• Fred's Blog

    Am I Content with Who I Am Becoming?

    Dear Shawn, I liked your question last week but it was so early in the morning. (Why do young men have Bible study before dawn?) Between the breakfast tacos and coffee my mind was not yet focused. But, I’ve been thinking about what you asked, “How do we keep from being conformed to the patterns of this world?” It’s the right question – with many good answers. I have found two disciplines – and they do not come naturally – that have helped. I call them “antidotes to conformity.” First, Paul taught the personal discipline of seeing ourselves clearly. He calls it “sober judgment,” and it is our responsibility to…

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  • Bible Studies

    Romans 12:1-7

    Paul is the master of the word “therefore” and here is an example of that. In Chapter 11 he concludes his argument that God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable and that all of Israel will be saved due to God’s love for and covenant with the patriarchs. That ends with a beautiful doxology about the unsearchable and inexplicable wisdom and knowledge of God. “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” “Therefore, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but…

  • Fred's Blog

    2 Chronicles 7:14 Isn’t About American Politics

    There is something in all of us that desires a king – whether it be the Israelites longing for a king to fight their battles or it be our looking forward to the “rightful king” C.S. Lewis describes in “Mere Christianity.” We see that being played out now in our turning the election of a President into the quest for a King who will fight our particular partisan battles for us. Sadly, it is those who have been brought up on the assumption that America is the new Israel who are being, as St. Paul said, “blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and…

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  • Fred's Blog

    I’ll Take My Chances

    In 1982, Mother Teresa was invited to Beirut in the middle of the worst part of the war between Israel and Lebanon – the Siege of Beirut. Her immediate visit was to a hospital for retarded and handicapped children where at least 10 had been killed by repeated mortar attacks. Reporters and veteran aid workers were skeptical and at first, many thought it was either a vain gesture or misguided idealism on her part. However, Mother Teresa and her nuns entered the Dar al-Ajaza al-Islamia Mental Hospital and carried out 37 of the most deformed and retarded children: “I have never been in a war before, but I have seen…

  • Fred's Blog

    I'll Take My Chances

    In 1982, Mother Teresa was invited to Beirut in the middle of the worst part of the war between Israel and Lebanon – the Siege of Beirut. Her immediate visit was to a hospital for retarded and handicapped children where at least 10 had been killed by repeated mortar attacks. Reporters and veteran aid workers were skeptical and at first, many thought it was either a vain gesture or misguided idealism on her part. However, Mother Teresa and her nuns entered the Dar al-Ajaza al-Islamia Mental Hospital and carried out 37 of the most deformed and retarded children: “I have never been in a war before, but I have seen…

  • Bible Studies

    Romans 9-11: All Israel Will Be Saved

    I want to begin in the middle of the text this morning. Sometimes we wonder why all this theology and doctrine is important. Can’t we just skip to the life application parts? Why not make things simple and not complicated? Isn’t it enough to be saved and then live a decent life? Romans 10:9 says “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Or, in Acts 16:30­-31 we…

  • Bible Studies

    Romans 8:28-39 More Than Conquerors

    1.  There are two levels to this passage. One, the very particular way in which Paul was addressing the Christians in Rome and, second, its application for us this morning. The original context is important. It is part of the preceding passage where Paul says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” In accordance with God’s will. That is important…