When we draw in on ourselves in our anxieties and sin, we play right into the devil’s hand. The enemy’s tactics are simple: separate the struggling from the flock by enticing them to respond to their sin and anxiety on their own, with pride, and not Christ and community.  

“I’m sure no one has ever told you this.”
“It’s so bad. You are going to think terrible things about me.”
“Everyone would hate me if they knew what I was thinking.”
“There is no one who loves me for me.”
I’ve heard each of these helpless words from those who sat on the couch in my office. They are raw, vulnerable, and heartbreaking confessions. The words leak their hearts’ crippling loneliness and fears that they are destined to remain alone.
I’ve been there. Discouragement spiraled into depression. I multiplied my angst by entangling myself in sin. I didn’t think anyone would understand. I was too afraid to ask anyone for help. Lies compounded sin.
I remember sitting on the other side, watching my wife Angel slide into depression and then sin. It was debilitating to watch her slip into darkness, and I didn’t know how to get help. I felt frozen. I felt as though there was a piece of me no one could ever understand. It was a lie. But it was a potent lie.
Satan traffics in lies. Jesus hit it on the nose when he called our Enemy “the father of lies” (Jn. 8:44). He wants you to believe that God is not good, that you are alone, and that your shame can never be removed. Those are all profound deceptions. In 1 Peter 5:8, we are reminded to “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Don’t be deceived, Peter says; you must fight to stay out of the enemy’s jaws. There is one who intends to destroy you.
How can we fight the enemy’s lies? It’s not an accident that Peter’s admonition to be on guard against Satan comes after his encouragement for elders to shepherd the flock and then a call to humility.
Peter knows a humble and unified flock is a powerful force against Satan’s wiles.
Read More

Related Posts:

.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);padding-top:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);padding-bottom:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd{background-color:#dddddd;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-layout-overlay{opacity:0.30;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}
.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Paul concludes, “and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). Hope won’t put you to shame, but it’s not the hope of wishing upon a star, or asking the universe or self-will, it is from God almighty and “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” It’s the real deal.

Have you ever begun reading a passage in the Bible and started anticipating where it was going, and then it took a left-hand turn? I recently had one of those moments. In Romans 5, Paul takes four turns, each more surprising than the last. At the core of Paul’s argument is a counter-intuitive perspective on hope.
Having just worked through Abraham’s faith, Paul begins, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2). I’m tracking with Paul here. I got it: faith leads us to peace with God through our relationship with the one who secured that peace, Jesus Christ. And he has also has brought us into grace. Because of this, we rejoice at the in-breaking hope of the glory of God. Yes and yes!
But then Paul’s mind takes a left turn, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,” (Rom. 5:3). Wait, what? We just went from faith to peace to hope to glory to suffering? My mind would have probably moved from glory to heaven or maybe love. What the connection here? I think I see it: the grace we live in causes me to rejoice in the completion of that grace in the incoming glory of God, but that makes me recognize that the completion of that grace won’t come until we go through this time of suffering, and that isn’t a waste, it is doing a work in us.
Paul continues, and now I’m tracking, “and endurance produces character” (Rom. 5:4a). Got it, Paul. I’m with you. The work of suffering produces endurance and character. Any athlete knows this. And we know this of those who have gone through severe challenges in life—
Read More
Related Posts:

We are to look to the saints that have come before, the great cloud of witnesses. We are to battle sin in our flesh today and look forward to the finish line. And who is that finish line? Jesus himself, who has come before us, stands with us today, and stands in front of us. He is our hope.

Are you progressive or conservative? It seems like a simple enough question, but let me complicate it for you. The terms are both tethered to time. The term progressive looks forward. Progressives believe that the best is yet to come. We are growing, evolving and our policies ought to reflect our progressive enlightenment. Conservatives, on the other hand, preserve that which is good from the past. It is our job to aspire to and embody the charter set forth by our founding fathers.
Our politics have forced us to two sides of ring: those looking back and those looking forward. These totalizing lenses have robbed us of a fully orbed biblical ethical vision that directs our eyes forward, and backward, and straight down. And, above all, a biblical ethic casts our vision on a person.
Drawing inspiration from the letter to the Hebrews, let’s consider how we are to look:
Backward
As Christians, we are to look backward. God reminds the Jews again and again to remember. They were to set up cairns (stone monuments) in remembrance, their holidays were moments to recreate their history, and they were to recite their history to their children. In Hebrews 11, the author looks back at the history of faith among God’s people for encouragement and inspiration. He reminds us that by faith, “the people of old received their commendation” (Heb 11:2), and that these remembered faithful ones are those “of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb 11:38).
CS Lewis famously called our predisposition to disregard the wisdom of those who have come before as “chronological snobbery.” We would do well to heed the encouragement of the author of Hebrews and Lewis and not disregard those who have come before.
Forward
As Christians, we are to look forward. We are told that Abraham “was looking forward,” (Heb 11:10), and urged to do likewise. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb 12:1).
The best is not behind us, it lies ahead. We celebrate that we are those who live after Jesus, the incarnate Son of God has come and shown us the fullness of God in flesh. We rejoice that the Spirit of God has now come and indwells those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ. And we look forward to the second coming of Jesus, who will judge “the living and the dead” (2 Tim 4:1).
Read More
Related Posts:

Every leader can grow from criticism, regardless of source or intention….But that truth doesn’t let the one offering criticism off the hook. In 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Paul says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” The author of Hebrews says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… encouraging one another…” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

When I was 20, my childhood church changed leadership. Soon after, the leadership changed the vision statement. I was a junior in college, across the country studying Bible and theology, with head knowledge that far outpaced my experience. Out of the infinite resources of my leadership experience (sarcasm alert!), I generously offered my wisdom free of charge and wrote a letter to the new lead pastor. I’m still embarrassed by that letter.
Twenty-five years later, I’m no stranger to being on the receiving end of those letters (and emails, Facebook messages, and texts). Every letter is an opportunity for me as a leader to grow in wisdom and humility. But every message takes an emotional and spiritual toll as well.
How might do things differently if I could? Paul tells Timothy elders are “worthy of double honor” (1 Tim. 5:17). How do we show our pastors double honor when we think there is criticism we should offer?
Here are three questions I wish I could have asked my 20-year-old self before he sent that critical letter:
1. How close is your relationship?
The truth is, I was merely an acquaintance with the pastor. Was it wise for my first substantive communication to be criticism?
I’ve preached sermons and afterward have had congregants I don’t know come up and offer no comment other than to correct something I missaid. As a pastor, I’m in an awkward position. I want to receive criticism well, but more importantly, I want to get to know them. Worse still is the anonymous commenter on an online service. My co-lead pastor Greg recently received criticism online for something he said during a sermon. He was immediately remorseful of how his clumsy words hurt someone, but the commenter was anonymous and he could not offer an apology.
Imagine that you frequent Lindy’s (a great Tucson burger joint). Your hope isn’t just to get delicious food, but to befriend the employees. One day you get a cheeseburger with a hair in it. That’s going to create some relational strain. If you’ve told your waitress that you appreciate her friendly smile and how hard she works on previous visits, the day you get a hair in your cheeseburger might strengthen your relationship. If your first conversation with the waitress is the hair-in-my-cheeseburger conversation, that’s going to be a challenging way to start a friendship.
You and your pastor are part of a local body together, and God intends for you to have a relationship with each other.[i] Trust is necessary for any healthy relationship. Criticism without relational context will make building a relationship challenging. You are no mere customer at his church, but a partner in God’s mission. Your first aim isn’t to improve your church’s product, but to develop relationships.
The less you know your pastor, the less criticism you should share. Before sharing criticism, I would suggest leaning in and getting to know your pastor: hear his heartbeat, and ask how you can pray for him. Let him know that you are for him. Then, when you offer criticism, it will be done in the context of a relationship where your pastor knows you are for him.
2. How much have you served?
I penned my critical letter to my childhood church from 2,500 miles away. I served faithfully as a high schooler but was now just a summer-attender at the church. My pastor had no idea of any track record I had of service. He shouldn’t have. I never took the initiative to build ongoing support for him and the church.
Read More
Related Posts:

Male and female alike, the Bible exalts the importance of the home as our first place of leadership. What does that mean? There is no minimization of how challenging and important the task of loving your spouse is. There is no diminishment of how difficult and important the task of fathering or mothering is.

Who are the most influential leaders in your life? What made them such great leaders?
I fear that our cultural understanding of leadership is going further astray from true leadership. We Americans seem to have a bizarre attraction to two types of leaders: celebrities and powerful communicators with bold, brash opinions. We judge leaders by the size of their platform.
Some time ago I was asked to speak to the Moms Matter group in our church about healthy leadership in the home and beyond. One of the comments made by the leadership team was that many moms believe they “don’t need to be or can’t be a leader because they are just moms.” We can all similarly dismiss ourselves.
If leadership is influence, then every one of us is called to leadership. God has gifted you with influence. God has called and equipped you to influence your family. God has called and equipped you to influence your friends. God has called and equipped you to influence your church.
You are called to lead.
However, the order in which we develop as leaders is essential. We are called to lead our home first and that leadership is intended to cascade outward.
Some are captivated by the possibility of leading “out there.” That can be a holy aspiration. But if we try to lead “out there” before we lead ourselves and our families first, then we have mixed up God’s order of what leadership was designed to be.
The world gets leadership wrong. Our culture judges leadership by the size of the leaders’ platform.
Read More
Related Posts:

The inclusivist rejects what each worldview says about itself and claims they are compatible against all the evidence every religion has declared about itself. If the inclusivist is correct, then every religion is wrong. That isn’t so inclusive, then, is it?

Christians claim that the only way to restore our relationship with God is through Jesus Christ. This is an exclusive claim: there is only one way to God. But why would God be so narrow? Isn’t it arrogant for Christians to say Christianity is superior to other religions or worldviews?[i] Isn’t inclusivism a better way than exclusivism?
As one bumper sticker and meme says: “God is too big to fit into any one religion.”[ii]
This is the inclusivist or pluralist perspective. It’s the big tent perspective, where all roads lead to ultimate truth and no one way leads to that ultimate reality. You can get there by walking any path you’re on.
Two commonly used analogies give us a sense of what is intended. The first likens truth to a hub on a wheel, with all various religions and perspectives envisioned as spokes on a wheel, meeting at the hub. Whatever spoke you might be doesn’t matter so much. What matters is that we all will ultimately meet at the hub together.
The second analogy likens ultimate reality to the top of a mountain. Many paths might lead up a peak from all sides, but they all meet at the peak. Only there can one have the vantage point to look out and see how these paths could meet up at the same destination.
This inclusivist position resonates with our cultural moment and impulses.
Listen to these three proponents of inclusivism.
Inclusivist Mahatma Gandhi says, “My position is that all great religions are fundamentally equal.”[iii] Gandhi puts forward the inclusivist position that nothing essentially differentiates religions and worldviews.
Inclusivist Oprah Winfrey endorses this critique of exclusivism, “One of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe there’s only one way. Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to God.”[iv] Is Winfrey right that all paths lead to the top of the mountain? Do all spokes lead to the hub?
Inclusivist Rabbi Shmuley Boteach says, “I am absolutely against any religion that says one faith is superior to another. I don’t see how that is anything different than spiritual racism.”[v] Rabbi Shmuley Boteach levels the assertion against exclusivists that to believe there is only one way is to be a spiritual racist. Are exclusivists the religious equivalent of racists?
Read More
Related Posts:

The Bible contains 66 books written by 40 authors over 1,500 years on three continents over more than a dozen different genres. And yet they all tell the same story of the same God. The Bible is a theological book that shares true history, but even when it is telling true historic facts, it doesn’t do so like a 21st century western history text book. It does so like an ancient Middle Eastern theological story.

One of my least favorite reading experiences was reading Beowulf in high school English. Were you subjected to this torture? Beowulf was written sometime between the 8th and 10th century and uses an early form of Old English called West Saxon.[i] Maybe if I re-read Beowulf I would love it, but at the time it felt like it was just one of those books we were reading because of its historic significance. Getting through the language was just brutal. I could barely piece together what a sentence meant, much less a paragraph, and understanding the plot felt virtually impossible. On top of that, this bizarre story of a monster in a faraway land felt profoundly irrelevant to my life.[ii]
Maybe you feel like that about the Bible. I get it. The Bible was written 2,000+ years ago. It seems borderline ridiculous that Christians pick it up and it expect it say something valuable to them about life in a completely different world.
Isn’t the Bible out of date?
The final challenge that is made against the Bible is that it is out of date. The Bible has old-fashioned morality about gender and sexuality. How can we trust a book that is so backwards.
Let me offer two very brief responses to this: first, the Bible is likely much less backward than you might think. In fact, all over the place the Bible breaks cultural expectations regarding gender, socio-economic class, and race.
Second, in those places where the Bible appears to be “on the wrong side of history,” I would ask you first to engage the central question of whether or not the Bible is God’s Word. If it isn’t, then of course the Bible is a skeleton, an artifact, when it comes to morality. But if it does happen to be God’s Word, I would ask you where your objective measure of morality derives from? And how can you be guaranteed that your own morality won’t look extremely dated in mere years? And I would add that if the Bible is indeed God’s Word, wouldn’t you expect that God would disagree with us at points? If we found in the Bible everything we already believed, would it be God’s Word or our word?
Are you willing to read the Bible not to tear it down but to enter in? Would you be willing to taste and see Jesus through the eyes of his followers? It only takes the average reader between an hour and a half to two and a half hours to read each of the four gospels. Pick up Mark or Luke or Matthew or John and encounter the man who calls himself the Son of God and see if you think it is a fable or if it rings of truth.[iii]
MIT professor and atheist Rosalind Picard thought that Bible was “full off fantastical crazy stuff.” But, for the sake of intellectual honesty she felt like she needed to actually read it. And so she did. And when she started to read the Bible, she says, “it started to change me.”[iv] She’s a follower of Jesus now.[v]
I could describe to you what a dark chocolate gelato tastes like from Frost: the rich cocoa flavor with a hint of bitterness, the cold buttery smoothness as it coats your tongue.
Read More
Related Posts:

When we as believers live life in the light, we should still expect the “father of lies” and his minions to taunt us with shame scripts and whispers of lies. How do fight this? In Luke 10:19, Jesus tells us “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” 

We were stuck. “I’m done with the marriage,” she said. Years of subtle neglect had shut her down. She would remain married, but there would be no marriage. He was desperate. He heard his wife’s hurt and confessed his neglect. He was willing to change. In our sessions thereafter, he appeared earnest and his actions seemed to prove his sincerity. But she didn’t trust him and wouldn’t let down her guard.
Deep down I felt something was amiss, but didn’t know what it was. Several times she assured us that there was no other man involved.
Then the day came. I knew from the moment I greeted them in the lobby that something was very different. His face was shattered. Her mascara was smeared. As soon as we were in the room it came out, she had been having an affair.
Making space for grief and truth, healing could finally begin.
Satan’s shadow is shame. Jesus calls the Enemy the “father of lies” “because there is no truth in him” (Jn 8:44). We might also call him “the father of secrets.”
“No one will understand.” “I’ll lose my job.” “My children will disown me.” “My wife will leave me.” “No one will look at me the same.”
The voice of shame is consistent. It catastrophizes and wants us to hide our secrets. Shame begets more shame as we create new secrets to cover up past secrets. It tells us that the pain will be too much, that things will get better over time if we just keep our secret hidden for a little longer.
Shame is a liar. Your secrets will keep you sick.
Have you ever disclosed sin to a trustworthy and godly friend? What happened? Did your friend shun you? Crush you with unfeeling rebuke? I bet not. I bet they listened. They might have teared up with you. Perhaps they put a hand on your shoulder. They thanked you for your honesty and told you that God was with you.
John reminds us that “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 Jn 1:5). The Enemy hides in the shadows, but God illuminates our hearts.
Read More
Related Posts:

For nine months Zechariah was mute. And on the eighth day they took their son to be circumcised, and, as was the custom, they gave him a name at his circumcision. “Will he be called Zechariah?” they asked. “No,” Elizabeth responded. “He shall be called John.”[vii] Zechariah scribbled his agreement on a tablet and, as he did, speech returned. And not merely speech, but song. A prophet’s song emerged from the mouth of the man for whom speech had been dormant nine months, each word speaking to the rescue of a God who came for his people, even when they had stopped hoping for him, even when belief that he could come seemed impossible. 

It is a joy to see young people who love Jesus. But there is something particularly special about the righteousness that comes with age. Like wine, there is a flavor that holiness develops that can only come with years.
There once was a husband, Zechariah, and a wife, Elizabeth, who loved God deeply. They had this kind of beautifully aged righteousness. Zechariah had given his life in God’s service as a priest. Luke says that “they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.”[i] Few in scripture receive such a high commendation.
“But,” Luke tells us, “they had no child.” Their barrenness was no small thing and certainly not a personal choice. They had yearned for a child and prayed for a child. But no child had come. Any childless couple, any mother who has lost her pre-born child, knows the mark of pain, the empty place that can’t be covered up in the heart. Everyone who has walked through this loss knows the temptation to sin against God in the face of disappointment and shame.
But Zechariah and Elizabeth had walked righteously in the face of grief.
Then, one day, Zechariah had the incredible blessing of being chosen to enter the Holy Place in the temple to burn incense. He never could have anticipated what awaited him.
The angel Gabriel met him face to face. The elderly man fell in fear. “Do not be afraid, Zechariah,” Gabriel consoled him, “for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.”[ii] Zechariah couldn’t believe what he was hearing. But the news just kept getting better: “And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord.”[iii]
And he would not just be righteous, but he would have an incredible vocation: “And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”[iv]
This broke the limits of Zechariah’s belief. Even in front of this otherworldly creature of unfathomable glory, his decades of disappointment smothered the wick of hope. In words that strangely echoed the words of the unbelief of Abraham, the grandfather of his people, he replied, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”[v]
Read More
Related Posts:

As you listen to her words, listen to her words not just as a peasant girl, but a girl growing up under the political oppression of the Roman Empire, a girl whose grandparents and parents longed for the freeing of Israel and for the coming Messiah, the King who would rightfully restore Israel.[viii] Mary’s song is the song of a humble, righteous young woman, yes! But it is also the song of a prophetess, of a woman whose heart is set on her people and set on the Kingdom of God.

Advent is here! Isn’t Christmas great? Anyone who loves Christmas loves Christmas music. Even if Christmas isn’t your favorite holiday, you have to concede it has the best music.
God loves music. In fact, God sings over you (Zeph. 3:17)! How remarkable is that? And God’s people have always sung. Moses and Miriam sang when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.[i] Deborah and Barak sang.[ii] And the largest book of the Bible (Psalms) is a song book, an entire book devoted to praises sung to our faithful God: praises of thanksgiving and praises of lament. Music has always been a part of God’s people and will always be – we know that in heaven we’ll still be singing.[iii]
It’s not surprising, then, that God’s coming to earth is celebrated with singing. In this advent series, I am going to share some of the songs that accompanied the first Christmas alongside some of my favorite Christmas songs today.
The first song is perhaps the most famous song of Christmas: Mary’s song of praise. But it is a song with a wallop that is missed by many a contemporary reader.
Let’s set the scene: a young Jewish woman, likely a teenager, living in the Galilean town of Nazareth, is met by the angel Gabriel, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
Like so many others do when they meet angels, Mary’s heart is not put at ease by this terrifying creature’s words. I love the understated words of Luke that describe her reaction, she “tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”[iv] What type of greeting was this, indeed!
“Do not be afraid, Mary,” Gabriel responds, “for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”[v]
Mary has a few questions that must have sprung to her mind at this news. The first one she asks would have been the most natural one to ask, “How will this be, since I am a virgin.”[vi]
Read More
Related Posts: