By Shawn Lazar Have you ever read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter or seen one of the film adaptations? The story is set in Puritan Boston. The protagonist is a woman named Hester Prynne. She was sent to live in colonial America by her husband, who was supposed to follow her but was captured by

By Ken Yates More Than Gifted In Acts 18:24 we are introduced to a man by the name of Apollos. We are told that he was an “eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures.” He lived in a Greek culture where eloquence was a much desired trait. Luke goes on to say that Apollos had

By Bud Brown Is there a distinctively Free Grace way to motivate Christians to talk about Jesus and eternal life with those who don’t believe? Many are urging pastors to exhort church members to evangelistic effort. A wealth of books, blogs, electronic resources, videos, and ministries have been devoted to creating evangelistic momentum in churches.

By Summer Stevens 1 Show up. Showing up says to your pastor, “I believe in what God is doing here at our church.” Prioritize Sunday attendance as a family. There are dozens of competing activities for Sunday morning—children’s sports, camping, sleeping in, visiting family—but it says a lot to your family and your pastor when

By Shawn Lazar Paul’s letter to the Galatians contrasts law-religion and grace-religion. The contrast applies not only to how you are justified before God, but also to how you live the Christian life. One of the differences between law-religion and grace-religion shows itself in the pressures to have a “successful” ministry. What usually counts as

By Ken Yates In Mark 4:26-29, we find a parable of the Lord unique to Mark’s Gospel. It doesn’t get much attention. I think the attention it does receive is often superficial. A major reason for this neglect is that this parable is often treated more or less as a repetition of the Parable of

By Marcia Hornok A 46-year-old believer, whose husband died after a debilitating illness, felt like she could not go on. She said, “I don’t know if it was self-pity, if I was seeking negative attention, or if grief made me feel like I would self-destruct. My gut-wrenching sadness at times seemed unpreventable and untreatable. Often

By Bob Wilkin [Chapter 12 from the forthcoming book: Faith Alone in 100 Verses] “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you have life” (John 5:39-40). Law Keeping Won’t Result in

By Ken Yates [Chapter 1 of the forthcoming commentary on Hebrews] Christ Is the King The first four verses of Hebrews are often called the prologue. In it, the author introduces the readers to the two offices of Jesus Christ discussed in detail in the book: King and High Priest. Jesus is both. This sets

By Bob Wilkin From the forthcoming book The Power of Repentance The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9). We Should Not Assume That “Perish” in 2 Peter 3:9 Means