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What is at stake on Sunday morning when the pastor steps behind the pulpit? Is it a matter of rhetorical preference, or is a supernatural event about to unfold? Romans 10:14 offers a series of questions that answer that question. How…
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Where does our help come from? We know Psalm 121:2 answers, but where are we consistently pointed? In Extra Nos, Flame shares his journey to being pointed outside himself and to Jesus Christ as he transitioned from Calvinism to Lutheranism. I must…
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What makes Christianity Christian if not Christ? That is a self-evident question with an obvious answer; however, the church’s current status betrays that foregone conclusion. There is a spectrum of moralization and motivation that removes faith, grace, imputed righteousness, and…
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Expository preaching stands above other types of preaching because of faithfulness to scripture, but more is needed. Sola scriptura? Amen! Sola sola scriptura? Insufficient. Sola scriptura should be interconnected with sola fide, solus Christus, sola gratia, and soli Deo gloria….
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Sermon preferences are as varied as tastes in music. Should sermons be upwards of an hour or only thirty minutes? Is it better to systematically preach through books of the Bible or to follow a liturgical calendar? Everyone will not…
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The world and the religious within the church will criticize preaching when done biblically. It will be faithful to scripture, theologically aligned with orthodoxy, and place Christ and His gospel front and center. How the world and the word view…
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Caricatures are exaggerations with a hint of truth. Perhaps the most common false image of Lutherans is that they are the church that abandoned all biblical moorings years ago. The inner circles of church talk don’t consider them apostate, but…
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Life is a gift of existence, opportunity, and intricate beauty. Life is precious. It is also complicated and painful. There are many questions that society asks about life. What is the purpose of life? When does it begin? What is…
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My beliefs have changed in the past few years, and I no longer consider myself a Calvinist. I spent many years studying, defending, proclaiming, and debating the main aspects of that soteriological system. From that time, I became familiar with…
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Emotional intelligence has had time to come of age and find its place as an established leadership core. Despite the commonality, many leaders need to invest the time and work of self-reflection to increase their emotional quotient (EQ). The old…
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