Theology 101: “By grace through faith” is the very path—not just the trailhead—of the Christian journey. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

Churches should be flagships of righteousness delivering grace, peace, and truth to the world, but too many are pirate ships attacking other churches in the world…battle ships waging war against the world…or cruise ships entertaining themselves as they ignore the world. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

Theology 101: The One who allowed the devil into the Garden of Eden in the form of a snake, leading to our death, also allowed the devil into the Garden of Gethsemane in the form of a snitch, leading to his own. - Dr. Micheal Svigel

Psalm 2 AI Rap song (via David Thompson) 

"Thank you Jesus for freeing me from the Law" -- a Gentile Christian who at no point in history were he or his ancestors ever covenantally bound to the Mosaic Law - Aaron Eby

If your hope as a Christian is in your giftedness, you’ll think yourself superior to those who aren’t gifted like you, or fall into envy when someone else is gifted in ways you’re not (or in similar but more pronounced ways than you).

If your hope is in your fruitfulness, you’ll be inflated and narcissistic when you’re apparently bearing fruit and devastated when fruit seems meager— and even more so, when you see others bearing great fruit.

If your hope is in Christ alone, if you’re rejoicing that your name is written in heaven by grace alone, your heart and conscience will be free and clear, and you’ll have wisdom to use your gifts to the glory of God, bearing fruit and building up the church with humility and joy for all your days.

In the kingdom of God, sons become sages, not the other way around. - BA Purtle

“No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack.” -EM Bounds (Via BA Purtle)

"God can do little with those who love their reputations." - CT Studd (via BA Purtle) 

My teaching on Luke's Sermon on the Plain from Luke 6. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

"A crucified Saviour is the sole and only hope of a sinful world." -- Spurgeon (via Nick Uva)

You can’t dispatch angels anywhere because you’re not Yahweh.

They heed the voice of His Word — see Ps. 103.

We Charismatics need to jettison the many traditions we’ve created which are questionable (or worse). Are the Gifts of the Spirit not enough for us? - Nick Uva

"Self-righteousness is as much an insult to God as blasphemy, and God will never accept it, neither shall any soul enter heaven by it." – Spurgeon (via Nick Uva)

Lately I've been reading a lot about the Incarnation of the Son of God, and realizing that the reconciliation of God and Man does not only take place through Jesus (e.g., on the Cross), but actually takes place *in* Jesus first and foremost, has been a paradigm-shifting insight.

Christ's identity as God and Man (aka. the Hypostatic Union) is the mechanism that allows all other humans who believe in Him to receive and share in the Divine life of the Father, what Peter calls, becoming "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet. 1:4).

Though Christ is unique in his divinity, being fully God, and we can never be exactly as he is, as the Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) he is yet a prototype for a new type of humanity that is characterized by union with the Godhead that far surpasses even what the First Adam experienced in the Garden of Eden, and certainly surpasses what we now experience since the First Adam's fall —death, pain, and bondage to sin.

This is what I mean that the Incarnation itself is our reconciliation with God. It is God and Man joined, inseparable, and fully intertwined in Christ as a signal that God no longer wishes to be separated from humanity, and in that, our humanity too is given this offer of elevation to the plain of God.    

The eternal Son of God enters into the human experience so that humans can enter into the reality of God in a way that was never before possible, and through his righteous life, death, and resurrection, he secures our acceptance with God, achieves victory over our primary foe, and imparts the eternal life of God to us, which is tasted in part now through the Spirit and will be fully realized at the future Resurrection and in the Age to Come.

As God and Man he brings God to us and us to God. As Lord of Life and Perfect Adam he exhausts the power of death and overcomes it through his sinless perfection. He presses into the deepest realms of the human experience and brings God there and in so doing he brings whoever will press into him into the deepest realms of God.

More and more I'm getting to the point where if someone asks me what it is that saves us, my first answer will be: the Incarnation. - Travis M Snow

Jesus doesn't just save you from your sins. He saves your humanity. God loves you as a human being and through the Incarnation of the Son of God He offers you your truest, most elevated human self as a gift for all eternity. - Travis M. Snow

My teaching on "loving your enemies" from Luke 6's Sermon on the Plain. Notes. Audio 1. Audio 2. 

The images of the Israeli prisoners back in the arms of their families is overwhelming. As emotionally gripping as this all is, it is a small prophetic glimpse of what the Scriptures describe concerning the ultimate redemption and consolation of Israel. 

The Bible describes, at the end of this age, a mighty procession of the redeemed, having been released from imprisonment, following their King, coming home, covered with EVERLASTING JOY...

...and singing the songs of ZION.

The pattern first established during the great theophany at Mount Sinai is that God appears amidst the blasting of a great shofar:

So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. . . . Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. (Exodus 19:16, 18–20)

So also shall the great theophany at the end of the age be accompanied by the blasting of the shofar:

It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem. (Isaiah 27:13)

Then the Lord will appear over them,

And His arrow will go forth like lightning;

And the Lord God will blow the trumpet,

And will march in the storm winds of the south. (Zechariah 9:14)

And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

[I]n a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52)

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

[B]ut that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:7)

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15)

A PROCESSION OF SINGING

Perhaps one of the most thrilling features of the victorious march described in the Scriptures are the repeated descriptions of actual musicians and a mighty host of singers going before and following after the vast procession. They are consistently described as singing, rejoicing, and shouting aloud, as they cannot contain their joy. There are several reasons to believe that among the songs sung will be “the Psalms of Ascent” normally sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the three annual pilgrimage festivals.

God has ascended with a shout,

The Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

Sing praises to God, sing praises;

Sing praises to our King, sing praises.

For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful psalm.

God reigns over the nations,

God sits on His holy throne. (Psalm 47:5–8)

God sets the lonely in families,

he leads out the prisoners with singing;

but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. (Psalm 68:6 NIV)

They have seen Your procession, O God,

The procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.

The singers went on, the musicians after them,

In the midst of the maidens beating tambourines. (Psalm 68:24–25)

And the ransomed of the Lord will return

And come with joyful shouting to Zion,

With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy,

And sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)

Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!

The Lord has taken away His judgments against you,

He has cleared away your enemies. (Zephaniah 3:14–15)

Christians are often surprised to learn that the most consistent way the Messiah is described throughout the Bible is as a warrior-King who comes from heaven to save Israel. 

Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, 

And let those who hate Him flee before Him.

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;

As wax melts before the fire,

So let the wicked perish before God. . . .

God is to us a God of deliverances;

And to God the Lord belong escapes from death.

Surely God will shatter the head of His enemies,

The hairy crown of him who goes on in his guilty deeds.

The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan.

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea;

That your foot may shatter them in blood,

The tongue of your dogs may have its portion from your enemies.

Rebuke the beasts in the reeds,

The herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples,

Trampling under foot the pieces of silver;

He has scattered the peoples who delight in war. (Psalm 68:1–2, 20–23, 30)

He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath.

He will judge among the nations,

He will fill them with corpses,

He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. (Psalm 110:5–6)

In indignation You marched through the earth;

In anger You trampled the nations.

You went forth for the salvation of Your people,

For the salvation of Your anointed.

You struck the head of the house of the evil

To lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah.

You pierced with his own spears The head of his throngs.

They stormed in to scatter us;

Their exultation was like those who devour the oppressed in secret. (Habakkuk 3:12–14)

Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come,

But He will save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)

Who is this who comes from Edom,

With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah,

This One who is majestic in His apparel,

Marching in the greatness of His strength?

“It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”

Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?

“I have trodden the wine trough alone,

And from the peoples there was no man with Me.

I also trod them in My anger

And trampled them in My wrath;

And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments,

And I stained all My raiment.

For the day of vengeance was in My heart,

And My year of redemption has come.

I looked, and there was no one to help,

And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold;

So My own arm brought salvation to Me,

And My wrath upheld Me.

I trod down the peoples in My anger

And made them drunk in My wrath,

And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” (Isaiah 63:1–6)

In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not be afraid, O Zion;

Do not let your hands fall limp.

The Lord your God is in your midst,

A victorious warrior.” (Zephaniah 3:16-17)

Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. (Zechariah 14:3)

The Messiah is described as setting the prisoners free:

You will arise and have compassion on Zion;

For it is time to be gracious to her,

For the appointed time has come . . .

For He looked down from His holy height;

From heaven the Lord gazed upon the earth,

To hear the groaning of the prisoner,

To set free those who were doomed to death,

That men may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion

And His praise in Jerusalem,

When the peoples are gathered together,

And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. (Psalm 102:13, 19–22)

How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the Lord his God,

Who made heaven and earth,

The sea and all that is in them;

Who keeps faith forever;

Who executes justice for the oppressed;

Who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free. (Psalm 146:5–7)

For behold, in those days and at that time,

When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem . . .

(Joel 3:1 NKJV)

For the Lord their God will intervene for them, and return their captives. (Zephaniah 2:7 NKJV)

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

Because the Lord has anointed me

To bring good news to the afflicted;

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to captives

And freedom to prisoners;

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord

And the day of vengeance of our God;

To comfort all who mourn . . . (Isaiah 61:1–2)

“For behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,” says the Lord. “And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.” (Jeremiah 30:3 NKJV)

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.... He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. (Zechariah 9:9-11)

Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name—after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.” (Ezekiel 39:25–28 NKJV)

Why all of this? Again, just watching the absolute agony and the unstoppable victory of life all on display together with the remaining hostages beginning to be returned, we see reflections and echos of the coming ultimate, final redemption. Take the time to read the texts and imagine the present situation. It is as if the story playing out right now, on our phones and computer screens, in Israel, has nearly been described a thousand times throughout many prophetic portions of the Bible. - Joel Richardson

Our choice is not between an apocalyptic Jesus and some other Jesus; it is between an apocalyptic Jesus and no Jesus at all. -Dale Allison Jr. 

Jesus held very strongly to an apocalyptic worldview... in fact at the very core of his earthly proclamation was an apocalyptic message. This will be a key factor in seeing how he understood himself, whether as divine or otherwise. -Bart Ehrman

Chad Brewer on selecting church leadership:

...However, if the Church’s calling is unto a real Kingdom with a real government with a real system of rewards and punishments, then much grace is needed (and thus much prayer)— not only for forgiveness, but for faithfulness and perseverance unto the fullness of our inheritance and the fullness of proclamation to the world.  - John P. Harrigan

The necessity of prayer is also in proportion to the necessity of grace, which is determined by the magnitude of the calling, which in turn is determined by the end of that calling, i.e. salvation and eschatology.  - John P. Harrigan

Grace is thus simply divine favor and power given by God, the supreme Ruler over creation, in this age and the age to come—overcoming Satan, sin and death in the age to come and preserving the saints through forgiveness, cleansing and strengthening in this age, giving them power to faithfully walk out their calling. - John P. Harrigan

"But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more." (Isa. 65:18-19)

The turmoil and struggles of the Jewish people will soon come to an end. Praise the Lord. -John P Harrigan 

True Christian ministry is both simpler and costlier than men have made it out to be in our day.

American Christianity is glutting on podcasts, fads, and movements amid a relative famine of godly leaders, earnest discipleship, and healthy churches.

We need another reformation.

-BA Purtle

When set next to other ancient accounts of the creation of the world and humanity, the Genesis account is aglow with the power, goodness, purity, and uniqueness of the God revealed in the Bible. He is responsible for all that is, and all that is, is good. - Dr. Jim Hamilton

We must build the church according to God's Word, God's ways, and God's heart. In fact, these realities are ultimately inseparable. The neglect of one will at some point undo the others and end the lifespan of a ministry. This is how lamp-stands are removed from their places. -BA Purtle

Supersessionists:

"God is no longer concerned with the people or land of Israel in any unique sense. The 'Jewish age' is over and the kingdom of God has little if anything to do with Jerusalem."

The Lord Jesus to His disciples:

"Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

(Mt. 19.28; Lk. 22.30; see also Ez. 37.15-28)

-BA Purtle

"Paul totally believed in retirement. It starts at death, and it's glorious." -John Piper (via BA Purtle)