Ask the average history student what influences led to the American Revolution, and you will likely get a plethora of answers such as “taxation without representation”, the French and Indian War, and the Enlightenment. And, they would be absolutely correct: all of those were important factors leading up to the American Revolution. But this is about the extent of what you would hear in most history classes, with little to no mention of how the Reformation, the Puritans, and the Great Awakening greatly impacted the spiritual mindsets and attitudes of the Founding Fathers.
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Introduction to the Davidic Covenant - Part 1: Israel’s Desire for an Earthly King
From the earliest days in Israel’s history, there was a promise of a coming king who would rule over the people of Israel. When God spoke to Abraham in Genesis 17:6, He promised that “kings will come forth from you.” Later in Genesis 49, when Jacob prophesied concerning his sons, he said, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (v. 10). Long before the days of King Saul, long before the time of the judges, and even before Moses was born, God not only promised a future king for Israel, but even specified the tribe out of whom the king would come!
Keep Reading The Mosaic Covenant Established at Mt. Sinai
When you hear the term “Mosaic Covenant”, what comes to mind? Perhaps you think of the Levitical priesthood, or the Law…and you would be right. Those are most certainly major themes of the Mosaic Covenant. But what if I told you that another theme of this covenant is the relationship between God and His people? In fact, the Bible makes a very clear connection between this covenant and the Abrahamic Covenant, where God chose Abraham to be the one through whom the whole world would be blessed.
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October 31, 1517, will forever be remembered in church history as the day when an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, sparking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
Whenever we study and seek to understand various passages in Scripture, we can experience an array of scenarios. Sometimes, the text is explicit and clear in its meaning and application. For example, in Matthew 7:12, the verse sometimes referred to as the “golden rule”, Jesus said, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
When one studies the words that Paul penned to the church at Rome nearly 2000 years ago concerning our submission to governing authorities, a pattern clearly emerges. As Christians, we are to live lives of submission. Paul was by no means the only one in the Bible to teach on this virtue, as Jesus modeled the attitude of submission perfectly throughout His earthly ministry, always doing the will of His Father. In fact, perfect submission was so vital to our Lord that He described the will of the Father as His “food” (John 4:34). The apostle Peter likewise wrote concerning the importance of submission in the life of the Christian because “…such is the will of God” (1 Peter 2:15).
Aug 8
2023
A Time for Everything
Change: we all experience it on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. In this life we find that nothing is static – things are always changing. Even our spiritual walk changes from day to day, as we continue to grow in our sanctification, defeating sin in our lives one battle at a time. If you are a young person, you will one day find that you don’t have the youthful vigor that you once did, and you won’t always have the amount of free time and carefree lifestyle that you enjoy now. Whether it’s good times or bad times, easy times or hard times, times of plenty or times of want, all of us are going through various seasons of life or transitions from one season to another.
May 16
2023
Why the Church Submits to Government
When we think about the relationship between the church and the government in our modern context, what often comes to mind is the clash of worldviews that comes between us and the government’s desire to hinder the advancement of the very gospel that the church is commanded to proclaim to all people.
May 2
2023
The Source of Governing Authority
For many people around the world, 2020 was an unprecedentedly challenging year, so much so that even the term “2020” has become synonymous with chaos or craziness. As many, if not all, Christians continue to feel the devastating effects of all that took place that year — especially as tensions between the church and the government continue to rise across America — there has also been a sudden increase in discussions over Romans 13, among other related passages.
Apr 4
2023
Keeping it Simple - Gender
It might be the most triggering verse in all of scripture for our modern world. Fewer words, when put into syntactical order, can cause such offense to the most sensitive out there. The verse is Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27, NASB; emphasis mine)
Mar 14
2023
Keeping It Simple - Race
You’d have to be intentionally ignoring the world around you today to not notice that many people believe America has a problem with racism. The concept of race has existed for thousands of years, but its definition has been changed from what it was originally.
Feb 27
2023
Keeping It Simple
Whether it’s philosophy, psychology, religion, or social or political issues, this current world system is attacking the church and God’s people with several layers of deceit through several different human institutions. It might seem overwhelming at first, but in reality, all these institutions have the same goal: to understand and control the world while ignoring and rejecting God.