Focal Passage: Romans 12:1-5, 9-13  Have you ever had a brain freeze? A brain freeze is a rapid onset headache you get when you eat or drink something cold too quickly. The technical name for a brain freeze is sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. This occurs when cold hits the receptors in the outer covering of the brain. The cold creates a dilation and contraction of arteries, causing the pain. Romans 12 leads

Focal Passage: I Corinthians 2:6-16  I have heard it said that Baptists have their own Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Bible. Obviously, this humorous statement is meant to highlight the lack of emphasis that a lot of Baptists put on the third person of the Trinity.  Let me be clear what this article is about. We are not going to explore the reasons why

Focal Passage: Romans 6:5-14 “A picture is worth a thousand words.” While some have attributed this saying to Napoleon and some to Einstein, we don’t really know for sure who originally coined this phrase. Regardless of who said it first the meaning remains the same. Pictures can communicate multiple and complex ideas in a single snapshot while it would take many words to accomplish the same thing. I’m pretty sure

Focal Passage: Psalm 99:1-9  “Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from Heaven above … .” My guess is that you finished singing that line in your head before reading this sentence.  “Awesome God” originally written by Rich Mullins was a favorite in churches and youth groups some years ago (and for some, it still is).  If you’re like me, you couldn’t forget that song even if you tried.

Focal Passage: Acts 16:1-5, II Timothy 2:1-2, 3:10-12  The term oxymoron is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction.” Some short examples of an oxymoron are open secret, clearly confused or my personal favorite — jumbo shrimp.  We might like to think that II Timothy 3:12 would fall into this literary category. Notice that the desire for godliness and

Focal Passage: Acts 9:26-28, 11:22-26, 15:36-40  Isn’t it encouraging to read about the conflict between Paul and Barnabas? What?! How can their disagreement be encouraging? Critics and skeptics attack the Bible with striking regularity.  One of the arguments they make is that the Bible is merely a compilation of contrived stories to serve a religious purpose rather than eye-witness accounts of actual events. If this was the case then why

Focal Passage: Esther 2:5-7, 4:8-17  Why are you reading this article? Instead of saying “I’m not sure, I have some other things to do,” and put it down, keep reading.  I know I’m about to wade into some dangerous waters but are you reading according to the sovereignty of God or your free will? Think about that question.  The physical abilities necessary to read and the class you may be

Focal Passage: I  Samuel 2:22-26, 3:7-10, 15-18  Before vocational ministry, I was a deckhand on a fishing boat. Whether it’s snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico or catfishing in the Tennessee River, every fisherman knows the rarer the fish the more exciting the catch. For example, we were going through the motions of a typical day offshore catching snappers when quite literally, out of the blue, we hooked a

Focal Passage: Numbers 27:12-23  You know the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make converts. …” If you’re familiar with Matthew 28:19 you’re aware that is wrong. Jesus calls His followers to make disciples, not converts. To be clear, conversion is a biblical, necessary experience (Acts 15:3).  The Oxford dictionary defines conversion as, “a change in one’s religious beliefs.” Trusting Christ is so much more than a change in a belief

Focal Passage: Exodus 18:9-11, 14-21  A burning bush, a split sea, broken tablets before an idol of gold. When one considers the life of Moses it is likely that one of these iconic biblical scenes comes to mind. Moses is one of the most well-known people in the entire Bible and the key figure in some of the most dynamic and important parts of the Old Testament.  One of the