Out of Neutral | Grace Baptist Church
Laying hold of the fullness of life Jesus calls us to.
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Laying hold of the fullness of life Jesus calls us to.
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More and more about our world feels senseless and unjust. And then, when a crisis hits in our own personal circumstances, it only strengthens the doubts: Does God know what He’s doing? An encounter with God pictured in the Book of Job gives us some truths to hang onto when the pain is deep, and life doesn’t make sense.
When you’re being bullied, it can feel like your world is shutting down. Abusers have a way of making you feel as if there’s no escape and make you doubt yourself, your view of reality, and your hope. Faith may not remove bullying, but it can give you solid reasons for hope when everything around you tells you to despair.
We hear people talking more and more today about karma. The word expresses the cause-and-effect principle whereby a person’s actions determine what will happen to them. Understanding how the Bible introduces the concept of karma helps us see its weaknesses and where its remedy lies.
Sometimes, our struggles with grief and depression are made worse by feelings of guilt. We feel badly that we’re not more optimistic about what we’re going through. Often the problems is that we’ve underestimated the depth of human pain and missed the balance of the Bible’s teaching regarding suffering.
When suffering enters our lives, we naturally ask difficult questions. But the Book of Job reveals a deeper question being asked of us: Do we love God only for His gifts, or because He is worthy of worship?
Recently, I had a comment from a listener who said, “If you give the same Bible to two billion people and tell them to interpret it for themselves, won’t they come up with more than two billion interpretations?” They then explained that the Catholic solution to this problem is the Pope. I'd like to consider the problem the listener raises and the solution that he offers.
Many people are anxious about current events. If you’re one of them, these biblical truths about the future may help you reframe how you see the headlines and find peace amid the noise.
From Constantine to modern politics, Christians have wrestled with the relationship between church and state. This article explains the biblical distinction between the two and why the gospel advances through persuasion and spiritual power, not coercion and political force.
Should Christians support laws that make it harder to be Muslim? If you had the political power to outlaw atheism, would you use it? Should religious freedom be a Christian right or a human right? Many people haven’t thought carefully about these questions, but history shows us why we should.
Today, people are quick to criticize the legalistic vision of Sunday that was common in the past but have often failed to replace it with anything else. How should a Christian understand Sunday, and what, if anything, makes it different from every other day?
Every Christian tradition has to address the same question about the Lord’s Supper: what exactly is happening? Understanding the views and the Scriptures that support the various positions can only deepen a person’s experience of the Lord’s Supper. Let’s consider the views of Rome, Zwingli, and Calvin.
Walk into almost any church, and you’ll see much that is familiar. The differences aren’t as obvious, but over time, their impact is unmistakable. While there are a number of priorities that Baptist churches hold in common, two in particular distinguish them from other historic denominations. Understanding what they are and why Baptists hold to them provides a helpful framework for evaluating the church.
When I first trusted in Jesus, I was excited to have found peace with God and the hope of heaven. But that was about all I understood. The more I read the Bible, the more I realized that salvation is far bigger and deeper than I had ever imagined.
Total depravity explains why humanity’s deepest problem is not a lack of effort, but a sinful nature inherited from Adam. This article explores Scripture’s teaching on spiritual death, human inability, and God’s gracious work of making sinners alive in Christ.
Most of us would never speak to another person the way we speak to ourselves. The voice in our head feeds us false information, replays failures, and whispers that it’s hopeless. It’s loudest when we let our guard down, when confidence takes over, or when the path ahead feels hard. We usually assume that the inner voice is just “us,” but Scripture suggests that something far more is going on.
The Bible describes three key ways that God’s Spirit transforms a person. Seeking Him in these areas invites more of the change that He’s pleased to give.
The most challenged truth about Jesus is that He is both God and man. Muslims claim this results in multiple gods. Jews believe that it’s blasphemy. Others just think that it’s a myth. But a God who stepped into human history is just what we need. This post examines why.
Out of the blue, a church member said to me, “I feel the attraction of Catholicism. The idea of praying to Mary would be a lot easier for me than praying to a God called ‘Father.’” She went on to share how severe her own father had been and how he died when she was still in her early teens. He had left her with scars, and they got in the way of her relationship with God. While her situation was unique, many people experience a similar struggle. Overcoming this involves a number of deliberate steps. Consider these three.
Why do Christians confess the Trinity when the word never appears in Scripture? This post looks at the key Old and New Testament passages that convinced me God is three persons while at the same time one being.
Many Christians respect the Bible yet undermine its power. This article explores four common assumptions about Scripture that subtly shape how we read, trust, and respond to God’s Word.
This year’s most read articles and most watched videos ranged from practical topics like food, fitness, and small groups to more existential ones like death, judgment, and eternity. Here are the 10 posts that drew the most attention. See if there’s something you missed the first time or want to give a second look.
Christians still wrestle with questions that shaped the early church: How could God be three and one at the same time? How is Jesus both God and man? Centuries of challenges drove believers back to Scripture, refining doctrine and producing the clarity found in the Athanasian Creed.
Emperor Constantine assembled over 300 church leaders to try and resolve an issue that threatened to divide the church. What they affirmed about the nature of God has become the definitive statement of Christian belief for the last 1700 years. Let’s look at the creed and consider why it’s so important.
The Apostles’ Creed offers a concise summary of historic Christian belief. This guide explains each section of the creed, shows why it has shaped discipleship for centuries, and helps believers understand and share the foundational truths at the heart of our faith.
Many Christians are nervous of creeds assuming that they put tradition in the place of the Scriptures. But the Bible itself contains creeds, and historic confessions have guarded the church from error. This post explains why creeds matter and how they serve biblical faithfulness.
