Thoughtful Writings That Reflect the Search for Truth

My Latest Posts

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  • Calvinism: Perseverance of the Saints
    I belive the warnings are not about God walking away from us because the reality is, God is faithful and He always will be. I believe the warnings are to us. We are not faithful. As the famous hymn says we are “prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.” The Bible warns us not about a God who has a limit with us, The Bible warns us about us forgetting our first love.
  • The Good Muslim
    Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan should cause you to step back and if you are horrified of the new Mayor in New York City because of his ethnicity, religious affiliation or political stances, to step back and say “would he be the person Jesus uses as the example in the story?”
  • Two Things Can Be True
    Note: Before you read, let me acknowledge I took some time to gather my thoughts. Hopefully what I say in the following paragraphs comes off clear. Charlie’s death was a horrible tragedy. My prayers go out to his family especially his kids who will likely have to see the video… Read more: Two Things Can Be True
  • Calvinism: Irresistible Grace
    We were created for good works. We have a role to play in this world. We are not just mere robots who only act when God moves within us. He created us as living, breathing beings, with our own wills and as our wills are transformed from darkness to light, our lives should then reflect this.
  • Calvinism: Limited Atonement
    I came to Calvinism because it made logical sense to me. It is not a stupid understanding of soteriology. Rather Calvinism can hold its own in a fight. It often does. But at a certain point, I had to remember the story I’m buying into as a Christian is one that does not always make sense. It is not always as black and white as I would like. And the atonement in its scope of who it affects is one that I do not believe Jesus cares as much about us debating over. Theology matters, soteriology matters; but when we miss the overall story of what God is doing because we are fixating on a small detail that Paul was not even as focused on then I think we have gotten trapped inside on our own minds and we need to repent and turn back to Jesus and what he actually has for us.
  • Calvinism: Unconditional Election
    When your theology tells you God chooses to save some people but not others, I do believe to some degree that has to effect how you relate and interact with others. And it was part of this very reason that I started to notice my attitude towards other believers that I disagree with may be a sign that I missed the point.
  • Calvinism: Total Depravity
    How we start our stories matters. I believe that is why Genesis is doing this work of giving a new start to the story the Israelites had been given for hundreds of years. When we start off reading our Bibles we are reading tribal stories given to a people who had lost the story. The Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt, with no source of connection to where they came from. Everyday they were being abused and mistreated, made to serve but never served themselves. The belief of the day was that the only person made in the image of God was the Pharaoh. And what this communicated to everyone else who was not the pharaoh was that they did not have God’s mark on them. They did not deserve to be treated with respect because of their identity. The Israelites only identity was as a slave.
  • Baptizing Babies
    Salvation does not happen overnight for many of us. And as parents who are baptizing their children before the child professes faith, it is more of a sign that this family is raising this child in the way of the Lord. Everything about this childs upbringing will be different. They will know their God from womb to tomb because their parents will keep it on their doorposts.
  • The Need for Sabbath: Hurry, Rest, Celebrate
    Sabbath is the one day a week, you stop and celebrate that your God is someone who provides joy, rest, and peace to your life. In a world marked by chasing after every desire, every ounce of security; a people who are set apart because they do not have to chase, but rather they freely step into the graces that has been given to them is a remarkable signpost to the ongoing world that what we have within us is worth exploring for themselves.
  • Heavenly Rebellion: Enoch, Satan, and Jesus’ Mission
    What this tells us is that these figures of rebellion in the unseen realm are not figures like me and you. Their role in bringing about evil on the planet is more cosmic and deadly than we can ever imagine and they will be punished for what they have done. They did not just cause a rebellion in the heavens to take place, they brought that rebellion down on us, lowly creatures. The good news though is that God’s plan of salvation is for us.
  • The One Who Provides: Revelation 22
    Here we have a God who sees us, and we can see Him. We do not need a veil. We do not need a curtain, or a cloud. We do not need to turn our backs and wait till he passes by to where we can just get glimpse of his shoulder as he keeps walking. We won’t get sick from our bodies physical failure to handle to weight of glory our God carries. No, there will be a day where we are one. We are united together again. We will be His people and He will be our God.
  • New Heaven-New Earth: Revelation 21
    The point John is making is that what we have come to know of as our reality where pain, sickness, and destruction lives is no more. The world we live in now, will not be the world we call home in the future. Rather because of what Jesus has accomplished he has transformed our reality into a much greater reality.
  • The Millennium: Revelation 20
    Jesus has won the victory, and those of us who have lost our lives for the message of Jesus need not worry about whether their life was wasted on a meaningless message. Instead they can hold their head up high knowing the message they died for has them seated on thrones next to the King. For the rest of us we must ask what are we living our lives for?
  • Mary Did NOT Know
    Too often when we read accounts in the Bible we, because of our embrace of doctrines like Inerrancy, forget the humanity layered throughout the pages of the Scriptures and we end up taking human moments and turning them into God moments that were not necessarily meant to be God moments.
  • Supper Time: Revelation 19
    But what the movie Civil War does is gives us an image of one of the world’s largest superpowers crumbling down. What we see in Revelation 18 and now 19 is a picture of Babylon’s ultimate fall. It’s gruesome, it’s ugly. It might make you question God’s character by the end, but it’s a picture using creative elements to really show you all the unique colors of it.
  • The Fall of Babylon: Revelation 18
    The Kingdom of God is not about building one nation up over the other. The Kingdom of God is not about turning our Roman Empire’s of the day into Christian nations. Christianity cannot have walls put around it. And there is no predestined plan of God for one nation to be the nation by which God will save the world.
  • Babylon The Great: Revelation 17
    John when he is writing to the seven churches is writing to them because they have started to look a little more like Babylon than Jesus. When we look like Jesus it benefits those around us. It may cost us to lived contrary to the world. It cost Daniel and his friends multiple times. All four of them faced death and persecution. But all four of them came out in the end proclaims God’s greatness in a way that Babylon could not stand against.
  • Armaggedon: Revelation 15-16
    These judgements from God come because of a people’s refusal to repent and instead continue in the destructive ways of the world. Through this refining, God is bringing about deliverance and restoring what was broken. As well as using this remnant of people who do repent, to be a sing to the ongoing world of the wonders that God can do.
  • The End of Babylon To Come: Revelation 14
    This language for many of us may seem erry. You may be thinking “I thought Jesus and his message was about love and accceptance.” I understand this uncomfortable feeling about reading passages like from v.10 and 11 which describe what seems to be a very painful and long tormenting of those who don’t follow Jesus. Let us remember though why these people are being tormented. The idea of innocence is foreign. Everybody makes a choice, everybody is responsible. Even the seven churches have been held responsible for not living as they ought.
  • Two Beasts and a Mark: Revelation 13
    As we read about Nero, the mark of the beast, and the two beasts what should come to mind is not a matter of identifying who in pop culture is secretly hatching this world dominating plan. Rather as we read about these signs we are to look out into our world like the first century Christian’s did in their world. We should take note of the way of worship God has called us to and we should live diligently passing this worship down throughout our generations and seek to live our entire lives as an act of worship. We must also though be aware of the beast that are in the world. Beasts who oppose the Lamb. Beasts who prop themselves up like the Lamb but who are not the Lamb. We are to be aware of the beasts and their opposition to the church.
  • Preachers and Politics:
    Pastor, our people are being deceived by the ways of this world and they are being convinced that the person next to them is their enemy.
  • Who Will I Vote For?
    My point is as pastors, I believe we should have pointed out the fact that the war going on between parties is wrecking havoc on the souls of our congregants. We worried about that latest heretic prosperity preacher our congregants buy books of so we call it out in the pulpit; but have we called out the demon that has played with the anxieties of people?
  • Cosmic Battle-The Woman Vs. The Dragon: Revelation 12
    We have now wrapped up the majority of John’s uses of the “sevens” in the book of Revelation but now after having been revealed the message of the scroll of the Lamb. That message being that what will ultimately draw the nations to repentance is not judgement, force, or conquering… Read more: Cosmic Battle-The Woman Vs. The Dragon: Revelation 12
  • The Scroll and Two Witness: Revelation 10-11
    We live in the United States of America in 2024. A lot of talk is happening right now as it has been since 2016 when Donald Trump ran. Talk specifically about how to get “America” back on the right track. “Back in God’s plan.” More often than not and the… Read more: The Scroll and Two Witness: Revelation 10-11
  • 7 Trumpets Trumpeting: Revelation 8-9
    As the seventh seal is opened by The Lamb, we go back to the vision earlier but this time when the seal is opened, silence falls on the place. Seven angels are given seven trumpets, and while another angel is offered the incense with the cries of the martyrs, this… Read more: 7 Trumpets Trumpeting: Revelation 8-9
  • Four Horsemen and The People’s Cry: Revelation 6-7
    It’s a divine drama unfolding and the question we are left asking and waiting to be answered is “who is able to stand through all the persecution and suffering this world has to offer?”
  • Women in the Pulpit
    Why did Paul say: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet.”(1 Tim. 2:12 NIV) Let’s be honest, this is one of the least fun passages in the Bible, yet it is one that catches the most attention because… Read more: Women in the Pulpit
  • A New Direction(The Bridge Youth Lesson)
    I want to start off with a question tonight. Youth Ministry’s Goal Now to my next question: Youth ministry is not something we find in the Bible. There is never an example of what a youth pastor specifically looks like in the Bible because that’s not how the world worked.… Read more: A New Direction(The Bridge Youth Lesson)
  • Hitting Pause: Into The Fray Update
    Hey there! As you may have noticed, Into The Fray has been staying silent these last few weeks. With exception of a spontaneous blog post published from Austin’s journal entry we have been silent. In the last episode of Into The Fray(episode 4 of our Reading Revelation series), I(Austin) shared… Read more: Hitting Pause: Into The Fray Update
  • Deconstruction/ Reconstruction
    This is a Journal Entry reflecting on Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:21-48 Much like today in the church, in Jesus’ time there were different schools of thought within Rabbinic teaching. Two of the big ones were: School of Hillel School of Shammai In the case of divorce for instance, the… Read more: Deconstruction/ Reconstruction
  • Lion Vs. The Lamb: Revelation 4-5
    But Jesus came saying “if you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.” Jesus came not as a ruler of a nation but as a little baby fleeing for safety in Egypt. Jesus came not as a bloody thirsty military leader, but as a gentle man healing the least of these. Just like we were expecting the lion of the tribe of Judah, yet seen a lamb. We all expect Jesus to be this ruthless, blood craving, military leader yet the way he wages war of the powers of darkness is much different than we would if we were in charge.
  • The Original Seven Churches: Revelation 2-3
    These 7 churches are all in the world of Babylon and face a great danger of having the Babylon of their day creep into who they are called and created to be. Jesus thus encourages, challenges, and provokes them to remember the good news that sets them free from the bondage they may find themselves in.
  • The Beginning of The Revelation: Revelation 1
    John, the author of the book of “the revelation” is on the island of “Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.” Meaning John has been exiled to the island of Patmos for proclaiming about who Jesus is and what he has done. John has been… Read more: The Beginning of The Revelation: Revelation 1
  • The Second Coming
    The church of Thessalonica had this issue of disengaging the world they actually lived in. It is not new for people to live their lives expecting, truly believing Jesus will come back in their lifetime. Early Christian’s and the Roman Empire all readily expected Jesus’ second coming to happen soon. So soon, that they would be alive to see it.
  • How To Read The Book of Revelation: Revelation Intro
    John is writing apocalyptic literature to reveal a prophecy concerning the seven churches of Asia in the first century. This letter is not written to you or me though we may pull truths from this letter to apply to our lives. This revelation though is being written to comfort and uplift those first century churches in a time of crisis.
  • How to Greet Visitors at Your Church
    My first Sunday back at the Bridge in 3 years was a moment. A pivotal moment in my life where God taught me one of the most valuable lessons I had to learn. For three years I had been at another church in another town in a completely different county… Read more: How to Greet Visitors at Your Church
  • Rethinking Technology In Your Life
    You are the sum of the many different influences you have had in your life. The clearest example is the influence of your parents. Your mom and dad came together and literally created you. They each gave pieces of themselves to shape and form you into who you are today.… Read more: Rethinking Technology In Your Life
  • Counter Points-HELL: Hell and Purgatory View
    Counter Points is a series of books that bring together various Christian leaders and thinkers to debate differing view points within the church. My goal in this series is to review each of the four points of view shared in the book ‘Counter Points-Hell’ so that you get exposed to… Read more: Counter Points-HELL: Hell and Purgatory View
  • Counter Points-HELL: Universalist View
    Counter Points is a series of books that bring together various Christian leaders and thinkers to debate differing view points within the church. My goal in this series is to review each of the four points of view shared in the book ‘Counter Points-Hell’ so that you get exposed to… Read more: Counter Points-HELL: Universalist View
  • Seasons of Gratitude
    If our day is not packed, if our pockets are not overflowing, if we do not feel the stress of having too much to do in a 24 hour span, then for many of us we may feel the anxiety that something has gone wrong. Something needs to be made right and we must do whatever is necessary to gather all the pieces to our 1000 piece puzzle of life and put it back together in all its complexity. ​But. What if…
  • Counter Points- Hell: Terminal Punishment
    Where did this idea that our souls are by default “immortal”? I thought our very existence was temporary, and that the idea that Jesus grants you eternal life is where our souls become immortal. Yet with our traditional view of hell, everyone has “eternal life” just some spend it in heaven and others suffering in Hell.
  • Jesus Will Change How You Walk
    In the Chronicles of Narnia, the witch is on the move. She has just murdered the great lion, Aslan, and she is headed into battle with all his followers as she seeks to destroy all that is good in Narnia. But while she thinks Aslan has remained dead, instead the… Read more: Jesus Will Change How You Walk
  • Counter Points: Hell-‘Eternal Conscious Torment’ View
    Counter Points is a series of books that bring together various Christian leaders and thinkers to debate differing view points within the church. My goal in this series is to review each of the four points of view shared in the book ‘Counter Points-Hell’ so that you get exposed to… Read more: Counter Points: Hell-‘Eternal Conscious Torment’ View
  • My Criticism Has Consumed Me
    I fall into the same traps over and over again. I fail to truly turn completely away from my vices and instead have to make the long journey back home over again and again. Thankfully, Jesus not only died for the broken church but for me. A member of this body of believers who just can not seem to get it together. Of whom I am the foremost.
  • The Great Divorce: Book Review
    Imagine being on a bus ride from Hell to Heaven and on the journey the bus stops. Hell is an interesting idea in C.S. Lewis’ famous book the Great Divorce in which he paints hell as a town where everyone is distant from each other. There is no real community,… Read more: The Great Divorce: Book Review
  • EPIPHANY: A Reflection on My Internal Struggles with Ministry
    I was 8 years old in the backseat of our old Ford Freestar minivan, waiting for my mom to get out of the grocery store. We had just got out of church a few minutes earlier and stopped at the grocery store right around the block on the way home… Read more: EPIPHANY: A Reflection on My Internal Struggles with Ministry
  • Slaves to Sons(Middle School Youth Lesson)
    How do you identify yourself? (EXAMPLES:a jock, a nerd, an anime kid, a good ole country boy) “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is… Read more: Slaves to Sons(Middle School Youth Lesson)
  • Not Just Saved But Called(Middle School Youth Lesson)
    As a parent you have the most influential role in a kids life. As a youth leader my job is to come alongside of you to help raise your child up in the way of the Lord. This is my effort to help you, by giving you the lesson we… Read more: Not Just Saved But Called(Middle School Youth Lesson)
  • What We Do With Wisdom
    Just because you can appreciate wisdom from anyone does not mean you should take wisdom from everyone. 
  • Who is Good?(Discussion Guide for Middle School Youth Group)
    “Well then, should we conclude that we Jews(God’s chosen people) are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Bible say, “No one is good— not even one. No one is… Read more: Who is Good?(Discussion Guide for Middle School Youth Group)
  • The Contemplative Pastor: Book Review
    In the last few years there has been a question looming in my head: What is a pastor? Pastor is a noun. A noun that has lost its clear meaning over the years. Is a pastor a business man? Is a pastor a CEO? Is a pastor an influencer for… Read more: The Contemplative Pastor: Book Review
  • Jesus and John Wayne Book Review
    Let me ask: what is truly bold and courageous? You to shoot at your enemy? Or You to walk across enemy lines, with guns pointed at you, and to have a conversation?
  • Pastor Stole My Spot
    Pride and ego can often fill a church. It’s interesting how Paul the Apostle says: “I thank God that I baptized none of you, except for Crispus and Gaius and maybe the household of Stephanas.” Did you catch that? Paul the famous Apostle, super church planter, evangelist, made a bigger… Read more: Pastor Stole My Spot
  • Ego was Pharaoh’s Enemy
    Why do great people fall? It seems like we constantly see the greats of our time fall from grace when just the other day we thought they were invincible. We believed they could not be stopped, they were “the man.” They had it all together. They are sadly, a lot… Read more: Ego was Pharaoh’s Enemy
  • The Making of Biblical Womanhood Review
    A few years ago I was apart of a 1689 Reformed Baptist Church. This church was steeped into the theological and ecclesiastical views of the Reformed Baptist tradition. But as the years went by I was starting to question tenants of the faith that I thought were the foundation for… Read more: The Making of Biblical Womanhood Review
  • The Day of Trouble Book Review
    I have waited so long for this book to come out. I first heard about this book by Joey Tomlinson’s father, my boss. Me and Joey Sr. regularly have talked about this book leading up to it’s release in sheer excitement on what this book could contain. ‘The Day of… Read more: The Day of Trouble Book Review

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