Leitourgia

The NIV Bible for Teen Guys, published by Zondervan, is a devotional Bible targeted toward young men from the ages of 13 to 18. Offering daily devotional readings from authors such as Mark Batterson and Max Lucado, the goal of this Bible is to build faith, wisdom, and strength in a growing godly man. This is a great introductory Bible for a teenage guy. There is not much flash with it; the grey and yellow accent is a modern design that even picky teenagers can appreciate. The text size is average and readable, and the devotional readings are short yet rich. They contain biblical and theological truths while applying it to the teenage life - all without sounding condescending. The Bible also features short introductions to each book and highlights of the men of the Bible. The Bible highlights, in a light yellow box, a few key verses in each book, which is great for easily-distracted teens who want to be able to siphon important truths from a sea of words. The Bible is hardcover a...

The premise behind Steven Reider's Misconception  is simple: Christians neglect the reading of the Scriptures from its cultural-historical context, instead focusing on how it relates to contemporary culture. In short, easy-to read chapters, it covers topics such as the name of God, the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Jesus' miracles, and even the Armor of God. Although I wish I could give this book a better review, I found it to be rather biased. The nature of the book itself is quite interesting - everyone should understand the original context of the Scriptures when reading; this itself is a sound hermeneutical practice. And I admit that there were some interesting "aha" moments I had when reading. But Reider's hermeneutic relies entirely on understanding the first-century significance and fails to appropriate God's Word to today. Reider also inserts some of his own commentary and interpretation, which fails to make this an impartial resource. There are...

Most Calvinists are very content with their beliefs until it comes to the “L” in TULIP – limited atonement. In fact, many Christians will call themselves four-point Calvinists , agreeing with everything but limited atonement. Limited atonement leads to the doctrine of predestination , the idea that God has chosen certain people from birth who will be saved and go to Heaven and those who will be damned to Hell. The reason this belief is unpopular is because it makes grace seem offensive, God exclusive, and the faith not about relationship but about who God loves most. Arminians and other opponents will be quick to point out that predestination appears to be against God’s loving nature. But predestination is not some random speculation or a cult theory, but rather, it is biblically-rooted. Throughout the Bible, God chooses certain people to fulfil His work – Abraham, Noah, Paul, Jeremiah, just to name a few. In the Reformed ordo salutis (order of salvation), election comes fir...

The Nicene Creed (well, technically, it’s the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed ...but that’s not nearly as sexy) is one of three ecumenical creeds that nutshells basic Christian beliefs and particularly hones in on the doctrine of the Trinity. This creed is more than a cobwebbed document that sits in a library; it is a living manifesto of the Gospel! First established at the Council of Nicea in 325, the final stanza regarding the Holy Spirit was not appended until the Council of Constantinople in 381. Pneumatological theology had not been fully developed at the time of Nicea, especially because the council was focused on Christological heresy, in particular Arianism , who egregiously taught that the Son was created. But Arius was a charismatic and clever marketer, singing catchy musical jingles to declare that “there was a time when the Son was not.” As St. Athanasius and many of his opponents argued, if the Son was created, then he is less than the Father. Hence, the Nicene Creed...

Theology may sound like a dusty, esoteric subject reserved for academia – but the opposite is true! Theology leads us into a deeper understanding of God, humanity, and the world in which we live. Understanding correct theology ( orthodoxy ) allows us to live God-centered, theologically-sound lives as we practice Christian doctrine ( orthopraxy ). The initial question which arises is quite simple – what is theology? In short, theology is the study of God! If we break apart the word, we see theo , meaning “God,” and logos, meaning “word” or “speech.” You may be familiar with St. John’s prologue to his gospel, in which he declares, “In the beginning was the Word [Logos] ” (Jn. 1:1). In other words, we could translate theology as “God talk”! And that truly is what theology is – talking about God in a coherent way. Theology is more than just taking scattered opinions and different references and smattering them together; rather, theology is talking about God in a way that makes sen...

Theology is not a made-up field of study; we have sources that inform our theological understanding. Perhaps the most well-known approach to discerning a doctrine is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral – named after the famous reformer John Wesley. (It is important to note that, although the concept is named after Wesley, he himself did not create it.) As we seek to understand a Christian belief, we go to four points on this geometric hermeneutic: Scripture. God’s word is the first and foremost source for informing our theology. It has complete authority and trumps all other sources. Tradition. How has the Christian church historically handled this doctrine? Often, the church has been faced with opposition, which forced it into crafting a specific doctrine, as we will discover in our studies on Christology and pneumatology. Reason. God gave us minds for a reason. Does it make sense? Experience. This is the weakest of the sides, but how we experience God does matter. The key is t...

Jonah: Flooded with Grace (I) Catch of the Day Jonah 1:1-17 Today, we begin a two-week series on the life of Jonah entitled Flooded with Grace, and the title of today’s message is “Catch of the Day.” We want to answer those questions you gave us last Tuesday (and, if you have more, you can still write them down later), but I first wanted to take a little bit of time before we answer those questions to discuss the concept of grace. The questions you gave us are awesome, but I think that they require a little stronger understanding of God’s merciful nature before we can tackle them. So we’re going to be flying over the book of Jonah to see God’s grace in action. In this short yet powerful story, we’ll see how God loves, pursues, and offers grace to all of us. That will be very important as we look at some of your guys’ questions later. Also, it is my understanding you studied Jonah last year, but I want to study his life again so that we can gain a better grip on what ...

Series:  Relationships (XI) Message:  Meet Your Maker Scripture:  Psalm 139:1-16, 139:23-24 (Good to be back...hope you are having a fantastic summer with the fantastic interns...) Let’s review the two verses I hear you have been memorizing... 1 Peter 4:8 ‘Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.’ Ephesians 4:2 ‘Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.’ I’ve been asked to carry your summer-long study of relationships under the theme of a relationship with God. Now, this is perhaps the hardest one to grasp because we can’t see God like we would see a friend or parent or authority figure. But, trust me, a relationship with God is important because all other relationships fall underneath it. Today, we are going to look at Psalm 139, which is one of the 150 ancient songs that are collected in the Bible. It’s a famous psalm of David, who, when writing, is facing all of these enem...

The branch of theology that deals with salvation is known as soteriology . It strives to answer three main questions: What did Christ’s death on the Cross accomplish? How do I get saved? Once I’m saved, what happens? The first question deals with the subject of atonement , and the third deals with conversion and sanctification (the process of holiness). Although there are many competing views of atonement and sanctification, these two subjects are relatively uncontroversial compared to the second question. It is here that we wonder how we are saved and to what extent humans and/or works have to do in the salvation process. I want to talk primarily about the means of salvation according to the two main camps: Reformed and Arminian theologies. What is Salvation? It helps to begin with a working definition of salvation. Salvation is the process by which we are saved from sin and welcomed into new life with Christ. It is not simply a one-time event; the rami...