Christa and I went to a late morning showing of Noah yesterday at the West Acres Cinema in Fargo. Honestly, it was better than I anticipated, and yet it fell well short of what it should have been. Some of the positive things about the movie, things that I frankly thought filmmaker Darren Aronofsky did READ MORE
Wickedness
“Out of the Heart”
Mark 7:1-23 serves as a powerful hinge between the captivating miracles embedded in Mark 6 and the outreach Jesus puts forward to the Gentiles in Mark 7:24 and following. With the miracles, one finds Jesus offering hope to people who are like sheep without shepherds. With the outreach, one finds Jesus embodying the missionary spirit READ MORE
The Lord is My Portion
Psalm 73 offers a remarkable glimpse into the authentic heart of a man named Asaph whose role as a worship leader in King David’s court was serious and influential. His struggle? That the so-called wicked seemed to get away with being wicked, while he muddled through trying to be a righteous man, experiencing hardship and READ MORE
Reputation vs. Relationship
Right at that moment when we think Jesus may be watering down the essence of being rightly related to God, we realize that he is actually raising the bar quite a bit higher. The question about fasting, offered by the disciples of both John the Baptist and the Pharisees, as recorded in Mark 2:18 and READ MORE
Understanding Old Testament Moral Code
I have had a couple of questions recently from folks wondering how to process difficult Old Testament legal requirements relative to today’s moral climate. Below is an excerpt from an email I sent in response to such a question: Thank you for your email. You are asking a very important question. Let me attempt an READ MORE
And So They Ran—An Intro to Galatians: No Other Gospel
Grace is guaranteed redemption at Christ’s expense. It is what makes possible my salvation. It is what makes possible my freedom. Because of the work of Christ on the cross I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). My chains are gone. And yet I pick them up and wear them still. After all, despite READ MORE