When I was in Israel in 2011 it seemed like every waitress I had was named either Tirza or Noa. One day I asked a young lady, named Noa, to explain why her name was so incredibly popular. I explained that in Canada, generally speaking, only boys were…

Many people believe that the Book of Ecclesiastes is basically depicting a wise approach to life if there were no resurrection from the dead. This Easter weekend, we celebrate the fact that there is a resurrection from the dead, and of course, that…

Easter 2020 was like no Easter in living memory. The global pandemic due to COVID19 caused most churches in North America and around the world to pause large gatherings to allow some breathing space for health officials to understand and hopefully…

The story told in The Gospel of John about Jesus going or not going to the Feast of Booths has always made me a little nervous. At first glance it appears to present Jesus as lying to his brothers about his intention to go up to Jerusalem so as to…

There have been a number of pastoral failures over the last several years, from both sides of the evangelical spectrum, each one a painful reminder that pastors are far from perfect. Moral weakness, shocking insensitivity and gross negligence have…

According to the Apostle Paul, petty tribalism keeps us from growing in our faith and achieving our full potential as followers of Jesus Christ: “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in…

Disunity in the church has always been a problem: “I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” (1…

The desire to change the world is characteristic of the born again, Spirit filled Christian. Jesus said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4 ESV) That verse alone would seem to indicate that a Christian ought to…

Christians all over the western world are waking up to the reality that we no longer occupy a privileged position within the majority culture. Increasingly, we find ourselves being pushed to the outer margins. The passage of Bill C-4 in Canada and…

Are we to make disciples of people FROM all nations or are we to make disciples OF all nations? I suppose you could make an argument that, at least in English, both options are grammatically possible. The text reads as follows: “All authority in…

Until Jesus returns to reign and rule over all things to the glory of the Father, Christians will find themselves living under two different forms and expressions of authority. Jesus addressed this head on saying: “Therefore render to Caesar the…

As long as the church has existed it appears that there have been some people making too much of the law and some people making too little. The Apostle Paul spent a great deal of his time pushing back against those who were making too much of the…