Salvation by the Installment Plan?
By Phil Congdon Many Bible teachers are fond of a saying that goes like this: “You are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” Doesn’t that sound neat? It states a fundamental truth—that we are saved by faith alone—then turns around and states that while it is faith alone that […]
Islam and Calvinism: An Uncomfortable Comparison
By Phil Congdon In a packed baseball stadium a few days after 9/11, a Christian minister stood to pray. The minister began: “We pray in the name of our God—the God of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam…” Ever since the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, politicians and celebrities had been presenting Islam […]
Hang In There and Wiggle
This morning I put in a few hours of activity which should earn me some points in the father-of-the-year contest: I drove my son and some of his classmates on a school field trip to go fishing. Fishing with over twenty fourth graders is not really fishing: It is baiting hooks, helping them cast, pulling […]
Thanksgiving…with Tears
originally published in the November/December 2016 edition of Grace in Focus “For we do not grieve as those without hope” (1 Thess 4:13). Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, not just for turkey dinners and a day off work, but because it is an annual reminder — often overlooked but ever-present— that we have much to […]
Back from the Future
Good morning. My name is John. I’m here to tell you my story, a story that really isn’t remarkable at all. In fact, if you had known me during my life you would probably say I was just an ‘average Joe,’ nothing special, certainly not a model Christian. Maybe that’s why I’m here. Everywhere I […]
Facing Trials Biblically
I once delivered a message entitled “Shepherding the Flock in Trying Times.” I alerted Christians to the religious persecution coming to America, identifying where those attacks are coming from. My goal was to prepare believers for a time when standing for moral truth will be grounds for being ostracized or punished. When those times come, […]
10 Things Your Minister Will Never Tell You (If He Believes the Bible!)
A few years ago a member of my congregation told me about a book by a Baptist pastor entitled 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can’t, Because He Needs the Job). I was intrigued: Was this a book to help the average Christian understand what a pastor really thinks? Or maybe a […]
Pursuing Grace
I grew up in a “black-and-white” world, where “right” and “wrong” was ingrained in me by parents, church, and culture. It’s not a bad thing, generally speaking. The moral vacuum that people grow up with today is far worse, resulting in many destroyed lives. But thinking you have right and wrong all figured out is […]
Thanksgiving…With Tears
“For we do not grieve as those without hope” (1 Thess 4:13). Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday, not just for turkey dinners and a day off work, but because it is an annual reminder — often overlooked but ever-present— that we have much to be thankful for. The one we are thankful to, of course, […]
Salvation by Installment Plan?
Many Bible teachers are fond of a saying that goes like this: “You are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” Doesn’t that sound neat? It states a fundamental truth—that we are saved by faith alone—then turns around and states that while it is faith alone that saves us, that […]