Category Archives: Theology

A Different Way to Pray (Romans 8:26-27)

Posted on July 26, 2022 by salooper57

Prayer is not the private, highly individual thing we thought it was. There is a work crew that assembles when we pray. Or, say rather, a dream team: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God invites us –in all our weakness – to join his team.

Prayer, as Paul thought of it, is more like basketball than archery. It’s done as a team. We don’t stand alone aiming at a target. Instead, we work the prayer down the court toward the goal. It doesn’t all depends on us—and we should never think it does. That would be like playing in a three-on-three basketball tournament with teammates LeBron James, Stephan Curry, and Nikalo Jokic, and thinking that it all rests on me! We need the team as we pray. Without God’s help, we’ll never move our prayers toward the target. Continue reading →

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Abortion Is an Important, but not an Ultimate, Issue

Posted on July 23, 2022 by salooper57

With humans displaced from God (and, therefore, from each other), secondary errors are unavoidable. In the absence of God, humans invest penultimate things – many good and necessary in themselves – with ultimate standing, to their own detriment. As G. K. Chesterton noted long ago, “When a man stops believing in God, he doesn’t then believe in nothing; he believes anything.” Continue reading →

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Unanswered Prayers: The Rest of the Story (2 Cor. 12:6-10)

Posted on July 18, 2022 by salooper57

Here is the thesis of this message: When God says no, he does so because of love. When he says no, it is because saying yes would be unhelpful in the long run to you and to others. When he says no, it is to preclude some evil that would happen or to promote some good that would not happen had he said yes.

The evil that must be precluded and that good that must be promoted may not be apparent right now. They may not even be apparent in our lifetimes. That good or evil might be four generations away or twenty. We cannot see it, think it, or even imagine it – our minds are too limited; we are still babes in the infancy of humanity. There is so much we don’t know. Continue reading →

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Prayer: The Heart of the Matter

Posted on July 13, 2022 by salooper57

In this message on 1 John 3:18-22, we learn what role the heart plays in prayer and how it can sometimes hinder our prayers from being answered. Yet, there is hope, for “God is greater than our hearts.”

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The Prayer We Repeat Over and Over

Posted on July 9, 2022 by salooper57

In the church circles in which I have moved, and lived, and had my being, people sometimes speak of “a life of prayer.” They have in mind a person who prays more frequently than others. But beyond a life of … Continue reading →

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Look Into the Life and Times of God

Posted on June 25, 2022 by salooper57

(Reading Time: 3 to 4 minutes.) I bought two side tables for our bedroom, the kind made of pressed woods and veneer, and assembled them myself. They came with step by step instructions, complete with diagrams. Somehow, I could never … Continue reading →

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Just Ask (Matthew 7:7-11)

Posted on June 20, 2022 by salooper57

Does God want to answer our prayers by giving us what we ask for? The answer the biblical writers give is a resounding yes. Then are the prosperity gospelers right? What about the “name it, claim it” crowd? And, if … Continue reading →

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Watch Out for “Christian” Nationalism

Posted on June 18, 2022 by salooper57

Briefly defined, nationalism is an attitude that gives priority of place and standing to the nation. Nationalists subordinate other commitments to that of supporting the nation and seeking its wellbeing. This differs from patriotism, for a patriot can honor and sacrifice for their country without elevating its importance above other primary commitments. Continue reading →

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Do Not Wait for the Last Judgment

Posted on June 11, 2022 by salooper57

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “For judgment I have come into the world.” Yet, later in the same Gospel, he says, “I did not come to judge the world.” Did Jesus contradict himself? Did he come to judge … Continue reading →

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The History and Mystery of the Gospel (Biblical Theology Class)

Posted on June 8, 2022 by salooper57

Did Jesus preach the gospel? Did he preach a different gospel than Paul? Was there a gospel in the Old Testament? What did Paul mean when he spoke of the mystery of the gospel? These and other questions are addressed … Continue reading →

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