 The author of Hebrews is unknown, and the content of the book can be hard to comprehend, especially from your first reading. It really is a text you need to move slowly through, where you can look back to the Old Testament quotations to try and better understand the illustrations the author provides. Today we will look at a small excerpt from Chapter 2 that has some amazing statements about Christ and His people.
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 In a recent article, I made the case that faith is an act of obedience to the command of God to believe in the Son (Obedient Faith: Redefining Success for Christians). We see this in 1st John 3:23-24 (NASB1995), "23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." But what gives us the power to follow this command in obedient faith to believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ?
 When we think of what it means to be successful, we often think of meeting certain family, financial, and career milestones. We want to graduate college, get a great job, fund a retirement portfolio, and invest our money in the meantime anywhere we can to maximize our ROI. We usually want to do all the things that are expected of us, and that usually arises from the level of success that we observed in the family we were born into. If we came from parents who had a healthy marriage and kids, substantial wealth, master’s or doctoral degrees, we usually will try to achieve those same things (although few people acknowledge where their aspirations come from). And there’s nothing wrong with any of those aspirations. Education, family, career, these are wholesome and meaningful endeavors. But do they define success from a biblical perspective?
 One of the most interesting (and terrifying) topics in the Bible is the Book of Life. If someone’s name is written in the book, they will go to heaven for eternity, and if their name is not written in the book, they will be thrown into the lake of fire. Beyond just this truth, there is also the yearning of prophets to have people’s names blotted out of the book, and even threats by God for people’s names to be wiped out. The major questions to answer in forming a biblical understanding of this topic are the following: (1) when were names written in the Book of Life, (2) whose names were written in the Book of Life, and (3) will believers names (or anyone's names) be blotted out?
This is definitely a debated topic among Christians and has been for centuries. Some Christians enjoy the occasional drink, some overindulge and fall into drunkenness, and some completely abstain from the substance, feeling convicted that partaking in any way whatsoever is sinful.
Clearly, if it is sinful to have a glass of wine, then it should be avoided, and we should hold our brethren accountable for sinning when they partake in drinking. But, if it is not sinful to drink alcohol in moderation, then we need not condemn our brethren who enjoy the occasional glass of wine for good pleasure; in fact, we would be in the wrong for doing so. We always like it when someone can get down on our level, and relate to us where we are in our understanding on a specific topic. When we are young children, it is helpful for an adult to get down on their knees and get at our eye level when they explain something to us.
I have to admit something. This question haunts me: Who is Jesus? Sure, we can revert back to our Sunday School lineage and spout out answers from off the top of our head, such as: Son of God, Savior, Messiah, and any other term you learned to call Jesus when asked this question in a small group setting. Now, before you get upset with me and write me off as another hedonist trying to show you my holy ways, give me the chance to explain myself.
Deliver This Man to Satan for the Destruction of the Flesh: first corinthians 5:1-5 analysis3/8/2019 This is one of the most uncomfortable articles I have ever written. I came across this passage in Corinthians chapter five the other day, and while I have read through the New Testament numerous times, it only stood out to me this time as bizarre. Perhaps it’s the more sympathetic personality within me coming to the surface, or the loads of coffee I’ve been drinking, but either way I found it to be extremely alarming. I will give you the passage in the English Standard Version (ESV) first, then we will discuss its context and implications.
Kristin and I both grew up in the church. Her parents were Sunday school teachers. My mom was a Team KID leader and children’s ministry activist. Although it is still questionable as to whether or not she actually liked Kids. Anyways, you could say that I had a good start to church. I started Sunday school a little later but I picked up the basics and the common themes throughout the Bible. I weaved my way around the Bible picking up different un-relatable life lessons because let’s face it, the fact that David sent some guy out on the front lines just to steal his wife meant nothing to me. I was in elementary school. The worst thing that had happened to me at this point in my life was that recess got cancelled due to bad weather.
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