RHETT-orical: musing about Faith, Family, and Freedom

The founder of Young Life once commented, "It's a sin to bore a kid with the gospel." In response to this attitude, Mark DeVri...

Family ministry is necessary and significant becuase what we have been doing is ineffective. Today's churches have more youth campes, c...

That discussion is one of the great debates and questions of theologians. Does God cause or allow bad things? People who lean very heavy tow...

John Stott , one of the most famous evangelical preachers of the 20th century, died this summer. His preaching and writing serve as a model ...

In many congregations a false assumption has survived. The false assumption is simply this: Parents are not the primary persons responsible...

Sunday night I preached from Ephesians chapter 4 on the subject What Does a Healthy Church Look Like? We saw that there are four essentials...

Michelle Bachmann speaks at Liberty University's chapel service today. Read about it here.

Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy and Ruth Graham, shares about the deep heartache that she and her husband went through several years ago...

There have been three driving convictions for me the past year as to what this church should be about: 1) An emphasis on the Bible basics of...

On my way home from Woodstock yesterday I stopped in Atlanta by Intouch Ministries , the preaching ministry of Charles Stanley . The last se...

Here is a good resource for parents. Robbie Castleman's Parenting in the Pew offers practical advice for parents in training their chi...

It's often better to listen than to speak. When a group has a problem to solve, they usually need to grapple with it for a while. If y...

Started what looks like a great book this week: Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion , by David Barton. He is the fou...

The theological environment today is apt to lean toward the individualistic and therapeutic rather than toward the corporate and historical....

h) Purpose realized The result of this marvelous work of healing and restoration is realized in verse three – “They will be called oaks ...

e) Favor extended Isaiah prophecies that favor will be extended. Often for the person who has experienced abuse, the victim feels tha...

c) Healing given The Lord promises to bind up the brokenhearted. The word for brokenhearted here is the Hebrew word sabar; it can also...

Those who attend to the roots of life do well. Those who are careless about their roots face serious problems. If you give all your attent...

Lorne Sanny, former president of the Navigators disciple-making ministry, defines a disciple as someone who has three qualities: he is perso...

One poignant passage in The Book of Consolation is Isaiah 61:1-3, which includes some of the most powerful prophetic statements in the Bible...

Richard Blackaby has a great blog commentary today about the great need for leaders today who are statesmen, not just crowd pleasers. Read P...

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. For this reason, the gravest question before the Chu...

Isaiah 56-66 Isaiah offers many other words of hope in chapters fifty-six through sixty-six to the post-exilic people who return to their h...

When Jesus was describing the "normal Christian life" in the Sermon on the Mount, he emphasized three spiritual disciplines: prayi...

Last night I shared with our congregation this insightful list from Bill Easum's Growing Spiritual Redwoods . He contrasts the thought-p...

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God. Ezra 8:21 The power of the fast is foun...

Last night I spoke to our people from Ezra 8, when Ezra is about to lead the second group of Jews from Babylon back to their homeland of Jer...

Abram believed the intangible promises of God were more real than the visible reality he lived in, and he acted on what he didn't yet se...

This past Sunday night I taught on the importance of the Word of God. I taught our people what is called The Hand Illustration , originally...

True liberty had come to mean freedom of faith and conscience, while religion was deemed necessary to suupport liberty, a gift of God. The ...

"Religion is the only solid base of morals and morals the only possible support for free governments." - Gouverneur Morris, a key ...

HAPPY THIRTEENTH ANNIVERSARY to my beautiful wife Tracey. Thirteen years ago today I married the most beautiful woman in the world. I love h...

Contentment is not concerned with matters out of its control. - Boyd Bailey

One of today's popular preachers is Charles Swindoll. I love listening to Swindoll because you can always count on faithful exposition o...

I wanted to share with you again the notes from the sermon I heard by Randy Harling, pastor of First Baptist Church of Simpsonville, on July...

When I have taught on the subject of Preferences, Convictions, and Absolutes, it has consistently been some of my most well received teachin...