The spread of the Gospel throughout Rome in the 2nd and 3rd century is largely thanks to the faithfulness of believers in the face of intense suffering and persecution. Early church believers ministered to their impoverished neighbors by purchasing plots to provide proper burials for their loved ones free of charge. When publicly tortured and executed, male and female martyrs displayed such serenity and courage, even the hardened hearts of the Roman public were softened. - Graysen Borders, Gen Z: Miracles and Martyrdom

Jesus is the prize. If you felt personal guilt over your sins, repented, and decided to follow Jesus, you have everything because you have Him. If you experienced Jesus delivering you from darkness, repented, and decided to follow Jesus, you have everything because you have Him.

Miracles certainly reveal the character of Jesus and the trustworthiness of “He who promised” a Day when “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”

However, miracles are not the goal. The primary goal of our lives in this age is to bear witness to the King and the Kingdom that’s coming. Sometimes God will use miracles to accomplish this witness; often He uses our faithfulness through suffering instead.  - Graysen Borders, Gen Z: Miracles and Martyrdom

Herein lies a very important technicality: the purpose of these miracles was to introduce us to Jesus—not give us perfect emotional, mental, and physical health for the rest of our lives. That Day and that Kingdom is coming, but it has not yet arrived.

Miracles are being presented to my generation as an end-in-of-themselves and this teaching could have disastrous consequences. We’re being told we can expect and demand miracles from God if we just have enough faith. We’re being told God’s will is always to heal and deliver… every person… right now. When that’s not what happens, my generation has no answers or explanations for what went wrong. The Gospel of Emotional and Physical Wellness is pretty convincing to a young believer who just experienced a life-changing miracle—but it leads to a torrential spinout at the first unanswered prayer. - Graysen Borders, Gen Z: Miracles and Martyrdom

Remember, Lord, Your Church, to deliver it from all evil and to make it perfect in Your love, and gather it from the four winds, sanctified for Your kingdom which You have prepared for it; for Yours is the power and the glory forever. Let grace come, and let this world pass away. Hosanna to the God (Son) of David! If any one is holy, let him come; if any one is not so, let him repent. Maran atha. - Didache. 

Forrest Frank & Josiah Queen - JESUS IS COMING BACK SOON (Official Lyric...

Gen Z: Miracles & Martyrdom • THE INKWELL

At numerous points in history, the Church has betrayed our penchant to abandon the Gospel of Christ Crucified for a Gospel of Temporal Prosperity. And, honestly, who (but God) can blame us? Jesus was the worst salesman of all time. He preached against our biological drive for self-preservation: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.”

Satan, on the other hand, is a master of flattery. It’s his oldest and most effective tactic. Even once we discover that our lust for power and prosperity is poison, we still crave any message that accommodates that lust. We’re attracted to false hope and false prophets who cry out “peace, peace” when there is no peace.

-Graysen Borders, Gen Z: Miracles and Martyrdom

Jesus currently possesses all authority and will exercise that authority over the earth and nations at His second coming. - Mike Vlach

“God will invade…. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. But what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else—something it never entered your head to conceive—comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? For this time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing: it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen.” CS Lewis

My teaching on the Old Testament background to the healing of the demoniac in Luke 8. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

In many pulpits doctrine is preached, but not the cross; precepts are preached, but not the blood; philosophy is preached, but not the crucified Saviour. If it be so, in God’s name let us come back to Jesus Christ and him crucified. - Spurgeon

My teaching on the divinity of Jesus from Isaiah 45 and Philippians 2. Video. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

"For he [the Antichrist] being endued with all the power of the devil, shall come, not as a righteous king, nor as a legitimate king, in subjection to God, but an impious, unjust, and lawless one; as an apostate, iniquitous and murderous; as a robber, concentrating in himself satanic apostasy , and setting aside idols to persuade that he himself is God, raising up himself as the only idol, having in himself the multifarious errors of the other idols. This he does, in order that they who do worship the devil by means of many abominations, may serve himself by this one idol, of whom the apostle thus speaks in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians." (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.25.1)

Via Dr. Micheal Svigel

Dr. John Harrigan - Kingdom of God and the Lord's Prayer

Audio file. 

It's very important to understand that the Old Testament should be interpreted according to the historical-grammatical method. The primary question driving the interpretive process should be, what did this mean in its original historical context? 

This leaves room for symbolism, if that symbolism was intended by the original author. And it also leaves room for a literal approach, if the author intended something to be taken according to its plain, literal sense.

 

Many Christians go astray here because they either 

A) think that the NT justifies a strictly spiritual, Christological, or non-historical grammatical approach to the OT, or 

B) because they fall into a rigid fundamentalism that does not leave enough room for symbolic and figurative readings that are a part of the historical meaning. 

These are two sides of the same erroneous coin. 

The NT will never fundamentally alter the historical meaning of an OT text, and the OT will never fit within the framework of simplistic literalism. You always start with what the passage meant in it's original, historical context, being open to varying degrees of symbolism and literalism, and then once you have that figured out, you can also make spiritual and Christological applications of the OT text that complement, but never negate, the original meaning.- Travis M Snow

It seems most implausible that the Didache would modify such a pervasive doctrine of the general resurrection without any explanation. However, the puzzle can be easily solved if one considers that the Didachist’s language represents an early millennialism, in which the resurrection of the righteous saints (those “in Christ”) occurs at the return of Christ, followed by an earthly reign, which then ends with the resurrection of the wicked to judgment. Though it is not entirely clear that the original eschatology of the Didache was a form of early premillennialism, it seems more historically responsible to opt for an explanation that was known in the early church (resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked separated by a millennial kingdom), rather than point to this as an instance of unique teaching regarding the resurrection of the righteous only.  - Dr. Micheal Svigel, Go Deeper: Eschatology of the Didache

These themes are so common in the early church that one does not need to presume a written source. In fact, the language and imagery of the Didache’s portrayal of the end of the world is so unique that one ought to regard it as an independent testimony to the early church’s unified eschatological expectations. - Dr. Micheal Svigel, Go Deeper: Eschatology of the Didache

The Bible never calls believers to expect Christ at any moment. Instead, it calls us to urgency, eager expectation, and readiness—all while recognizing that birth pains come before birth. A woman expecting delivery may say, “The baby could come at any moment.” But everyone knows labor pains must come first. Likewise, Scripture teaches that tribulation, deception, and persecution precede Christ’s appearing. -Joel Richardson, Pretribulational Imminence: Is It Biblical?

John Harrigan - The Cross and Cruciformity Seminar

John Harrigan seminar "The Cross and Cruciformity" at Eastern Gate house of prayer:

A YouTube playlist:

All the audio files in a Google Drive

Been reading a number of books on baptism lately, originally as a means to explore different views on baptizing children of Christian parents.

But the unexpected upshot of this pursuit has been the realization that baptism should be one of the primary, ongoing anchors of our faith as Christians.

Along with the Lord's Supper, baptism is the single, greatest visible sign of what God has done for us in Christ, and what he offers us in Christ, to the point that we should be regularly looking back to our baptism to inform our Christian identity, our approach to suffering, doubt, discouragement, and a host of other vital issues, including eschatology.

But when is the last time you heard a message on, "Why You Should Meditate On Your Christian Baptism Every Day"?

Probably never.  

I am afraid that like in most other areas of theology, we have lost the plot and become bogged down in the weeds of not unimportant, but still secondary, matters and controversies (i.e., when to baptize, the efficacy of baptism, the mode of baptism, etc.)  

All necessary issues to hash out. But bottom line, even if you have a nice, neat, and tidy explanation on each of those points, you have not yet truly experienced the transformational and sacramental power of your Christian baptism if it does not change the way you think and live on a daily basis.

Baptism is an invaluable gift from God Himself. It is the Gospel. - Travis M. Snow

To wait well in the New Testament sense is to live with eyes fixed on Jesus, hands busy with His work, hearts purified by His promise, and voices joining the Spirit’s cry: Come, Lord Jesus! This is the hope that steadies us in trials, binds us together in fellowship, drives us to holiness, and sends us into mission until the day our waiting ends in sight. 

The New Testament does not diminish that hope; it intensifies it. Jesus came announcing the Kingdom of God, not as a poetic idea or as a mystical concept, but as a coming reality. He referred to it as a day when the meek would inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), when the righteous would shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43), when the Son of Man would sit on His glorious throne. The apostles would judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). This is not a metaphor. Jesus was describing the future as the Bible envisions it.  - Joel Richadson, Biblical Hope

The New Testament takes the Old Testament’s call to “wait for the Lord” and brings it into sharper focus. The promises anticipated by the patriarchs, sung in the psalms, and proclaimed by the prophets see a great light in the person and work of Jesus Christ. But as wonderful as His first coming is and was, the story is not complete. The same people who received the Messiah are still called to live in expectation, waiting for His return and the coming of His kingdom. In the New Testament, hope continues to be future-oriented. Through the Holy Spirit, we have already tasted the powers of the age to come, yet we still look forward to their fullness. The righteous continue to be defined by their waiting. - Joel Richadson, Biblical Hope

A striking statement about waiting comes from Lamentations 3:25, written in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction: “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.” These words were not penned in a season of ease but in the depths of national catastrophe and agony. The temple lay in ruins, the people had been slaughtered, the survivors were largely in exile, and yet Jeremiah affirmed the goodness of God to those who keep seeking Him. Waiting here is not passive, it is a deliberate heart and life posture. Even when hope seems crushed, the faithful continue to pursue God through prayer, repentance, trust, and hope.  - Joel Richadson, Biblical Hope

Hope is not simply an inner feeling; it is, in fact, an act of worship. To wait for His lovingkindness is to declare that His character is trustworthy and His timing perfect. - Joel Richadson, Biblical Hope

The righteous have always been defined as those who, throughout this life, cling to God’s faithfulness even when they cannot yet see His deliverance. Shame does not await those who eagerly long for God’s salvation. - Joel Richadson, Biblical Hope

The Hebrew words used in the Bible for “hope” are often translated as “wait.” The word qavah means to wait, or to look eagerly, to hope, and expect. The root of the word has the meaning of binding together like twisting strands into a cord, implying both tension and strength for endurance. A common example is Isaiah 40:31: “Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength.” In other words, those whose hope is in the Lord will find strength in such hope. Another similar words is yachal which means to wait, hope, to expect, or to tarry. This word is often used in contexts of enduring through trial. As the Psalmist declares to himself: “Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him” (Psalm 42:11). The word tiqvah similarly means hope, expectation, or a cord. This word comes from the same root as qavah but used as a noun. Sometimes it means “cord/rope” (Joshua 2:18). It is also the name of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah (The Hope). The main point to takeaway is that in the Bible, the words “wait” and “hope” are one and the same.  - Joel Richadson, Biblical Hope

The contrasts Jesus makes between his teaching and the Law are not intended to contradict what the Law requires. Rather, the content following "but I say to you" draws from other parts of the Law to rightly interpret the referenced portion. For example, "Do not commit adultery" and "Do not covet/lust" are both commands in the Decalogue (Exod. 20:14, 17). as the control that indexes when the prohibition against adultery (Exod. 20:14) has been violated (Matt 5:28). - Paul T. Sloan, Jesus and the Law of Moses: The Gospels and the Restoration of Israel within First-Century Judaism

Theology 101: What should we Christians do if the Lord does not pour out the Spirit in revival, awakening, and renewal in our generation?

Preach the Word, make disciples, love one another, and glorify God in all that we do.  - Dr. Micheal J. Svigel

“By a single offering Christ has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14

Incremental transformation confirms justification. - John Piper

John Harrigan - Lessons on Discipleship - Peoria, IL

A YouTube playlist of the four videos from John's teaching on discipleship. 

A Google Drive folder of all four audio files. 

Videos:

Session 1 of 3 - Introduction to disciplship

Session 2 of 3 - 1st Thessalonians

Session 3 of 3 - 2nd Thessalonians

Sunday Morning at Bradley Epworth Church - Loving His Appearing

Individual Audio Files

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

Bradley Epworth Church

A big mistake many Christians make is thinking their denomination or branch of Christianity must be the only way to go. When I was in seminary, my Church History professor would speak of "faithful trajectories," and I found that very helpful. What he meant was, there is not only one manifestation of orthodox Christianity, and there is not even one way to hash out various practical issues. There is a core of orthodox Christian doctrine and around that core there are many faithful paths. - Travis M. Snow

If J.I. Packer’s chapters (14–16) in “Knowing God” is as far as your view of God’s justice goes (i.e. theologically ascribing to God as Judge), and your heart doesn’t LONG for a cloud-riding thunderous divine Warrior-King with a myriad of tens of thousands of angelic armies behind Him finally repaying the vengeance which is His, in physical space and time, against an actual physical and military adversary, consider what is lacking in your faith and add to it. - RT Brown