What does it mean to repent? If you’re not sure, how will you know if you have done it? The cost of not repenting is one you do not want to pay. What is not repentance? To help us arrive at a definition, let’s first take a look at examples of...
Loneliness is truly an epidemic in our Western culture. Countless people lack any close friends or romantic partners. They join no groups. They go bowling alone. What can churches offer to the lonely? One answer: the practice of public confession...
Augustine’s Confessions is a great book. It has been read by the greats: great minds and great saints—from Petrarch in the sixteenth century to Sigmund Freud, Albert Camus, and Hannah Arendt in the twentieth. It cannot be ignored. We read...
Explore the profound depths of repentance with Tim Miller and Mark Ward on Logos Live.
Sometimes we feel spiritually dry. When your own inner life feels more barren than bountiful, James 4:8 offers a two-step path toward spiritual renewal and refreshment: Confession Repentance. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your...
As interest in traditional churches and liturgy has grown among evangelicals, there is also growing curiosity about liturgical terms and actions such as confession, absolution, and benediction. Because the word “absolution” has changed in meaning...
If Revelation were the first book of the Bible you read, you’d be very confused. Chronologically, it comes last. But what about the other books of the Bible? They’re not in order by date. (Most scholars believe Mark was written before Matthew, for...
I grew up in the church, just not an Anglican church. My journey into the Anglican fold is a story for another time, but I bring it up here because that experience strongly informs this selection of Anglican books you should know. These books were...
Sometimes the easiest tricks are the best. You know, the ones that make you wonder it has been all your life. Proclaim has some juicy tricks, too. (Proclaim is presentation software designed for churches. With it, anyone on your team—even...
How many different ways can we apologize to God? Quite a few, actually. And in the ancient prayers of God’s people—in Scripture and outside it—their focus quite often turned to confession or its many related expressions: remorse, guilt...
The simplest definition of prayer is talking to God. While that’s certainly true, prayer is also a unique place where we experience the breadth and depth of the Christian life. Still, prayer isn’t easy—even though it’s one of the most vital parts of...
What is idolatry? Idolatry is seeking ultimate security and significance in that which is not ultimate. It is also an inversion of the original relationship between the Creator and the human creature. Man and woman were created as images of God...
Grace is generally understood as a gift: the favor or kindness one person gives to another. Grace is, therefore, generally understood to be something that is not earned or deserved. Your paycheck is not grace. Your boss is not expecting a thank-you...
Since the fall in the garden of Eden, death has held dominion over all living things, not least of all human beings. Though Scripture tells us of an occasional Enoch or Elijah, death claims all living entities eventually, no matter their age, title...
Is Christmas a Christian holiday? Yes. Yes, it is. I’m being definitive up front because so many today are committed to the public and often gleeful discrediting of Christmas. Some such naysayers are devoutly Christian and seeking earnestly to...
We call ourselves Christians. This name was first given to us in the city of Antioch. It distinguished the disciples of Jesus—those who professed him to be the Messiah or the Christ—from other Jews of the day. Christians continue to be identified by...
From Thanksgiving to Christmas Day, you won’t need to look—or listen?—far to run into a Christmas song or two. They’re playing in the background of grocery stores and coffee shops aplenty. But when we let Christmas songs sit in the background they...
I drove past the Christmas light display in the center of town and my preschooler gazed at the glistening colors and yelled, Jesus is the light of the world! She no doubt learned this in Sunday school, but is Jesus a string of red and green lights...
Jesus chose to make Nazareth the site of one of the most significant and enigmatic declarations of his early ministry. As the community was gathered in the synagogue for Sabbath, he said: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. What did Jesus mean? Why...
I came to faith in Christ at the age of sixteen because two church ladies shared the gospel with me. The year I became a Christian, the Holy Spirit ignited curiosity within me, especially regarding the characters in the Bible. Thankfully, I now...
What comes to mind when you hear the word Baptist? I asked this question online, and to no great surprise I received an array of answers. Some think of an energetic church choir with colorful robes. Others think of solemn, even stuffy Sunday...
Christians who adhere to the doctrines of the Reformation commonly belong to congregations and denominations worldwide that are representative of the Reformed tradition. The purpose of this article is to explain the most basic central beliefs of...
It’s a very catchy song. A mysterious minor key, a melody that sticks in your ear, cadences that just ache their way to resolution. It is also ubiquitous—and received uncritically by many who hear it. The song Mary, Did You Know? is as much a...
Joan Osborne’s 1995 pop hit What If God Was One of Us? asked an excellent question. Another song, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing—a famous hymn of Charles Wesley and George Whitefield—gives the correct answer. The ancient world had many deities, even...
I get the opportunity to work with Logos users regularly. I was recently asked whether or not there is a simple way to incorporate noteworthy blog posts within one’s Logos library. I'd like to suggest a method that connects saved notes to particular...
Christmas is upon us, and like last year, the world is—different. Yet students are still coming home for the holidays, and families are (mostly) still gathering. Amid the uncertainty, people are looking for comfort and even direction. It’s a vital...
What is the Orthodox Church? And how do Orthodox Christians approach the study of Scripture? For many believers outside of Orthodoxy, Orthodox Christianity seems exotic and foreign. But for believers inside her communion, she is sometimes called the...
What is Advent? The Advent season begins four Sundays before Christmas. In 2023, Advent starts on Sunday, December 3, and ends on Sunday, December 24. Each Sunday coincides with the lighting of one of four candles—a purple one on the first, second...
Charles Spurgeon criticized Robert Hawker's Bible commentary for seeing Jesus in unnecessary places, such as every Psalm, a view widely held in Christian interpretation until John Calvin rooted Psalm interpretation in historical context. There's now...
What do good works have to do with salvation? Absolutely nothing! I would like to contest the notion that Paul contradicts himself when he insists that salvation does not come from works and that we must work out our salvation. We will investigate...