What is God? & What is God Like?

There are different ways to describe God. We will attempt to consider all three in the rest of this book, but I’d like to introduce them here to prepare you for them.   We can talk about the nature of God as God—Essence Attributes. Most are defended in...
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The Uncaused Cause: Why I Believe in God

Academics love the reputation of being “objective.” Many fancy themselves wholly logical and “scientific,” and gifted with unadulterated reason. They aren’t any of these, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t try and definitely doesn’t mean that they don’t love the reputation.[1] It was the quest of more...
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Christians Pray

Growing up we had a local store called Ann & Hope; it was like a flea market in a barely-converted penitentiary, but with less ambiance. Great deals though. Local Christians would joke, “Why go to Ann & Hope when you can go to God and pray?” My inner...
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Christians Seek a Church Family

Christians go to church. We practice our faith in community, as the Bible says.[1] We are a global family of faith with local gatherings almost everywhere—“Churches.”   “Church” is used to translate the Greek, Ekklēsia, which is a combination of “call” and “out.” So many quip, we’re called...
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Don’t Shop or Hop… Find a Church Family

There is an old joke that goes, “If I found the perfect Church, it wouldn’t be once I joined.” And that is as good of an anchor to toss out as any other when discussing the right and wrong way to choose a church family. In the early...
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Christians Break Addictions… ‘cept Coffee… and Xbox

The goal of this series of devotions is to provide a panoramic view of Christianity. We are introducing, but certainly not encapsulating, a host of issues that face those who have spiritually bent their knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Some of these will discuss special language,...
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Live Not by Lies… or Malicious “Truth”

God has given humanity ten social anchors for sustaining prosperous and free societies. We call these the Ten Commandments. As anchors they are more than just enforceable laws for society, they are principles of existence tethered to laws for society, which should shape our every interaction. In Exodus...
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Possession, Charity, & The Christian Spirit

We’ve been exploring the Ten Commandments and, by now, I’m hoping you’ve seen a distinct pattern in our meditations on them. We’ve articulated the value of these commandments as agents of legal structure in a blessed society AND explored them as agents of instruction for the covenant heart...
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What’s Sex Got to Do with It?

The seventh of the Big Ten commandments, given by our loving Creator to bless us with a special revelation of the path of life that He wove into the fabric of His good world, is a blessed torment. It strikes at the heart of being creatures who by...
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Let Him Who Steals, Steal No Longer

We are eight commandments into the Big Ten. These God gave for the creation of a stable and blessed society. Exodus 20:15, says simply, “You shall not steal.” Amazingly enough, however, many worldview assumptions exist inside those four words. In the book, The Kite Runner, Baba, the narrator’s...
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The Day I Beat Kleptomania & Became an Honest Man

The last of the great commandments given by God to Israel at Mount Sinai in order that they might reap the benefits of a blessable and blessed society cuts below the surface of the previous four commandments in a powerful way. It strikes at the underground spring from...
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Road Rage, Frustration, and Divine Purpose

Exodus 20:13 gives a simple command with layers of implications in the context of Scripture. “You shall not murder,” demands that society punish legally provable murderers with death, and, more deeply yet, that believers pull murder, roots and all, from their souls.  I’ve been serving the Lord as...
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“Not Murdering” God’s Way

In The Ten Commandments, we have the rudiments of a legal code. Torah[1] however, is much bigger than a legal code. In it, specific commands are woven into the rich context of Israel’s covenant living before Holy God. Thus, while a judicial body might hold one accountable to...
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