The often heard saying, “prayer doesn’t change God…it changes us” is an addage notoriously absent from the Bible.
As many of you may know, by occupation I am a full-time intercessor. This means my full-time job is primarily to pray as a staff member of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City (IHOP-KC). When I [...]
I am gathering that Ascension Day has come to such a low place of recognition because in the average evangelical consciousness, the possible meaning for the ascension is rather opaque. Perhaps, if at all, it is endowed with a negative meaning – Jesus is no longer with us in person. We are alone to do what he told us to do until he finally comes back. I hope in the following to merely in outline, amend this theological lacuna, which turns out to be significantly more practical and pastoral than one at first might imagine.
“Being in Christ” is not simply an opportunity for a fresh start or a new chance to get things right (as great as that is). Being in the Messiah means that one is a participant in the eschatological life of the restored and renewed heavens and earth even now.
Any discussion of how Christianity relates to other religions must first begin with a clear and concrete articulation of what Christianity is centrally about. Much discussion on religious pluralism assumes or posits a universal notion of what is “central” to religions (a norm to which Christianity conforms) or that the content of Christianity is flexible (that which does not conform to the “center” is shed)…
When Jesus burst out of the tomb, what happened? What does it mean for us?
This past month, believers of all kinds, in their own ways, celebrated the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. The question I’d like to ask today, is what exactly happened when Jesus came out of the tomb alive? By saying this, I [...]
The Biblical discussion of the concepts of “flesh” and “spirit” are highly problematic for several reasons. “Flesh” is one of the grand enemies of the Christian, along with the “world” (another problematic term) and the “devil” (yet another problematic term…). Hence the Christian must “war against the flesh.” As long as this remains theoretical, no [...]
An excerpt from “Saved By His Life” – a new paper I am working on:
Understanding of Paul’s soteriology (doctrine of salvation) has usually focused exclusively or almost exclusively on the crucifixion. In the early church, this was understood primarily in terms of the Messiah’s victory over the powers of darkness, as in Colossians 2:15. In [...]
An excerpt from “Saved By His Life” – a new paper I am working on:
Since the Protestant Reformation, “justification by faith” has been the articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae—the article by which the church stands or falls. Stressing the significance of this doctrine, Martin Luther once said,
“[Justification is] the chief article of Christian [...]
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one [...]
In Romans 1, Paul describes himself as being “set apart for the gospel of God.” What is the gospel? Today the word “gospel” has several different meanings in various contexts. Sometimes it is “used to denote a particular sort of religious meeting (a ‘gospel rally’), and as a metaphor for utterly reliable information (‘gospel truth’).” [...]
