Search Results

What is the importance of speaking in tongues? I have been told that I need to pray for the ability to speak in order to fully know God. Is this true? Question and Answer In the history of the church, three views have developed about the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. First, that this gift is an ecstatic prayer language, unintelligible...

He Who Takes Our Breath Away Many people today categorically dismiss the truth of Christ and His claims without ever having read the account of Jesus in the four Gospels. They have already decided that the stories about miracles are myths, the record of a crucified Messiah is for weak minds, and identifying Jesus as God is a ridiculous thing...

Harsh Words of the King More than one parent has said to a child in an exasperated tone, “I can’t wait until you have children one day!” And more than one parent has thought, “Now I understand my own parents’ decisions better!” What felt unreasonable to a child actually provided a measure of safety. From the perspective of adulthood, we can...

The Failure of Fear Elite professional athletes always face the difficult decision of when to retire. Should they leave at the top of their game? Or should they eke out as many years of playing time as possible? Should they remain loyal to their current coach or team, or see if they can find success with a new program? Fans often feel torn...

Returning Rule to a Good King The pervasiveness of wickedness in society can make even the most hopeful person feel cynical or despairing. Human trafficking, corruption, murder, the opioid drug use epidemic, and more—every day it seems that evil has modern culture in its grip. Reading Scriptures helps to remind us that this is nothing new.

A Path to Leprosy When playing with tools in his father’s workshop at age 3, Louis Braille was struck in the eye by a piece of metal. The injury blinded him, and a subsequent infection took the sight of his other eye. His parents determined to give him as many opportunities for education and enrichment as they could, and Louis applied his...

Mighty and Young Social identity is the term used by social psychologists to describe the ways that people express who they are. These ways include making choices that align with their “in-groups” and avoiding behaviors that they associate with their “out-groups.” Social identities can include geography, ethnicity, gender, age, and professional...

The Joy of Consecration When a sports team needs to rebuild after a series of losing seasons, it can be difficult for an owner to know where to begin. Hire a new coaching staff? Draft a younger roster? Hire one or two big-name stars? The success of the Oakland Athletics baseball team’s use of analytics, described in Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball,...

Imperfect, Yet Still Passover The New Testament continually refers to Christ’s death on the cross to pay for our sin and His resurrection from the dead to offer us new life. The books of Acts through Revelation describe the ways that the church works out the demands and implications of the Person and work of Christ. Every New Testament book...

Supporting the Priesthood of God Even in the most affluent congregations in America, there appears to be little sacrificial giving. Statistics in 2018 report that on average believers gave 2.5 percent of their annual income to the church. As John Piper has noted, “The evidence that many of our people are not rich toward God is how little...