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Stop Apologizing for God
When I got my hands on the new ESV Reader’s Bible, I opened first to Ezekiel. I’m not sure why, except I’d long neglected this book, and it seemed like a good one simply to read straight through,...
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Corporate Worship Is Better Than Your Quiet Time
It’s Sunday morning. You finally made it through the one lane of traffic not quarantined by the orange cones that descended overnight like locusts. You carefully maneuver the parking labyrinth as your...
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A Prayer for the Parent’s Soul
Parenting is inescapably the work of waiting.As a parent, especially to young children, you are constantly devoting your time and energy into something that doesn’t produce immediate results. It is...
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What Is It About C.S. Lewis?
I met C.S. Lewis when I was twelve years old. He had been dead for fourteen years.My father introduced me. I was in the porch watching T.V. I’m almost certain I was watching “Charlie’s Angels,” and my...
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The Waiting Is the Hardest Part
Tom Petty has a knack for timeless lyrics with universal appeal.Some thirty years after its release in 1981, his song “The Waiting” tugs at listeners more powerfully than ever. Whether it’s waiting in...
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Open the Door to Halloween
How you spend Halloween may reveal a good deal of what you think of sanctification.There is a chain of inseparable realities in our local churches that shape the way we look at the costumes shuffling...
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What Will Make You Great
God wants you to be great.What would make your life feel great? Would it be a spouse or children or more children? Would it be a better job — more pay, better boss, more responsibility? Maybe it would...
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The Light Shines on All Hallows’ Eve
There is a fair bit of ambivalence over Halloween in the Christian church. Some Christians see it as a harmless bit of costume and candy fun. Others believe it trivializes — or worse, celebrates — a...
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Where Sin Increased, Grace Overflowed
October 31 marks an important day in the history of the church — a day on which a monk deeply impacted by his close study of Psalms and Romans was propelled into the center of a revival of...
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10 Questions on Prayer with Tim Keller
Pastor and author Tim Keller was our guest this week on the Ask Pastor John podcast. Keller has a new book on prayer, releasing next week, titled Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God.He...
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We Are Not Our Own: On God, Brittany Maynard, and Physician-Assisted Suicide
In several heart-wrenching videos (here, here, and here), 29-year-old Brittany Maynard has talked about her intent to take her life, possibly tomorrow, by means of physician-assisted suicide in Oregon,...
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Worship on a Bad Day
How can God’s promises help us through difficult circumstances? Consider this illustration.The Terrible NightIt is Friday night and a young lady is at home waiting for her longtime boyfriend to pick...
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Where Hazy Repentance Goes to Die
If a cloud of ambiguity hovers around our understanding of repentance, it might have to do with how we understand faith.We’re reminded of Luther’s introductory words, unfolding into 94 other theses...
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Food for Thought
“Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.” ―Edmund BurkeHere are a few November book recommendations (or maybe some Christmas gift ideas) to feed your brain. None are new, but all...
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Four Checks for Your Ebola Fears
Jesus says, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do” (Luke 12:4). This is an important verse for Christians to hear in the time...
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Five Truths About the Wrath of God
The doctrine of the wrath of God has fallen on hard times. In today’s world, any concept of God’s wrath upsets our modern sentiments. It’s too disconcerting, too intolerant.We live in a day where we...
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What’s Better Than Jesus Beside You
When it comes to the Holy Spirit, most evangelicals fall into one of two extremes.Some seem obsessed with him, relating to him in strange, mystical ways. Their experiences with the Spirit always seem...
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God Writes a Great Story
I recently picked up a book my son was reading and flipped through it, noticing that a number of pages were folded down. Curious, I asked him why he did it.“Because those are all my favorite parts,” he...
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What Does It Mean to Be Real?
Nobody likes a fake. Even in our airbrush culture, we despise counterfeits and crave authenticity. Everyone wants to be real.But what does it mean to be real? No one really knows. Or so it seems.Try an...
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Black and White: Learning Together from Ferguson
There is still no rest for Ferguson. Each new day features a fresh round of demonstrations as the city prepares for the grand-jury decision on officer Darren Wilson. In one sense, the worst fallout...
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