“Because of you,” spoke the old friend of God, trembling, holding back heavy tears as he looked out over a sea of remorseless faces, “Because of you,” he spoke, perhaps with frank shock and bewildered grief, “Because of you the LORD became angry with me.” (Deut. 1:27) . Moses These words are among the first of the last sermon of the humblest man of his time: Moses. His text, biblical history to date. His congregation,...
The theology behind the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, or Communion has been debated throughout church history. However, the continued practice of it shows that it is an essential part of the church’s life. In my experience, Communion has always been about reflecting on Christ’s sacrifice and repenting for sins. Growing up, it was always at a special and solemn service where people would usually take time during worship to confess any sins that they needed...
On my first day at Biola, Sean Hansen taught me how to serve underclassmen by serving me. Working with a good team, Sean gave my class the wonderful gift of a week-long freshman orientation. Instantly wanting to follow him, I interviewed and started working with his campus ministry within the month. Over the course of the next year, he took me to In-N-Out with his friends, helped me apply for his old job, and played...
“Lex orandi, lex credendi.” Or so goes the ancient Christian maxim, loosely translated, “As we worship, so we believe.” If the songs we sing shape the way we think, we should be very thoughtful about the way our churches are led in worship. Songs are short, memorable, and have the capacity to pack in a lot of ideas. Arius, the brilliant 5th century heretic, popularized his ideas with catchy songs and hymns. Marketing teams have...
When I was in high school, our music classes were in danger of being cancelled. I’ll never forget the night I played fly-on-the-wall at a school board meeting while the powerful adults discussed the future of our program. Silent the entire time, I went home that night and cried – I had failed to speak up for the program I loved. What if my failure to speak up meant the end of the music program!...
Until I recently moved to Scotland, I spent most of my Christian life in American Evangelical churches. In these churches, they have unanimously done communion with grape juice, without the option to use wine if one so desired. As much as I regularly experienced this, I never really understood why churches decide to use grape juice instead of wine, apart (of course) from the fact that it would make those who have had addictions to alcohol stumble....
It has been said that we must perform at a certain velocity to achieve worth, success, and security. Many things have been promised to our generation, but it seems that only a select few have achieved them. We hold these success stories up as a championing call to work harder, be better, and to not stop until we become like them. Eleanor Robertson recently wrote about the contrasting self reflections between the Baby Boomer generation...
Nothing gets me excited like talking about the Kingdom of God- Porsches come pretty close, but not quite. Growing up I always thought the Kingdom of God was some far away thing that I would never see in this life. The Kingdom of God seemed like such a far distant thing that was promised for the end of time. However the more classes I took and the more books I read I became increasingly convinced...
Here is no water but only rock Rock and no water and the sandy road The road winding above among the mountains Which are mountains of rock without water If there were water we should stop and drink Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand If there were only water amongst the rock Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit Here one can...
Michael Gungor, the lead singer for the Christian band Gungor posted a blog two days ago about the birth of their daughter, Lucette, who they discovered was born with Down Syndrome. It is painfully beautiful. Having a brother born with Down Syndrome, I resonated with much of what he wrote. Michael writes of the shock that hit him and his wife when they were confronted with the news of Lucette having Down Syndrome. He also...
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