Along the Way w/ Bro. Ryan

(*The following is an excerpt from a chapter entitled "Family and the Gospel" from my new book, still in progress, " Gospel Glasses:  Seeing this World through the Lens of the Good News ")          Parents, do all that you can to make Jesus and His Gospel priority in your homes.  Talk about Him, model Him, discuss Him, and pray to Him together.  Do this all with your kids.  And as our kids are concerned, we must not give into the temptation of pacifying their tantrums and mistakes with bargains or negligence. This is not to be done to insight fear or to provoke our kids to anger (Eph. 6:4); abuse of any kind is never a part of God’s design for the family.  But we cannot afford to bypass the appropriate corrections when they disobey and/or dishonor us.  God makes it clear: Children must obey and honor their parents.  In so doing your duty as a Christian parent, you will not only “ train your child in the way he/she should go...

"And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches.  But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you." - Romans 11:17-18 Romans 11 is a powerful chapter.  Specifically in verses 16-36, we find a timely message about God's goodness and severity in light of His plan of redemption for both Jews and Gentiles.  When we see "goodness" and "severity", what is being referred to are God's eternal, unchanging characteristics of grace/mercy/benevolence (goodness) and His rigor/stiffness/finality (severity).  God is equally both and perfectly displays each characteristic.  His actions of goodness toward us, as well as His actions of severity are always performed righteously. In terms of the above passage, when we consider the goodness and severity of ...

We live in a society that, for the longest time, has promoted both directly and indirectly the belief that an individual is god. You are the god of your life and I'm the god of mine. Anything I choose to believe and live by, that is somehow my own truth and code and my truth is always right. The same is true for you. Furthermore, there is no standard of morality, justice, or righteousness because we have permitted ourselves to be both judge and jury of our lives. We live through our feelings first and our minds second. All of this creates a combustible concoction prepared for chaos. When man is sovereign, he neither sees nor believes there is a need for God. It is equally remarkable and tragic that we as a society have become so self-absorbed that we believe and trust in our own sovereignty. We have cast God aside - our Creator, the Divine, the Almighty Jehovah God, Yahweh, the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent One in the heavens. The arrogance! Our lac...

“ They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword.   They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus …” -Hebrews 11:37-12:1 My wife and I recently visited Washington D.C. on our anniversary/summer vacation before she goes back to school to teach.   It was an incredible place to see!   The number of monuments was staggering, and the ambiance even more so.   What struck me even more than these thing...