Nails Didn't Hold God To A Cross.

We've Been Taught That The Christian Life Is A Life Of Peace, And When We Don't Have Peace, We Assume The Problem Lies Within Us. Not Only Do We Feel Anxious, But We Also Feel Guilty About Our Anxiety! The Result Is A Downward Spiral Of Worry, Guilt, Worry, Guilt.

When You Teach On A Familiar Text, You're Capitalizing On Common Knowledge. When You Teach On An Unfamiliar Text, You're Having To Build A Bridge Of Understanding, And We Need To Do That As Well.

As A Pastor, You Get Asked Questions And Receive Emails. Many Of Them I Had Answered, But Just In Conversation. So We Kind Of Re-crafted The Question And Answered It. It Turned Out To Be An Interesting Exercise. I Hope It's Encouraging For People.

In This Post-modern Culture In Which We Live - Where People Question Absolute Truth - Stories Are Resistant To Platitudes; They're Resistant To Me Making Declarations Of Truth To Them. A Story Can Do That In Kind Of A Trojan-horse Fashion.

Nothing Fosters Courage Like A Clear Grasp Of Grace... & Nothing Fosters Fear Like An Ignorance Of Mercy