Brothers James and John (also in the garden that night) were no better at charming people toward Jesus than was Peter. They tipped their hand when they made a bid to edge the others out for the top posts in Jesus’ administration (seats “at his right hand and left”). Not only that, these were the …
How God Makes Friends
While Peter did his Lancelot imitation on a man he perceived as a threat, Jesus saw him as a man in need. Being more concerned about Malchus’ welfare than his own, Jesus reached out and made him well––evangelism the Jesus way. Jesus’ “enemy love” is always a better apologetic than the sword-swinging aggression of Peter. …
“Put your sword back in its place!”
Since we Christians are more often identified by what we hate than by how we love, it’s not entirely shocking that terms like: “Christian, Church, and Evangelical” in the pre-christian’s lexicon are pejoratives. We’ve made it quite clear what we are against but we haven’t shown them what we’re for. Jesus wasn't identified as “that …
Our Religion Can Beat Up Your Religion!
It starts when they pull out the clobber questions. “How could Jesus be the only way? What’s up with you Christians and gays? How do you explain the crusades?” We can’t seem to let those go unanswered and we pull out our best rebuttals. Block the left jab and respond with a right cross. “Our …
Don’t Attack the Hostages!
Sometimes we Christians forget who the enemy is and we attack the hostages rather than the hostage takers with the sword of our mouths. The Spirit’s sword serves as a surgical scalpel to heal damaged souls as well as a weapon of war to defeat the enemy of our souls. It cuts through the most …
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