God sharpens not only my thinking but also my practice. Here is installation #1 in what hopefully will be many blogs ] It’s an autumn Saturday afternoon. In hundreds of football stadiums throughout the country, hundreds of thousands of fans have gathered to cheer for their teams. But despite all the different school colors, there is one thing that is common to all the fans in all the stadiums; they will stand as one and sing the national anthem.             What is it about the national anthem that garners such a response? Technically speaking, an anthem is no different than any other song. It is a musical composition in which a composer arranges individual notes to form a melody. But despit...