[display_podcast] The Bloody Theater of the Anabaptists On Wednesday evenings, we’ve begun a study of our church’s doctrinal statement, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000.  Last Wednesday, we discussed where the statement came from and did a brief overview of some aspects of Baptist history.  One of the things I mentioned was the persecution that Baptists faced in Europe which led many of them to come to America.  The Catholic Church and even Protestants were killing Baptists in Europe.  These Baptists were called the Radical Reformers, or Anabaptists, because of [...]

The Intolerance of Tolerance One of the chief virtues of our society is tolerance.  Our culture teaches us that we must tolerate all people and all ideas.  In one sense, tolerance is good and necessary.  In a pluralistic society like ours, with great diversity of ethnic groups, value systems, languages, cultures, and religions, we must learn how to live with people who’re different than us.  We must be tolerant.  Using the language of the Bible, we must “love our neighbor.” But over the last several decades our culture’s understanding [...]

Why Do Miracles Happen? Christianity is a supernatural religion.  Christians have long confessed belief in the supernatural, that there’s a God who created nature and sometimes operates within it in ways not explained by nature.  Without miracles, there is no Christianity. Why do miracles happen?  First, as Wayne Grudem says, miracles happen “to arouse people’s awe and wonder of God.”  After the Exodus, Moses led Israel to sing, “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing [...]

[display_podcast] Palm Sunday Today is often called “Palm Sunday.”  The Sunday before Easter begins what we call “holy week,” or our remembrance of the last week of Jesus’ life on earth.  As we just heard, he entered Jerusalem with great fanfare and acclaim.  People spread their jackets on the ground.  Others laid down “leafy branches” (Mk. 11:8).  John’s account tells us that many of the people laid down palm branches, hence the name “Palm Sunday.” They said, “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” (v. 10) because they [...]

[display_podcast] Created for Community One of the shows Suzy and I like to watch is Shark Tank.  The creativity of people amazes me and reminds me that we’re made in the image of a creative God.  Suzy, I think, likes it because she’s creative and inventive.  She keeps a notebook of possible inventions.  I love her ability to envision things that (probably) no one has thought of before.  I want her to remember us little people when she invents something awesome and is a host on Shark Tank one day! [...]

[display_podcast] Jesus Confronts those Who Don’t Think They Need Help One reason Jesus is so offensive to many people is because his message says that we need help, that we need him to do something that we can’t do.  None of us like admitting that we need help.  But Jesus’ gospel says that we need to turn away from ourselves and trust in him in order to be saved (Mk. 1:15).  We don’t like to be told that we can’t do something, that we need help, or that our [...]