By Denny Burk O Jesus, Savior of my life, My hope, my joy, my sacrifice, I’ve searched and found no other one Who loves me more than you have done.
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If beer is “essential,” so is Easter.
We are having a genuine religious liberty imbroglio here in Louisville, Kentucky, and it is time for Christians to pay attention. The Courier-Journal reports that late in the week, Governor Andy Beshear and Mayor Greg Fischer doubled-down on their ban on church gatherings. Gov. Beshear mainly focused on churches that are gathering together in person. Mayor Fischer took it a step further and forbade drive-thru services where congregants don’t even get out of their cars. Mayor Fischer says that police will record license plate numbers of anyone caught in a drive-thru service and would possibly subject them to a mandatory 14-day quarantine.
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Why couldn’t God just forgive us? Did Jesus really have to die?
Have you ever wondered why Jesus had to die in order for God to forgive us? Why couldn’t God just let us off the hook for our sin? Why did his very own Son have to die in our place? These are the questions that I attempt to answer in my Good Friday message. And they are the questions that Romans 3:24-25 answers. Sinners often ask the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This is not a question that ever crosses Paul’s mind because he knows there are no good people (Rom. 3:23). The question that drives Paul is this: “Why is God good to bad people?”…
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The Innermost Meaning of the Cross
“But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” -Isaiah 53:10 “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness.” -Romans 3:25 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us– for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” -Galatians 3:13
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What is Maundy Thursday?
Maundy Thursday is the traditional English name for the Thursday preceding Easter. The name derives from the Latin version of Jesus’ words in John 13:34: mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos ut et vos diligatis invicem, “A new command I give you: love one another as I love you, you love one another.” The “new command” is a “new mandate,” thus Maundy Thursday. Jesus exemplifies this new command in his humble act of washing the disciples’ feet (John 13:5). Jesus issues the “new command” on the same day as the first Lord’s Supper. Thus Maundy Thursday has come to be a commemorative celebration of the institution…
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“Hate Group” Report from SPLC Still Malignantly Flawed
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has released its annual “Year in Hate and Extremism” report that identifies “940 active hate groups across the United States in 2019.” Anyone familiar with this list knows how malignantly flawed it is. It designates a number of mainstream Christian organizations as “hate groups” simply because of their beliefs about homosexuality and transgenderism. Two groups highlighted in the report are the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the Family Research Council (FRC). ADF’s senior counsel, Jeremy Tedesco, slammed the report and its timing in an interview with NBC News saying,
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Your Wife & Daughter May Become Eligible for the Draft
I know that the nation’s interest has been transfixed by the coronavirus outbreak. Nevertheless, there is another item in the news that is worth our attention. Politico reports that a congressional commission has recommended that women be required to register for the draft. From the report: A congressionally mandated commission is recommending women should be eligible for the draft, a move that comes five years after the Pentagon opened all combat roles to women. “This is a necessary and fair step, making it possible to draw on the talent of a unified Nation in a time of national emergency,” the commissioners wrote in the 255-page report, obtained by POLITICO. We…
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Nashville Studio Singers Record “It Is Well” with Their Phones
Isn’t it astonishing that, the worse things get, the more Christians sing? The video above was released yesterday by a group of Nashville Studio musicians called the Ten Two Six Music Group. Incredibly, they recorded this on their phones! I was delighted to see an old college friend of mine in this one. His name is Jason Barton, and among other things he sings with Amy Grant as well as his own band 33 Miles. So to Jason: Salute, brother! Here’s the full story on the song as it was reported by the NBC affiliate in Nashville:
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Be Ye Glad
If life as God intended it is anything, it is a fight for joy. Especially in moments like the one we are in now. Praise God that Christianity is a singing religion. The Lord really does wish for us to have a deep and abiding joy in him, and he often sustains us in joy through our songs: “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” –Colossians 3:16 In my sermon last Sunday, I told the story of a time in my own life when the…
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Comfort for the Afflicted: God’s People and the Coronavirus
Our church still isn’t gathering on Sunday morning, but we are gathering around our scattered screens to sing and to pray and to hear a message from God’s word. Yesterday, I delivered a message about finding comfort in the midst of affliction. The text is 2 Corinthians 1:1-7, and you can download it here or listen below. Below the audio is an excerpt: ————— Many of you have been experiencing fear and dread at the possibility of contracting COVID-19, of being hospitalized, perhaps even of dying. Some of you are fearful about elderly family members or other loved ones with compromised immune systems. But even if you aren’t afraid of…
