Dr Paul Allen

Every earnest believer wants their study of Scripture to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others. I’m not suggesting it should be expected or will always happen, but productive and meaningful Bible study should move you emotionally from time to time. I realize that last sentence is contrary to what many of you have been taught or perhaps read. What do I mean “from time to time”? Shouldn’t we always be emotionally touched or buzzed by Bible study? My answer is that if you’re doing Bible study to feel a particular way, or get some spiritual high, your Bible study is self-focused. To be blunt, that’s the antithesis of Bible study. Bible study is not about you. It’s about gaining knowledge of God and his plan through the means he gave you for that end: the Bible. This doesn’t mean that we don’t learn about God in any other way. Yet God prompted people to write long ago so that those of us living today would know certain things about him, his plan for humanit...

What is your mission? As described in the introduction, BioLogos was founded by Francis Collins, a world leader in genetics and an evangelical Christian . The mission of BioLogos is to invite the church and the world to see the harmony between science and biblical faith as we present an evolutionary understanding of God ’s creation. We hold to these core commitments:   •      We embrace the historical Christian faith , upholding the authority and inspiration of the Bible .   •      We affirm evolutionary creation , recognizing God as Creator of all life over billions of years.   •      We seek truth, ever learning as we study the natural world and the Bible.   •      We strive for humility and gracious dialogue with those who hold other views.   •      We aim for excellence in all areas, from science to education to business practices. What do we mean by the Christian faith?...

The exhortation to “abide” has been frequently misunderstood, as though it were a special, mystical, and indefinable experience. But Jesus makes clear that it actually involves a number of concrete realities. First, union with our Lord depends on His grace . Of course we are actively and personally united to Christ by faith ( John 14:12 ). But faith itself is rooted in the activity of God. It is the Father who, as the divine Gardener, has grafted us into Christ. It is Christ, by His Word, who has cleansed us to fit us for union with Himself (15:3). All is sovereign, all is of grace. Second, union with Christ means being obedient to Him . Abiding involves our response to the teaching of Jesus: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you …” ( John 15:7a ). Paul echoes this idea in Colossians 3:16 , where he writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” a statement closely related to his parallel exhortation in Ephesians 5:18 : “be filled with the Spirit.” In a nutshell...

If God were to appear in this room in His holiness, we would all just go unconscious. We wouldn't be able to bear it up. That is why when we go to heaven we have to have a glorified body with glorified eyes to even be able to look upon this holy, awesome, glorified God in heaven—or we burn up like a cinder in His very presence.  This is the primary meaning of the holiness of God . The church has always been strongest when it's had its highest regard for the holiness of God.  And those times and epics when it has been weakest have been those times when the church has lost a sense of the vertical holiness of God and want to bring God down to our level, and everything is a horizontal type relationship with God. That is when the church has been the weakest if not even unregenerate. The primary meaning is His transcendent awesome glory.

So you’ve committed to reading the Bible again this year. Praise God . Maybe this is something new for you, one of your resolutions for the New Year . Or maybe you’re a seasoned, veteran reader, just hoping to maintain the patterns God has blessed over many years now. However much or little you have read in the past, though, will not change what’s going to happen soon, probably even some time in the next week. Maybe it’s happened already. You’ll sit down for your time in the word, spend half an hour in Genesis or Deuteronomy or Psalms or Romans, close the book, and have no idea what to do with what you just read. What do you do when Bible reading produces no obvious application — when you walk away from your Bible reading with no fantastic insights, no deep revelations, or even any profound experience of awe or wonder? This happens more often than any of us would like to admit. It unnerves us. I just heard from God, and nothing seems different. What do you do when your Bible re...

Romans 1:18-32 "Although they knew God , they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened" (v. 21). God has revealed Himself so clearly in the natural order that no person will ever be able to stand before the Creator and claim that there is insufficient evidence that He exists and should be worshiped. We have already seen how the Bible teaches this in texts such as Psalm 19 , and to day's passage makes the point with even greater forcefulness. As Paul says in Romans 1:20 , God's "invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made." Romans 1:18-32 proclaims not only that the Lord has plainly revealed Himself in nature, but it also tells us that there are certain limits to natural revelation. To put it simply, we receive enough truth about God in natural...

Appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene after resurrection, Alexander Ivanov, 1835 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The appearances Christ made after He rose from the dead provide the most convincing proof of the resurrection. Scripture records at least ten distinct appearances of Christ between the resurrection and the ascension: to Mary Magdalene ( John 20:11 –18), to other women who had been at the tomb (Matt. 28:8–10), to two disciples on the road to Emmaus ( Luke 24:13–32), to Peter (Luke 24:34), to ten of the eleven remaining apostles, Thomas being absent (Luke 24:36–43; John 20:19 –25), to all eleven apostles , with Thomas present (John 20:26–31), to seven of the apostles on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1–25), to more than five hundred disciples, probably on a mountain in Galilee (1 Cor. 15:7), to James (1 Cor. 15:7), and to the apostles when He ascended to heaven ( Acts 1:3–11). In addition, the risen Christ later appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascu...

First, you have to make sure you're seeking to obey what God has already revealed in Scripture. This includes things like obeying your parents. That's a clear instruction from God. It doesn't really work to ignore God's revealed will but yet expect God to answer specific questions like where you should go to college. As you study God's Word and spend time in prayer, your relationship with God grows and you begin to understand God's character. You will then be in the right place to hear God's instruction for other areas of your life. In addition to Bible study and prayer, be willing to seek godly counsel from a mentor, pastor, or your parents. If we're serious about following God's will , we have to recognize that it's not about getting what we want, but doing what God asks. We must trust that he is faithful and good, and that his will is what's best for us. Related articles Youthwalk (slideshare.net) Clinging to God's Promises...

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Very few pastors would claim that they pray enough for their people. Perhaps it’s an impossible task—no one will ever think they’ve prayed enough. Still, we can see from the example of our Lord and His apostles that praying for our people is of monumental importance. Though the Bible says a great deal about preaching, only a few passages speak directly about sermon preparation (cf. Ezra 7:10 and 2 Timothy 2:15 ). Yet there are many passages that highlight the need for consistent prayer. This is not to say that sermon preparation is unimportant (for it certainly is). Rather, it is to emphasize the vital necessity of prayer. Even pastors need to be reminded that prayer is an essential part of their ministry, and that praying for their people is a biblical priority. So, how consistently do you pray for your people? The apostles devoted themselves both to the Word and to prayer ( Acts 6:4 ). We should also be devoted t...

For Love or Money (1993 film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) What we do with money really matters — for the gospel frontiers and for our own families. Whether we daydream about it, or ignore it and wish it would just go away, or hoard it, or spend it, how we handle money reveals a lot about us. “Where your treasure is,” says Jesus , “there your heart will be also” (Matthew  6:21 ). Some of the Bible ’s gravest warnings deal with money. These are some of the sharpest words in all of Paul’s letters: Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. ( 1 Timothy 6:9–10) If we take the Scriptures seriously, we’re right to be at least a little bit scared about what our sinful souls might do with money. Tool in ...

“ Fifty Shades of Grey ” according to box office analysts, the carnally erotic full length motion picture brought in $94.4 million over the extended Valentine’s Day weekend.Thanks to mass marketing visionaries, it seems as if the bedroom of society has been transformed overnight into a chamber of bondage. It seems as if the American culture has finally learned to normalize darkness. But there is also one more thing that we can be sure of with the release of “Fifty Shades of Grey:” the black and white clarity of the Bible has strangely turned grey in the lives of many in the church. Perhaps the most visible example of this has been Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson , who hasn’t allowed his professed Christianity to stop him from “enjoying” the film. But he is only an example of a much larger problem within  cultural Christianity . Somehow, someway, those who claim Christ have rationalized perversion as being normal. How does that happ...