Articles

King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a statue of himself and says, in essence, “I have had this amazing image put up, and I want universal submission and worship, from everyone, or else.”

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“Are you a person of faith?” How you respond to that question will depend on what you think faith actually is. Given all the misconceptions and misappropriations of the word faith in our culture, it’s no surprise that you might hesitate to answer.

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“What I believe makes me an outsider.” This is a sentiment shared by many Christians these days. Far removed from the time of a “moral majority,” we are now living with greater awareness that this broken, sinful world is not our home. What the Bible teaches about Christians is becoming clearer to our generation in the West: we are “sojourners and exiles” in this world (1 Pet. 2:11).

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In the New Testament, successful Gospel ministry required much change. Though he was free, Paul made himself a servant to all (1 Cor. 9:19–23). To the Jews he became as a Jew. To those under the law he became as one under the law. To those outside the law he again changed accordingly. To the weak he became weak. All that is to say, for the sake of Gospel ministry, he changed. He adapted. He did what he had to do to see Christ’s name glorified.

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Do we really need to believe in a resurrection to have Christian faith? Some people think that we can be perfectly fine Christians without holding to the resurrection of the dead. We can practice Christian ethics, they say, and try our best to love our neighbors as Christ did. But in their minds, the resurrection is a mere addendum we can well do without.

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At His first coming, our Lord Jesus Christ inaugurated His kingdom on earth. The disciples expected a triumphant king, but instead, Jesus likened His kingdom to a mustard seed that expands progressively and grows organically (Matt. 13:31–32).

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“I have had enough, Lord.” This phrase from 1 Kings 19:4 (NIV) is one many of us feel like saying (or shouting!) frequently on our Christian pilgrimage. Indeed, while we may sometimes think that we are unique in our desire to escape the difficult circumstances that attend the calling to ministry, each of us stands in a long line of God’s people who have faced similar discouragement. The prophet Elijah was one such individual—someone who wanted to escape.

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The Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”¹ The thought has surely passed into the realm of cliché since, yet the deeper truth behind the platitude is found in the apostle Paul’s teaching that “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction” (Rom. 15:4).

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These days, preaching is under increased scrutiny. Preaching itself is often viewed as a dated practice of former generations, while preachers are challenged by people who say things like “Preaching doesn’t do any good!” and “People don’t even listen to preaching anymore!”

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It’s not uncommon for preachers to daydream about success in pastoral ministry. Every pastor wants to make a difference in the kingdom of God, and it’s easy for pastors to envision the perfect ministry situation in which they could really be used by Him. Indeed, it’s very easy for any of us—pastor or not—to think that there exists a “perfect” place to work. We think that if we can just be in that place, then we could really serve the Lord to the best of our abilities.

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