"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4)You might think being positive or negative is just built into you. "Well, I'm just a negative person." Or, "I'm just a positive person." There was a set of twin boys. One was super negative, always looking at the dark side of life, and the other was super positive. Their parents didn't know what to do with them, so they took...  Read More

1 Peter 2:13a (NKJV) - Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake…There was a Christian businessman in North Carolina who told me something I will never forget. He was in retirement at the time and had managed all kinds of people in his life. He had been a great church leader as well for decades. He said, "Followers are simply leaders who have chosen to let someone e...  Read More

1 Peter 2:11–12 (NKJV)  11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,  12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.  We will never do anything great for the Lord until we decide, once and for all, th...  Read More

Whose image do we bear? How should that impact our lives?God said in Genesis 1:26 that He uniquely made men and women “in His image.” He didn’t say that about the plant life or the animal kingdom. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God,” and we reflect on the goodness of God when we look around and the splendor of His creation. However, men and women are uniquely made in God’s imag...  Read More

Check out my book "Celebrating God's Design: God's Word on Marriage, Gender and Sexuality."God said in Genesis 1:26 that He uniquely made men and women “in His image.” He didn’t say that about the plant life or the animal kingdom. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God,” and we reflect on the goodness of God when we look around and the splendor of His creation. However, men and wom...  Read More

Check out the book: https://a.co/d/0iLfxPJ4God said in Genesis 1:26 that He uniquely made men and women “in His image.” He didn’t say that about the plant life or the animal kingdom. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God,” and we reflect on the goodness of God when we look around and the splendor of His creation. However, men and women are uniquely made in God’s image. We will fin...  Read More

Relationships can be messy and complicated, even among God's people. There was a young man who I met when I first started in seminary many years ago. Lydia and I were married, and this other young man was also married. We became friends because we had both started seminary at the same time and were student pastors serving the Lord. We bonded over the ministry and had wonderful fellowship together....  Read More

Before I entered the ministry, I worked in Christian bookstores. I started working in them at the age of 16 and even managed three of them once I turned 18. I enjoyed every minute of it and thought that was going to be my career. In general, I love bookstores so much that when Lydia and I were first married, a great date for us was to eat out somewhere, and then she would drop me off at a used boo...  Read More

Adrian Rogers once saw a picture and an article that caught his attention from The Houston Chronicle. This picture, which was on the front page, showed a woman who had her ear on a man’s chest. The man was not her husband, nor was he her son, nor was he related to her in any way, and yet she had her ear on his chest. The reason was because the man that she had her ear up to his chest was a man who...  Read More

We really resent the idea when someone says, “Do as I say, but not as I do.” Our walk should match our talk. I’ve come to conclude that our beliefs and doctrines are what we say we believe. But our actions are proving what we actually believe. Our doctrines may be what we say we believe, but our actions reveal what we truly believe. Galatians 2 tells the story of when Paul had to confront Peter be...  Read More

Lydia and I once had the opportunity to visit Yerevan, Armenia. While we were there, we visited a monastery named “Khor Virap” (which means “deep dungeon”), which is located on the border with Turkey overlooking Mount Ararat. The site is so beautiful that you can see the two mountains when the sky is clear. It's an incredible view from that position. Merchants in Yerevan, which is close to the loc...  Read More

In Jesus Skeptic, award-winning journalist John Dickerson shares how Christianity has benefited society through the arts, through the scientific revolution, through developing hospitals and universities and much more. He writes, “We say that a fish doesn’t know what water is because water is all they have ever known. In a similar way, we who have been born into American or European cultures have a...  Read More