The Beatitudes Inverted

The present Chapel Chat is an unusual one for me. Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is one of the most well-known parts of Scripture, and is, for that very reason, […]

Christmas Greeting from Pastor Chad

“He came to his own, yet his own received him not” (John 1:11). The Jews of the first century were a hardened people. Weary from the struggle against sin and […]

Self-Knowledge That Comes From Faith

All of us have a basic human need to understand who we are. When we are young, many of us are inclined to identify ourselves with our hobbies, our schoolwork, […]

On The Sea Of Life

Is life a journey or a playground? A journey has a destination, and it has a road that leads to that destination. A playground doesn’t lead anywhere; there are no […]

You Didn’t Know There Was A Test

Recently, my wife asked me to do something and I didn’t do it. A little later, I asked my son to do something and he didn’t do it either. Where […]

Reflections On Holy War

What are we to make of the presence of holy war in the Scripture? When the descendants of Jacob came out of Egypt, they were organized into the people we […]

The Joy Of Sects

Caesar once said “Divide and conquer.” But there is an even more sinister power in the world that knows how to unite and conquer. Among the many values praised beyond […]

There Is Damnation In Numbers

“It is appointed for men to die once and after that to face judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Awhile back, my kids were reading a famous sermon by Jonathan Edwards entitled Sinners […]

Did Paul Have A Choice About Being A Christian?

Did Paul have a choice about being a Christian? Questions about free will are nowhere explicitly dealt with in the Scriptures. The views that theologians have about them must therefore […]

Did Jesus Have To Experience Temptation?

Did Jesus have to experience temptation to know what we go through? Doesn’t he just know? God is omniscient, which literally means that he is “all-knowing.” However, when the Bible […]

What Does It Mean To Be Anointed?

In the Old Testament, the word anointing can be traced to a special oil whose manufacture is prescribed in Exodus 30:22-33. The purpose of this oil was to set apart […]