Showing results by narrator "Glenn Parkinson" in All Categories

Making Me traces the biblical message that personal identity is rooted in God’s design and must therefore be discovered rather than invented. I do not make myself; God is making me. Our culture insists that each person define themselves. As a result, what it means to be human has fragmented into disconnected shards that threaten to tear society apart. Even Christian fellowship can shatter into pieces suspiciously resembling the cracks in our culture, making it hard to see Jesus in the whole.

In his last recorded letter to the Church, the Apostle Peter highlighted a peculiar list of seven qualities as his final legacy. What he said about this carefully constructed guide is extraordinary. This remarkable list was Peter’s summary of how Jesus Christ had discipled him. Jesus identified Peter as his prototype disciple, the first of many as the kingdom of God advances throughout the world. Peter’s guide will help anyone who wishes to follow Jesus as he did.

Nobody meant to do it. But somehow, “stewardship” has become church code for “giving to support the church”. Giving to support the church is a real and legitimate need. But stewardship is about the image of God, who and what we were made to be. As such, it is the goal of gospel salvation. It describes wisdom and health and happiness in Christ. It describes a huge part of what we must teach our children.

Faith that is alive puts the truth into practice. Christian faith rests upon divine truths woven throughout the Bible. But to become living faith, these truths must inspire a set of convictions that shape the way we live. What are the central truths of the Bible? What does a life shaped by those truths look like in the real world? By sketching core biblical ideas and pairing them with corresponding character studies from the Old and New Testaments, 14 simple convictions emerge.

Ask any child, or adult for that matter, what they associate with the biblical figure of Daniel, and lions come to mind. We marvel at a faith willing to face hungry lions rather than fail in service to God. If we remember anything else from the book, it’s the amazing experience of his three friends, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego, who willingly faced a fiery furnace rather than compromise their faith.... But the Book of Daniel does more than demonstrate faith.

The New Testament book of Revelation was meant to be one of the most potent and practical in the Bible. But popular interpretations strive to identify specific people and events which simply are not there. When Revelation’s images are recognized as familiar ideas drawn largely from the Old Testament, the book can change the way we live by changing the way we see the world.