The statistics are not encouraging. Poll after poll shows that the church in America is in decline. Every year, more churches close than open. Church attendance is declining as more and more people no longer see the church's importance in their lives. All this leads us to ask whether the church still matters today, or whether it is an idea whose time has come and gone. I believe the church still matters today. In this book, we will consider four reasons why the church matters

The Simple, the Scoffer, and the Fool are three characters we meet with often in the Book of Proverbs. Recently, I had the opportunity to preach on this topic at our church’s Sunday night discipleship meeting. In the teaching, we looked at how to identify each of these three characteristics, the great harm of each, and, most importantly, how we can change to grow wiser in our lives. This message is extremely relevant to our culture today. You can view my sermon here. I hope i

Paul is perplexed. He has heard of a defection among the Christians in Galatia. They have turned away from the true Gospel of grace and forgiveness in Christ Jesus to a false gospel of laws and rules. Paul writes, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7 ESV). The

It is the last days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He has just entered Jerusalem and caused quite a stir. He came in riding on a colt, a sign and a fulfillment of prophecy that the people would have certainly understood: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). Upon his arrival,

I am excited to announce the release of my latest ebook entitled Fear, Gaze, Cling: Three Steps to Transformational Living. It is the closing years of the first century, and the church in Corinth is in crisis. Jealousy has raised its ugly head, leading to strife and division. The situation is so severe that it threatens to tear the church apart at the seams. One observer writes, “Your division hath perverted many; it hath brought many to despair, many to doubting, and all of

Habakuk begins his oracle with the cry, “How long, LORD, have I called for help, and You do not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ Yet You do not save” (Habakkuk 1:2 NASB 2020). Habakuk was struggling with the disparity between the way things were and the way things ought to have been. Habakuk knew that the nation of Israel was the people of God, the nation amongst which the Lord himself dwelt. However, all he saw around him was violence, disaster, destruction, devastation,

Several years ago, my mother approached the pastor of her church, telling him that the church needed an afternoon bible study for those who are retired and do not like to be out late at night. The pastor thought it was a good idea and asked her when she would like to start. She responded that she most certainly did not want to lead the group but was just offering her suggestion. However, the pastor would not relent, and my mother, with much hesitation, agreed to lead the Bibl

The story opens with Jesus teaching the crowd that had formed around him. The crowd included some Pharisees, teachers of the law, and people from “every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem” (Luke 5:17). Luke further tells us that “the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick” (Luke 5:17). Into this scene come four men, carrying their friend, a paralytic, on a mat. They were hoping to see Jesus. However, the crowd was so thick that they were unable to make

One day, while Jesus was in the region of Tyre and Sidon, a woman began to cry out after him, imploring him, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely demon-possessed” (Matthew 15:22). This was not the first time someone had approached Jesus, begging him for mercy and asking him for healing and deliverance. However, this woman was a gentile, a Canaanite, and a woman of Syrophoenician decent. After a while, and her continued pleas for mercy, the disciples

One Sabbath, while Jesus was teaching in a Jewish synagogue, there was a man “whose right hand was withered” (Luke 6:6). As Jesus was teaching, the “scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him” (Luke 6:7). Jesus, knowing their thoughts, called the man forward and asked those in attendance, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9).

I am excited to announce the release of my latest (and first) ebook entitled Cultivating Hope: Three Keys to Enduring Hope. One of the most powerful forces that leads to human flourishing is hope. Hope is essential to our human existence. Hope enables us to thrive, even during the ups and downs of life. However, for many people, hope is in short supply. We all need hope, but far too often, hope seems elusive; hard to find and harder to maintain. So how does one cultivate hope

Starting something new always brings a mix of excitement and curiosity. Many years ago, I started a Christian blog called The Robe, a nickname given to me by a former pastor and inspired by the movie of the same name. However, the blog languished as I returned to school to earn my Master of Divinity degree from Regent University. With the rigors of my coursework, I no longer had time to continue to write my blog. Since graduating, I have focused mainly on writing books that s