Posts with the tag “church-of-the-nazarene”

Every few years a story surfaces that follows the same basic pattern. A charismatic leader. An intense community. Sacrifice and devotion. And then the collapse. The secular world draws the obvious conclusion: the problem is religion. The problem is authority. But that misses the actual diagnosis. The problem is never that people submitted to authority. The problem is that they submitted to the wrong one. Jesus walked into a synagogue and the people immediately knew something was different. He taught as one who had authority, not as someone who had borrowed it from someone else. In the last days, Scripture says the counterfeits will be convincing enough to mislead even the elect. Which means discernment has never mattered more. Read the full post.  Read More

There is a seat at your grandmother's table that nobody sits in anymore. The chair that was always his, always hers. The empty place that represents a meal that is not finished yet. Every family has a version of that chair. And if you listen closely, the Lord's Supper is the Church's answer to it. Because on the night before He was crucified, Jesus did not just start a memorial. He made a promise. He said: the next time I eat and drink at this table, it will be in the kingdom. The meal is not over. The guest of honor is still coming. Read the full post.  Read More

There is a moment in every swimming lesson that nobody talks about honestly. The moment the instructor says let go of the wall. Everything in that child says no. The wall is solid. The water is unpredictable. Baptism is that moment. And it is one of the most prophetically loaded things a believer can do in a world that is desperately afraid of what comes next. Because when you went under that water, you were not just getting wet. You were practicing dying. And when you came back up, you were declaring something that death itself cannot argue with. Read the full post.  Read More