Scripture identified as “NKJV” is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

“each of China’s major religious organizations recently published five-year work plans to ‘sinicize… the interpretation of religious doctrines, sermons, rituals, and architectural styles of places of worship in order to conform to the CCP’s ideological and policy requirements.’” - World

“The ‘Super Bowl Sunday’ of the modern church calendar is marked to proclaim the victory of Christ, but with that date comes very specific ideas of success and uniquely heavy burdens required to achieve them.” - C.Today

“For my part, I was curious about how well ChatGPT could articulate fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. Could the AI chatbot pass a test of Christian orthodoxy?” - Dale Chamberlain

“While there were sharp political and theological differences between the Social Gospel and Christian right movements, their similarities are underappreciated and provide warnings about tying Christianity to a particular political platform.” - Providence

“Fewer Catholic (35%) and White non-evangelical Protestant parents (29%) say this is extremely or very important to them.” - Pew

“Tensions are high at this week’s General Synod, with leaders on both sides frustrated with the suggested compromise on same-sex marriage.” - C.Today

Also: Church of England submits blessings for same-sex couples to fierce debate in Synod - RNS

In various ways, Scripture reveals that God has been selective in what He has accepted from humans in worship:

1. Any stone altars that were made of any hewn stones have been polluted altars, and all worship offered therefore on any such altars has been unacceptable

2. Leaven could be used in in one kind of offering but not in another

3. Honey could not be used in any offerings by fire

Based on this data and other data that I plan to present in this thread, I would like to discuss what we should believe about divine selectivity in worship in areas about which God may not have given such specific revelation.

What is the big deal about Jewish Roots? How can we better understand Jesus by examining the debates of His day? Why should we care if He derived some of His teaching from Old Testament passages?

The answer is simple: context. Jewish Roots studies can contribute toward increasing the Biblical context; when we increase context, we increase understanding.

As a conservative evangelical, I hold the Scriptures in high regard. My reverence for the Scriptures means I seek to interpret them fairly, using a method described by the term, “Historical-Grammatical.” Norman Geisler comments in The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics:

“Some of the commentaries listed below are excellent in some respects, but argue for critical views that are unpersuasive. Commentaries with an asterisk (*) require a knowledge of the Greek text.” - 9 Marks

“The expansion of the universe is not chaotic; it is extraordinarily fine-tuned. Decades ago, Robert Dicke… calculated that for physical life to be possible in the universe, the cosmic expansion rate must be fine-tuned to within one part in 10⁵⁵” - Reasons to Believe

“…does a good job balancing what the reader needs to know with the reader’s need to keep reading. They give the formal rendering if at all possible, but if not possible, they’ll give a functional rendering, often with a footnote about the formal translation.” - Word by Word

“There’s a simple story out there that Americans don’t want religion mixing in politics. The reality is that they don’t want other people’s religion mixing with their politics.” - GetReligion

“Data from The Open Generation: United States… show that U.S. teens are largely interested in learning more about Jesus throughout their life.” - Barna

This is part of a commentary series through the Book of Galatians. It began with Galatians 3:1-6. This series will progress until the book is finished, then circle back and cover ch. 1-2. This article covers Galatians 3:23-29.

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.

Galatians 3:23

Soon it will be three years since we were quarantined. While many churches still live stream as a result (like we do) and gained some out of town viewers, many churches I know of (including ours) have not bounced back when it comes to in-person attendance. But it might simply be that the little churches are shrinking while bigger ones are growing. Or not? What is your church in-person attendance situation since the quarantine?

Poll Results

Has your church in-person attendance recovered from the COVID decline?