Author: S&P

A few weeks ago I preached at a Christian High School chapel. In one sense speaking to teens is different than speaking to adults. The audience was made up of people young enough to be my own children. People that are growing up in a culture very different than the one I grew up in. Young people who are into things I haven’t yet heard of. What do I have to give the young ones? I’ve been prea...

“I have a tough life,” my five-year-old cousin said. “Really? Why is that?” I asked. Folding his arms, he looked up at me with his big blue eyes as he rattled off his complaints. “Well, I get spankings, I get time out, and I have to clean my room!” I couldn’t help bursting out in laughter. In return, he just looked at me quizzically as if silently asking, “Why are you laughing? I’m serious!” After...

A life of constant chaos is far from what God intends. In “Crazy Busy,” a mercifully short book about a really big problem, pastor Kevin DeYoung seeks the restful cure we’ve all been too busy to find. Originally published November 11, 2013.

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. 2 Corinthians 10:12     I know the comparison game well. I have played it many times, whether it was comparing my fashion style to those of my friends, comparing my...

The social media landscape can make the average person wonder if he can make an impact in the world today. If you take a look at well-known pastors, you can’t help but notice they are prolific, not only in printed books, but in tweets, blog posts, and Facebook likes. One might derive an invalid conclusion from this phenomenon, thinking, “If well-known pastors are making a big impact, and have a ma...

On a recent trip across town I decided to use the map app that came with my phone for directions. When the audio fell out of sync with the Bluetooth in my truck, in an instant I went from being on a routine trip to a lost expedition because of an unexpected glitch. While going through life we hit many detours, potholes, and accidents. Some will be as small as a lost GPS signal. Others will be life...

Jesus Feminist.That’s one of the more well-crafted book titles I’ve read in a long time. It’s intended to strike at an apparent contradiction resident within the psyche of the evangelical culture. Two terms, normally in opposition to one another in our theological, biblical, political and social constructs as conservative Christians, are brought together in a juxtaposition. The volume itself is in...

Christianity.com: Are natural disasters a sign of God’s judgment?-Michael Horton from christianitydotcom2 on GodTube. Are Disasters a Sign of God’s Judgment? There’s a place in John’s Gospel where Jesus is confronted by the religious leaders, who talk about a man who was born blind. And they ask Jesus, trying to trap him in a theological question, “Who sinned? This ma...

By all appearances, we Americans still cling to the Thanksgiving holiday, setting aside a few hours for a special meal with family and friends before turning on the football game or heading to the mall for a deal on electronics.  But we have long since abandoned any idea of a Thanksgiving season, an extended period in which to anticipate the holiday, reflect on its significance, and live out ...

Busyness in ministry is an epidemic. As our world moves faster and faster, pastors are being sucked into a vortex of tasks, projects, emails, and goals. The problem is that when you get overwhelmed, you get tunnel vision. Your perspective of your church becomes as narrow as your to-do list. What inevitably happens is that the important, but not urgent aspects of ministry get pushed to the bottom o...

Over the past several years the church seems to have experienced some degree of gospel renewal. We now have conferences like The Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel, a fresh emphasis on preaching the gospel from all of Scripture, and lots and lots of books with the word “gospel” somewhere in the title. I think this is a good thing and consider myself largely in step with this movement. Bu...

“Now that we no longer have a Judeo-Christian basis for our country,” explained evangelical theologian Norman Geisler in a recent interview, “we are realizing that we are losing all our freedoms along with it.” According to the Christian Post, Geisler went on to say, “Our job is to speak to the culture and help re-establish our Judeo-Christian basis or our freedom is going to be swept a...