Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
The Consequences of Hope
Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.
Hope is essentially a moral virtue. We hope that the future is better than the past, we hope for better things to come. Hope is a moral fingerprint of God in the hearts of human beings: we have within us the sense that God did not create the world this way, and that there is something better waiting for His children. As Christ-followers, that hope is magnified as we look to Christ.
In 1 John 3, the apostle tells the believers that one day we will see Jesus and be like him. He then adds, “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” In other words, because of our hope in Christ, we try now to live like Christ.
Christian hope is not just for that moment of death when we will be like Christ and see him as he is. It is also for here and now: that I have the life of Christ living in me today.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Hope is essentially a moral virtue. We hope that the future is better than the past, we hope for better things to come. Hope is a moral fingerprint of God in the hearts of human beings: we have within us the sense that God did not create the world this way, and that there is something better waiting for His children. As Christ-followers, that hope is magnified as we look to Christ.
In 1 John 3, the apostle tells the believers that one day we will see Jesus and be like him. He then adds, “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” In other words, because of our hope in Christ, we try now to live like Christ.
Christian hope is not just for that moment of death when we will be like Christ and see him as he is. It is also for here and now: that I have the life of Christ living in me today.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Jeremiah 24-God's Grace
Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.
In the 24th chapter of Jeremiah, we read this good news concerning God’s attitude toward His people: “Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down…”
This is good news. God will look upon his people as good and grant them grace. The catch is that up to this point in Jeremiah, these people have not been good, and they have been rebellious against God. So what makes them good in God’s eyes?
Quite simply, God gives grace. These people, like you and me, have done nothing to deserve God’s favor, but they receive it and I receive it because God has decided to give it. Relationship with God begins when He extends love to the unloveable.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
In the 24th chapter of Jeremiah, we read this good news concerning God’s attitude toward His people: “Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down…”
This is good news. God will look upon his people as good and grant them grace. The catch is that up to this point in Jeremiah, these people have not been good, and they have been rebellious against God. So what makes them good in God’s eyes?
Quite simply, God gives grace. These people, like you and me, have done nothing to deserve God’s favor, but they receive it and I receive it because God has decided to give it. Relationship with God begins when He extends love to the unloveable.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Da Vinci Code-Gnosticism
Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.
One of the earliest challengers to Christianity was a religious off-shoot called Gnosticism. While Gnosticism is complicated, one of its core tenants is that Jesus was divine, but was never human-he was spirit but not flesh.
You may not know it, but Gnostic writings are experiencing a resurgence in popularity thanks in large part to the book and movie, The Da Vinci Code. The author, Dan Brown, claims that several accounts of Christ’s life that were suppressed by the church have now been discovered and they paint a very human Jesus who never claimed to be God.
In an unfortunate and ironic twist, in order to argue that Jesus was only a man, The Da Vinci Code relies on Gnostic writings. You see, those writings actually agree that Jesus was divine-what they don’t believe is that Jesus was only a man. Brown might have missed that day in history class.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
One of the earliest challengers to Christianity was a religious off-shoot called Gnosticism. While Gnosticism is complicated, one of its core tenants is that Jesus was divine, but was never human-he was spirit but not flesh.
You may not know it, but Gnostic writings are experiencing a resurgence in popularity thanks in large part to the book and movie, The Da Vinci Code. The author, Dan Brown, claims that several accounts of Christ’s life that were suppressed by the church have now been discovered and they paint a very human Jesus who never claimed to be God.
In an unfortunate and ironic twist, in order to argue that Jesus was only a man, The Da Vinci Code relies on Gnostic writings. You see, those writings actually agree that Jesus was divine-what they don’t believe is that Jesus was only a man. Brown might have missed that day in history class.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Da Vinci Code-Jesus Is God
Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.
One of the historical revisions pivotal to the plot of Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code is what happened at an early church council in Nicea. In 325 AD the Roman emperor Constantine called together the church leaders of the day to settle a set of serious questions, including whether Jesus was God. The reason the church leaders gathered was because false teachers were spreading the idea that Jesus was not God.
According to Brown’s book, however, the reason Constantine called the council was to manufacture the idea that Jesus was God. Unfortunately, none of the attendees of the council at Nicea agreed. Even the dissenters of the vote that declared Jesus to be very God of very God, agreed that Jesus and the disciples all taught that very thing.
So why is Dan Brown’s version so convincing when it is so clearly incorrect? Good question. But I do know that the New Testament record can and should be trusted-Jesus is God.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
One of the historical revisions pivotal to the plot of Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code is what happened at an early church council in Nicea. In 325 AD the Roman emperor Constantine called together the church leaders of the day to settle a set of serious questions, including whether Jesus was God. The reason the church leaders gathered was because false teachers were spreading the idea that Jesus was not God.
According to Brown’s book, however, the reason Constantine called the council was to manufacture the idea that Jesus was God. Unfortunately, none of the attendees of the council at Nicea agreed. Even the dissenters of the vote that declared Jesus to be very God of very God, agreed that Jesus and the disciples all taught that very thing.
So why is Dan Brown’s version so convincing when it is so clearly incorrect? Good question. But I do know that the New Testament record can and should be trusted-Jesus is God.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Da Vinci Code-Dead Sea Scrolls
Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.
With the popularity of The Da Vinci Code book and the coming movie, it is not too shocking how seriously many people take the historical claims Dan Brown makes regarding the early church, the Bible and the life of Christ.
I know it is a piece of fiction, but the problem is that many Christians have been thrown off their guard by his claims about the origin of the Bible among other things. What we need to keep in mind as the movie hits the streets is that Dan Brown’s allegations regarding Christianity are some of the most easily exposed frauds in recent history.
To begin with, Brown claims that the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in the 1940s, revealed hidden secrets about the life of Christ that were suppressed by the early church. The only problem with that one is that the Dead Sea Scrolls say absolutely nothing about the life of Christ.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
With the popularity of The Da Vinci Code book and the coming movie, it is not too shocking how seriously many people take the historical claims Dan Brown makes regarding the early church, the Bible and the life of Christ.
I know it is a piece of fiction, but the problem is that many Christians have been thrown off their guard by his claims about the origin of the Bible among other things. What we need to keep in mind as the movie hits the streets is that Dan Brown’s allegations regarding Christianity are some of the most easily exposed frauds in recent history.
To begin with, Brown claims that the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in the 1940s, revealed hidden secrets about the life of Christ that were suppressed by the early church. The only problem with that one is that the Dead Sea Scrolls say absolutely nothing about the life of Christ.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Gospel of Judas
Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.
Imagine that after you die your child writes your biography. Then imagine that 300 years after your death, someone else entirely disconnected from your life writes another biography, this time with an agenda in mind. Whose biography would you take to be the most accurate portrayal of your life? The answer seems clear, doesn’t it?
But for some reason, it is not to many people. The recent publishing of the so-called gospel of Judas has stirred controversy over the life and death of Jesus Christ. The primary problem, though, is that it was written about 200 years after Christ’s death by a group of people determined to alter the Christian message.
You see, we have the biographies written by the children, the four Gospels in your New Testament and all of them date to within one generation of Christ’s life. So which are you going to believe-the testimony of eye witnesses or the ramblings of a heretical splinter group?
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor of Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Imagine that after you die your child writes your biography. Then imagine that 300 years after your death, someone else entirely disconnected from your life writes another biography, this time with an agenda in mind. Whose biography would you take to be the most accurate portrayal of your life? The answer seems clear, doesn’t it?
But for some reason, it is not to many people. The recent publishing of the so-called gospel of Judas has stirred controversy over the life and death of Jesus Christ. The primary problem, though, is that it was written about 200 years after Christ’s death by a group of people determined to alter the Christian message.
You see, we have the biographies written by the children, the four Gospels in your New Testament and all of them date to within one generation of Christ’s life. So which are you going to believe-the testimony of eye witnesses or the ramblings of a heretical splinter group?
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor of Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
1 John-Spirit as Preserver
Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.
What is the role of the Holy Spirit supposed to be in the life of the believer? What exactly is it that the Spirit does? These are couple of the questions that the apostle John answers for his readers in his Gospel and Epistles.
I think for many of us the answers are shrouded in mystery, and we are not exactly sure what good answers to those questions would be. John, however, provides a couple of straightforward answers. In his Epistles especially, the Holy Spirit is a preserver of truth and a pointer toward Jesus Christ. Christ himself said in John’s gospel that when the Spirit comes, He will guide us into all truth and teach us the things Christ would have taught us Himself. A primary role of the Spirit is as preserver and pointer, not as a source of new and sensational information.
The Spirit wants to show me Jesus today-will I take the time to let that happen?
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
What is the role of the Holy Spirit supposed to be in the life of the believer? What exactly is it that the Spirit does? These are couple of the questions that the apostle John answers for his readers in his Gospel and Epistles.
I think for many of us the answers are shrouded in mystery, and we are not exactly sure what good answers to those questions would be. John, however, provides a couple of straightforward answers. In his Epistles especially, the Holy Spirit is a preserver of truth and a pointer toward Jesus Christ. Christ himself said in John’s gospel that when the Spirit comes, He will guide us into all truth and teach us the things Christ would have taught us Himself. A primary role of the Spirit is as preserver and pointer, not as a source of new and sensational information.
The Spirit wants to show me Jesus today-will I take the time to let that happen?
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Roe for Men
Welcome to Every Thought Captive, I’m Phil Steiger.
Ideas have a way of sinking into our subconscious in ways we don’t always recognize. Bad ideas do the same, and can have disastrous results. In Michigan there is a law suit filed on behalf of a father who wants the right to choose to abort the child his former girlfriend is carrying.
Living in a culture shaped by Roe v. Wade and the language of “choice,” we have started to believe that the ability to choose is more important than a precious human life. Instead of seeing that unborn baby as something of invaluable worth, the father sees it as a burden and nothing more than a choice he should be allowed to make-even if that choice is death.
Choice is not an unqualified good. There are times when the right thing to do is lay aside any rights we think we have and do the right thing. In this unfortunate case, however, choice may win the day and destroy another human life.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Ideas have a way of sinking into our subconscious in ways we don’t always recognize. Bad ideas do the same, and can have disastrous results. In Michigan there is a law suit filed on behalf of a father who wants the right to choose to abort the child his former girlfriend is carrying.
Living in a culture shaped by Roe v. Wade and the language of “choice,” we have started to believe that the ability to choose is more important than a precious human life. Instead of seeing that unborn baby as something of invaluable worth, the father sees it as a burden and nothing more than a choice he should be allowed to make-even if that choice is death.
Choice is not an unqualified good. There are times when the right thing to do is lay aside any rights we think we have and do the right thing. In this unfortunate case, however, choice may win the day and destroy another human life.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
1 John 4-Who Is Jesus?
Welcome to Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger.
As 1 John 4 opens, John encourages his readers to test the spirits and see if they come from God. John’s basic concern is with the tumult being caused by the false prophets and the confusion that resulted in the life of the church. So when John gets to where he is ready to lay out the one guideline he needs the believers to follow, he says that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ was God in flesh is from God.
For John, there is only one good answer to the question, Who is Jesus? Today, there are many different answers to that question, but for the Church, there can be only one answer.
John goes on to say that any spirit that does not confess Christ in this way is not from God. Any movement, book, individual, etc. that supposes to speak to spiritual matters and yet gets this wrong, simply cannot be and should not be trusted.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
As 1 John 4 opens, John encourages his readers to test the spirits and see if they come from God. John’s basic concern is with the tumult being caused by the false prophets and the confusion that resulted in the life of the church. So when John gets to where he is ready to lay out the one guideline he needs the believers to follow, he says that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ was God in flesh is from God.
For John, there is only one good answer to the question, Who is Jesus? Today, there are many different answers to that question, but for the Church, there can be only one answer.
John goes on to say that any spirit that does not confess Christ in this way is not from God. Any movement, book, individual, etc. that supposes to speak to spiritual matters and yet gets this wrong, simply cannot be and should not be trusted.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Spiritual but not Religious
Welcome to Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger.
The Barna Group recently did a study on the growing trend of people who consider themselves spiritual but not religious. These are folks who consider spirituality to be important to their lives, but do not attend Church. Of all unchurched adults, Barna noted that 62% of them consider themselves Christian, but only 4% of them have a biblical worldview.
What this means is that a great deal of Americans consider their Christianity a private matter, and take themselves to be the final authority on what it means to be a Christian.
This highlights a growing trend in today’s society in which people reject the idea of absolute truth and replace it with the much more comfortable belief that they can make things up as they go along. Unfortunately, that brand of relativism breaks down quickly and only leads people further away from the grace and love of Jesus Christ. May the church learn quickly how to make spiritual people a part of the church again.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
The Barna Group recently did a study on the growing trend of people who consider themselves spiritual but not religious. These are folks who consider spirituality to be important to their lives, but do not attend Church. Of all unchurched adults, Barna noted that 62% of them consider themselves Christian, but only 4% of them have a biblical worldview.
What this means is that a great deal of Americans consider their Christianity a private matter, and take themselves to be the final authority on what it means to be a Christian.
This highlights a growing trend in today’s society in which people reject the idea of absolute truth and replace it with the much more comfortable belief that they can make things up as they go along. Unfortunately, that brand of relativism breaks down quickly and only leads people further away from the grace and love of Jesus Christ. May the church learn quickly how to make spiritual people a part of the church again.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Vice and Worldview Consequences
Welcome to Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger.
Recently in San Francisco a large group of teenagers gathered to protest against the corrupting influences of popular culture. That’s right-it was organized by Christian youth leaders and was intended to counter the sin so common in our culture.
Some in civic leadership in San Francisco met the Christian youth with less than open arms. One city official called it a “fascist mega pep-rally.” A city assemblymen said, “they're obnoxious, disgusting, and should get out.” Now, obviously not everyone in San Francisco would agree, but I think it is clear what holding to a worldview that celebrates so much vice will do for a person’s moral sensibilities.
When we reject a Christian view of the world and embrace some form of sin and rebellion, righteousness becomes disgusting to us. The prophet Isaiah said there were those who called good evil and evil good, and Jeremiah tells us there are some who are so adept at evil, they can’t even recognize the good.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Recently in San Francisco a large group of teenagers gathered to protest against the corrupting influences of popular culture. That’s right-it was organized by Christian youth leaders and was intended to counter the sin so common in our culture.
Some in civic leadership in San Francisco met the Christian youth with less than open arms. One city official called it a “fascist mega pep-rally.” A city assemblymen said, “they're obnoxious, disgusting, and should get out.” Now, obviously not everyone in San Francisco would agree, but I think it is clear what holding to a worldview that celebrates so much vice will do for a person’s moral sensibilities.
When we reject a Christian view of the world and embrace some form of sin and rebellion, righteousness becomes disgusting to us. The prophet Isaiah said there were those who called good evil and evil good, and Jeremiah tells us there are some who are so adept at evil, they can’t even recognize the good.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Music and Worldview
Welcome to Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger.
Have you ever heard anyone say, “It’s just music”? Many people are convinced that music is nothing more than a matter of taste, and there is no real way to judge between good and bad music.
Recently two towns in the UK have discovered that playing Classical music over their PA systems either calms down the rowdier element, or convinces them to leave the property altogether. Why is does this happen? I think it is far more than just that some young people find Classical music boring. I would argue that it is because good music discourages bad behavior, and bad music encourages bad behavior.
A lot of what passes for music these days caters to the lowest parts of our humanity. Much of it encourages destructive social behavior and vice in general, and discourages virtue. In the process of worldview formation, music is not an innocent bystander.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
Have you ever heard anyone say, “It’s just music”? Many people are convinced that music is nothing more than a matter of taste, and there is no real way to judge between good and bad music.
Recently two towns in the UK have discovered that playing Classical music over their PA systems either calms down the rowdier element, or convinces them to leave the property altogether. Why is does this happen? I think it is far more than just that some young people find Classical music boring. I would argue that it is because good music discourages bad behavior, and bad music encourages bad behavior.
A lot of what passes for music these days caters to the lowest parts of our humanity. Much of it encourages destructive social behavior and vice in general, and discourages virtue. In the process of worldview formation, music is not an innocent bystander.
This has been Every Thought Captive. I’m Phil Steiger, pastor at Quail Lake Community Church and Director of Dayspring Center for Christian Studies. For more information, please visit everythoughtcaptive.org.
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