September 16, 2015

Never Satisfied & Always Wanting More: Uncovering the Deadly Sin of Envy

September 16, 2015/ Matthew Weaver

As Christians and followers of Christ, we are all on the same playing field. The reality is that we have been saved by the rich-redeeming grace of Jesus, and we are in constant, daily need of this grace because of our sinful tendencies and actions.

One deadly sin that needs to be addressed and attacked with God’s grace and power is envy. Regardless of our situation and circumstance, we all struggle with envy to some extent because we are naturally selfish apart from God’s work in our lives. Thomas Aquinas defined envy as: “Sorrow for another’s good,” and Jonathan Edwards wrote: “Envy is a spirit of opposition to other’s comparative happiness or the happiness of others considered as compared with their own.”

September 10, 2015

The Queen of the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride

September 10, 2015/ Dustin Turner

Throughout the history of the church, when someone has discussed the seven deadly sins, they’ve recognized that one particular sin lays at the foundation of all other sins. That sin is pride.

The great 20th century apologist, C. S. Lewis, said this about pride: “the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

September 08, 2015

The Church and Art

September 08, 2015/ Ross Young

Someone looking around at the landscape of American churches today might think to herself that art and the artistic spirit are relocated to the sidelines. She might see church more as a well-oiled machine or a carefully crafted production than a canvas for God's creativity. In some ways, she might be right.

But it hasn't always been that way.

September 03, 2015

Sin Kills: Why the Seven Deadly Sins Still Matter

September 03, 2015/ Dustin Turner

Recently, I’ve been heartbroken over the sin and brokenness in our world. Often we see this kind of sin committed from afar, but over the past week or so, it has been in my back yard. I’ve seen several men confess and repent of secret sin and another take his own life because the weight of his sin felt too immense to confess. I’m not naive to know that throughout our world sin is rampant and seemingly growing even more evil. It’s just that this week, sin hit a little closer to home and broke me.

August 19, 2015

Children Need the Gospel

August 19, 2015/ John Meche

The parent/child relationship is a mirror, reflecting to us the relationship between us and our heavenly Father. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 12 encourages the church to endure the race that God has set before us, because "God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?" (Hebrew 12:7). Parenting is a unique opportunity for the parent and child alike to understand symbolically the nature and character of God. Parents provide, love, nurture, discipline, correct, bless, and teach. All of these things are done out of love in hopes that the child will grow into godly maturity.

August 05, 2015

Let's Talk About Mental Health, Pt. 2

August 05, 2015/ Ross Young

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Dustin Lunceford and Christi Castleberry, two Vintage Partners and Masters students in Marriage and Family Therapy at NOBTS, to discuss the issue of mental health and how it relates to Christianity.

You can find Part 1 of our conversation here. We pick up in Part 2 looking at how families and church communities can point people struggling with mental illness to Jesus.

August 04, 2015

Children Are Sinners

August 04, 2015/ John Meche

When Adam and Eve fell into sin in the Garden of Eden, the whole human race was affected by the curse (Genesis 3:14-24).

This means that no person since the fall (excluding Jesus) has been born without sin. Romans 5:12 states, "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." No one escapes death and the curse of the fall. This means that everyone is born with a bent toward sin and guilty of sin.

July 23, 2015

Let’s Talk about Mental Health, Pt. 1

July 23, 2015/ Ross Young

For the better part of my college experience, I struggled with depression.

I was a Christian, but I had allowed flaws to develop in how I viewed God and how I viewed myself. The lies I believed and my emotional state wreaked havoc on relationships in my life with the people I was close to.

July 15, 2015

Children are a Blessing

July 15, 2015/ John Meche

In a culture where convenience, freedom, and flexibility reign supreme, children are simply an inconvenience. They get in the way of premarital sex (and postmarital sex for that matter). They ruin a perfectly good career. They inhibit a couple’s ability to travel or eat at restaurants. They gnaw away at time, money, and sanity. Backpacking across Europe suddenly becomes a week at Disney, and the shiny new Mustang becomes a Chrysler minivan precipitated with toddler snack foods.

July 13, 2015

Divine Encounters

July 13, 2015/ Matthew Weaver

Personal evangelism.

Those are two words that have personally intimidated, frightened, and turned me away over the years. I think of the people on the streets who are screaming “Turn or burn!” or even a forced conversation with someone with the hopes of them making a quick “decision” for Christ.

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