Dr Paul Allen

Dan Delzell Pastor Andy Stanley raised more than a few eyebrows 11 years ago when he shared a story about a couple in his church who got a divorce after the husband began a sexual relationship with another man. Dr. Albert Mohler Jr. described the incident this way: “Stanley clearly and repeatedly stressed the sin of adultery, but then left the reality of the homosexual relationship between the two men unaddressed as sin. To the contrary, he seemed to normalize their relationship.”  And then five years ago, lightning struck again when Andy argued that the Christian faith must be “unhitched” from the Old Testament. Sadly, those who downplay and dismiss the Word of God are terribly misguided and spiritually adrift. Andy continued his assault on Scripture last year when he said, “I know 1 Corinthians 6, and I know Leviticus, and I know Romans 1, so interesting to talk about all that stuff. But just, oh my goodness, a gay man or woman who wants to worship their Heavenly Father, who did not

According to Pastor Andy Stanley, Dr. Al Mohler’s “version of Christianity draws lines, and Jesus drew circles. He drew circles so large and included so many people in His circle that it consistently made religious leaders nervous. And His circle was big enough to include sinners like me, and I come from a long line of sinners like me.” Yes, “On one occasion, Jesus said, ‘Come to Me, all weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. You will find rest for your souls. All. That’s a big circle. That’s the invitation of our Savior. That’s the invitation of our church.” Indeed, as a church, Pastor Stanley stated, “We decided 28 years ago, we draw circles, we don’t draw lines, we draw big circles.” The truth is that Jesus drew both circles and lines and if we don’t do both, we hurt those we are called to help. On the one hand, God’s love, expressed in Jesus, is massive beyond words. Jesus died for our sins. He took the punishment for our guilt. He was pronounced guilty so that we could be p

There are  four reasons  I can think of to pay concerted attention to the older of the two biblical testaments…and NOT 'unhitch' the Old Testament. 1. The O ld Testament, like the New Testament, is inspired and profitable. Ignoring the Old Testament betrays a leaky view of inspiration. It’s an inconstant inerrancy.  The life-verse of inerrantists is  2 Tim  3:16 . But the “ All Scripture ” of our mantra is referring to the  graphē  (writings) Timothy had at  his  disposal, namely, the Old Testament. Since every word of it was “ breathed out by God ,” it behooves us to treat every word with due respect to its provenance. One example of how Jesus viewed the plenary, verbal inspiration of the Old Testament is shown when he uses the present tense to make a theological point from the Old Testament; “I  am  the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” therefore there must be a resurrection since those men are alive; because God did not say “I  was  the God of the late Abrah

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” ( Ephesians3:20 ) This amazing assurance of God ’s unlimited ability to answer our prayers is related to a unique “power [ Greek dunamis] that worketh in us.” Paul had used the same word twice before in this same epistle, speaking of “the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe” and “the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power” ( Ephesians 1:19 ; 3:7). “Effectual working” in the original is one word, energeia , from which we get our word “energy.” Such power working in us is actually nothing less than the presence of God Himself. Its very first occurrence is in the model prayer . “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever” ( Matthew 6:13 ). It is this “power of God unto salvation” that is received when we first believe on Christ through the gospel ( Romans 1:16 ). It has been s

There is a strong anti-Christian sentiment emerging. How will you respond? Atheists are embedded in Universities, newspapers etc. So what will you do? To help you we have a list. First Darwin and Evolution. These are scientists who follow Christ:  Biologos.org   They believe that God directed evolution - they do not believe in evolution but God sovereignly directed all actions leading to Adam and Eve. Some believers struggle with this group as you have sin and death before Adam. But they state the Bible in Genesis describes theology and they describe the process.  Do I agree with everything these men say?  No.  (I don’t even agree with everything I say!)  But I think you’ll find a wealth of wisdom and practical insights about the truth of Christianity from these men and organizations.   I would start with 9.  Lee Strobel . Lee was a Chicago journalist atheist who examined the claims of Christianity and was convinced and got saved. He has many books. Lee's str

Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows a vertical section focusing on Jesus. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” M

Image via Wikipedia When Peter preached the truth  about Jesus   Christ in  Acts  chapter two, he left thousands of listeners wondering what they should do next. The apostle’s response in verse 38 is simple. He says, “ Repent , and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” As a result, 3,000 people were added to their numbers that day. Is this the message of most churches today? Does it seem strange that Peter said “repent” instead of “believe”? Actually, Scripture often uses these concepts together. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. Both are essential for salvation and each is dependent upon the other. But, in terms of salvation, you can’t separate faith and repentance. To be saved, you must place faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins . That decision requires a change of mind, or repentance, about your way of life. Both happen at the same time. Yet, many people mistakenly believe they must repent before they ca

Andy Stanley wrapped up day one of the 2010 Leadership Summit. Here are some of the highlights from his talk: “Every organization has problems that shouldn’t be solved and tensions that shouldn’t be resolved.” “If you resolve some tensions, it’ll lead to other tensions.” “Progress doesn’t depend on the resolution of tensions but on the management of those tensions.” “If it’s a problem that keeps resurfacing, it’s a tension to be managed.” “The role of leadership is to leverage the tension for the benefit of the organization.” “Often times the right person doesn’t win the argument, but someone wins the argument.” “Certain tensions are the key to progress.” for leaders… “Continually give value to both sides, and don’t weigh in too heavily with your personal biases.” “Don’t allow strong personalities to win the day.” “Don’t think in terms of balance – think in terms of rhythm. “As a leader, never try to be fair.”